Collaborative Learning (Education)

‘Critical bureaucracy’ in action: Embedding student voice into school governance

by Anna Carlile

Article accepted in Pedagogy Culture and Society; please email for a pre-proofs copy

This article suggests a model for ‘youth voice’ based on a participatory research methodology, ‘Illuminate’. The... more This article suggests a model for ‘youth voice’ based on a participatory research methodology, ‘Illuminate’. The article reports on research into the capacity for ‘Illuminate’ to amount to ‘critical bureaucracy’. Critical bureaucracy is presented as an approach to governance activities (here, in schools and FE colleges) which is related to ‘critical pedagogy’ in its reflexivity and sensitivity to issues of policy, power and social justice. The article reports on the testing of the Illuminate model through projects at two schools and a further education college: one on the flexible use of time in the curriculum; another on safety in school students’ lives; and the third on widening participation in the creative arts. Drawing on Freire, Foucault, and Hart, these projects are analysed according to theories of emancipatory research methods, governance, participation, and critical pedagogy, assessing the Illuminate model’s efficacy in terms of a pragmatic approach to critical bureaucracy. The analysis reveals a tension in the adoption of the combination of post-modern theories of governance and an ethic of social justice.

INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL AND SOCIOMATHEMATICAL NORMS IN COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

by Konstantinos Tatsis

Xarxa d'innovació docent sobre aprenentatge cooperatiu (XIDAC)

by Albert Ruda González

Prichard, J. S., Stratford, R. J., & Bizo, L. A. (2011). Evaluating the effects of team-skills training on subjective workload. Learning & Instruction, 21, 429-440.

by Lewis Bizo

Prichard, J. S., Stratford, R. J., & Bizo, L. A. (2006). The effects of team-skills training on collaborative learning in a controlled environment. Learning and Instruction, 16, 256-265.

by Lewis Bizo

Prichard, J. S., Bizo, L. A., & Stratford, R. J. (2006). The educational impact of team skills training: Preparing students to work in groups. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 119-140.

by Lewis Bizo

‘Elven Elder LVL59 Looking For Party/RB. Please PM me’: Immersion, Collaborative Tasks and Problem Solving in Massively Multiplayer Online Games

by Iro Voulgari

Voulgari, I., & Komis, V. (2010). 'Elven Elder LVL59 LFP/RB. Please PM me': immersion, collaborative tasks and problem-solving in massively multiplayer online games. Learning, Media and Technology, 35(2), 171-202. doi: 10.1080/17439884.2010.494429.

Although there is strong evidence that massively multiplayer online games constitute environments of social... more Although there is strong evidence that massively multiplayer online games constitute environments of social interactions and effective learning, we currently lack the tools for investigating the effectiveness of the social networks emerging as well as the cognitive aspects and knowledge acquisition such environments involve. Within this context we present a conceptual framework for the investigation of the collaborative problem solving processes emerging in such environments and we apply it in the investigation of a number of massively multiplayer online games through interviews and virtual ethnography. Our findings suggest the balanced convergence of multiple factors, such as the mechanics of the game, the design of the tasks, the collaboration and competition affordances and the content of the game, for the constitution of an effective environment for collaborative learning.

Antecedents of Collaborative Learning: Insights from Massively Multiplayer Online Games

by Iro Voulgari

Voulgari, I., & Komis, V. (2010). Antecedents of Collaborative Learning: Insights from Massively Multiplayer Online Games. 2010 International Conference on Intelligent Networking and Collaborative Systems (pp. 32-39). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/INCOS.2010.79.

This study focuses on the investigation of features of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) relevant to the... more This study focuses on the investigation of features of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) relevant to the support of collaborative learning processes. Through qualitative research (interviews with players, participant observation in MMOGs, research in websites and fora) we identify and describe motivational, cognitive and social features of the tasks and the player interactions emerging within such environments.

Collaborative Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Review of Social, Cognitive and Motivational Perspectives

by Iro Voulgari

Voulgari, Iro, and Vassilis Komis, (2011) “Collaborative Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: A Review of Social, Cognitive and Motivational Perspectives”, in Handbook of Research on Improving Learning and Motivation through Educational Games: Multidisciplinary Approaches, ed. Patrick Felicia (IGI Global). http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/titledetails.aspx?titleid=47397&detailstype=description

In this chapter a theoretical framework is proposed for the investigation of Massively Multiplayer Online Games... more In this chapter a theoretical framework is proposed for the investigation of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) as environments for the emergence of collaborative learning. Elements and features of MMOGs such as the integrated tasks, the interactions among players, the groups, the members’ characteristics, and the environment are examined through the perspective of their motivational, cognitive and social potential, based on literature review, interviews with players and participant observation. It is argued that MMOGs are environments that can integrate a wide range of motivational features, opportunities for social interactions and for the emergence of cognitive processes, into a meaningful context. Implications for the educational practice are also reviewed.