Abstract:
Recent emphasis in using hypermedia tools for knowledge construction has focused on students' active roles as knowledge designers. Although preliminary evidence suggests many advantages with this approach, it is not clear how the characteristics of hypermedia affect the nature of students' knowledge construction and knowledge representation. This study documented the constructive process of designing collaborative hypermedia projects and investigated its impact on students' conceptual learning and task engagement. Such knowledge is crucial for effective use of hypermedia technology in education.

Twenty-nine high school students participated in this descriptive case study over a two-month period. They worked in pairs and designed a hypermedia knowledge base to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts learned in a science class. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and categorized into several units/levels of analysis. At each level of analysis, different data collection techniques were used, including measurement of students' knowledge structure, participant observation, interview, questionnaire, and document analysis. A four-step approach of data analysis was used to integrate multiple data sources and to transform coded data into meaningful data.

Results of this study indicated that student participants achieved more organized and elaborated knowledge structures throughout the project. Their conceptual learning was evidenced by the establishment of new relations among concepts as well as the organization of concepts on a more abstract level. Knowledge construction during the process of linking and visual/spatial representation enhanced the development of a coherence-seeking habit. This new habit of thinking allowed students to achieve complex learning by recognizing their own knowledge deficiencies. Four features of knowledge representation characterized different types and subtypes of knowledge construction processes identified in this study: typography, associativity, nonlinearity, and abstraction. Abstraction rather than associativity or nonlinearity was found to be crucial for conceptual integration. Students indicated a high degree of engagement in organizing information into hypermedia format. However, their motivation toward the tasks involved in hypermedia design activities took the form of persistence rather than enthusiasm. These results supported the proposed values of deigning hypermedia documents in learning to design and designing to learn, and suggested ideas for classroom implementation and further research.