The Evolution of Shared Artifacts in CSCL: A Knowledge Synthesis Intervention for Productive Collaborative Discourse

In CSCL, productive collaborative discourse requires continual advancement of student ideas, often through the creation and modification of digital artifacts. To support this process, this study proposes a knowledge synthesis intervention, supported by technological and pedagogical designs, to facilitate the continual development of digital artifacts in a graduate class. To examine the enactment of this intervention, we asked: How did the knowledge synthesis artifacts facilitate the progression of collaborative discourse? How did they facilitate the development of shared group artifacts? Findings revealed diverse ways in which synthesis artifacts facilitated discourse navigation, fostered various knowledge practices, and facilitated the evolution of group artifacts. This study contributes to CSCL and online learning research by facilitating knowledge synthesis and examining its role in deepening collaborative discourse, generating technological and pedagogical designs applicable in broader contexts.