The DUAL-T team at University of Geneva collaborated with a vocational school in the health domain (Health and Social Care Assistants) in Geneva.
Two projects were conducted:
Writing to share, sharing to learn: Computer-supported collaborative learning in Health Education (2010-2014)
Team members: Giulia Ortoleva, Mireille Bétrancourt and Daniel Schneider, TECFA – FPSE, University of Geneva
Practice in the health domain required students to acquire formal conceptual procedural knowledge in order to perform correctly and safely, but also to be able to handle a large class of dynamic and complex situations, such as patients refusing their treatment. In order to develop such heuristics knowledge, students need to reflect on practical experience and relate it to conceptual or abstract knowledge discussed in school. Together with teachers, we developed a computer-supported learning scenario based on writing and commenting critical experiences, to support apprentices’ professional development. An online collaborative writing tool (wiki) was used in order to facilitate and mediate participants’ interaction in the context of our studies. Typically the learning design consists in having students writing in the wiki about a critical experience encountered in the workplace, followed by a series of questions and comments provided by at least two other students. After classifying the stories into meaningful categories, the teachers lead the discussion with the students, who then write a novel solution to the situation described in their stories. Together these stories constitute a collective knowledge base constructed by the community of learners. Empirical studies showed that such activity had beneficial impact on some aspects of apprentices’ declarative competence acquisition and improved self-efficacy beliefs of 1st year students (Ortoleva & Bétrancourt, 2014a). An in-depth analysis of the interactions among learners on the platform highlighted a high engagement of the participants in the activity proposed and in particular in the collaborative task (Ortoleva, Schneider, Bétrancourt, 2013). Finally, it was possible to identify the characteristics of “good” peer-comments that demonstrated a high level of elaboration and lead to higher transactivity (Ortoleva & Bétrancourt, 2014b). These results indicate the interesting potentials of writing and peer-collaboration in the context of vocational training, with computer support providing the capacity to revise, interact and co-construct knowledge.
Publications
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2013). Utilisation d’un wiki pour l’écriture collaborative et le partage d’expérience en formation professionnelle initiale. In C. Choquet, P. Dessus, M. Lefevre, J. Broisin, O. Catteau, P. Vidal, Environnement Informatique pour l’Apprentissage Humain. Actes de la conference. (pp. 17–28). Toulouse: IRIT Press 2013.
Ortoleva, G. & Bétrancourt, M. (2014a). Computer-supported collaborative writing in vocational education: Effects of peer feedback on learning and self-efficacy. In M. Braaskma, & G. Rijlaarsdam special issue: Intervention studies in writing to learn.Journal of Writing Research (in revision).
Ortoleva, G., & Bétrancourt, M. (2014b). Supporting productive collaboration in a computer-supported instructional activity: Peer-feedback on critical incidents in healthcare education. Journal of Vocational Education and Training (submitted).
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Prototype of a competence development portfolio
Team members: Giulia Ortoleva, Stéphane Morand and Mireille Bétrancourt, TECFA – FPSE, University of Geneva
The ASSC school has started working on a paper-based development portfolio, i.e. “Livret de Suivi Pédagogique” (LSP). In order to circumvent the limitations of paper format, a prototype of an eportfolio was developed following a participatory process with a group of 3 teachers of the school.
The tool serves the purpose of recording the evaluation of the competences of an apprentice multiple times throughout the three years of education. The competences evaluated are key competences for the profession of community health care assistant and have been selected by a multidisciplinar group of teachers (particular attention has been given to the balance of general culture and professional competences).
The evaluation of the selected competences is two-folded: the students perform a self-assessment, which has the objective of encouraging a thorough reflection on capacities and abilities acquired and on the ones that have to be further developed. Conversely, an evaluation from the teacher provides apprentices with a regular feedback on their development and progresses, guiding them in the identification of critical aspects.
The use of ICT for the design of this environment benefits both apprentices and teachers, as it allows them to access the tool in a flexible way. Teachers can easily handle the class as a group, adding new evaluation contexts and evaluating by group of students. Ultimately, the LSP will also be used to connect the writing activities conducted throughout the year in the project presented above.
Publications
Book edition
Ortoleva, G., Bétrancourt, M., Billett, S. (2014) (Vol. Eds), Studies in Writing: Writing for Professional Development. In Rijlaarsdam (Series Ed.) series: Studies in Writing. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill (in preparation).
Book chapters and conference proceedings
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2013). Utilisation d’un wiki pour l’écriture collaborative et le partage d’expérience en formation professionnelle initiale. In C. Choquet, P. Dessus, M. Lefevre, J. Broisin, O. Catteau, P. Vidal,Environnement Informatique pour l’Apprentissage Humain. Actes de la conférence. (pp. 17–28). Toulouse: IRIT Press 2013.
Ortoleva, G. & Bétrancourt, M. (to appear in 2015). Computer-supported collaborative writing for professional development. In Rijlaarsdam (Series Ed.), G. Ortoleva, M. Bétrancourt & S. Billett (Vol. Eds.), Studies in Writing: Writing for Professional Development. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill (accepted).
