Ingo Kollar

Appropriation from a script theory of guidance perspective: a response to Pierre Tchounikine

In a recent paper, Pierre Tchounikine has suggested to advance the Script Theory of Guidance (SToG) by addressing the question how learners appropriate collaboration scripts presented to them in learning environments. Tchounikine’s main criticism addresses SToG’s “internal script configuration principle.” This principle states that in any collaboration situation, the learners’ set of goals and perceived situational characteristics influence how they dynamically configure internal collaboration scripts. Tchounikines critique is that SToG is not very clear about how exactly “the learner’s set of goals” and particularly “perceived situational characteristics” influence the way learners understand and act in a CSCL situation. In response, we argue that SToG, at its core, is deeply concerned with appropriation of external scripts by focusing on how external scripts influence the (re-)configutration of internal scripts. Here, we lay out different aspects of appropriation in line with the basic assumptions of SToG, namely perception, interpretation, and implementation. The process of appropriation may be followed by an internalization of the result of appropriation (or appropriated external guidance).

Crossing boundaries in interprofessional education: A call for instructional integration of two script concepts

ABSTRACT Clinical work occurs in a context which is heavily influenced by social interactions. The absence of theoretical frameworks underpinning the design of collaborative learning has become a roadblock for interprofessional education (IPE). This article proposes a script-based framework for the design of IPE. This framework provides suggestions for designing learning environments intended to foster competences we feel are fundamental to successful interprofessional care. The current literature describes two script concepts: “illness scripts” and “internal/external collaboration scripts”. Illness scripts are specific knowledge structures that link general disease categories and specific examples of diseases. “Internal collaboration scripts” refer to an individual’s knowledge about how to interact with others in a social situation. “External collaboration scripts” are instructional scaffolds designed to help groups collaborate. Instructional research relating to illness scripts and internal collaboration scripts supports (a) putting learners in authentic situations in which they need to engage in clinical reasoning, and (b) scaffolding their interaction with others with “external collaboration scripts”. Thus, well-established experiential instructional approaches should be combined with more fine-grained script-based scaffolding approaches. The resulting script-based framework offers instructional designers insights into how students can be supported to develop the necessary skills to master complex interprofessional clinical situations.

How to combine collaboration scripts and heuristic worked examples to foster mathematical argumentation – when working memory matters

Mathematical argumentation skills (MAS) are considered an important outcome of mathematics learning, particularly in secondary and tertiary education. As MAS are complex, an effective way of supporting their acquisition may require combining different scaffolds. However, how to combine different scaffolds is a delicate issue, as providing learners with more than one scaffold may be overwhelming, especially when these scaffolds are presented at the same time in the learning process and when learners’ individual learning prerequisites are suboptimal. The present study therefore investigated the effects of the presentation sequence of introducing two scaffolds (collaboration script first vs. heuristic worked examples first) and the fading of the primarily presented scaffold (fading vs. no fading) on the acquisition of dialogic and dialectic MAS of participants of a preparatory mathematics course at university. In addition, we explored how prior knowledge and working memory capacity moderated the effects. Overall, 108 university freshmen worked in dyads on mathematical proof tasks in four treatment sessions. Results showed no effects of the presentation sequence of the collaboration script and heuristic worked examples on dialogic and dialectic MAS. Yet, fading of the initially introduced scaffold had a positive main effect on dialogic MAS. Concerning dialectic MAS, fading the collaboration script when it was presented first was most effective for learners with low working memory capacity. The collaboration script might be appropriate to initially support dialectic MAS, but might be overwhelming for learners with lower working memory capacity when combined with heuristic worked examples later on.

Adaptable scripting to foster regulation processes and skills in computer-supported collaborative learning

Collaboration scripts have repeatedly been implemented in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) to facilitate collaboration processes and individual learning. However, finding the right degree of structure is a subtle design task: scripts that are too rigid may impair self-regulation and hinder learning; scripts that are too flexible may fail to evoke high-level interactions. This study investigated whether making collaboration scripts adaptable would be a way to raise their effectiveness. Three experimental phases were realized: In a first phase (exposure phase), all students solved three problem cases by aid of a collaboration script in an asynchronous, text-based CSCL environment. In a second phase (treatment phase), another three cases were presented that were to be solved by aid of a different theory that was presented to the learners through a summary on a sheet of paper. During this phase, a three-groups between-subject design was realized: (a) an unscripted condition, in which students received no specific guidance how to structure their collaboration, (b) a non-adaptable script condition, in which students’ collaboration was guided by the collaboration script they were trained in before, and (c) an adaptable script condition, in which students were allowed to modify parts of the trained script based on their self-perceived needs. In a third phase (subsequent transfer phase), students received a new case that they were to solve without guidance. Nxa0=xa087 university students participated. Results showed that during the treatment phase, planning processes were most often performed in the unscripted condition. Yet, the adaptable script substantially increased students’ engagement in metacognitive activities of planning compared to learning with a non-adaptable script, and increased monitoring and reflection activities when compared to learning without script. Mediation analyses showed that the adaptable script facilitated learners’ use of self-regulation skills in the subsequent, unscripted transfer phase through the promotion of co-regulation processes of reflection in the treatment phase. The results reveal that adaptable scripting is a promising means of implementing flexible scripting and promoting self-regulation in CSCL.

Digitale Medien für die Unterstützung von Lehr-/Lernprozessen in der Weiterbildung

Digitalen Medien wird eine wichtige Rolle zur Forderung des Lernens im Erwachsenenbildungskontext zugeschrieben. Allerdings werden sie in der Praxis oft nicht auf Basis von Erkenntnissen der Lehr-Lernforschung gestaltet bzw. eingesetzt. In diesem Beitrag werden zunachst wichtige Theorien und Befunde zum Lernen mit digitalen Medien naher beschrieben. Danach stellen wir innovative Instruktionsansatze vor, die einen theoretischen Rahmen fur Entwicklung und Einsatz mediengestutzter Lehr-Lernszenarien in der Erwachsenenbildung bieten.