We now know a fair deal about teaching and learning processes in text-based asynchronous learning environments (Garrison, 2003; Garrison & Anderson, 2003; Kanuka & Anderson, 2004). Nonetheless, our knowledge is still insufficient when it comes to how shared conception of educational tasks is produced in this kind of educational environment, which other authors have called intersubjectivity (Rommetveit, 1979; Wertsch 1985). According to Wertsch (1985) and Baker et al. (1999), a sufficient level of shared representation or definition of the educational situation amongst the participants provides the basis for appropriate regulation of the learning and is required for students’ knowledge building. Shared knowledge between teacher and students regarding important characteristics of the task include the learning objectives, role of the content, conditions to carry out the task and evaluation criteria. This process is characterised in terms of understanding and adopting the reference framework used by the other person and involves negotiating and intersubjective situation definition between teacher and learners, and amongst learners themselves. Both the definition of the educational situation, based on subjective meanings, and the establishment of a common perspective of the shared knowledge for the educational task depend on use of the appropriate forms of semiotic mediation (Wertsch, 1985).

The review of the theory carried out allows us to propose five inclusive levels of joint construction of mutual understanding of tasks: I) Contribution of information on the characteristics of the educational task; II) Global negotiation reflecting comprehensive lack of understanding of the educational task; III) Significant negotiation reflecting a basic understanding of the educational task, but with important doubts; IV) Occasional negotiation reflecting complete understanding of the educational task, with specific doubts, and V) Global confirmation reflecting complete understanding of the educational task. Only levels II, III and IV make reference to the intersubjective negotiation processes amongst participants.

The main aim of the exploratory research involves looking in more depth at the knowledge regarding the processes of shared conception of educational tasks in knowledge-building processes taking place in text-based asynchronous learning environments. The specific aims guiding the research are to characterise this type of educational process in each educational task and identify the predominant discursive strategies.

The methodology used in the research is based on case studies. The cases selected took place in the text-based asynchronous learning environment of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). The educational tasks selected for data collection consisted of a chat forum, a debate forum, cooperative group work and individual work, with each task lasting, on average, 30 days. The corpus of data collected and analysed in the four educational tasks, taking place in four different virtual classrooms, totals 1961 email messages, written by four teachers and 50 students.

The procedure consisted of collecting and recording the data from the emails for each of the tasks and then classifying them in terms of the type of task. Next, the data was transformed so that it could be analysed using the Atlas.ti program. Following this, the emails were categorised and, finally, indicators were calculated for the categories identified.

With regard to the email messages, statements have been identified within email messages, as have chains of conversationally contingent statements. The statements and conversationally contingent chains of statements have been placed into five categories, which correspond to the five inclusive levels of joint construction of mutual understanding of tasks. The order of these categories corresponds to the successive levels of shared definition of the educational task.

Based on the results obtained from the application of these categories, the following findings, amongst others, have been reached: the total number, relative frequency of appearance and types of category of statements, messages and chains identified in each educational task, and the level of shared conception of educational tasks achieved in each educational task.

The analysis of the data obtained highlighted the existence of important differences between the processes of shared conception of educational tasks in each of the educational tasks analysed. In the cooperative group work tasks the appearance of categories I and III stood out. In the chat and debate forum tasks, categories I and IV stood out, and in the individual work task, categories I and II stood out. Alongside these results, it was also noted that there were important differences in the discursive negotiation strategies used to catalyse the shared conception of educational tasks in the learning tasks analysed.

The results and conclusions gained can be applied to improve the technological and educational design and development of this type of task in text-based asynchronous learning environments.

Bibliography

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Garrison, D. R. (2003). Cognitive Presence for Effective Asynchronous Online Learning: The Role of Reflective Inquiry, Self-direction and Metacognition. In J. Bourne & J. C. Moore (Eds.), Elements of Quality Online Education: Practice and direction. Volume 4 in the Sloan C Series, The Sloan Consortium.

Garrison, D. R. & Anderson, T. (2003). E-Learning in the 21^st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice. London: Routledge/Falmer.

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Rommetveit, R. (1979). On the architecture of intersubjectivity. In R. Rommetveit & R. M. Blackar (Eds.) Studies on language, thought and verbal communication (pp. 93-107). London: Academic Press.

Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Vygotsky and the social formation of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.