Information Technology Reference
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V: Oh it does, ok (Reading)
V: I don't think that answered the question.
N: Right, that didn't at all.
V: It just told us that we need cells to produce, cells use, that is it. It doesn't tell
us anything about it.
V: Should we go back?
N: Can you click on the diaphragm?
N: Maybe if we go to “need for pump and vessels”
This example shows that both N and V were co-regulating to make decision on
which link to click to understand how oxygen and carbon dioxide get in and out of
the body. As the best F-dyad, they tended to connect their prior knowledge with the
content they read (e.g., V mentioned “I thought we just expelled carbon dioxide”).
It is notable that both N and V were questioning themselves as to whether the
content answered their questions. Such reflection may help them to make sense
of the content they read and monitor their progress toward learning goals. In con-
trast, the following excerpt showed that another dyad in the S-hypermedia condition
(M and S) used a different strategy to plan their exploration:
S:
So what exactly are we doing?
M:
I don't know, I guess we just go back. I guess we just looked at each one of
the things.
S:
...
S: What about the oxygen with the
Oh, ok
...
(reading). We missed all of that.
M: Oh yeah.
The above example showed that M and S did not come up with their own question
to guide their exploration. Like the other dyad in the S-condition, M and S selected
links by judging what they might have missed. Their exploration goal was to com-
plete exploring the hypermedia instead of making meaning of it. There was little
evidence of how they monitored and evaluated their learning progress and strategy
use from this excerpt.
To summarize, dyads across conditions used different strategies in their
co-regulated learning. Specifically, dyads in the F-condition used specific-question
driven strategy to set up a goal for their exploration whereas dyads in the S-condition
tend to set their major goal as to complete exploring the hypermedia. Such differ-
ences in goals lead to consequential differences in the monitoring and evaluation
processes in co-regulated learning.
Discussion
Because of the small sample size, we must consider this to be an exploratory study.
Nonetheless, the results of this study suggest that the underlying conceptual rep-
resentation affects students' collaborative learning and the F-hypermedia promoted
the use of more effective co-regulation strategies than the S-hypermedia did. They
