Kristine Ludvigsen
This poster presents an intervention study of how we used Flinga, a shared online whiteboard (http://www.nordtouch.fi/) to support peer discussions in lectures. The overarching purpose of the study was to explore affordances of using Flinga to open dialogical spaces (Wegerif, 2013) in the context of lectures. When describing dialogical spaces, terms such as opening – how the dialogical space is enabled, widening – how many possible different voices and perspectives it allows for, and deepening – the extent of critical reflections on the perspectives it provides for, are crucial dimensions.
The research question that guides across two cases was: “What kind of affordances are there in collaborative whiteboard to support the dimensions of the opening, widening, and deepening dialogical spaces in lectures? We used a design-based research approach that included audio-recordings of peer-discussions, material produced in lectures, focus group interviews with students and course evaluation from teachers. We argue that opening dialogical spaces in lecture provides students with rich possibilities to reflect on concepts and to develop their arguments, and thus to get feedback on their understanding of course content. For the lecturers, the critical point was to deepen the space and to orchestrate a dialogue with students. We found the idea of a dialogical space to be fruitful for planning and assessing discussion-based activities in the context of the lecture. In the poster session, the participants will be invited to discuss opportunities and constrain of using such tools to support discussions.
