Advertisement

Dialogical positions as a method of understanding identity trajectories in a collaborative blended university course

  • M. Beatrice Ligorio
  • Fedela Feldia Loperfido
  • Nadia Sansone
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Recent learning sciences literature proposes to conceive learning as changes in the learner’s identity trajectory. In this paper, we use the analysis of dialogical positioning as a method to track down and understand shifts in identity trajectories. The Bakhtinian concepts of “polyphony” and “chronotopes” are considered as dialogical indicators of the identity positions, and are the basis of our method. A qualitative/quantitative nature is featured in this method, which is composed of three steps: a) reading of the data; b) definition of a tailored list of dialogical indicators; c) quantitative analysis. A highly collaborative, blended university course, drawing on socio-constructivist principles, was used as the context to test the method. Indeed, we believe such a course would foster dialogical identity development. All the notes posted online during the course by two selected students were used as the corpus of data. The students were selected because of their diversity in terms of level of participation and initial technology propensity. The application of the method revealed the uniqueness of the trajectories, the correlations between indicators, and their sensitiveness to the activities of the course and to the students’ personal circumstances.

Keywords

Blended learning Chronotopes Dialogical learning Identity trajectory Polyphony 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a four-year national research project. We would like to thank all the students participating in this course for allowing us to use their data. A special thanks goes to Gianvito D’Aprile for his support in treating the data.

