Fleur Prinsen

Nurturing communities of inquiry: A formative study of the DojoIBL platform

This formative study introduces DojoIBL, a web-based platform to support collaborative inquiry-based learning processes. By supporting communication and collaboration with new technological affordances, DojoIBL aims at nurturing communities of inquiry. The study elaborates on the theoretical underpinning of DojoIBL, describes its added value and presents a detailed explanation about the functionalities supported. Thereafter, an evaluation about how users perceived DojoIBL has been performed. Besides, the positive acceptance of participants, the results also showed that DojoIBL seems to be a suitable tool to support essential components of communities of inquiry. The study concludes anticipating the integration of role support as future developments of DojoIBL.

Networked Identity How Immigrant Youth Employ Online Identity Resources

In recent years, practices of online social networking and their implications for migrant youth identity development have been heavily debated. The nature of access to resources for identification is changing, and by using a social network perspective, this research conceptualizes identity as a networked phenomenon in which resources are understood as specific kinds of social formations: identity networks. Social network interviews were conducted with Dutch-Moroccan inner-city teenagers, probing their online and offline identity practices as related to their actual social networks. Social network analysis was applied, assuming that structural properties of networks affect behaviour; they can limit or shape, but do not fully determine the actions that individuals can engage in. By combining numeric, discursive and visual data, we aim to understand how structural and compositional aspects of networks are related to the ways in which youth create opportunities for identity development. Four network types, with associated (online) identity practices, are presented.

Mobile inquiry-based learning for sustainability education in secondary schools

This paper reports about experiences and lessons learned from a recently conducted pilot study about sustainability education with mobile inquiry-based learning in a secondary school in the Netherlands. In the pilot study learners were involved in a mobile location-based game that was conducted in reserved time-slots over 5 weeks. Mobile devices of the school and of learners have been combined with a smart-energy meter network to support learning activities covering the full inquiry cycle. Analysis of data collected shows that the implementation was beneficial for learners with a low prior knowledge level and that future designs should take into account gender aspects in the design phase.

Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning with Sensor-Data in the School: Effects on Student Motivation

The paper discusses the design, implementation and evaluation of a pilot project that integrated inquiry-based learning with mobile game design and introduced mobile devices and sensors into classroom learning. A 5-week classroom inquiry learning project on energy consumption was designed and implemented as a mobile serious game. While engaging in the game and training inquiry skills, students were introduced to basic concepts in the energy domain and to everyday practices of energy consumption in their direct environment. The design was based on a model of inquiry-based science learning with social and open mobile tools developed in the European research project weSPOT. The pilot indicated that using an ubiquitous tool does not necessarily help sustain student motivation. There are indications of gender differences in motivation related to use of mobile devices for learning. These differences should be taken into account in the design of activities. Implementation of the inquiry-based learning model in conjunction with a mobile game scenario into the school practice confirmed the importance of good design with sufficient testing and teacher ownership.

Social learning as approach for teacher professional development; how well does it suit them?

Abstract Learning from others has been reported as a productive approach for teacher Professional Development (PD) and is seen as a valuable addition to formal PD. Specific insights into whether social learning suits teachers is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to develop and apply an instrument to assess social learning mindedness of teachers. A questionnaire called the “Quiz: Social learning, how does it suit me?” was developed and its reliability and factor structure were explored. A total of 110 teachers, ranging from primary school to pre-university education filled out the Quiz. Results indicated that the teachers were already quite social learning minded; they were positively oriented towards social learning. Social learning mindedness encompassed five underlying factors including counteracting social-learning preferences, teachers’ opinions and preferences related to learning from colleagues/others, their orientation towards collaboration in new approaches to PD, an autonomy factor, and a more general attitude towards knowledge dissemination. Mostly, teachers like to explain and share their knowledge, like to collaborate with others to enhance their knowledge and ask others for advice if they have a problem. At the same time, they want some control over their PD (e.g. the outcomes). The teachers in this sample did not show much preferences that would counteract social learning, leading to the conclusion that social learning suits teachers as a form of PD. The Quiz, which is accessible online (in Dutch), is a useful tool for teachers to quickly get acquainted with social learning.

DojoIBL: Nurturing Communities of Inquiry

This paper presents and outlines the demonstration of DojoIBL, a web-based platform that aims at nurturing communities of inquiry by supporting communication and collaboration with emerging technological affordances. The manuscript briefly elaborates on the theoretical underpinning of DojoIBL and describes the functionalities supported. It concludes anticipating the follow up implementation which will consist on the integration of role support in DojoIBL.