Case Study 2

Case Study 2
KnowledgeForum.com


Introduction

Next, after taking a look at all the virtual learning community websites suggested for this case study, I decided I wanted to take a closer look at the website called KnowledgeForum.com. This website claims to be a knowledge-based virtual learning community. I went into the website and listened to the testimonials from students and teachers. This website allows you to go into the site and update and play with a document. This document is set up to edit and construct concept maps and reports. In order to do anymore than this you must sign up for the free six month trial offer. I did not do this; I only played with the available document. In essence, I would be considered a lurker because I do not have a subscription and was only perusing the website for information. Renninger and Shumar (2002) describe a lurker as a non-contributor to an on-line virtual community site. I picked this website because I think it has great potential towards increasing student learning and active participation in an on-line virtual learning community which I would love to use with my students. However, this website is not free and the prices were ranging from $4,990.00 for group licensing to $400.00 for individual licensing of the product. Updates to the website also cost extra. This is more than I would be able to afford and probably more than the institution I work for would want to pay.

Type of Community

The information provided by KnowledgeForum.com claims this website is a knowledge-based community. I am under the impression though based on Riel and Polin’s definition of a knowledge-based community that this is more of a task-based community. I say this because although the acquisition of the license for this website and forum allows teachers and students to do on-line learning activities that can be updated, edited and shared, the lessons I believe would probably have an end point. According to Riel and Polin (2004), as previously stated, the “knowledge-building learning community does not complete a product, publication, or gallery as an end point of effort. Instead, members work on living documents or databases of ideas, which form a living, changing record of their shared mind” (p. 34). It appears to me that the data and information being shared and edited is at some point ending because they are in fact also measuring the learning outcomes of groups of students using statistical methods. Outcomes reflect an end. The definition of outcome according to Merriam-Webster (2004) is “something that follows as a result or consequence” which implies an ending. This website reflects a task-based community according to Riel and Polin (2004) as it exists to “assemble a set of people with a maximum diversity of perspectives that can be focused on a common issue or problem, and then, through the processes of group formation, discourse, and common work, create a common systemic understanding” (p. 21).

Structures of the Community

KnowledgeForum.com enables the users to start with an empty knowledge base and connect with larger knowledge bases offered on the internet where the users can build a community knowledge base and work on projects that can be edited by members of that community. There is a document format that offers the ability to construct papers and reports as well as design and construct concept maps and other information for sharing. Per one of the reviews provided by the website, this is described as a software program that “provides the organizational framework needed to support a classroom which truly functions as a knowledge-based entity” (KnowledgeForum.com, 2011). This then is a software program that allows access to the web. Members are granted access to the program through licensing and the member’s identities are defined through that existing group or membership. Based on the testimonials, the community purpose and projects are defined by the instructors or businesses using the software to enhance learning (KnowledgeForum.com, 2011). Examples given by the website are testimonials of students and instructors who’ve participated in the on-line forum and constructed various documents like research papers. The website allows the lurker to sign-in as a guest and use some of the features available to edit a document. That is what I did and I found it a bit difficult to navigate. I would probably need a tutorial before I would be able to use this software.

Design Features and Role of Technology

This website offers a software program that can be edited and used for group learning projects and interfaces with the web. It costs money to join and update the existing program. This is how it is sustained. Scaffolding is reported as a feature of this program as it allows members of the groups to interact and build on previous information, edit and construct data and interface with other on-line knowledge-based groups. KnowledgeForum.com reports, “Built-in scaffolds ‘cue’ students to the thinking strategies that characterize ‘expert learners’ while the structure of the database with its communal public notes, “build-on” to others’ ideas, and “reference” the work of peers. The ongoing practice of these advanced operations, combined with teacher support and coaching, helps students acquire the sorts of learning strategies that characterize expert learners” (KnowledgeForum.com, 2011). The above mentioned format along with built in strategies for analyzing and computing data either for statistical purposes or for measuring student learning contribute to the overall efficacy of this program for learning.

Conclusion and Implications

This program sounds like a wonderful format to organize and maximize on-line learning within designated groups or for individuals desiring to participate in an on-line virtual learning community. However, it is expensive and requires updating that would be even more expensive to maintain. Most learning institutions are under budget restraints so I don’t see this as a practical way to facilitate the learning objectives that I originally thought it would enhance. If money was no object, this would be a great program that offers opportunity to organize and build a virtual learning community that is task-based.

References

Bonk, C.J. (2009). The world is open how web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

KnowledgeForum.com (2011, March 18). Welcome to knowledge forum [On-line knowledge- based community]. Retrieved from http://www.knowledgeforum.com/Kforum/prodcontent.htm/

Outcome. (2004). Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition). Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

Renninger, K.A., Shumar, W. (2002). Building virtual communities: learning and change in cyberspace. New York, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Riel, M., Polin, L. (2004). Online learning communities: Common ground and critical differences in designing technical environments. Retrieved from http://www.ou.edu/D2L.

Wikipedia (2011, March 18). Wikipedia:About [On-line encyclopedia]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About.