Journal articles
Ortoleva, G., Bétrancourt, M. & Morand, S. (2012). Entre personnalisation et contraintes collectives: Une demarche centrée utilisateur pour la mise en place d’un livret numérique de Suivi Pédagogique. Sciences et Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’Education et la Formation (STICEF), 19, 233-251. [http://sticef.univ-lemans.fr/num/vol2012/01-ortoleva-individualisation/sticef_2012_NS_ortoleva_01p.pdf]
Ortoleva, G. & Bétrancourt, M. (2014a). Computer-supported collaborative writing in vocational education: Effects of peer feedback on learning and self-efficacy. In M. Braaskma, & G. Rijlaarsdam special issue: Intervention studies in writing to learn.Journal of Writing Research (submitted).
Ortoleva, G., & Bétrancourt, M. (2014b). Supporting productive collaboration in a computer-supported instructional activity: Peer-feedback on critical incidents in healthcare education. Journal of Vocational Education and Training (submitted).
Conference with peer review
Ortoleva, G., Gavota, M., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2011, July). Incidents Critiques et Partage d’Expériences : étude pilote d’écriture collaborative avec des apprentis Assistants en Soins et Santé Communautaire (ASSC), paper presented at the 16ème Journée d’Étude sur le Traitement Cognitif des Systèmes d’Information Complexes JETCSIC, Toulouse.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2012, July). Writing and peer feedback to promote professional development in vocational education. Proceedings of the 13th International conference of the EARLI SIG on Writing (p. 188), July 10-13, Porto, Portugal.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2012, June) Partage d’expérience par l’écriture collaborative médiatisée en formation professionnelle initiale. 2eme colloque international de didactique pro-fessionnelle : Apprentissage et développement professionnel, Nantes.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., & Bétrancourt, M. (2013, August). Writing in vocational education: Effects of peer feedback on learning and self-efficacy. Paper presented at the 15th Biennal EARLI Conference for research on learning and instructions, Munich, Germany.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., & Bétrancourt, M. (2013, August). Finding the right pedagogical scenario: A Design-Based Research Approach in Vocational Education. Poster presented at the JURE conference, Munich, Germany.
Ortoleva, G., & Bétrancourt, M. (2014, August). Writing and sharing critical incidents: Computer-supported collaborative writing in vocational education. To appear in Proceedings of the 14th International conference of the EARLI SIG on Writing, 27-29 August, Amsterdam, NL.
Seminar and invited presentations
Bétrancourt, M. (2014, January). De la plume au clavier. Grafe Research seminar, January 24.
Bétrancourt, M. (2014, march). Culture numérique des élèves et des enseignants : quelles competences pour quells apprentissages ? Introductory keynote at the conference “Culture numérique à l’école : quelles formations pour quelles pratiques ? HEP Bejune, March 20. [http://qmpilot.hepbejune.ch/qmp2/servlet/readObject/Abstracts_QR_pour_site_v01.pdf?oid=2370&lang=4]
Bétrancourt, M. (2014, June). Compétences TICE dans la formation professionnelle. Conférence de formation, IFFP – Renens, June 26.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D., Bétrancourt, M. (2012, January) Writing to share, sharing to lear: Peer commenting on critical situations in health and social care apprenticeship. Paper Session presented at the Dual-T VET-Tech meeting, Villars-sur-Ollon, Swtizerland.
Ortoleva, G. (2012, April) Writing to share, sharing to learn: Technology-enhanced learning activities to foster professional development in initial vocational education. Vocational Learning in and across contexts: Integrating formal training with workplace learning, Etudes doctorales, Sciences de l’Education, Genève, Switzerland.
Mauroux, L., Ortoleva, G., Boldrini, E. (2012, October). Writing for reflection. Poster session presented at the Days of the leading Houses. Bienne, Switzerland.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D. & Betrancourt, M. (2013, January). Moving beyond personal experience through the construction of a computer-supported collaborative repository of critical situations. Presentation in the workshop « Technology support for reflecting on experiences and sharing them across learning contexts » at the Alpine Rendez-Vous, Villard-de-Lans, France.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D.K., & Bétrancourt, M. (2013, January). Constructing a collaborative repository of experience: comparison between first and second year health and social care apprentices. Poster presented in the workshop « Technology support for reflecting on experiences and sharing them across learning contexts » at the Alpine Rendez-Vous, Villard-de-Lans, France.
Ortoleva, G., Schneider, D.K., & Bétrancourt, M. (2013, March). Moving beyond personal experience through computer-supported collaborative writing in vocational education. Paper presented at the Congress on Research in Vocational Education and Training, Zollikofen, Switzerland.
Ortoleva, G. (2014, January) Ecriture et collaboration médiatisées pour le développement professionnelle. Presentation at the Séminaire de recherche LDI – Langage, Dialogue, Interaction, Conservatoiure National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), Paris, France.
Ortoleva, G., Bétrancourt, M. (2014, March). Moving beyond personal experience through the construction of a computer-supported collaborative repository of critical situations. Presentation at the DUAL-T advisory board meeting workshop, Lausanne, Switzerland.