Instructional scaffolding in online collaborative learning environment for knowledge construction among engineering students

Abstract

Engineering students show very little gain in high knowledge constructions that allows them to integrate and apply in real world situations especially to develop the competence and expertise in the engineering field [1]. In order to achieve the needs of today's engineering students in a digital or gadget world environment, instructional scaffolding needs to be embedded in the learning process. Scaffolding is a key strategy in cognitive apprenticeship [2], in which students can think critically about engineering and construct knowledge via work creatively in teams [3]. The aim of this paper is to understand the possibility of social interaction, knowledge construction and collaboration impact in an online collaborative learning environment among engineering students. The knowledge construction processes as defined by the instructional scaffolding factors will assist educators to redefine the roles and metacognitive activities of the lecturers and students in order to make learning process in the online collaborative learning environment more efficient, meaningful and can improve engineering students' knowledge construction process as well as innovative and creative thinking. The findings of this study could be used as a basis for further research in an online collaborative learning environment. This finding can be applied in a new environment, especially in the online collaborative learning environment alone, which indicates that educators can use the indicators of the instructional scaffolding factors to plan a curricula course.