References

  1. Atkinson, P., & Hammersley, M. (1994). Ethnography and participant observation. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 249–261). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
  2. Aveling, E.-L., & Gillespie, A. (2008). Negotiating multiplicity: Adaptive asymmetries within second generation Turks. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 21, 200–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bagnoli, A. (2004). Researching identities with multi-method autobiographies. Sociological Research Online, 9, 2, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/9/2/bagnoli.html.
  4. Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). In M. Holquist (Ed.), The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press. Original work published 1930.Google Scholar
  5. Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press. Original work published 1961.Google Scholar
  6. Barresi, J. (2008). Black and white like me. Studia Psychologica, 8, 11–22.Google Scholar
  7. Black, S. D., Levin, J. A., Mehan, H., & Quinn, C. N. (1983). Real and non-real time interaction: Unraveling multiple threads of discourse. Discourse Processes, 6, 59–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Bonk, C. J., & Graham, C. R. (2006). Handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, local designs. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.Google Scholar
  9. Bretz, R., Carlisle, J. H., Carlstedt, J., Cracker, D. H., Levin, J. A., & Press, L. (1976). A Teleconference on Teleconferencing (ISI/WP-4). Marina de1 Rey: Information Sciences Institute.Google Scholar
  10. Brown, A. L., & Campione, J. C. (1990). Communities of learning or a content by any other name. In D. Kuhn (Ed.), Contribution to human development (pp. 108–126). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  11. Brown, R., & Renshaw, P. (2006). Positioning students as actors and authors: A chronotopic analysis of collaborative learning activities. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 13(3), 247–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Bruner, J. S. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  13. Bruner, J. S. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  14. Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  15. Dreier, O. (2003). Learning in personal trajectories of participation. In N. Stevenson, H. L. Radtke, R. Jorna, & H. Stam (Eds.), Theoretical psychology: Critical contributions (pp. 20–29). Toronto: Captus Press.Google Scholar
  16. Gieser, T. (2008). Me, myprey, and I: Embodiment and empathy in the dialogical self of a Siberian hunter. Studia Psychologica, 8, 41–54.Google Scholar
  17. Gillespie, A. (2005). Malcolm X and his autobiography: Identity development and self-narration. Culture and Psychology, 11, 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Hermans, H. J. M. (1996). Voicing the self: From information processing to dialogical interchange. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Hermans, H. J. M. (1999). Dialogical thinking and self-innovation. Culture and Psychology, 5, 67–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Hermans, H. J. M. (2004). The dialogical self: Between exchange and power. In H. J. M. Hermans & G. Dimaggio (Eds.), The dialogical self in psychotherapy: An introduction (pp. 13–28). New York: Brunner-Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
  22. Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Konopka, A. (2010). Dialogical self theory. Positioning and counter-positioning in a globalizing society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Holquist, M. (2009). The Role of Chronotope in dialogue. In K. Junefelt & P. Nordin (Eds.), Proceedings from the Second International Interdisciplinary Conference on Perspectives and limits of dialogism in Mikhail Bakhtin (pp. 9–17). Available on http://www.nordiska.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.30109.1337169762!/publication_2010_bakhtin_conf_sthlm_2009.pdf (the 7th of August, 2012).
  24. Impedovo, M. A., Ritella, G., Ligorio, M. B. (2013). Developing Codebooks as a new Tool to analyze Students’ e-portfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio (IJeP). Google Scholar
  25. Jasper, C., Moore, H., Whittaker, L., & Gillespie, A. (2011). Methodological approaches to studying the self in its social context. In H. Hermans & T. Gieser (Eds.), Handbook of dialogical self theory (pp. 146–174). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  26. Koschmann, T. (2001). Revisiting the paradigms of instructional technology. In G. Kennedy, M. Keppell, C. McNaught, & T. Petrovic (Eds.), Meetings at the crossroads. Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (pp. 15–22). Melbourne: Biomedical Multimedia Unit, The University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
  27. Lahn, L. C. (2011). Professional learning as epistemic trajectories. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning Across Sites. New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 53–69). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  28. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Ligorio, M. B. (2001). Integrating communication formats: Synchronous versus asynchronous and text-based versus visual. Computers in Education, 37(2), 103–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Ligorio, M. B. (2009). Identity as a product of knowledge building: The role of mediated dialogue. Qwerty, 4(1), 33–46.Google Scholar
  31. Ligorio, M. B. (2010). Dialogical relationship between identity and learning. Culture & Psychology, 16, 109–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Ligorio, M. B. (2011). The dialogical self and educational research: A fruitful relationship. In H. Hermans & T. Gieser (Eds.), Handbook of the dialogical self (pp. 849–965). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  33. Ligorio, M. B., & Cèsar, M. (Eds.). (2013). Interplays between dialogical learning and dialogical self. Charlotte: IAP – Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
  34. Ligorio, M. B., & Cucchiara, S. (2011). Blended Collaborative Constructive Participation (BCCP): A model for teaching in higher education. eLearningPapers, 27. Available on http://www.elearningeuropa.info/it/node/111469 (on the 15th of May, 2012).
  35. Ligorio, M. B., & Ritella, G. (2010). The collaborative construction of chronotopes during computer-supported collaborative professional tasks. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 5(4), 433–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Ligorio, M. B., Loperfido, F. F., Sansone, N., & Spadaro, P. F. (2010). Blending educational models to design blended activities. In D. Persico & F. Pozzi (Eds.), Techniques for fostering collaboration in online learning communities: Theoretical and practical perspectives (pp. 64–81). Verlag: IGI Global.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Muukkonen, H., Lakkala, M., & Hakkarainen, K. (2005). Technology- mediation and tutoring: How do they shape progressive inquiry discourse? The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14, 527–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Packer, M. (1999). The Ontology of learning. Paper presented at AERA, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
  39. Raggatt, P. T. F. (2007). Forms of positioning in the dialogical self: A system of classification and the strange case of Dame Edna Everage. Theory & Psychology, 17, 355–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Renshaw, P. D. (2004). Dialogic learning. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
  41. Rogoff, K. (1995). What remains of purchasing power parity? Boston: Boston University.Google Scholar
  42. Rowin’ski, T. (2008). Virtual self in dysfunctional internet use. StudiaPsychologica, 8, 107–130.Google Scholar
  43. Scardamalia, M. (2004). CSILE/Knowledge Forum®. In Education and technology: An encyclopedia (pp. 183–192). Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
  44. Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Does education for the knowledge age need a new science? European Journal of School Psychology, 3, 21–40.Google Scholar
  45. Silseth, K. (2012). The multivoicedness of game play: Exploring the unfolding of a student’s learning trajectory in a gaming context at school. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 7(1), 63–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Spadaro, P. F., Sansone, N., & Ligorio, M. B. (2009). Role-taking for knowledge building in a blended learning course. Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 5(3), 11–21.Google Scholar
  47. Trausan-Matu, S., Stahl, G., & Sarmiento, J. (2008). Polyphonic support for collaborative learning. e-Service Journal, 6(1), 58–74.Google Scholar
  48. Vågan, A. (2011). Towards a sociocultural perspective on identity formation in education. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 18(1), 43–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Wegerif, R. (2006). A dialogic understanding of the relationship between CSCL and teaching thinking skills. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(1), 143–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Wegerif, R. (2007). Dialogic, educational and technology: Expanding the space of learning. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice. Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice. Harvard: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar
  53. Wortham, S. (2004). From good student to an outcast: The emergence of a classroom identity. Available online at http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=gse_pubs (last download April 8th, 2013).

Copyright information

© International Society of the Learning Sciences, Inc. and Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • M. Beatrice Ligorio
    • 1
  • Fedela Feldia Loperfido
    • 1
  • Nadia Sansone
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and CommunicationUniversity of BariBariItaly

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options