Conversation Theory Conceptualized in E-Learning Environments

Abstract

This chapter examines Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory, comparing his approach to the current literature about the growing field of E-learning as a vital component for knowledge acquisition. For this chapter, conversation and dialogue are simply defined as an exchange of information between students and instructors. This exchange can be informal like a conversation or more formal like a dialogue (Merriam-Webster’s, 1974). Pask developed his Conversation Theory based primarily on an exchange of information between a human and an artificial intelligence, i.e. a computer