dimensionality of student expression

Insights from a pilot project in international mobile digital storytelling

M. Vivitsou, J. Saari, K. Viitanen, J. Multisilta, H. Niemi, V. Harju, A. Siewiorek, J. Honkala CICERO Learning Network, University of Helsinki

networked era &

literacies

passive use vs

meaningful creation

media content & underlying ideologies

pedagogy vs

technology

Study participants & methods ¡ 3 countries; 39 teachers;

19 schools; 26 classrooms

¡ Contextual & follow-up questionnaires

¡ Field notes & classroom observations

¡ Semi-structured interviews & focus groups

¡ Coding, thematic analysis

¡ ‘…something fun is that we get to communicate with others. Tell them about our school they teach us about theirs and they teach us about how they get to school’ Californian Student 5th grade

¡ ‘The field behind the school… It was great, we explored the place, played football, we found a tortoise. It was great!’ Greek student, 3rd grade

Avenues and pathways of communication; curiosity & exploration

Greek & Californian students, 6th grade

Inclusiveness & expanded horizons

¡ ‘I see some slurs and some bullying going on around sometimes here in my own campus and I've heard stories about my mom's, my mom she teaches at a middle school, too. So I hear stories there, too. And also my moms are lesbian. So I wanted to do something to kind of raise awareness of that.’ Californian student, 7th grade

Learning at school as fun & meaningful experience

¡ Californian students, 5th grade

Participation : Learning to be an active citizen ¡ “Well, some people wanted to

do the thing that we did (in the storytelling), and somebody else didn’t. And so I think it should’ve been agreed by everybody, because the other felt like left outside” Finnish student, 5th grade

¡  ‘We got many things from them, but they got a lot from us as well! That’s what teams are for, anyway! To give but also to get!’ Greek students, 6th grade Finnish students,

6th grade

¡  “I could really understand what their daily lives were. Not just like, this was water, we must save water. It was like, this is my favorite food, these are my parents, this is my teacher, and there were a lot of like cultural songs that they sang… [it was] not just information.” Californian student, 7th grade

¡  ‘If it wasn’t for Y, we would be totally disorganized! We wouldn’t have such great material for videos either …’ Greek student, 6th grade

A dialogical, collaborative space emerges

Greek students, 6th grade

Digital technologies in pedagogy

¡ Disruptive mechanisms of the normal course of the pedagogical meeting

¡ The everydayness of the classroom in disorder

¡ Student expression brings another aspect of themselves to class

Key experiences of democracy & equity in the

classroom

The human element

exceeds the technological in importance

Greek students, 6th grade

Mari@nna Vivitsou

marianna.vivitsou@helsinki.fi

Thank You for Your Attention! J