Technology Mediated Collaborative Learning Through Perusall (John Gibbons)

Technology Mediated Collaborative Learning Through Perusall Social Annotations In a University TESOL Teacher Training Course (John Gibbons)
This presentation will discuss how students in an undergraduate Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) training course collaboratively read and annotate selected readings using Perusall functions. This study, coming from a larger research project, addresses the following research question: how do students use Perusall to co-construct knowledge and learn collaboratively through social annotating tasks? Perusall is an online platform that allows students to synchronously/asynchronously collaborate and exchange ideas on a joint text (Gao, 2013; Li & Li, 2022; Nel & Marais; 2021). Data was collected from Perusall social annotations that students created across two online collaborative reading activities regarding a pedagogy-oriented journal article and a book chapter, respectively. Annotations were coded and analyzed to reveal engagement patterns. Perusall affordances such as directly connecting conversations to text through highlighting, extended threaded conversations from multiple participants across varied timeframes, student linking to outside multimedia resources, and the use of emojis and upvoting/downvoting allowed students numerous modalities and opportunity for engagement and collaborative learning. The audience will enhance their knowledge of how students (pre-service teachers) collectively learn course-related content through the use of Perusall’s online technology. Participants will be more informed on Perusall’s integration into their online/hybrid course curriculum.