Improvable objects and attached dialogue: new literacy practices employed by learners to build knowledge together in asynchronous settings

Asynchronous online dialogue offers many advantages to learners, but has previously appeared to restrict opportunities for engaging in the exploratory exchanges characteristic of an educated discourse. To investigate whether this is the case, a multimodal approach was applied to asynchronous dialogue, using analytic tools and techniques developed for the investigation of face-to-face education. The study analysed the online discussions of three small groups of university students as they worked together on assessed research projects and collaboratively authored documents. Sociocultural discourse analysis of the dialogue was combined with visual analysis of its structural elements. These showed that the documents learners worked on together functioned as ‘improvable objects’ and supported the use of exploratory dialogue. By investigating a wider range of conference dialogue than has previously been explored, it was found that discussion involving improvable objects prompts groups of online learners to share knowledge, challenge ideas, justify opinions, evaluate evidence and consider options in a reasoned and equitable way. In order to use improvable objects to do this effectively, learners need support to develop relevant literacies.