Students’ Self-Confidence and Learning Through Dialogues in a Net-Based Environment

There are relatively big differences between the students’ approach to knowledge and learning and that this appears to influence their behaviour during the course, and a surprising discovery is that students with a non-academic background seem to utilise this opportunity for collaboration to a much greater extent that others, and also achieve better examination results.

Abstract

The study describes the factors that render possible and restrain
\nstudents’ learning when they try to develop new
\nknowledge through collaboration in a net-based learning environment.
\nThe pedagogical platform takes as its startingpoint
\na framework of socio-cultural theories of learning and
\nis based on dialogues and collaborative situations in small
\ngroups. Results of the study have been extracted using statistical
\nanalysis of students’ understanding of the concepts of
\nknowledge and learning as well as self-confidence. To ascertain
\nwhether or not students’ learning has benefited from the
\nnet-based dialogues, background factors such as gender, socio-
\neconomic background, and ethnicity have been accounted
\nfor in the overall analysis. Results show that there are relatively
\nbig differences between the students’ approach to
\nknowledge and learning and that this appears to influence
\ntheir behaviour during the course. The analysis shows that
\nonly some students develop a good ability for using dialogues
\nas an important learning resource, while others do not
\nchoose to utilise this opportunity. Furthermore, results show
\nthat students’ descriptions of themselves are clearly related
\nto their course activity and to their examination results. A
\nsurprising discovery is that students with a non-academic
\nbackground seem to utilise this opportunity for collaboration
\nto a much greater extent that others, and also achieve better
\nexamination results.