Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal
This paper analyses meaning-making processes in a blended setting—face-to-face interaction and we... more This paper analyses meaning-making processes in a blended setting—face-to-face interaction and web forum—purposely created for collaborative learning activity. The analysis focuses on one pair out of 14 dyads. The dyad comprises two female students aged 17 and 18 who attended a Brazilian third-year state secondary school. We envisioned intertextuality in a seamless thematic flux using a single theme—about everyday problems in the culture—by two different problem-solving tasks. Task#1 required discussing two polemic reports published in an online newspaper: one in favour of using digital technologies in class, the other against it. Task#2 involved perspective-taking, where students should imagine the school in 20 years. Afterwards, the pair participated in an episodic interview focusing on their participation in both tasks. The interactions were video recorded. To map the meaning-making processes, we applied the dialogic thematic analysis looking for centripetal and centrifugal force...
Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society Focus on: Semantic Web and e-Learning www.sie-l.it ww... more Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society Focus on: Semantic Web and e-Learning www.sie-l.itwww.je-lks.it La rivista esce tre volte l'anno on line in italiano e in inglese. Tutti i soci SIe-L accedono alla versione on line. La versione cartacea è disponibile per i soci SIe-L con quota associativa almeno pari ad € 130,00.
In this paper websites are not approached as being just technological artefacts-which they also a... more In this paper websites are not approached as being just technological artefacts-which they also are, indeed-but from the point of view of communication, which is (one of) their structural purpose(s). In this perspective, the Website Communication Model (WCM) provides a model that highlights five main areas of interest when dealing with websites: the areas of contents and services offered through the website, of the tools for accessing them, of the people who publish the website, of those who access and use it, and of the "ecological" context which the website is part of. The need for such an approach to electronic communication is well represented by the behavior of internet search engines, which strongly rely on the 'pragmatic' aspects of web communication. In fact, when performing the activities of collecting web pages, indexing them into their databases, and responding to users' requests, internet search engines are relying more and more on criteria that are not directly deducible from web resources themselves, but that allow to be captured some information about the publishers and the users of the website. In this article, examples are presented, which show the pragmatic criteria adopted by some internet search engines in the three main phases of their operation: spidering, indexing and responding.
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 2016
In this paper, we describe a procedure to promote active participation in online courses by suppo... more In this paper, we describe a procedure to promote active participation in online courses by supporting students in performing the role of an e-Tutor during group activities. A case-study, conducted to explore the procedural effects both on students' interactions and on their perceptions about the role, is discussed. Eighteen university students (67% female, Mean Age = 23 years) took part in online collaborative learning activities as part of a 15 week blended learning course. Twelve participants took turns in covering the role of e-Tutor. Findings were based on a mixed methods analysis of 7,105 contributions posted online by the 18 students. An analysis of e-Tutor self-assessment forms was also considered. Results indicated that utilizing peer-based e-Tutors promoted substantial active participation in online discussions. Moreover, students performing the role of e-Tutor adopted a supportive, collaborative and educational style, which was maintained even after their turn as e-Tutor had ended.
This paper presents a protocol developed for multidimensional assessment for e-learning experienc... more This paper presents a protocol developed for multidimensional assessment for e-learning experiences based on socioconstructivist principles. First, we describe the structure of an e-learning course where the protocol has been developed and tested; second, we describe the protocol and how it has been used in that course. We believe this protocol is a useful tool for a twofold reason: on the one hand, it takes into account the complexity of the pedagogical architecture of socioconstructivist courses – where many teaching models and learning strategies are mixed, different individual and collaborative activities are proposed and students are asked to build a variety of final products. On the other hand, it promotes students’ assumption of responsibility and active role, with a particular reference to self-assessment competences. Instances of how we have applied the protocol will be described in the paper. The assessment protocol we present here is complex, nevertheless flexible. Theref...
