Examining Dynamics of Implementing Flexible Group Discourse in a Principle-based CSCL Environment

This study aimed to examine the effect of flexible group collaboration on students’ constructive discourse in a principle-based CSCL environment. The participants included 27 Chinese undergraduate students taking a 16-week introductory research methods course. The online discourse adopted a flexible collaboration structure: fixed small group collaboration in the first eight weeks, and opportunistic collaboration in the second eight weeks. The data were collected from students’ online discourse notes and assignment tasks. Group differences in small group collaboration and differences between two collaboration structures were examined. Findings indicated that flexible collaboration design helped students to work towards constructive discourse progressively. The study also provided evidence of how students new to principle-based approach engaged in online discourse for conceptual understanding in the Chinese context.