The Impact of a Collaborative Knowledge Base on a Fostering Communities of Learners model in Post-Secondary Large Lectures

This design-based research study of a second year undergraduate course involved the enactment of the Fostering Communities of Learners (FCL) pedagogical model augmented with elements of the Knowledge Community and Inquiry (KCI) model by the addition of a digital collaborative knowledge base (CKB). The study involved the re-design of a course comprised of lectures and break-out tutorials which covered basic business concepts for undergraduate media students. The investigation examined the ways in which a learning community pedagogical approach could be enacted in an undergraduate large lecture course through a scaffolded, complex curricular design that utilizes active and inquiry-based learning. By appropriating design elements from KCI, a CKB was introduced as a major research element in the curricular design. The CKB was intended to be a persistent online hub of ideas, serving as a resource for completion of a major group project. Results indicate that students participated in more individual inquiry, collaborated with peers and perceived themselves to be part of a class-wide learning community. The study concluded that a learning community ethos can be established in an undergraduate large lecture through the recursive cycle of individual inquiry, research discussion in lectures and by reference to CKB research exercises in group tutorial sessions by way of reciprocal teaching, cross-talk and jigsaw activities.