Knowledge
Forum
Introduction
Knowledge Forum
is an electronic group workspace designed to support the process of
Knowledge Building. This program is based on over 15 years of research at
the University of Toronto Cognitive Science Department. Early research
focused on K-12 classrooms, but has expanded to include business,
healthcare, and university settings - wherever knowledge-building
communities reside.
Based on the original knowledge building program named
CSILE (Computer Supported Integrated Learning Environment), this "second-generation"
CSILE product incorporates advanced features and technology for fostering
knowledge building in the classroom.
Benefits for Teachers and Students
With
Knowledge Forum, teachers and students can share information, launch
collaborative investigations and build networks of new ideas together.
Knowledge Forum
allows users to create a knowledge-building community. Each community
creates their own Knowledge Base in which they can store notes, connect
ideas and “rise-above” previous thinking. The note-taking, searching and
organizational features of this sophisticated tool allow any type of
community to build knowledge. Knowledge Forum is being used in K-12
classrooms supporting curriculum areas such as reading, writing,
mathematics, social studies and science.
Knowledge Forum provides
students and teachers with a unique collaborative space in which to
organize course materials, analyze research results, discuss texts, and
cite reference material.
Teachers can get a free six months trial version of Knowledge Forum.
Pedagogical background
The use
of computer-supported learning affects the development of participants’
cognitive competencies, the growth of their expertise, motivation and
commitment as well as the advancement of their collective knowledge.
Research shows that knowledge building produces a level of student
interaction that occurs regardless of ability, a quality of inquiry that
is above standard, and improved scores not only in basic skills but in
conceptual development as well.
Knowledge building communities are exciting places where success depends
on the careful cultivation of ideas and the constant use and re-use of the
organization’s knowledge resources.
True knowledge building communities
depend on a specific organizational design, one that defines each person
as a contributor. Knowledge Forum does just that. With the knowledge
building tools in Knowledge Forum, users pose questions, define their own
goals and collaborate with peers as they acquire and build the Knowledge
Base.
Tools
With the knowledge-building tools
in Knowledge Forum, users pose questions, define their own goals, and
collaborate with peers as they acquire and build the Knowledge Base.
- Knowledge Base: users can
submit ideas, share information, reorganize the knowledge and
“rise-above” to new understandings.
- Knowledge Forum: users can
make information accessible with multiple vantage points an multiple entry
points. Even the collection and display of the community’s work can be
organized in flexible visual displays. The work is not limited to the
individual organization; if desired, the user can become part of a larger
community and work in concert on related problems.
Knowledge Forum
includes knowledge-building tools for:
- Collaborating
- Building idea networks
- Constructing, storing and retrieving
notes
- Indent identifying knowledge gaps or
advances
- Viewing the Knowledge Base from
multiple perspectives
Knowledge Forum
users can connect to their Knowledge Base via:
- a local area network;
- the Internet communications (users
designate where on the Internet the Knowledge Base is stored an the
application connects to it via the Internet);
- a browser (Explorer or Netscape)
using the world wide web.
Server System Requirements
