Collaborative discovering of key ideas in knowledge building

In this paper, we describe our work-in-progress for developing Collaborative Discovering Tool (CoDi tool) that is meant for enhancing knowledge building discourse in the Future Learning Environment 2 (Fle2) system. Knowledge building discourse in the Fle2 type of systems usually leads to gradual accumulation of notes. We have found that users experience difficulties to get an overall picture of the knowledge produced and synthesize its advancement. By providing means for the participants to highlight key ideas, that they find particularly useful, the CoDi tool was designed to facilitate collective management of knowledge and inquiry and provide various visual representations of the database. We report results of a pilot experiment carried out with the CoDi prototype that appears to be a promising tool. However there are certain open questions concerning what are the social and pedagogical effects of highlighting ideas in different educational setting, how highlighting should be organized so that it would provide strongest support of knowledge advancement, and whether the results should always be shared not only by tutors but also by students. Regardless of the challenges, the development of the CoDi tool appears to open up an interesting line of inquiry that we would like to share with the CSCL community.