Designing scaffolding for personal learning environments: Continuous learning perspective in vocational teacher education context.

The present dissertation examined how to scaffold students when they study in their Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). PLEs give students the freedom to choose their learning environments by themselves and the ability to support their continuing professional development throughout their career once their studies are complete. The examination also concerned what kind of competence vocational student teachers demonstrate in their ePortfolios as a part of their PLEs during their teacher studies in order to design scaffolding. The data was collected from several groups of vocational student teachers. Various pedagogical learning designs, scaffolding models, digital tools and definitions and evaluations of competences were examined. The data analyses were conducted using the qualitative content analysis approach. The results of the study revealed that the Dialogical Authentic Netlearning Activity (DIANA) pedagogical model contains several scaffolding activities and is the most effective when it is presented with students’ personal web tools integrated in the learning process. The study presents a detailed framework for evaluating and studying vocational teachers’ competence and provides instructions for scaffolding the content of ePortfolios. The study revealed that the open badge-driven learning structure provides a method and digital tools for scaffolding students via their PLEs. The results indicate that scaffolding via PLEs is successful when there are several scaffolding providers, such as a lecturer, a workplace training mentor and students, instructions in digital environments and peer-students. Vocational student teachers are motivated to study and make their competences visible through ePortfolios because they are interested in promoting their teaching career and they wish to continue their personal growth. Using an ePortfolio in their studies also enables student teachers see the potential of using ePortfolios with their own students. This dissertation reveals three aspects with practical features which may be used to designing scaffolding PLEs: personal web tools, content and methods. Although the dissertation deals specifically with vocational teacher education, it is hoped that the results will be implemented in every educational sector.Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkittiin, miten opiskelijoita ohjataan, kun he käyttävät henkilökohtaisia oppimisympäristöjään. Opiskelijat saavat itse valita nämä ympäristöt, joiden on tarkoitus tukea ammatillista kehittymistä myös opintojen jälkeen koko työuran aikana. Jotta ohjaamista voidaan suunnitella, tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin myös, millaista osaamista ammatilliset opettajaopiskelijat tekevät näkyväksi ePortfoliossaan, joka on osa henkilökohtaista oppimisympäristöä. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin useasta opettajaopiskelijaryhmästä. Pedagogisia opetuksen toteutussuunnitelmia, ohjauksen malleja, digitaalisia työvälineitä ja opettajan kompetenssin määritelmiä tutkittiin. Aineisto analysoitiin laadullisen sisällönanalyysin menetelmillä. Tutkimustuloksista havaittiin, että pedagoginen DIANA-malli (Dialogical Authentic Netlearning Activity) sisältää useita ohjauksen menetelmiä ja siihen kytkettyjen henkilökohtaisten digitaalisten työvälineiden kautta ohjaus on tehokkaimmillaan. Tutkimus antaa yksityiskohtaisen ja käytännöllisen arviointikehyksen ammatillisen opettajan kompetenssin tarkasteluun. Tämä antaa edelleen ohjeita ePortfolion sisällön tuottamisen ohjaukseen. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että osaamismerkein ohjautuva oppimisprosessi sisältää menetelmän ja digitaaliset työvälineet opiskelijoiden ohjaukseen heidän henkilökohtaisten oppimisympäristöjensä kautta tapahtuen. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että ohjaamisvastuuta henkilökohtaisten oppimisympäristöjen kautta voidaan jakaa eri tahoille, kuten esimerkiksi opettajalle, opetusharjoittelun ohjaajalle työpaikalla, opiskelijoille, ohjeisiin digitaalisissa ympäristöissä ja vertaisoppijoille. Ammatilliset opettajaopiskelijat ovat motivoituneita opiskelemaan ja tekemään osaamistaan näkyväksi ePortfolioidensa kautta, koska he ovat kiinnostuneita oman opettajauransa edistämisestä ja henkilökohtaisen kasvunsa havainnoinnista. Kun he käyttävät ePortfolioita omissa oppimisprosesseissaan, he havaitsevat niiden hyödyntämismahdollisuudet omien opiskelijoidensa kanssa. Väitöstutkimuksen perusteella löytyi kolme elementtiä perusteluineen, joiden avulla voi suunnitella ohjausta henkilökohtaisiin oppimisympäristöihin: henkilökohtaiset digitaaliset työvälineet, sisältö ja menetelmät. Vaikka tämä väitöstutkimus on ammatillisen opettajankoulutuksen kontekstissa, tuloksien implementointia voi suositella kaikille koulutussektoreille

