| Abstrakt: |
As e-learning is evolving into a mainstream, widespread practice, adopted by higher education institutions worldwide, much effort is geared towards the articulation of models and strategies for implementing e-learning in formal education settings. In the field of pre-service teacher education, a rising challenge is to equip the "21st century teacher" with the necessary toolset of skills and competencies to grapple with the idiosyncrasies of the new generation of "millenials". To this purpose, what still remains an open issue is the degree of innovation afforded by specific e-learning designs, in a field where traditional teacher training pedagogies co-exist with e-learning-specific ones. This article proposes a synthesis of two models, the Community of Inquiry (COI) model, based on the Practical Inquiry model introduced by Garrison, Anderson, & Archer (2000) and the Learning by Design framework (LbyD), based on the conceptualization of 'New Learning', articulated by Kalantzis & Cope (2012). Both models were invented with new learning styles and circumstances in mind. The proposed synthesis guided the design of the six-month introductory course in Technology Enhanced Learning by the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE) research team (located in Athens) and implemented with 18 pre service student-teachers at the Higher Education Technological Institute (TEI) of Lamia, located in another geographical area of Greece. In this context, elements of the COI framework were employed as tools both for designing and for evaluating the contents, structure and activities of the e-learning course. Two elements of the framework, teaching and cognitive presence were the axes supporting the course structure, whilst the kinds of activities most promoted were discussion, collaboration and reflection. The LbyD framework functioned as an awareness enhancement mechanism for trainee teachers to formulate, collaboratively negotiate and finally articulate and support pedagogical scenarios integrating the meaningful use of technology. The discussion of this experience is supported by a dataset including students' answers to a COI-based survey, free-text student feedback and asynchronous discussion transcripts, providing evidence about the potential of the approach and pointing out issues that need to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
