Design Principles Implementation in the case

DP1: Organizing activities around shared objects

Five project plans (objects) proposed by five different companies into the field of E-learning: Grifo Multimedia, ePub Editor, Smart Skill Center, Osel and Eulab Consulting. Each of them presented (either alive or via skype) the company and the general idea about the object. They also gave to the students suggestions about how to develop the object and monitored the process. All of the five objects were produced for real customers. The planning of the activities took place on a web platform and the students had a month to finish the objects.

DP2: Supporting integration of personal and collective agency and work

The course was divided into 2 Modules. Module 1: Students wrote individually reviews about theories on e-learning. In groups they built maps about the concepts reported in the reviews. Module 2: Students could chose the object to develop according to their interests. They individually covered roles based on professional tasks. In groups they discussed about the features of the objects and how to organize the process to realize well structured objects. Jigsaw groups were activated to compare the various groups and to have a sense of the construction of other objects. The transition from collective to individual agency was promoted by a final individual report about the whole course. The assessment was based on both group activities and individual contributions.

DP3: Emphasizing development and creativity through knowledge transformations and reflection

During Module 1 students were provided by educational material in the format of chapters and papers; this material was transformed into individual reviews and subsequently into conceptual maps built collaboratively. Each transformation was accompanied by reflecting discussions via web-forum. Another way to activate social construction and transformation processes was through two specific roles purposely designed: “product expert” and “researcher”. The first role was in charge of comparing group activities and products so to offer insights and reflections about strong points and weaknesses of each group. This lead to transformation of the practices and to a general reflection on the process. The researcher offered reflections about information sources and about how to deepen the knowledge creation process. Social knowledge was built through the Progressive Inquiry Model (PIM) and distributed cognition between different sources.

DP4: Fostering long-term processes of knowledge advancement

Preliminary encounters with the companies’ representatives were held with the purpose to define and explain the usefulness and applicability of the objects in other contexts. During the objects construction the representatives answered questions and resolved doubts sharing their experience. At the end of the process, they assessed the objects on LinkedIn giving the students professional feedback.

DP5: Promoting cross-fertilization of knowledge practices and artifacts across communities

The students could discuss with the companies’ representatives on:•ForumCommunity about the organizational aspects, timing and informal communications;•LinkedIn through discussion group for each object; content based discussions and formal communications.The role of “researcher” was particularly involved during this phase in external research for best practices and innovative ideas.

DP6: Providing flexible tools for developing artifacts and practices

•Doodle for surveys and for decision making of many kinds;•Padlet for brainstorming;•LinkedIn for building a personal space in a professional way;•Forumcommunity for group discussions, organizational communications and knowledge building;•Google Drive for shared objects and synchronous-asynchronous collaboration.

TLA in a University courseAdriano Porfido, Francesca Amenduni, Maurizio Zaccaria, M. Beatrice Ligorio

Email: adriano.porfido3@gmail.com

THE CONTEXT

University: «Aldo Moro»

City: Bari

Country: Italy

Educational level and number of students: Master’s degree, 1st year – 35 students

Topic: Educational and E-learning psychology

Subject domains: E-learning, Blended Learning, Knowledge Building, Innovation, Psychology, Socio-Constructivism

Duration: 6 months

Objects: Serious Games’ storyboards, E-book, Learning Objects’ storyboards, Open Source App for E-Learning, MOOCs, PROFs.

Why we chose to adopt TLA:The main aims of the study are:1. To develop students’ awareness of their own

professional goals through reflection, choice and design of re-usable objects (DP3) to improve in the future (DP4);

2. To know and to improve networking and professional skills encouraging students to work around shared objects committed by real external customers (DP1) and using flexible mediating tools (DP6);

3. To support transitional processes across boundaries between academic and professional communities and to create connections between them (DP5);

4. To promote team-working and personal agency in students (DP2).

Main results

Main challenges/constrains/problems Further developments• Students’ initial digital competences not always as expected • University does not provide internet connection• It needs time to establish the groups and to start activities

Positive points• Positive and enthusiastic participation of the entrepreneurs• Active participation of most of the students

• Better planning for building the «objects»• Redesign of the curricula based on the entrepreneurs’

suggestions• Better integration between the different web environments• Better definition of the goals to achieve• Establish indicators for the formal evaluation of Trialogical objects

Link to the object

Entrepreneur’s feedback

LinkedIn

ForumCommunity

Entrepreneur at the University