Zhang Research Lab: Research

From KNILT

Technology-Augmented Co-Creativity Lab (TaCCL)

led by Dr. Jianwei Zhang at the University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Jianwei-Zhang.jpg
  • ITMSI2019.jpg
  • ITM Dashboard.jpg
Home Research Publications Technology Team Contact

Research Highlights | NSF Cyberlearning EXP Grant (2011-2014) | NSF Cyberlearning DIP Project (2014-2020) | I-CARE: A Collaboration with Tech Valley High 2022-

Research Highlights

Research theme Findings and publications
Opportunistic collaboration & discourse: beyond fixed small-groups 
Collaborative learning in classroom-based and online settings often uses fixed small-groups. Our research revealed the benefits and processes of "opportunistic collaboration." Students form/reform groups based on evolving interests and connections to support ever-deepening inquiry. This dynamic collaboration approach can be used to support emergent knowledge goals and improvisational discourse as driving forces for creative knowledge practices. Opportunistic collaboration may be supported using coconstructed framing of inquiry directions that guide student participation, collaboration tools that make ongoing knowledge flows visible to students, and dynamic forms of teacher support.
Idea build-on network (Zhang et al., 2009)
  • Zhang, J., Tian, Y., Yuan, G. & Tao, D. (2022). Epistemic Agency for Costructuring Expansive Knowledge Building Practices. Science Education,106 (4), 890-923. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21717.
  • Zhang, J., & Messina, R. (2010). Collaborative productivity as self-sustaining processes in a Grade 4 knowledge building community. In K. Gomez, J. Radinsky, & L. Lyons (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 49-56). Chicago, IL: International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/2712/1/49-56.pdf
  • Zhang, J., Scardamalia, M., Reeve, R., & Messina, R. (2009). Designs for collective cognitive responsibility in knowledge building communities. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 18(1), 7–44. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508400802581676
  • Zhang, J., Scardamalia, M., Lamon, M., Messina, R., & Reeve, R. (2007). Socio-cognitive dynamics of knowledge building in the work of nine- and ten-year-olds. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55(2), 117–145. (Outstanding Journal Article of the Year in the Field of Instructional Design awarded by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-006-9019-0
Cross-community collaboration and boundary-crossing: Give student ideas a larger stage 
Student-driven creative inquiry requires a larger social infrastructure, akin to how real-world knowledge communities operate in a shared “intellectual field.” Cross-classroom collaboration supported by Idea Thread Mapper showcases possible ways to create a larger social system (infrastructure) for collaborative knowledge building. Valuable ideas and problems developed in each classroom community can travel up to a meta-space for extended sharing and discourse across classrooms. At the same time, insights gained from the meta-space are brought back to each classroom to stimulate deeper inquiry and conversation. Students have opportunities to interact with an expansive pool of ideas and contribute to the continual growth of collective knowledge.
Cross-classroom idea contact (Yuan & Zhang, 2019)
  • Yuan, G.*, Zhang, J., & Chen, M.-C.(2022). Cross-community knowledge building with Idea Thread Mapper. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 17(2), 293–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-022-09371-z
  • Zhang, J., Yuan, G.*, & Bogouslavsky, M. (2020). Give student ideas a larger stage: Support cross-community interaction for knowledge building. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning,15(4), 389–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-020-09332-4


