Deferring to resources: collaborations around traditional vs computer-based notes
Abstract Undergraduate students were observed engaged in a species of collaboration rarely studied and yet which is grounded in an authentic form of normal study practice: namely, revising a course in preparation for an exam. Pairs of undergraduates were convened for recorded sessions in which they did this around either their own personal lecture notes or around a set of notes authored by the lecturer and made available as web-readable computer documents. Although the goals, motives and orientations of these pairings were similar, the nature of the collaborative resource effected the character and rhythm of the joint conversation. The computer-based documents led to less on-task collaborative talk. Moreover, these documents sustained conversation that was more fragmented around successive short topics. Observations are made regarding how certain discursive openings are more readily afforded when revision talk is mediated by a less singular, authorised, and directive form of document.
collaboration undergraduate dialogue discourse analysis