1. Use of Writing Groups in Early Childhood Education What impact did peer-responses have on the students’ learning potential? Presentation on the conference A Nordic Dimension in Education and Research - Myth or Reality? Oslo, March 10-12, 2005 Kristin Holte Haug

2. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC The Writing Group Project (WGP) started in 2002 Carried out for 2 years among 60 undergraduate students at the Early Childhood Teacher Education at the Faculty of Education, Oslo University College (OUC) Became in 2003 an integrated part of the students’ curriculum

3. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Aim and background To enhance the students learning activities –More professional writing –Alternation between: virtual and F2F-meetings writing and speaking –Use of ICT The students’ learning activities had been at a critically low level the last years before the project started –The students seemed: Unprepared Uninvolved Uncritical Normally, only half of the class met to the lectures

4. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC What is a writing group? 1.4-6 students give written responses to each other’s ideas and drafts 2.Independent of disciplines and supported by a VLE 3.1 week time limit 4.An assignment formulated as a case 5.Chat was used to discuss the assignment  collective inquiry  individual learning goals 6.Writing of an individual draft  publishing on the VLE 7.Discussion board  responses to the draft. The students were instructed to give a type of responses that would help the author to develop and improve her draft. 8.Oral presentation in class 9.More responses 10.Possibly further text development

5. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Focus in this presentation The students’ statements regarding peer- responses as they appeared in the chat, in the discussion board and in the classroom Through the students’ statements I will try to shed light on the students’ opinion on the WGP’s impact on their learning potential

6. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Learning potential It may not be possible to test what each student actually learns from a particular interaction (…), but it is possible to analyze aspects of both the interaction patterns and the development of the content, and on the basis of this, make assertions about the learning potential in the particular activity. To what degree each student actually avails herself of this potential for learning is determined by contextual and personal factors which defy analysis (Dysthe, 1999a:3).

7. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Theoretical framework Socio-cultural theory initiated by Lev Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1978), who emphasizes the influences of cultural and social contexts in learning, and supports a discovery model of learning. –Zone of proximal dev. –Scaffolding Olga Dysthe presents the importance of dialogue in learning activities.

8. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC CHAT and students’ learning potential To sit discussing in front of the computer in the same room is a little bit odd…I’d prefer to discuss the case face-to-face… Why should we “talk digitally” – after all we are sitting in the same room…? As the non-verbal signals were invisible, the meaning was impossible to grasp…

9. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Advantages of using chat - I I feel that my fellow students ”listen” more carefully to my arguments when I write them down in a chat…Usually, when we sit together and talk face-to-face, the group decides what to do and how to move on, and takes little consideration to my arguments… My group didn’t use chat much, but we should have done… The group had two “strong” members who caused a lot of quarrels…A written discussion would have given all members a possibility to talk...

10. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Advantages of using chat II I could not remember all my arguments, what did I actually say during the discussion? So, I had to look it up (in the saved chat). The chat became a sort of “reference book” for myself and for the group. We could always go back to the chat to check out our arguments and the issues we agreed about…

11. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Responses in the DISCUSSION BOARD and students’ learning potential I had only positive experiences with the Forum and I learned a lot from giving responses to others work and from receiving responses to my own text… Analyzing the other students’ texts, spotting strength and weakness, gave me a better understanding of my own text… Through the responses I got information about the other students’ point of view on my text. It was a great help and I think I learned a lot from this… Through the responses I became aware of things I didn’t see or think about when I wrote the first draft…

12. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC ORAL PRESENTATION and responses in class and students’ learning potential I I was nervous, but the written material supported my performance, this was a great help for me… I’m not used to speaking to a big audience, but I realize I have to…After all - the point of this degree is to become a pre-school teacher… The writing group method and especially the responses made it easier to present my arguments in class… Afterwards (after the presentation) I was proud I’ve made it…

13. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Oral presentation and responses in class and students’ learning potential II The group gave an informative presentation on the multicultural topic, I accomplished important knowledge… The group in charge allowed me to comment a lot on their presentation… Listen to, and participate in the class room discussion was informative… Next time I’ll know how to do my “performance”…

14. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Do participation in writing groups and use of responses enhance the students’ learning potential? Writing itself creates activity –By using a VLE the studying process became - literacy, more visible or transparent –The students’ use of a VLE, in addition to their presentations in class, brought a public dimension to their studies, which seemed to enhance the students’ learning potential –The students reported that the responses in particular, brought both professional insights and tied social relations between the students

15. Kristin.HolteHaug@lu.hio.no Faculty of Education, OUC Incorporation in the learning institution’s culture and frames Writing groups have to be incorporated in the learning institution’s culture and frames: –The students do not want to spend time on study methods which they consider are not a part of the institutions’ learning culture Explicit formulation of expectations: –Active role, student-active learning methods –Encouragement to take student-active methods into use Time and space on the schedule: –Arrangement of situations at campus where such student active learning-activities can take place Study active methods, as Writing Groups do not mean less studying, but probably a more effective way of studying