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Supporting Student Discussions: it isn't Just Talk

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Abstract

The role of dialogue in learning is considered with respect to the use of educational technology. The Vicarious Learner project aims to create a re-usable resource base of learning dialogues from which later learners can benefit. This depends on effective dialogues arising within computer-based media, so that they can be captured. The conditions for effective dialogue are dependent not only on the technology, but on structures and conventions surrounding its use. Two studies are described, from which it emerges that new structures are needed. A notion of Task Directed Discussions (TDDs) is developed, through which effective dialogues are explicitly encouraged. A theoretical framework for the re-use of such dialogues is described. © IFIP, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Lee, J., Dineen, F. & Mckendree, J. Supporting Student Discussions: it isn't Just Talk. Education and Information Technologies 3, 217–229 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009645430959

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