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

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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.

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari, Via Crisanzio, Palazzo Ateneo 1, 70100, Bari, Italy

    M. Beatrice Ligorio, Fedela Feldia Loperfido & Nadia Sansone

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  1. M. Beatrice Ligorio
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  2. Fedela Feldia Loperfido
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  3. Nadia Sansone
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Correspondence to M. Beatrice Ligorio.

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Ligorio, M.B., Loperfido, F.F. & Sansone, N. Dialogical positions as a method of understanding identity trajectories in a collaborative blended university course. Computer Supported Learning 8, 351–367 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-013-9174-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-013-9174-3

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