RICERCA ITALIANA     

Research program

DIGITAL IDENTITIES AND VIRTUAL, EDUCATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES

University Co-ordinator

Università degli Studi di MILANO-BICOCCA - SCIENZE UMANE PER LA FORMAZIONE - ()

Research Unit Leader

Ottavia Albanese

Description

1. RESEARCH DESIGN

1.1Aims and design variables

The research concerning the efficacy of on-line activity – meant as active knowledge building and reduction of the risk of dropout from on-line courses – emphasized the determining role of three factors: self-regulation and motivational individual components, sense of community among participants and tutorship style.
These variables will be investigated in order to find their reciprocal interactions and the specific contribute of each one for the active participation in the offered on-line training.
The variables will be operationalised to identify any changes during and after the training. We hypothesise a positive effect of the defined variables in promoting the knowledge building


1.2 Operationalisation of the design variables

Pertaining to self-regulation components, incoming students’ profiles will be defined and analysed. More precisely, the processes of knowledge personal elaboration, the self-evaluation practice and the organisational and strategic competences in study activity will be investigated.
Motivational components will be analysed in relation to students’ orientation toward mastery vs. performance goals, their interest in e-learning activity and in its contents and the quality and intensity of the emotions they experience during individual learning and e-learning.
The sense of community variable will be analysed through the students’ perception of the sense of community in e-learning activity and their level of inclusion in the discussion group. In particular, four dimensions will be considered: 1) affiliation (defined by the sub-dimensions: boundaries, emotional confidence, feeling of affiliation and identification, personal investment, common symbolic system); 2) member-group reciprocal influence; 3) integration and satisfaction of needs; 4) emotional sharing (defined by the sub-dimensions: contacts, quality of interactions, shared experience, sharing of salient events, emotional investment, effects of honours and humiliations, spiritual relationship).
The tutorship style includes both qualitative dimensions – like the kind of messages, that can be centred on the transmission of information and knowledge vs. focused on the facilitation of co-construction of knowledge – and quantitative dimensions – like the number of messages and the rhythm of e-tutors’ interventions in their discussion group.
Finally, the students’ active participation in the proposed training will be analysed referring to the level of Epistemic Activation and to the sociometric status. In addition, the permanence time, the participation in the proposed activity and the results obtained in the final exam will be considered too.

1.3 Methodology and instruments

Two training programmes will be designed for the Universities belonging to the research unit (Valle d’Aosta and Milano Bicocca). The participants – students attending Developmental Psychology and Educational Psychology courses – will be involved both in educational activities in the presence of the teacher, and in on-line discussion forums (about 30 e-learners for each forum) managed by e-tutors.
Within each discussion forum, the e-tutor will propose some topics which the e-learners will be able to explore and elaborate. The e-tutors, once properly trained, will adopt different tutorship styles, according to the above illustrated research design.
At the beginning and at the end of the trainings – both traditional and on-line ones –all of the students will fill in the self-report questionnaires.
The Study Approach Questionnaire – QAS (De Beni, Moè & Cornoldi, 2003) will be employed to assess self-regulation components. The Achievement Goals Questionnaire – QOA (Elliot & McGregor, 2001) will be used to identify interest and motivational aspects.
Additionally, other instruments will be developed ad hoc, including open questions to point out all the aspects illustrated in the research design.
Concerning the introduction of different tutorship styles into the discussion forums and the students’ active participation in the discussions, coding grids will be defined and used to detect the dimensions of the variables described in the research design.


2 WORK PHASES

The present study includes three subsequent phases.
The first phase provides for the identification of proper instruments to assess the variables: an extensive review of the instruments found in literature will be conducted in order to select, integrate or develop ad hoc some questionnaires to detect strategic competencies and motivational and emotional factors. Another specific questionnaires will be defined to assess the sense of community.
At the same time, transversal educational activities for all of the students will be arranged with the purpose of making the work comparable between the Universities of Valle d’Aosta and Milano Bicocca. Finally, the e-tutors, who will guide the students’ groups in their training course, will be suitably trained.
The second phase provides for the first administration of the defined questionnaires, the carrying out of on-line courses and the re-administration of the questionnaires at the end of the course.
The third phase provides for the analysis of the data from discussions and questionnaires, and the subsequent interpretation of the obtained results.


2.1 Phase I: instruments and on-line activity arrangement (first year)

1.1 review of relevant instruments;
1.2 consultation between the research sub-units and selection of proper instruments;
1.3 development of ad hoc instruments (open question questionnaires, coding grids for discussion forum data);
1.4 definition of distinctive features of tutorship styles;
1.5 setting up of contents and proposals for the discussion forums;
1.6 pilot study to simulate discussion forums and tutorship styles and to define coding grids for qualitative aspects of interaction between e-learners and between e-learner and e-tutor;
1.7 analysis of qualitative data and identification of quantitative indexes to describe the different tutorship styles and the levels of students’ active participation in discussion forums (according to the operationalisations of the previously described variables);
1.8 re-arrangement of the instruments and coding grids according to the results obtained in the pilot study.

2.2 Phase II: on-line activity implementation (first and second year)

2.1 starting of traditional classroom educational training in the presence of the teacher;
2.2 teacher’s invitation to the students for their participation in the project, administering of the self-report instruments;
2.3 definition of the modalities of setting up and inclusion in discussion forums;
2.4 formal introduction of the e-tutors to the students, setting up of on-line discussion groups and e-tutor assignment;
2.5 opening of discussion forums and implementation of the research design;
2.6 monitoring of on-line activities and potential adjustment of the implemented plan.


2.3 Phase III: data analysis, control of the results and publication (second year)
3.1 on-line training conclusion and students’ performance on the course examination;
3.2 re-administration of self-report questionnaires;
3.3 collection of discussion forum data and their disposition for qualitative and quantitative analyses (the Tlab software will be used for the analysis of qualitative aspects of discussions);
3.4 collection of information about students’ final performances (final examination mark);
3.5 questionnaire data scoring;
3.6 data file construction and definition of the model of analysis to verify the research design;
3.7 data analysis referring to the reciprocal interaction between design variables and to the specific relationships with the considered dependent variable (students’ active participation in discussion forums; level of inclusion; performance on course final examination). Use of LISREL 8.3 software;
3.8 consultation between the research sub-units and specification of an explanation model for the reciprocal effects of the variables;
3.9 starting of the procedures for a final report elaboration and writing (scientific publication).