The aim of this work is to promote a conceptual and methodological dialogue between the sociocons... more The aim of this work is to promote a conceptual and methodological dialogue between the socioconstructivism perspective and the point of view of the psychodynamic theory of the unconscious. The authors recognize that at the moment there is a lack of communication between socioconstructivism and the theory of the unconscious, resulting first of all from the theoretical core of traditional dynamic psychology and psychoanalysis, that has raised and developed as an individualistic model. All the same, a significant part of the contemporary psychodynamic theory has deeply changed. It shares with socioconstructivism the common contextual epistemology wich focuses on the relationship between individuals and context, as well as the mediation that discourse and semiotic devices exercise within this relationship. Four different models of relationship between the two theoretical field are presented. In conclusion the authors highlight opportunities of theoretical and methodological development suggest that encounters between socioconstructivism and psychology of the unconscious can take place and have productive results
Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in ... more Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in a more general way, societies expect schools to provide a high quality education. They also expect students to be able to achieve and to become active and critical citizens. As senior researchers in education, we address some of the most complex and demanding research questions: How does learning affect identity? How does participation to educational settings, scenarios and situations impact the way we are or became? Can changes in how we perceive our Selves be considered as part of the learning process? This book attempts to outline some answers to such broad questions using a very robust and updated theoretical frame: the dialogical approach. In these chapters very well-known international authors from different continents and countries analyze school and educational situations through new lens: by considering the teaching and learning processes as multi-voiced and socially complex and...
The theme of this symposium is to explore the material conditions of learning and remembering fro... more The theme of this symposium is to explore the material conditions of learning and remembering from a sociocultural perspective. We do this in four different empirical contexts. Learning and remembering are understood as meaning-making processes that are dependent on and co-constituted by mediating tools that enable practices to extend across time and space. Our interests are precisely in what ways the “tools” people employ in these studies mediate activities of learning and remembering, and how they contribute to the organization of collective forms of knowing. We also address how we analyze the specific material features of tools that co-determine the unfolding of the activities.
In this paper we explore evolution in the appropriation of virtual environments during the traini... more In this paper we explore evolution in the appropriation of virtual environments during the training of an individual female SME entrepreneur. The subject is participating in a project devoted to innovation of organizational practices for enhanced sustainability and the exchange of so-called “externalities”. In this investigation we distinguish between technology as the object of activity and technology as tool, and identify three utilization schemas: usage schema, instrument-mediated action schema and instrument-mediated collective activity schema. The investigation highlights the prompting role of the researcher conducting the training and the substantial difference between the narrated and acted levels of technology utilization. The findings show that technology appropriation is not necessarily a linear process proceeding from one usage schema to the next. Moreover, technology did not become an “invisible” instrument for the participant s activity. Moving up to the next schema lev...
Dialogic Pedagogy: An International Online Journal
This paper analyses meaning-making processes in a blended setting—face-to-face interaction and we... more This paper analyses meaning-making processes in a blended setting—face-to-face interaction and web forum—purposely created for collaborative learning activity. The analysis focuses on one pair out of 14 dyads. The dyad comprises two female students aged 17 and 18 who attended a Brazilian third-year state secondary school. We envisioned intertextuality in a seamless thematic flux using a single theme—about everyday problems in the culture—by two different problem-solving tasks. Task#1 required discussing two polemic reports published in an online newspaper: one in favour of using digital technologies in class, the other against it. Task#2 involved perspective-taking, where students should imagine the school in 20 years. Afterwards, the pair participated in an episodic interview focusing on their participation in both tasks. The interactions were video recorded. To map the meaning-making processes, we applied the dialogic thematic analysis looking for centripetal and centrifugal force...
Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society Focus on: Semantic Web and e-Learning www.sie-l.it ww... more Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society Focus on: Semantic Web and e-Learning www.sie-l.itwww.je-lks.it La rivista esce tre volte l'anno on line in italiano e in inglese. Tutti i soci SIe-L accedono alla versione on line. La versione cartacea è disponibile per i soci SIe-L con quota associativa almeno pari ad € 130,00.
In this paper websites are not approached as being just technological artefacts-which they also a... more In this paper websites are not approached as being just technological artefacts-which they also are, indeed-but from the point of view of communication, which is (one of) their structural purpose(s). In this perspective, the Website Communication Model (WCM) provides a model that highlights five main areas of interest when dealing with websites: the areas of contents and services offered through the website, of the tools for accessing them, of the people who publish the website, of those who access and use it, and of the "ecological" context which the website is part of. The need for such an approach to electronic communication is well represented by the behavior of internet search engines, which strongly rely on the 'pragmatic' aspects of web communication. In fact, when performing the activities of collecting web pages, indexing them into their databases, and responding to users' requests, internet search engines are relying more and more on criteria that are not directly deducible from web resources themselves, but that allow to be captured some information about the publishers and the users of the website. In this article, examples are presented, which show the pragmatic criteria adopted by some internet search engines in the three main phases of their operation: spidering, indexing and responding.
