HighNyammer BBS Scaffolds the Development of Each Learner's Collective Cognitive Responsibility

Abstract

It is well known that contributions from each learner's "collective cognitive responsibility" are essential in collaborative knowledge creation. This study examined whether real-time feedback can enhance collective cognitive responsibility. To consider this question, we hypothesized that attaining higher values of betweenness centrality in subjects' relationships reflects an improvement in collective cognitive responsibility; therefore, we developed a bulletin board system (BBS) to calculate values of betweenness centrality using network-analysis methodology in real-time. The research target was a student-staff community working for "Classroom-M" that used the BBS, which we called "HighNyammer," for information-sharing among students and staff members; it revealed the real-time value of betweenness centrality for each participant, based on relationships between the authors of posted articles. The results of this HighNyammer trial and a survey on four student-staff members demonstrated the potential effectiveness of this function, especially for novice workers. The value of betweenness centrality indicated each individual's position within the community.