Beyond cognitive and metacognitive tools: the use of the Internet as an 'epistemological' tool for instruction

This paper argues that Internet-based instruction should not be only perceived as a cognitive tool or a metacognitive tool; rather, it can be perceived and used as an epistemological tool. When the Internet is used as an epistemological tool for instruction, learners are encouraged to evaluate the merits of information and knowledge acquired from Internet-based environments, and to explore the nature of learning and knowledge construction. This paper further asserts that Internet-based instruction is perceived as a way to help learners develop advanced epistemologies. On the other hand, developmentally advanced epistemological beliefs can facilitate the practice of Internet-based instruction. The use of computers or the Internet as cognitive or metacognitive tools The study of cognition explores how an individual acquires information and knowledge. Educational psychologists also propose the idea of metacognition, which describes an individual’s capacity to reflect upon his or her actions and thoughts. Hence, metacognition involves a self-regulatory skill whereby the learner monitors his or her own learning processes and knowledge construction (Tsai, 2001a). In the past few years, the computer or the Internet has been widely used as a cognitive and/or metacognitive tool to facilitate students’ learning (Jonassen, 1996, 2000). In this perspective, the major purposes of computer or Internet-based instruction are to help learners acquire knowledge and relevant skills, learning how to reorganize knowledge and learning how to learn. (As this paper presents a general discussion about how the Internet can be 526 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 35 No 5 2004 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2004. used as an epistemological tool, learners are referred to as students who may use the Internet for instructional purposes. In the current stage, this group of learners often includes those in higher education and high schools.) Table 1 shows a detailed description of the purposes and their possible methods. For instance, as a cognitive tool, students can navigate an Internet-based virtual reality system to understand the functions of the human body (eg, Chou, Tsai & Tsai, 2001) and then acquire the relevant knowledge. Or, some three-dimensional virtual environments are helpful to describe physical and chemical processes, facilitating better conceptual understanding in science (eg, Trindade, Fiolhase & Almeida, 2002). As a metacognitive tool, some computeror Internet-based systems have been developed to help students construct their concept maps (eg, Reader & Hammond, 1994; Tsai, Lin & Yuan, 2001). Through these systems, students can reorganise their knowledge and make meaningful connections with other knowledge and experiences. In addition, students’ metacognition will be enhanced if they can monitor and review their learning paths. Internet-based environments, obviously, have the additional capacity to record every student’s navigation and learning paths in the courseware. This record within the learning environments can, at some points, allow students to review the pathways navigated and to evaluate what they have done in the course of exploring ideas. The study conducted by Salmon (2002) shares a similar pedagogy. Through revealing navigation records, the participants’ learning in Salmon’s study has been enhanced when they are given opportunities for reflecting on their on-line learning with the support of a trained e-moderator. The use of the Internet as an epistemological tool Epistemology is the study of knowledge and knowing, and it explores the questions such as ‘what counts as knowledge?’ and ‘what does it mean to know and to believe?’ Therefore, epistemology deals with the nature of knowledge and beliefs. Educators have also Table 1: The use of computers or the Internet as cognitive or metacognitive tools Purposes Possible methods Cognitive tool • Information acquisition • Information search • Visualisation or virtual realty • Test bank • Synchronous and asynchronous conferencing • Knowledge acquisition and comprehension • Knowledge construction or co-construction • Developing reasoning and problem solving skills Metacognitive tool • Select and filter information • Semantic networks (or concept maps) • Reorganise knowledge • System modelling • Conceptual change • Hypermedia or database construction • Making connections with previous and other knowledge and experiences • Providing learning profiles of web navigation for learners’ review • Learning how to learn and how to apply knowledge Beyond cognitive and metacognitive tools 527 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2004. concluded that learners’ (across different ages) epistemologies may affect their learning strategies, reasoning modes and decisions when encountering new information (Hofer, 2001; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Sinatra, 2001). Due to the rich information in Internetbased resources and decontextualised nature of Internet-based interactions, this paper asserts that the use of the Internet should not be limited in cognitive or metacognitive tools; rather, it can be perceived as an epistemological tool. For example, the diverse perspectives within Internet-based environments provide opportunities for learners to develop evaluative standards to judge the merits of information and knowledge, thus exploring some epistemological issues. At the same time, learners may shape or reshape some explanatory models or commitments to conceptualise new experiences. These models and commitments can be applied to decision making in everyday contexts or the learning of different disciplines. Also, through interactions with a variety of information, peers, and even experts in Internet-based environments, students can acquire more opportunities to elaborate many theoretical facets within a knowledge domain. And, if the interactions are appropriately processed, students may gain a more proper understanding about the nature of knowledge and technology, such as that the value of knowledge and technology is relative to the contexts in use, thus possibly reshaping their worldviews. All of these views, beliefs and understanding, clearly, are related to learners’ epistemologies. Table 2 shows how the Internet can be perceived as an epistemological tool. The purposes listed in Tables 1 and 2 imply a hierarchy, an ascending priority from more fundamental or lower-order purposes to more integrated or higher-order purposes. To repeat, epistemology is the study of knowledge and knowing. Therefore, when the Internet is perceived as an epistemological tool, learners are encouraged to explore: • Which information is more important than other information? • Which information or knowledge items are more reliable and valid than others? Table 2: The use of the Internet as an epistemological tool Purposes Possible methods Epistemological tool • Commitments or judgmental standards to information and knowledge • Reflective judgements in web navigation • Decision making in web contexts • Meaningful interactions with web materials and peers or experts • Developing ideal or explanatory models • A proper understanding about the nature of technology, learning and teaching • Promoting integrated or interdisciplinary epistemological commitments • Shaping philosophy and worldviews 528 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 35 No 5 2004 © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2004. • What counts for ‘knowledge’? • What is the nature of their knowledge (and learning)? • How to resolve the conflicts between various perspectives of knowledge? • How to effectively integrate all sorts of knowledge into a coherent or viable framework? As a result, the use of Internet-based instruction as an epistemological tool may broaden its purposes, and help learners develop some commitments to, or models of, a variety of knowledge fields and contexts. The following two sections will show two theoretical examples of the interplay between Internet-based instruction and epistemological beliefs. One may argue that the definitions and distinctions between cognition, metacognition and epistemology may be overlapped and open to complex debate. To reveal the similarities and differences among these three, this paper suggests a simple three-layer hierarchy for the purposes of Internet-based instruction, from ‘cognitive,’ ‘metacognitive’ to the highest ‘epistemological’, shown in Figure 1. It is asserted that the use of the Internet as cognitive and metacognitive tools is a foundation for implementing the Internet as an epistemological tool. In other words, the use of the Internet as cognitive and metacognitive tools is a necessary, though not sufficient, condition to use it as an epistemological tool. For instance, if students do not have to acquire knowledge or do not have metacognitive ability to monitor their learning processes through Internet-based instruction, they will not be aware of the nature of their learning and the nature of knowledge construction, nor achieve the epistemological goals presented above. Therefore, if the Internet is used as an epistemological tool, using it as a cognitive and metacognitive tool is a prerequisite. On the other hand, some students may simply acquire knowledge from Internet learning environments (cognitive), without explicitly reflecting their ideas (metacognitive) nor involving epistemological reflections (epistemological). Theoretical example 1: the use of the Internet to develop epistemological commitments in science education Tsai (2001a) has discussed how to possibly use the Internet to develop appropriate epistemological commitments in the field of science education. Epistemological commitFigure 1: Three layers of using Internet for instruction Epistemological