Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
were observable in dyads working with DIVER/WebDIVER
TM
mirroring how
dyads' elaborations on the source video are guided by the tool affordance when
they create interpretive annotations. As expected, exemplary episodes for these pat-
terns (
design cycles
, Zahn et al., in press) were also found in the field data. Overall,
such exemplary episodes illustrate the kinds of processes possibly lying behind
the quantitative indicators reported above and give an impression of how learners'
socio-cognitive processes are impacted and complement quantitative findings.
Conclusions
At the beginning of the chapter, we were posing the following questions:
How can digital video technologies be implemented in educational learning pro-
cesses to foster new media literacy skills? How can they be implemented broadly
and without an overall amount of effort that renders a widespread application very
unlikely?
We sought answers to these questions by introducing an integrated approach to
computer-supported learning with constructing digital video in history and German
language art lessons. We presented an a cognitive approach where digital video tools
are used in the context of collaborative visual design tasks to foster advanced literacy
skills and the construction of shared interpretations in students. We demonstrated in
a field experiment that the approach can be successfully realized. Predictions of
positive effects on learning with digital video in class derived from our cognitive
framework (collaborative visual design) were empirically supported.
More precisely, in the empirical studies we asked: How would students approach
collaborative visual design tasks in a real “noisy” classroom setting?
How do students use the affordances of video tools for collaborative visual
design?
Where, precisely, do students need instructional support?
Concerning the first question, we find in the field study that substantial knowl-
edge and (visual) literacy skills acquisition takes place during a collaborative visual
design task, even when students spend only a short period of time with the video
material. Students well understood and appreciated the task as being interesting.
These results are a strong support for the interpretation that students approach visual
design tasks in the style of our exemplar as a valuable and practicable way of
learning.
Concerning the second question, our results indicate that digital video technolo-
gies can act as powerful cognitive tools supporting the learning processes during
collaborative visual design tasks. We found effects of different tools that afford
different learning activities, which also extend their impact to the socio-cognitive
level. Furthermore, the findings suggest that when explicit instructional guidance is
limited, technological affordances implicitly guide students' task-related and socio-
cognitive actions. Our data also indicate that subtle attempts to support the design
process by providing metaphors to help learners structure their design problem
space are easily overshadowed by the strong effects of tool affordances.
