Papers by Giuseppe Ritella
This paper describes a three-step method for the construction of codebooks meant for analyzing eP... more This paper describes a three-step method for the construction of codebooks meant for analyzing ePortfolio content. The first step produces a prototype based on qualitative analysis of very different ePortfolios from the same course. During the second step, the initial version of the codebook is tested on a larger sample and subsequently revised. Finally, during the third phase the codebook is applied to analyze ePortfolios' contents and to chart trends of usage. We tested the codebook on the ePortfolios of 16 students attending a university blended course. This codebook and the method for building it enabled us to follow the ePortfolios' evolution over the course, to observe students' individual differences, to understand and guide students' self-assessment, and to customize teachers' and/or tutors' interventions. Our method produces a tailored codebook for the examination of ePortfolio contents. The Need for the Analysis of ePortfolio Content The relevance o...
This article analyses how a group of teachers managed the resources available while performing co... more This article analyses how a group of teachers managed the resources available while performing computer-supported collaborative problem-solving tasks in the context of professional development. The authors video-recorded and analysed collaborative sessions during which the group of teachers used a digital environment to prepare a pedagogical scenario for subsequent implementation in their schools. The findings provide evidence that some aspects of context management can be explained in terms of explorative (opening problem space) and focused (closing problem space) actions. The results indicate that (a) the focused problem-solving took place when the problem space reached a provisional stability and problem-solvers developed a plan for proceeding with the task, (b) the individual exploration of the context was associated with the process of appropriation of a digital educational environment, and (c) the collective exploration of the context fostered the advancement of collaborative problem-solving and the introduction of new elements in the joint problem space.
The way people percept themselves and the others during collaborative activities is changeable, b... more The way people percept themselves and the others during collaborative activities is changeable, being shaped also by the technologies used for communication. Some scholars used the concepts of sense of presence and social presence for understanding this issue in activities mediated by technology [18]. Other scholars refer to presence as a <<basic state of consciousness: the attribution of sensation to some distal stimulus, or more broadly to some environment>> [15, p. 159], both real and virtual.
A problematic issue in this debate consists in understanding how presence is felt within situations in which real and virtual worlds are present at the same time and participants deal with a multi-space – an heterotopia [6] – that enables many forms of interaction and communication. A possible way to analyze it is to use the concept of activity [9] and the activity system as unit of analysis [5].
The aim of the present work is to reflect on this problem using some empirical data from a collaborative activity in which teachers from different schools work together face to face, in the school laboratory, using the educational software CoFFEE. Six sessions during which 10 teachers prepared a pedagogical scenario to be implemented in school have been filmed and qualitatively analysed. Some representative excerpts are analyzed in order to clarify some aspects related to sense of presence and social presence.
The purpose of the present paper is to examine the socio-cultural foundations of technology-media... more The purpose of the present paper is to examine the socio-cultural foundations of technology-mediated collaborative learning. Toward that end, we discuss the role of artifacts in knowledge-creating inquiry, relying on the theoretical ideas of Carl Bereiter, Merlin Donald, Pierre Rabardel, Keith Sawyer and L. S. Vygotsky. We argue that epistemic mediation triggers expanded inquiry and plays a crucial role in knowledge creation; such mediation involves using CSCL technologies to create epistemic artifacts for crystallizing cognitive processes, re-mediating subsequent activity, and building an evolving body of knowledge. Productive integration of CSCL technologies as instruments of learning and instruction is a developmental process: it requires iterative efforts across extended periods of time. Going through such a process of instrumental genesis requires transforming a cognitive-cultural operating system of activity, thus 'reformatting' the brain and the mind. Because of the required profound personal and social transformations, one sees that innovative knowledge-building practices emerge, socially, through extended expansive-learning cycles.
The collaborative construction of chronotopes during computer-supported collaborative professional tasks
International Journal of Computer-supported Collaborative Learning, 2010
In this paper, we use the concept of chronotope to analyse the co-construction of spatial and tem... more In this paper, we use the concept of chronotope to analyse the co-construction of spatial and temporal frameworks during collaborative interaction. A chronotope is a genre of movement or pacing in the space that participants adopt over the temporal duration of an activity. We look in particular at the conjunction point of time and space as revealing how collaboration works and what role is played by technology. Six sessions during which 10 teachers prepared a pedagogical scenario to be implemented in school were filmed and qualitatively analysed. The tempo of the activity was found to vary considerably depending on various factors, such as the features of the tools used, the aims of the activity, and the skills employed by the participants to achieve them. Three different tempos were identified, which we named, using a musical metaphor, Adagio, Andante, and Allegretto. Some representative excerpts of each of these tempos, and of the moving from one tempo to another, are selected and discussed. Our results allow an in-depth understanding of coordination within a group of teachers working on planning a common educational scenario for their classrooms with the mediation of a software tool.
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Papers by Giuseppe Ritella
A problematic issue in this debate consists in understanding how presence is felt within situations in which real and virtual worlds are present at the same time and participants deal with a multi-space – an heterotopia [6] – that enables many forms of interaction and communication. A possible way to analyze it is to use the concept of activity [9] and the activity system as unit of analysis [5].
The aim of the present work is to reflect on this problem using some empirical data from a collaborative activity in which teachers from different schools work together face to face, in the school laboratory, using the educational software CoFFEE. Six sessions during which 10 teachers prepared a pedagogical scenario to be implemented in school have been filmed and qualitatively analysed. Some representative excerpts are analyzed in order to clarify some aspects related to sense of presence and social presence.