| Description |
The effective use of technology is increasingly important in many fields where online and digital communication, collaboration, and production have become more prevalent. Although it is clear that many higher education students come into the classroom with skills involved with consuming technology, they often are much less capable of producing technology, such as editing videos or creating websites. Recently, many K-12 and higher education institutions have been redesigning instructional methods to better meet the needs of students in today's work environment through teaching collaborative, authentic technology tasks. Relatively few studies have examined the role of student communication practices in technology classrooms that involve collaboration and authentic tasks, so this dissertation describes a multiple-semester, comparative case study of student communication patterns and themes. Operating as an engaged observer, I monitored an advanced Web design course during three semesters to better understand how students' communication practice influence their collaboration on authentic tasks. Through participant observation, in-depth interviews, gathering student documents, and transcription of group talk, I was able to use Situated Learning theory to examine the way students talk about their activities and proceed through a 16-week learning period. An inductive analysis revealed several discursive patterns and practices including how using technology influenced their communication practices and their development (or not) as a community of practice. These patterns are also discussed in light of their enabling and constraining qualities and the extent to which they echo discourses within other technology classrooms. Particular focus is given to the development and process of student learning teams, categorized into stages, from Individualism, Coalescing, Maturing and Identity formation, to Production and Transformation. Finally, Situated Learning theory's and small group communication's notions of discourse is extended within the technical sphere, as students both use and create new technologies, to become Community of Practice Development theory (CPDT). |
