Model of the Educational empowerment of student collaborative learning (EESCOLE)

Author(s):

Jurgita Vizgirdaite(presenting / submitting)Palmira Juceviciene(presenting)Palmira Juceviciene (presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 06 A, Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

15:30-17:00

Room:

B020 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Dina Soeiro

Contribution

Collaborative processes are the fundamental foundation for the team-work based projects in organizations, for group-work in an academic environment, for partnership in the family, for collaboration in and among societies in the modern world. However, how should one empower another person for collaboration and what role does higher education play in this process?

Authors who study collaborative learning in higher education (Dillenbourg, 1995; Kontautiene, 2001; Sawyer, 2004; Rummel, Spada, & Hauser, 2009; Boshuizen, Kirschner, Beers, & Gijselaers, 2008), primarily investigate the application of a specific CL aspect to achieve a desired outcome in a certain instance; however, none of them provide an entire fully developed collaborative learning system that could be implemented in a specific university study subject. In this context, the research problem is formulated in the following problem question: What conditions should students be provided with in the specific study subject process in the university to empower student collaborative learning?

Research objectives:

1. Substantiate the preconditions necessary for educational empowerment.

2. Provide rationale for the differentiated approaches towards a student’s collaborative learning competence based on Vygotsky’s zone of potential development (1986) and the assignment of learning and teaching roles.

3. Reveal the educational empowerment process through the complex of the integrated collaborative learning and subject matter tasks based on cognitive, reflexive, and social characteristics, through monitoring of the study process and the course assessment.

Theoretical framework:

The theoretical EESCOLE model is explained through three stages: 1) Preconditions; 2) Introductory Empowerment; 3) Inclusion in the Learning Process.

Dissemination of the EESCOLE model:

Lithuania:

1) Kaunas University of Technology (Kaunas)

2) Vilnius University International Business School (Vilnius)

The United States of America:

1) California State University, Fullerton (California)

2) Florida Institute of Technology

3) University of North Carolina at Greensboro

The Middle East:

1) University of Haifa (Haifa, Israel)

Practical significance:

The EESCOLE model can be used in different higher education institutions in various study subjects in various higher education institutions all over the world while adequately adapting the tasks to the structure and content of the subject.

Method

Research methods: • The theoretical analysis of student collaborative learning achieved through the educational empowerment in the university studies. Methods: research literature analysis. To assess the educator’s CL competence, the analysis of the competence and qualification portfolio is conducted. To assess the legitimacy aspect, the document content analysis of a study program and a module should be conducted. To assess the students’ CL competence several instruments are used: a. An open-ended questions activity is used to assess the collaborative learning aspect of the students’ competence. b. A CL activity is used to assess students’ subject matter aspect. c. A semi-structured interview is used to assess their learning motivation. d. Personal reflection journals are used to assess their overall CL competence. To monitor the inclusion in the learning process, the following instruments are applied: • Educator’s participant observation and reflective teaching. • Personal reflection journals. • Student self and peer, and educator’s task process and result assessment and feedback. To assess the course two instruments are used: An open ended questions activity; A large class discussion.

Expected Outcomes

Educator’s competence. An educator must possess the collaborative learning competence. Legitimacy. To achieve the presence of legitimacy, a study program should be created based on the goals of either the interaction or the learning paradigm. Competence. Competence includes an individual’s knowledge, abilities, skills, values, attitudes, and other personal traits. For students to be able to successfully perform during a collaborative learning process, they must possess: general learning competence, professional competence in their chosen study area, as well as a competence to collaborate with others. Student’s collaborative learning competence includes three main levels that are based on Vygotsky’s (1986) zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky’s ZPD is used to measure the student’s CL competence, because this model is developmental and ensures the ability to learn by transitioning to the upper competence levels through the means of scaffolding. Based on the aforementioned, nine alternatives of ZPD levels are possible when the subject matter competence as well as the collaborative learning competence are either in the zone of actual, proximal, or potential developments. After the individual collaborative learning competence of each student has been determined the educator should assign each learner with the specific role to fulfill in-class: 1) tutor, 2) tutor and learner, and 3) learner. Inclusion in the learning process. After the collaborative learning competence has been diagnosed and roles assigned, an educator should use differentiated/individualized tasks, as scaffolds, to educationally empower students to learn through collaborative processes and, thus, move up the social development levels and increase their overall competence. Four types of tasks are implemented: 1) Techniques for discussion; 2) Problem based learning (PBL); 3) Reciprocal teaching; and 4) Collaborative writing. The entire study process must be monitored and the course should be assessed.

References

1. Boshuizen, H.P.A., Kirschner, P.A., Beers, P.J., Boshuizen, H.P.A., Gijselaers, W.H. (2008). Coercing Shared Knowledge in Collaborative Learning Environments. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 403-420 2. Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D. (1995). Collaborative learning and the Internet. Retrieved from http://tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa/research/CMC/colla/iccai95_1.html on August, 27, 2011. 3. Juceviciene, P., Lepaite, D. (2002). Competence as derived from activity: the problem of their level correspondence. Socialiniai mokslai, Kaunas, 4(36), 57-63. 4. Vygotsky, L. (1934/1986). Thought and language. Cambridge: MA: MIT Press. 5. Kontautiene, R. (2001). Mokiniai – mokytojo partneriai pedagoginio bendradarbiavimo sistemoje. Pedagogika, 53, 51-57. 6. Rummel, N., Spada, H. (2005). Learning to collaborate: An instructional approach to prooting collaborative problem solving in computer-mediated settings. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14(2), 201-241. 7. Sawyer, R. K. (2004). Creative teaching: Collaborative discussion as disciplined improvisation. Educational Researcher, 33(2), 12-20

Author Information

Jurgita Vizgirdaite (presenting / submitting)

Vilnius University International Business School

Vilnius

Palmira Juceviciene (presenting)

Kaunas University of Technology

Kaunas

Palmira Juceviciene