Developing Undergraduates’ Collective Epistemic Agency Through Reflective Assessment

Abstract

To examine the effect of reflective assessment on fostering undergraduates’ collective epistemic agency, this study adopted a quasi-experimental design. The experimental class included 40 undergraduates conducting inquiries in a KB design enhanced by reflective assessment, while the comparison class included 38 undergraduates experiencing a regular KB design. Students’ online Knowledge Forum discourse were collected and analyzed using discourse analysis and social network analysis. The results suggest that undergraduates in the experimental condition took significantly greater levels of collective epistemic agency than the undergraduates in the comparison condition. Groups with different contribution levels can all benefit from reflective assessment within the experimental condition, although they manifest different developmental trajectories. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in higher-level epistemic and metacognitive actions between high and low contribution groups. These results provide implications for designing technology-rich environments and reflective assessment strategies to support undergraduates’ higher-level competencies in Knowledge Building and other computer-supported collaborative inquiry approaches.