Exploring the use of electronic discussion group coding with pre-service secondary teachers

Abstract

The extensive technology and rewiring made available through the Acadia Advantage project has been integrated into Acadia University's secondary science Bachelor of Education program in a number of ways, one of which is to support discussion groups. This article provides a qualitative analysis of an instructional strategy intended to promote substantive discussion within an electronic discussion group. A hierarchical series of discussion codes (cognotes) was designed and applied to students' discussion contributions to act as a procedural facilitator for critical thought processes. Our findings indicate that pre-service teacher education students used the coding in a variety of ways to facilitate their learning.