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 2016
In this paper, we describe a procedure to promote active participation in online courses by suppo... more In this paper, we describe a procedure to promote active participation in online courses by supporting students in performing the role of an e-Tutor during group activities. A case-study, conducted to explore the procedural effects both on students' interactions and on their perceptions about the role, is discussed. Eighteen university students (67% female, Mean Age = 23 years) took part in online collaborative learning activities as part of a 15 week blended learning course. Twelve participants took turns in covering the role of e-Tutor. Findings were based on a mixed methods analysis of 7,105 contributions posted online by the 18 students. An analysis of e-Tutor self-assessment forms was also considered. Results indicated that utilizing peer-based e-Tutors promoted substantial active participation in online discussions. Moreover, students performing the role of e-Tutor adopted a supportive, collaborative and educational style, which was maintained even after their turn as e-Tutor had ended.
This paper presents a protocol developed for multidimensional assessment for e-learning experienc... more This paper presents a protocol developed for multidimensional assessment for e-learning experiences based on socioconstructivist principles. First, we describe the structure of an e-learning course where the protocol has been developed and tested; second, we describe the protocol and how it has been used in that course. We believe this protocol is a useful tool for a twofold reason: on the one hand, it takes into account the complexity of the pedagogical architecture of socioconstructivist courses – where many teaching models and learning strategies are mixed, different individual and collaborative activities are proposed and students are asked to build a variety of final products. On the other hand, it promotes students’ assumption of responsibility and active role, with a particular reference to self-assessment competences. Instances of how we have applied the protocol will be described in the paper. The assessment protocol we present here is complex, nevertheless flexible. Theref...
The aim of this work is to promote a conceptual and methodological dialogue between the sociocons... more The aim of this work is to promote a conceptual and methodological dialogue between the socioconstructivism perspective and the point of view of the psychodynamic theory of the unconscious. The authors recognize that at the moment there is a lack of communication between socioconstructivism and the theory of the unconscious, resulting first of all from the theoretical core of traditional dynamic psychology and psychoanalysis, that has raised and developed as an individualistic model. All the same, a significant part of the contemporary psychodynamic theory has deeply changed. It shares with socioconstructivism the common contextual epistemology wich focuses on the relationship between individuals and context, as well as the mediation that discourse and semiotic devices exercise within this relationship. Four different models of relationship between the two theoretical field are presented. In conclusion the authors highlight opportunities of theoretical and methodological development suggest that encounters between socioconstructivism and psychology of the unconscious can take place and have productive results
Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in ... more Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in a more general way, societies expect schools to provide a high quality education. They also expect students to be able to achieve and to become active and critical citizens. As senior researchers in education, we address some of the most complex and demanding research questions: How does learning affect identity? How does participation to educational settings, scenarios and situations impact the way we are or became? Can changes in how we perceive our Selves be considered as part of the learning process? This book attempts to outline some answers to such broad questions using a very robust and updated theoretical frame: the dialogical approach. In these chapters very well-known international authors from different continents and countries analyze school and educational situations through new lens: by considering the teaching and learning processes as multi-voiced and socially complex and...
The theme of this symposium is to explore the material conditions of learning and remembering fro... more The theme of this symposium is to explore the material conditions of learning and remembering from a sociocultural perspective. We do this in four different empirical contexts. Learning and remembering are understood as meaning-making processes that are dependent on and co-constituted by mediating tools that enable practices to extend across time and space. Our interests are precisely in what ways the “tools” people employ in these studies mediate activities of learning and remembering, and how they contribute to the organization of collective forms of knowing. We also address how we analyze the specific material features of tools that co-determine the unfolding of the activities.
In this paper we explore evolution in the appropriation of virtual environments during the traini... more In this paper we explore evolution in the appropriation of virtual environments during the training of an individual female SME entrepreneur. The subject is participating in a project devoted to innovation of organizational practices for enhanced sustainability and the exchange of so-called “externalities”. In this investigation we distinguish between technology as the object of activity and technology as tool, and identify three utilization schemas: usage schema, instrument-mediated action schema and instrument-mediated collective activity schema. The investigation highlights the prompting role of the researcher conducting the training and the substantial difference between the narrated and acted levels of technology utilization. The findings show that technology appropriation is not necessarily a linear process proceeding from one usage schema to the next. Moreover, technology did not become an “invisible” instrument for the participant s activity. Moving up to the next schema lev...
Uploads
Papers by M. Ligorio