Research Article
Emanuel Fokides
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 190-205
ABSTRACT
When coming to school for the first time, children might face a number of adjustment problems. The study presents the results of a project which used digital storytelling for helping first-grade primary school students during this transitional period. It was examined whether, through the development of the digital stories, students could understand how the school functions and whether this process helped them to change their attitudes and behaviors, thus achieving a smoother adaptation to the school environment. Students’ active participation and behavioral modeling to enhance positive behaviors provided the theoretical basis. Due to the students' young age, their teachers functioned as their "hands", executing their instructions when developing the stories. At the same time, however, they indirectly guided them to certain key-points that had to be highlighted, without openly lecturing them. Observations and interviews with the classes' teachers and with the students that presented significant adaptation problems were used for data collection purposes. The results are considered satisfactory. Adaptation issues ceased to pose a significant problem and the overall classes' climate was improved. Finally, due to the project's short duration, it can be applied relatively easily, without altering the school’s timetable.
Keywords: Digital storytelling, School readiness, School adjustment, Modeling, Constructivism
Research Article
Hwee Ling Lim
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 1, Issue 4, pp. 306-321
ABSTRACT
Sociocultural constructivism assumes that a learner’s capacity for intellectual growth increases with the presence of scaffolding or support during interaction. Moreover, from participating in dialogic interaction, there is appropriation of the knowledge shared and jointly created by learners which could transform individual understandings. Hence, interactions are opportunities for scaffolding and appropriation that affect intellectual development. This paper presents a study of an online course based on constructivist principles and evaluates the extent to which an instructional activity, supported by synchronous communication technology in a virtual environment, fosters collaborative learning. Survey findings on two student groups’ experiences of collaborative learning during online tutorials are presented. The results indicated that scaffolding was available as peers’ efforts in provision and clarification of ideas during tutorial discussions. Also, appropriation of shared knowledge was present as students’ perceptions of own attainment of learning from peer contributions during discussions. The conclusion discusses the effectiveness of the instructional activity in facilitating collaborative learning and offers recommendations for future research.
Keywords: Collaborative learning, Computer-mediated communication, Educational technology, Sociocultural constructivism, Virtual learning environment.