But Kialo has the highest capacity for higher order pedagogy. As a debating platform, it fosters collaboration between students and encourages a deeper analysis and articulation of ideas and view points. 

Kialo can also be used as a central hub for assessment and learning tasks. Teachers can set specific assessments for completion and submission through Kialo, as well as simple learning activities such as writing tasks and small presentations. 

Indeed, Kialo plays an instrumental role in redefining persuasive writing and presentation tasks, shifting learning into online environments,  facilitating sustained discussions between peers and teachers, and enabling teachers to measure learning progress through dated debates and commentaries. 

Morrson (2012) argues that ‘learning happens in the dialogue, the conversation, the problem solving (or not solving)’. I couldn’t agree more. The debate is where the deeper learning occurs in a persuasive essay task. 

Of course, the research and presentation stages of persuasive writing are important. These stages of learning can be enhanced with a range of platforms such as Newsela and Mindmeister as you can see in the collection. 

But I feel that the important learning, the real learning, occurs in collaboration with one another, hence the focus on Kialo as the collection’s selected artefact. 

The collection has been designed as a continuum of a persuasive writing task, beginning with the underpinning principles of pedagogy that inform teaching, before exploring a range of ICT resources that could be incorporated in the research, discussion and presentation stages of the assessment task. 

Morrison, D. (2012, April 27). Online Groups - Cooperative or Collaborative? Online Learning Insights. https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/online-groups-cooperative-or-collaborative/ 

Kialo has its limitations, and simply instructing students to use it as a discussion platform will not immediately yield higher order thinking. Effective collaboration is possible with online tools, but, as Paulus (2005) indicates, group tasks need to be purposely structured to ensure collaboration, and higher order thinking skills, are supported. 

Morrison, D. (2012, April 27). Online Groups - Cooperative or Collaborative? Online Learning Insights. https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/online-groups-cooperative-or-collaborative/ 

Paulus, T. M. (2005). Collaborative and cooperative approaches to online group work: The impact of task type. Distance Education, 26(1), 111-125. doi:10.1080/01587910500081343