Sing, C. C., & Khine, M. S. (2006). An Analysis of Interaction and Participation Patterns in Online Community. Educational Technology & Society, 9 (1), 250-261. 250 ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the copyright of the articles. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than IFETS must be honoured. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from the editors at kinshuk@ieee.org. An Analysis of Interaction and Participation Patterns in Online Community Chai Ching Sing and Myint Swe Khine Learning Sciences and Technologies Academic Group Nanyang Technological University, 1, Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616 cschai@nie.edu.sg mskhine@nie.edu.sg ABSTRACT This paper presents findings from the pattern of participation and discourse analysis of the online interaction among in-service teachers in the teacher training institute in Singapore. It was found that the teachers formed a knowledge-building community and jointly discussed issues related to integrating information technology into the classroom. There was evidence that teachers formed a socially cohesive community and their participations were active. However it was found that in-depth and sustainable online interaction were lacking. The authors suggest searching for ways to promote deep and sustainable online interaction, especially in terms of getting participants to detect the gap in ideas and challenging assumptions. Keywords Knowledge building community, Computer-supported collaborative learning, Online interaction Introduction In this information age, lifelong learning and collaboration are essential aspects of most innovative work (Stahl, 2000). It is imperative for educators to nurture in our next generation learners the habit of community participation and collaboration. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) systems are the tools designed to support the building of shared knowledge and knowledge negotiation (Stahl, 2003). However, implementing CSCL systems into classroom teaching and learning is a complex process that involves substantial teachers’ learning. This study is based on a straightforward assumption that if teachers are unable to demonstrate substantial knowledge building interactions online among themselves, it is doubtful that they will be able to implement CSCL effectively. To date, there seems to be few studies that focus in the analysis of teachers’ online discourse (Zhao & Rop, 2001). Knowledge-building Community A Knowledge-building Community (KBC) is a group of learners committed to advancing the group’s knowledge of some shared problems through collaboration (Hewitt, 2001). It resembles knowledge creation teams such as research and development teams in scientific community or the commercial world. Supported by an asynchronous communication platform known as Knowledge Forum™ (KF™), the KBC is a social- constructivist oriented pedagogical model developed by Scardamalia and Bereiter (1996). It builds on social- cultural theories of learning that view learning as a process of participating and interacting in a community of practice (Vygotsky, 1978; Greeno, 1998; Lave & Wenger, 1999). Given this general orientation, the KBC emphasizes situated learning in a collaborative social environment where the learners struggle to solve authentic problems. This emphasis is common among reformed pedagogies that are labeled as constructivist (Kirschner, Martens, & Strijbos, 2004). Within this broad framework, interaction among members is the key mediator for the co-construction of shared perspectives and the appropriation of cognitive strategies employed by expert within the community. Although the KBC model draws on the constructivist-oriented theories, researchers directly involved in developing KBC argued that the KBC has moved social-cultural framework beyond the acquisition of knowledge and appropriation of practices to that of creation of knowledge. For example, Scardamalia, Bereiter, and Lamon (1994) have criticized the current Vygotskian’s view as overly focused on the internal cognitive structures of the learners while neglecting the social structures that facilitate knowledge advancement. The key element that distinguishes the KBC from the social-cultural framework is its emphasis on critical and creative work on ideas. This focus shifts the attention of a learning situation from internalization of existing practices and knowledge to the co-construction of new knowledge. Learning about the practice and knowledge becomes a by- product of being a knowledge worker. Despite the shift, the vital role of discourse in a KBC is not undermined