This approach “defines core values and principles, leaving teachers the challenge of engaging in reflective interpretation, using discretionary judgment, and making adaptive classroom decisions to accommodate their different contexts and possibilities.”[4] The KBC model immerses students in collaborative efforts to extend knowledge of the classroom community rather than just individual learning.
[5] Because learners at the post-secondary level are more cognitively mature than younger students, researchers have observed many successful implementations of KBCs in higher education.
This format eventually shifted to a self-organized inquiry model focused on knowledge construction, where students were expected to replace the teacher in setting class goals and monitoring their own progress.
[7] The author identified several likely indicators of the presence of a KBC, including: Despite some promising results, efforts to implement KBCs in classrooms have also seen unintended consequences.
[7] Student relationships have a significant effect on participation patterns, and individual feelings of autonomy, relatedness, and intrinsic motivation all influence behaviors in KBCs.
[8] Diversity among peers, response lags, and deadlines can be negative influences on collaboration causing stress, frustration, and difficulties in negotiating meaning and consensus.
[9] Without effective guidance from teachers, students tend to focus on individualistic contributions related to their areas of personal interest rather than developing a shared understanding or pursuing a common line of inquiry.
Scardamalia, Bereiter, and their team at the Center for Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Toronto developed a networked software system called Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments, or CSILE, in the 1980s.
[7][14] With the rapid growth of social networking software, a wide range of Web 2.0 tools with the capability to support community knowledge building have become available.
[17] Real-time collaborative editing platforms, like Google Docs, enable multiple people to work on a document simultaneously.