Understanding Collaborative Knowledge Building for Diverse Students with LSA

Collaborative knowledge building, a common activity among students in virtual learning communities, has garnered the attention of researchers. Existing studies often analyze the process of collaborative knowledge building within these communities through implicit interaction behaviors, while research focusing on explicit operational behaviors documented in activity logs is relatively scarce. Analysis based on explicit operational behaviors can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the collaborative knowledge building process, which is beneficial for enhancing student’s Knowledge building levels. This study selected a course in which 50 students engaged in collaborative knowledge building activities through virtual learning communities. The study employed lag sequence analysis to examine the behavioral data generated by student activities and conducted group analysis for learners at different proficiency levels. The findings indicate that analysis based on explicit operational behaviors effectively identifies significant behavioral sequences and characteristics. The overall behavioral patterns of learners align with Knowledge building theory, and the higher engagement of high performance group learners during the knowledge convergence phase is a primary factor affecting the level of collaborative knowledge building.