The Digital IdeaKeeper: Extending Digital Library Services to Scaffold Online Inquiry

Abstract

Online inquiry is an important way of engaging learners in information-rich activities using online sources to explore questions in different fields, such as science. Online inquiry involves a set of interrelated activities, such as planning an investigation; seeking, analyzing, and making sense of online information; and synthesizing information into a final argument. However, learners may encounter several obstacles in trying to tackle an open-ended, complex process like online inquiry. Digital library services support information seeking, but do not necessarily support the full range of online inquiry activities. Therefore, using a learner-centered design approach, we are developing the Digital IdeaKeeper environment to extend digital libraries by integrating different tools and incorporating different scaffolding approaches to help learners effectively engage in online inquiry. IdeaKeeper provides an “online inquiry context” for the full range of online inquiry activities, supporting analysis of the articles found in a digital library, and synthesis of different resources to develop arguments addressing the questions they are investigating. This paper is available at http://hi-ce.org/aera2004.html

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