E-portfolio in education. Practices and reflections

The main activities of the digiFolio Project include: Building a common knowledge base supported by research work on the theory of portfolio usage; Paper and online publication of the results of the research work; Establishment of the pedagogical model for the training course; Analysis of the existing technological infrastructures for digital portfolio usage; Adjustment of the best tools and training course setup; Piloting and evidencing of the training course; Monitoring of the trainees' work by using a specific online teachers' support structure; International seminar. Website: http://digifolioseminar.org/?The present publication addresses the use of digital portfolios in educational context and it is one of the latest dissemination activities of the Digifolio project – Digital Portfolio as a strategy for teachers’ professional development, a COMENIUS 2.1 project which was carried out between 2005 and 2008. It involved several universities and teacher training institutions from five different European countries. The project, which main focus was the reflection on the potentialities of portfolios and digital technologies in the perspective of teachers’ professional development, came to its end with an international seminar which aimed at disseminating the work produced in the frame of a previous teachers training course, as well as allowing and welcoming the contribution of other education professionals with their practices and reflections on the above-mentioned thematic.Europeen Comissio

Vocational student teachers’ self-reported experiences in creating ePortfolios

Context: The context of the study is vocational teacher education and the participants are vocational student teachers. They are studying in a blended learning setting as part time students. They represent several disciplines of vocational education and training. The vocational teacher studies take one year and are 60 credits. The study relates to the discussion of vocational education and training (VET) and teachers’ competencies that they are transferring to their VET students by sharing the knowledge of their subject area and working practices. This study is an exploration of one of these working practices: making competence visible in a digital format. Approach: Student teachers’ descriptions of their practices and recommendations of supportive methods for composing an ePortfolio are reviewed and their motivation to compose an ePortfolio is studied as a part of the personal learning environment (PLE) philosophy. Findings: The data revealed some typical practices, such as composing an ePortfolio (the most popular ways of doing this were recording reflections in a learning diary and using digital tools to document artefacts) and making vocational teachers’ competence visible through an ePortfolio (understanding the difference between workspace and showcase portfolios and what kinds of competence to document). The recommendations mentioned by participants were supportive methods of composing an ePortfolio (collaborative learning processes with peers, lecturers’ feedback and assessment and clear instructions) as well as methods of making vocational teachers’ competence visible (e.g. orientation to ePortfolio work using learning objectives and assessment criteria for ePortfolios). Participating student teachers are/were motivated to work with ePortfolios in various ways and expressed an intrinsic motivation to pursue personal growth and become a vocational teacher. Conclusions: The study revealed vocational student teachers’ various perceptions of scaffolding and motivational orientations to make their competence visible through ePortfolios. These can be used to design scaffolding processes to support students’ ePortfolio activities. ePortfolios are used as a study method to promote student teachers’ career development and personal growth and to help them acquire teacher competencies. The study concludes with a review of the learning objectives and the assessment criteria for the ePortfolio process in a vocational teacher education program.Peer reviewe

EPORTFOLIO IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS. USING MAHARA TO ENHANCE REFLECTIVE LEARNING AND MOTIVATION

This paper aims to highlight how the use of a specific ePortfolio tool, Mahara, within a primary school has led students to a different perception of the subjects and the content of the lessons studied. Writings produced by 18 students during the last year of primary school will be investigated in order to show how the use of ePortfolios could support reflection and construction of a personal learning path in 11 years old students. In addition, this research will highlights how the use of ePortfolios could produce an improvement of learning through the stimulation of students\u2019 motivation. The analysis of the activities and comments shows how, starting from a partial reflective attitude, and from the perception of the single lesson as an isolated event, students learn to reflect on their learning pathways, generating views that try to grasp the meaning of the whole learning path and the relationship between their learning and the future development of their student career. Starting from a limited reflecting attitude through which students could only discuss their present time, the improvement of their reflective skills could support them to plan their future. Some features of the tool used, such as its friendly \u201clook and feel\u201d and its structure, similar to that of many social software, have acted as a powerful motivational factor in overcoming difficulties often associated with the use of ePortfolios

Reconstructing social capital in Fijian classrooms: lessons learnt from Solesolevaki

Schools play an important role in the social, cultural and psychological adjustment of a child. It is an environment where a significant part of the development of young children takes place as it is an undeniable fact that a child spends most of his/her waking time at school (Van Rossem et al., 2015). A classroom in a school is an opportune social space where social capital can thrive. This study was conducted in 2019 on how an iTaukei intangible cultural heritage, named Solesolevaki, can contribute to the inclusive social development and social capital among children. The classroom represents a suitable space where solesolevaki can be practiced and develop social capital in the process. This article first reviews the existing literature on social capital; second, it outlines the methods that were conducted in order to ascertain the aspects of solesolevaki that are applicable to a classroom; thirdly, it discusses the core findings specifically on values of engagement, trust, cooperation, collective norms, knowledge diffusion, shared futures, social inclusion, and social cohesion. The article closes with a discussion on the implications of the findings in building social capital in Fijian classrooms