Knowledge Construction through Discussion Forum in a Blended Learning Environment

Discussion forum is used for knowledge construction popularly because it can provide collaborative learning environment and facilitate students joining online communication. In order to analyze knowledge construction activities based on Salmon's model, case study and content analysis are employed for investigating three issues in this study, i.e. the distributed number of postings, shared and unshared postings, and students' conversation at different phases of knowledge construction. The results demonstrate that socialization is one of the essential elements of knowledge construction. Other relevant findings for those three issues are also presented, and they could be applied for guiding knowledge construction design and application.

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