Abstract
This chapter presents three studies that dealt with the challenge of understanding what factors may influence students’ higher level knowledge construction in peer facilitated online discussion environments. We defined higher level knowledge construction occurrences as the sum of the number of phases II–V measured using interaction analysis model. The findings of the three studies overall suggested that groups of about 10 participants may be an optimum discussion size, higher level knowledge construction occurrences are not correlated to the duration of the online discussion, and the use of certain peer facilitation techniques, such as pointing, summarizing, and fostering an open environment for arguments, may foster higher knowledge construction levels in asynchronous online discussions.
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Hew, K.F., Cheung, W.S. (2012). Case Studies on Peer Facilitation: How to Foster Higher Levels of Knowledge Construction . In: Student Participation in Online Discussions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2370-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2370-6_7
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