Exploring the Influence of Using Collaborative Tools on the Community of Inquiry in an Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning Context

Ya-Ming Shiue,Yu-Chiung Hsu

doi:10.12973/ejmste/81149

Abstract

This study aims to explore the relationships among three presences, namely cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence in a Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in the context of interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL) through the collaborative technology Google Applications. The survey data was collected from 138 students with mixed subject specialism participated in a cultural creativity project. All participants were randomly assigned into one of two groups. The control group used online discussion boards, while the treatment group used the Google Applications as a collaborative technology to support the project learning. The results of the study showed that the students’ cognitive presence was positively influenced by the teaching and social presence, which supported the theoretical CoI framework. Moreover, in an IPBL context with the support of the Google Applications, social presence had more predictive power in explaining students’ cognitive presence than the support provided by the online discussion boards.

Highlights

A central challenge of interdisciplinary integration in professional education is the radical restructuring of the whole learning process, and the introduction of modern pedagogical methodologies, techniques and information technologies (Chu et al, 2010; Di Blas et al, 2014; Sampson et al, 2014), as well as the need to spark communication and collaboration that clearly crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries
This study aims to explore the relationships among three presences, namely cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence in a Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework in the context of interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL) through the collaborative technology Google Applications
This study made an attempt to investigate the theoretical framework of the three presences embodied in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework with regard to describing, explaining, and improving the interdisciplinary project-based learning environment through online collaborative technologies

Summary

Introduction

A central challenge of interdisciplinary integration in professional education is the radical restructuring of the whole learning process, and the introduction of modern pedagogical methodologies, techniques and information technologies (Chu et al, 2010; Di Blas et al, 2014; Sampson et al, 2014), as well as the need to spark communication and collaboration that clearly crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL) is regarded as crucial pedagogy that can provide sufficient training in teamwork by developing multidiscipline teams similar to those that operate in industry In responding to this need in higher education, a number of scholars have conducted the studies that involve complex technical, engineering, educational and social projects based on cross-disciplinary domain knowledge for students with different subject specialisms, so that they can contribute their individual efforts and resources to promote learning (Carpenter et al 2007; Johansen et al, 2009; Maxim, 2006; Stozhko et al, 2015; Whitney, 2014).

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