Notational effects on use of collaboratively constructed representations during individual essay writing

Prior analyses of collaboration through different notational systems (e.g., threaded discussions and evidence maps) have documented differential influences of notations on collaborative processes as well as ways in which groups appropriate these notations for their work. These prior analyses have focused on collaborative interaction, yet for instrumental purposes in educational practice, the individual is the unit of analysis. Hence it is relevant to ask how individuals use the products of collaborative interaction as documented in a given notational system. This paper reports on an analysis of data from a prior study to uncover how participants went about writing individual essays, drawing on the products of interactionally prior joint problem solving. The analysis first documented parameters of the human-computer interactions through which individual participants accessed and appropriated the record of prior work. Parameters included focus shifts, use of copy/paste, and access to records of data and hypotheses considered. The analysis then compared three experimental conditions and two post-hoc groups on the selected parameters. Profiles plots reveal consistent differences between the use of the notational systems that are indicative of differences in engagement with the materials.