The Comment Section: A Learning Opportunity?

After conducting a content analysis of around 1500 comments on science learning channels on YouTube, Israeli researchers Dubovi & Tabak came to the conclusion that there’s an opportunity for learners to engage in argumentative deliberation in the comment section, thereby deepening their understanding of a topic. This informal space, they suggest, can serve as a forum for collaborative interactions that support informal and nonformal learning. So, what does this mean for workplace learning and customer education? These findings support the idea that collaborative knowledge construction is possible and would encourage the enablement of comments on organizational learning content.

Key Takeaway

Uploading a video to YouTube? Creating content to share in an LMS (like the Intellum platform)? In either case, enable those comments! This can be a valuable way for your learners to co-create knowledge.

Read More (Paywall)

Dubovi, I. & Tabak, I. (2020). An empirical analysis of knowledge co-construction in YouTube comments. Computers & Education, 156.

A Tip for Researchers!

Frustrated by the paywall? We get it. Potential solutions: Ask your local public librarian for access to these journals, or request the articles through your local library’s InterLibrary Loan service, “which is essential for the democratization of research” (see: InterLibrary Loan will change your life).

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This article review and summary was included in Learning Science Weekly, a weekly newsletter published by the researchers in Intellum's Learning Science department. If you'd like more recommendations on how you can apply findings from the learning sciences into your practice, subscribe today!

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