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Article of Volume 12, Issue 2, June 2017

Life history of a topic in an online discussion: a complex systems theory perspective on how one message attracts class members to create meaning collaboratively

Authors: Jane S. Vogler, Diane L. Schallert, Michelle E. Jordan, Kwangok Song, Anke J. Z. Sanders, Yueh-hui Yan Te Chiang, Ji-Eun Lee, Jeongbin Hannah Park, Li-Tang Yu

Abstract: Complex adaptive systems theory served as a framework for this qualitative study exploring the process of how meaning emerges from the collective interactions of individuals in a synchronous online discussion through their shared words about a topic. In an effort to bridge levels of analysis from the individual to the small group to the community, we analyzed how a group of students introduced, sustained, and eventually let go of one topic while participating in a classroom discussion that took place in a CSCL environment. Our purpose was to examine a single posted message’s influence not only through the responses it garnered, but also by how individuals reacted to it intellectually. Participants were eight students and their teacher in a graduate-level seminar. Data sources included the online discussion’s final transcript, screen-captured recordings of each participant’s computer screen, video recordings of participants’ actions, and observation notes. Our analyses revealed three key understandings: (a) the interdependencies of process and content are manifestations of the complex development of co-created understandings in computer-supported discussions, (b) private individual processes and particular meanings co-mingle in a social space to create publicly shared experiences, and (c) the importance of attending to the content was shown in the details of a topic’s incipience, its developing “mid-life,” and how factors conspired to its end. These findings help illustrate how co-created meaning-making experiences emerge in a system through interactions among individual agents, suggesting ways instructors may work to foster student learning in CSCL contexts.

Keywords: Computer-supported collaborative learning, Complex adaptive systems, Online discourse, Meaning making

Citation: Vogler, J.S., Schallert, D.L., Jordan, M.E. et al. (2017) Life history of a topic in an online discussion: a complex systems theory perspective on how one message attracts class members to create meaning collaboratively. ijcscl 12 (2), pp. 173-194

DOI: 10.1007/s11412-017-9255-9

About this article at link.springer.com [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11412-017-9255-9] including a link to the official electronic version.