Interaction Analysis for Supporting Students' Self-Regulation during Blog-based CSCL Activities

Self-regulated learning is an important means of supporting students’ self-awareness and self-regulation level so as to enhance their motivation and engagement. Interaction Analysis (IA) contributes to this end, and its use in studying learning dynamics involved in asynchronous Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) activities has rightfully increased in recent years. This paper presents a case study regarding the impact IA graphs have on students’ self-regulation, during a blog-based learning activity. More specifically, 52 secondary education students – a control group (25 students without IA toolkit support) and an experimental group (27 students with IA toolkit support) – used a blog, as a communication and information management medium for creating Scratch games. The statistical analysis of their responses to the Self-Regulation Questionnaire, before and after the activity, indicates that IA graphs facilitated their self-regulation capacity. The results support the initial hypothesis, namely that IA constitutes an important module for self-regulation in CSCL settings, enhancing the collaborative learning activity.