A Study Of The Use Of A Private Chat Room To Increase Reflective Thinking In Pre-Service Teachers

In his study, Strange (1992) asked college graduates what their most memorable moments of thought, insight, or discovery were. Most often the answers had nothing to do with the classroom, or the laboratory. Rather, their major learning occurred when talking and studying with other students--the late-night study sessions in residence halls, the study groups in the campus student center. Taking this information along with the fact that students spend a comparatively greater amount of time outside of the classroom than in it, the role of the informal curriculum becomes paramount. Strange suggests that it is in this informal curriculum that reflective thinking is developed. He stresses that open dialogue and debate must be encouraged. He reminds us that the potential for encouraging reflective thinking increases when learning is perceived as occurring both in and out of the classroom. The use of chat rooms would appear to be one way to create such a seamless experience.

Opportunities for active, reflective thinking are diminished in the context of the traditional college classroom setting. Large classes tend to be lecture-driven. In such situations, it is extremely difficult to provide the kind of personal exchange that stimulates reflective thinking. The use of chat rooms would appear to be one way to mitigate this problem.

In her research, Norton (1997) documents the effectiveness of student journaling in stimulating and refining reflective thought. She also reviews the literature which suggests small group discussions as a means of encouraging reflectivity. The use of chat rooms would appear to be a way to combine these two methods--journaling and small group discussion--into one practice which multiplies the advantage of both in a synergistic manner.

Tancock and Ford (1996) make the case that the most important benefit of the use of technology in assessment is that it facilitates extensive teacher insight into the thinking processes of students.

A review of the literature and the theoretical issues contained therein clearly inform us of the importance of developing reflective thinking in our pre-service teachers.

How do we do this? How can we design practical activities suited to the abilities and experiences of future teachers which encourage reflection?

Because I believe that chat rooms may be an effective way to help accomplish this essential goal, I conducted this study to determine if there is a relationship between the reflective thinking of pre-service teachers and their chat room experiences.

Method

This study tracked the development of reflective thinking in pre-service teachers as evidenced by their electronic chat room conversations.

Subjects were pre-service teachers (students who have declared education as their major) taking sophomore-level courses at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. To eliminate possible sources of bias, subjects were from education courses taught by three different professors.

Private chat rooms, open only to members of that particular course, were established through NiceNet (www.nicenet.org/). Students talked about their field experiences in the chat room. They read and responded to comments and suggestions made, and questions posed by their peers. All students were required to generate eight responses in the chat room established for their class during the semester.