Reflective Structuration: Student agency for co-organizing dynamic knowledge-building processes 
Reflective structuration with technology support offers a productive framework to sustain student-driven inquiry over extended time periods in a way that enhances students' epistemic agency. Instead of pre-defining learning structures, reflective structuration highlights that such structures can come out of a collaborative and reflective process based on emergent needs. With their teacher’s support, students co-construct shared inquiry structures (e.g., shared goals, collaborative roles, process models, and norms) to channel their personal and collaborative actions and adapt the structures over time. With the co-constructed goals and group structures guiding student participation on an ongoing basis, students can make intentional contributions to shared inquiry areas while having the freedom to pursue new lines of inquiry and create new connections beyond existing frames and boundaries.
  • Zhang, J., Tian, Y., Yuan, G. & Tao, D. (2022). Epistemic Agency for Costructuring Expansive Knowledge Building Practices. Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21717
  • Tao, D., & Zhang, J. (2021). Agency to Transform: How Did a Grade 5 Community Co-Configure Dynamic Knowledge Building Practices in a Yearlong Science Inquiry? International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 16(3), 403–434. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-021-09353-7
  • Tao, D., & Zhang, J. (2018). Forming shared inquiry structures to support knowledge building in a Grade 5 community. Instructional Science, 46(4), 563-592. (Special Issue: Revisiting Learning Communities: Innovations in Theory and Practice). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11251-018-9462-4
  • Zhang, J., Tao, D., Chen, M.-H., Sun, Y., Judson, D., & Naqvi, S. (2018). Co-organizing the collective journey of inquiry with Idea Thread Mapper. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 27(3), 390-430. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2018.1444992. A Journal of Learning Sciences (JLS) Webinar was organized to discuss this research. Panelists: Dr Katherine Bielaczyc (Clark University), Dr. Carol Chan (University of Hong Kong), Dr. Keith Sawyer (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Dr. Chewlee Teo (National Institute of Education, Singapore).
Principle-based teacher noticing and classroom practices: Support student-driven knowledge building informed by learning analytics 
Using a principle-based approach, the teacher in each classroom works with his/her students to chart the deepening process of inquiry in light of a set of guiding principles. Their reflective processes can be supported by analytic support that captures emergent changes in students’ knowledge work, which inform teachers' pedagogical sense-making and ongoing planning for co-constructing deeper inquiry with students.
  • Park, H.*, & Zhang, J. (2022). Learning Analytics for Teacher Noticing and Scaffolding: Facilitating Knowledge Building Progress in Science. In A. Weinberger, W. Chen, D. Hernández-Leo, & B. Chen (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning - CSCL 2022 (pp. 147-154). Hiroshima, Japan: International Society of the Learning Sciences.
  • Park, H.*, & Zhang, J. (2021). Supporting Teachers’ Noticing and Scaffolding with Knowledge Building Analytics. In A. Wichmann, H. U. Hoppe, & N. Rummel (Eds.), General Proceedings of the 1st Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Learning Sciences 2021 (pp. 125-126). Bochum, Germany: International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
  • Zhang, J., & Messina, R. (2010). Collaborative productivity as self-sustaining processes in a Grade 4 knowledge building community. In K. Gomez, J. Radinsky, & L. Lyons (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 49-56). Chicago, IL: International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/2712/1/49-56.pdf
  • Zhang, J., Hong, H.-Y., Scardamalia, M., Teo, C., & Morley, E. (2011). Sustaining knowledge building as a principle-based innovation at an elementary school. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 20 (2), 262–307. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508406.2011.528317
Idea Thread Mapper: Mapping and tracing collective knowledge progress in collaborative discourse 
We created Idea Thread Mapper (ITM) through two NSF Cyberlearning projects (with computer scientist Mei-Hwa Chen, see https://idea-thread.net/). Interoperating with Knowledge Forum (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006), ITM integrates reflective support for student-driven discourse in each classroom and boundary-crossing interaction across different classrooms. The support for knowledge building within each classroom encourages students to co-organize evolving inquiry directions and social roles as their collective work proceeds. Cross-classroom interaction takes place in a meta-space shared among partner classrooms. Interaction tools are provided for students to create and share inquiry reflections (“super notes”) and propose topics for live “Super Talk” discussions with other classrooms focusing on challenging issues. A rich set of visualizations and analytics are embedded in ITM to detect emergent topics, trace student idea progress and connections, and generate automated feedback on student discourse.
  • Yuan, G.*, Zhang, J., & Chen, M.-C.(2022). Cross-community knowledge building with Idea Thread Mapper. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 17(2), 293–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-022-09371-z
    ITM Dashboard.jpg
  • Zhang, J., Yuan, G.*, Zhong, J.*, Pellino, S.*, & Chen, M.-H. (2020). Enhancing Knowledge Building Discourse with Automated Feedback on Idea Complexity. In M. Gresalfi & I. S. Horn (Eds.), The Interdisciplinarity of the Learning Sciences, Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2020) (pp. 1697-1700). Nashville, TN: International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/6402/1/1697-1700.pdf
  • Zhang, J., & Chen, M.-H. (2019). Idea Thread Mapper: Designs for Sustaining Student-Driven Knowledge Building Across Classrooms. In K. Lund, G. Niccolai, E. Lavoué, C. Hmelo-Silver, G. Gweon, & M. Baker( Eds.), A Wide Lens: Combining Embodied, Enactive, Extended, and Embedded Learning in Collaborative Settings, 13th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 2019, Volume 1 (pp. 144-151). Lyon, France: International Society of the Learning Sciences. https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/4396/1/144-151.pdf
  • Zhang, J., Tao, D.*, Chen, M.-H., Sun, Y., Judson, D.*, & Naqvi, S.* (2018). Co-organizing the collective journey of inquiry with Idea Thread Mapper. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 27(3), 390-430. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508406.2018.1444992?journalCode=hlns20
Interdisciplinary learning, multiple literacies: Knowledge-building inquiry can be integrated across content areas 
Our research demonstrated the educational benefits of collaborative knowledge building in helping students develop scientific understanding, collaboration and inquiry skills, and content area literacy.
The percentage of academic words in student online discourse, Grade 3-4 (Sun et al., 2010)
Retrieved from "https://knilt.arcc.albany.edu/index.php?title=Zhang_Research_Lab:_Research&oldid=193259"