Re-designed university course to support boundary crossing between academic and professional - PowerPoint Presentation

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Re-designed university course to support boundary crossing between academic and professional communities

Amenduni

Francesca

Supervisor: Prof Ligorio Maria Beatrice

University

of Bari (

Italy

)

Email:

amendoonia@gmail.com

The Problem

In the Italian context, university

courses are often based on theoretical knowledge and students have a few chances to develop digital and professional skills during their academic life

.

University students need to develop

generic skills

, important in professional contexts

University courses should provide the opportunity to reflect upon their

professional identity

, their position in the society and in the

labour

market.

Our

aims

To

develop

students

’

awareness

of

their

own

professional

goals

;

T

o

improve

networking

and

professional

skills

;

To

support

transitional

processess

across

boundaries

between

academic

and

professional

communities

;

To

emphasize

joint work with

artefacts

and

practices

!

Theoretical Background

We

applied

a model

that

inglobes

different

theories

of collaborative work;

all

sharing

a

view

of collaborative

learning

as

a

process

of

creating

something

new

:

Cultural

Psychology

(Cole, 1996)

Knowledge

Building

Theory

(

Scardamalia

&

Bereiter

, 1994);

CHAT

Cultural

Historical

Activity

Theroy

(

Engestrom

, 1987;

Vygotsky

, 1978)



Trialogical

Learning

Approach

(

Paavola

&

Hakkarainen

, 2005)

The

Term

Trialogical

refers

to

those

processes where people are collaboratively and systematically developing shared, concrete “objects” together. These objects of inquiry can be knowledge artefacts, practices, ideas, models, representation but understood as something concrete to be developed collaboratively.

An

illustration

of the

trialogical

approach

to

learning

presenting

some of the

basic

elements

of

it

(

Paavola

S. &

Hakkarainen

, K. (2009)

Design principles

DP1) Organizing activities around

shared “objects

”

;

DP2) Supporting integration between personal and

collective

agency;

DP3)

Fostering long-term processes of knowledge advancement;DP4) Emphasizing development through transformation and reflection between various forms of knowledge and practices;DP5) Cross fertilization of various knowledge practices across communities and institutions;DP6) Providing flexible tools for mediation.

The context

The

institution

:

University

of Bari,

Italy

Topic

: Educational and E-learning

Psychology (e-learning, blended learning, socio-contructivism, new trends…)Duration: 4 monthsParticipants: 35 students Master’s Degree, 5 e-learning companies, one university teacher and a group of e-learning tutors.

DP1) Organizing

activities

around

“

shared

objects

”Five e-learning companies introduced themselves and proposed shared objectsSeven groups were formed to build as many objects They worked for six weeks using different digital means, interacting with the companies and receiving feedback from real customersFinally, students presented their objects firstly to the class and then to real customersCompanies supported the objects development in order to actually sell them

DP2) Supporting

integration

between

personal and

collective

agency

Shifting

from individual to group dimension and vice versaTeacher prepared educational material to be distributed individually. The collection of such material covered the content of the courseStudents individually studied the material so to become an «expert» about a piece of knowledge (similar to a puzzle piece). Students wrote individual reviews and later they discussed and combined their knowledge in group so to re-construct the whole content (as in a puzzle) Role taking: a few roles were designed so students could cover them in turns. Examples of roles: E-tutor, researcher, product expert, supporter, maps manager) Students were required to develop two kinds of e- portfolio: a professional one on Linkedin and a student one on Forumcommunity

DP3)

Fostering long-term processes of knowledge advancement

Companies helped students in defining

usefulness and applicability

of the objects

During the objects construction,

company tutors

answered questions and gave feedback on students work practices on professional platform (LinkedIn)

Finally, companies assessed the objects and gave further feedback about how to develop the object in the future Along the whole course, students developed their professional network through LinkedIn.

DP4)

Emphasizing

development through transformation and

reflection

Students were provided by educational material in the format of chapters and papers. This material is

transformed

into individual

reviews

and afterwards into conceptual

maps built collaborativelyEach transformation is supported by reflective discussions via web forum.“Product expert” is a student who compares his own group product and strategy with those of the other groups. This role favors reflections on weaknesses and strengths about the practices and objects under construction.

DP5) Cross fertilization

of various knowledge practices across communities and institutions

;

Companies describe their

best work practices

and invite students to follow their instructions

Companies give students a list of

items to self-assess

the objects during their development

Students and companies share a virtual space (LinkedIn group) where they can discuss ideas, post articles, drafts and so on

DP6) Providing flexible

tools for

mediation

-

Forumcommunity

is a platform in which you can organize discussions around different topics in forums; Students used

Forumcommunity

to organize their work around shared objects and to discuss their ideas;

- LinkedIn is one of the most important professional Social Networks. You can use it to create a professional e-portfolio and to develop your network. - Google drive: is a Google tool in cloud. You can use it to manage knowledge materials and to create “shared objects” in a collaborative

way.

- Doodle

is a tool used to make surveys.

-

Padlet

supports brainstorming processes.

Data Collection

Data

collected

:

E-portfolio (

at

outset

,

half way and at the end of course)Discussions forum (at outset, half way and at the end of course) Student questionnaires (pre and post course)Company questionnaires (at the end of the course)Data Analysis

Combining

qualitative and quantitative

analysis

Content Qualitative Analysis

Social Network Analysis

Positioning

Network Analysis

Examples of “

shared

”

objects

From the

company questionnaire

: All the companies are willing to repeat the experience;

3

are convinced that objects could be re-used in the future; 2 think that LinkedIn could be used to better know students and communicate with them

From

LinkedIn

e-portfolio

: Students triple the number of links within their professional network (Mt1=16 -> Mt2=67), quintuple their professional skills (Mt1=3,8 -> Mt2= 22,2) and greatly increase their endorsements (Mt1=4 -> Mt2= 91)

From students questionnaire: they appreciate the improvement of their professional skills (18 students); the understanding of how digital tools can be used for professional and educational purposes (17); the group-work (15); the collaboration with companies (11); the construction of a shared object (7);Preliminary results

Request for suggestions

We

would

like

to

gather

a general

understanding

of the effect of the course integrating all the data: how could be this achived? How the data we have collected can be further treated?How the course could be improved? What should be changed?

References

Lachmann

, H.,

Ponzer

, S., Johansson, U.-B.,

Karlgren

, K., &

Fossum

, B. (2013). Students’

experiences of collaboration during and after an interprofessional training ward course: a mixed methods study. International Journal of Medical Education, 4, 170–179. http://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.51fc.c412Project, I., & Technologies, I. S. (2006). KP-LAB Knowledge Practices Laboratory. Knowledge Creation Diffusion Utilization, 27490, 1–51.Reynolds, S., & Cariolato, E. (2010). Trialogical Learning, (January).Sami, P., & Kai, H. (2009). From meaning making to joint construction of knowledge practices and artefacts - A trialogical approach to CSCL. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Practices, CSCL 2009 Conference Proceedings - 9th International Conference, 83–92. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1600066\nhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84858436995&partnerID=40&md5=182d17988c4839821e2dabee70e2fcbfSmrž, P., Paralič, J., Smatana, P., & Furdík, K. (2007). Text Mining

Services for

Trialogical

Learning.

Znalosti

2007: 6.

Ročník

Konference

, VŠB-TU Ostrava, 2006(27490), 97–108.