Students Engaging in Multiple-Source Inquiry Tasks: Capturing Dimensions of Collaborative Online Inquiry and Social Deliberation

Abstract

Multiple-source inquiry that involves collaboration and deliberation is a complex construct; accordingly, valid measurement of these related competencies should require students to demonstrate their collaborative inquiry and social deliberation skills as part of an integrated performance. In this article, we report findings from the first phase of an assessment project designed to develop and evaluate the use of a virtual world platform that simultaneously captures collaboration, online inquiry, and social deliberation in the context of a single scenario-based task. Mixed methods were employed to evaluate preliminary evidence of students’ (ages 14–16) competencies in both face-to-face ( n = 5 dyads) and remote ( n = 6 dyads) contexts. Results indicated the scenario-based virtual assessment platform successfully captured varying levels of cognitive and social performance (using both product and process data) on several dimensions of collaborative online inquiry and social deliberation. Illustrative examples of dyads demonstrating stronger or weaker collaborative processes and high-level themes that emerged are presented. Implications for classroom settings and large-scale assessment environments are discussed.