Scripting collaborative knowledge improvement : a study of pre-service teachers' collaborative lesson design in Singapore
Authors:   , Tan Jesmine Sio Hwee 
Published: November 2024

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is a pedagogical approach that has become commonplace in todayâ€™s education. Past research studies have shown that CSCL has positive impacts on studentsâ€™ learning. However, productive collaborative learning does not come easy. To facilitate fruitful collaborative learning, collaborative scripts are recommended to engage the participants in active collaborative learning and support collaborative knowledge improvement. In a CSCL environment, designing, implementing, and managing collaboration activities can be challenging for teachers. Besides managing the collaborative learning process, the need to deal with different perspectives for knowledge co-construction, which is often encountered when pre-service teachers collaboratively design lessons during their teacher preparation courses, were generally lacking in the deeper examination. Understanding how the collaboration script can support collaborative learning to bring forth collaborative knowledge improvement in the context of this study is important.

This study examined how the collaboration script named Spiral Model of Collaborative Knowledge Improvement (SMKCI) supported the CSCL process for collaborative knowledge improvement. The context of this study was set in a pre-service teacher education programme in Singapore. The participants engaged in a computer-supported collaborative lesson design session via the SMCKI script to bring about collaborative knowledge improvement. This study aimed to examine how SMCKI supported pre-service teachers in collaboratively improving the quality of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) lesson design.

A mixed-method research design was adopted where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysis conducted. Twelve participants took part in the collaborative lesson design session. Data collected included the TEL design artifacts and the process logs generated throughout the SMCKI phases on the AppleTree system. Content analysis was employed to code the TEL design artifacts. Lag sequential analysis was used to examine the behavioural patterns across the scripted SMCKI phases, and uptake analysis was used to illustrate the uptake traces that led to the participantsâ€™ collaborative knowledge improvement. These two analyses served to reduce potential systematic biases and to strengthen the findings of this study. In all, this study showed that the SMCKI script supported the pre-service teachers in improving their TEL lesson design throughout the collaborative lesson design session. The improvement of the TEL lesson design from one phase to the next was portrayed in the quantitative results. This incremental improvement across the SMCKI phases was further demonstrated through the qualitative analysis. The process of collaborative knowledge improvement for group idea improvement is presented in this thesis.

This study has theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, studying the SMCKI in an authentic context is an under-explored area. Moreover, the analysis of the benefits of having an individual ideation phase before a collaborative learning phase to address the issues with CSCL and support collaborative knowledge improvement can contribute to the CSCL research field. From the perspective of analysing the CSCL processes, this study took on a quantitative lag sequential analysis to examine the immediate behavioural patterns across the SMCKI phases, followed by the qualitative uptake analysis to provide an in-depth description to illustrate knowledge uptake traces of knowledge improvement throughout the scripted learning process. These analyses served to elaborate on the collaborative learning process in detail, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of how scripting can benefit the collaborative learning processes. Moreover, this study took a different stance from the common reliance on self-report data when examining pre-service teachersâ€™ experience with TEL lesson design via the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, which can further advance the TPACK research. Practically, this study suggests how pre-service teachers can be developed as TEL lesson designers by engaging them in a collaborative lesson design session via an entirely virtual CSCL environment.