Collaborative Discovery Learning Online in an Information Systems Assurance Course

A. Faye Borthick
Georgia State University

Synopsis

This enhancement is the use of collaborative discovery learning online in a masters course Information Systems Assurance at Georgia State University (syllabus at http://www.gsu.edu/~accafb/ac863.htm). Collaborative discovery learning online was implemented with synchronous class sessions conducted over the Internet with a chat room for discussions and a presentation frame for access to web sites containing course resources and student work. The basis for the enhancement is the idea that immersing learners in a community of practice in which they solve problems together (collaborative discovery learning) is more likely to be effective in preparing students for work environments in which new problems are the norm and professionals work collaboratively to solve them than learning events characterized by teachers standing in front of classes dispensing knowledge. That is, it is more important to help students learn how to find or create knowledge as they need it and to negotiate its meaning within the community of practice than to teach them only what the teacher believes they need to know now. In addition to class sessions, examinations were administered over the Internet. The enhancement has the benefits of making learning more effective due to its use of collaborative discovery learning online, more accessible because participants may be anywhere they have Internet access, and more affordable because the course could be available to students in universities where it has been economically infeasible to offer it locally.

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