Intentional versus Interest-Driven Learning: A Cross Case Analysis of Two Out-of-School Programs Based on Virtual Worlds

Constance Steinkuehler · Esra Alagoz

Wed., June 09, 5:00–7:00, Great Hall

There is a rising interest in out-of-school programs for informal learning as a way to complement (if not supplement) formal learning in classrooms. Coupled with this rising interest, there is an increased attention to innovative informal spaces, including those leveraging new technologies for learning. Commercial worlds such as Second Life, World of Warcraft, and Whyville — along with intentional learning environments like Quest Atlantis (Barab, Arcici, & Jackson, 2005) and River City (Dede, Ketelhut, & Ruess, 2003)— have become “evocative objects” for educators interested in technology as a means for fostering social interaction, increasing motivation and engagement, and enabling quasi-authentic inquiry work in the context of virtual environments instead of real ones. Yet, there are few empirically documented examples of programs leveraging existing commercial virtual spaces toward educational ends save the work of Kafai and colleagues (Neulight et al., 2007).

This poster presents a cross-case analysis conducted on two out-of-school programs based on commercial virtual environments. These programs were selected for their comparable use of technology platforms yet contrasting approaches to instructional design. Global Kids’ “I Dig Zambia” brought together 19 minority adolescents from Chicago and New York for two weeks to learn about paleontology, biology, and Zambian culture and politics in Teen Second Life. This intentional learning environment included structured activities designed to give participants an opportunity to develop their 21st century skills, social interactions with practicing paleontologists, and virtual world exhibits where youth presented their culminating work as well as blogposts which added a reflective writing component to their daily activities. The GLS casual learning lab was an eight-month after school program based on the popular MMO, WoW. Targeting 22 adolescent boys that were disengaged in school, the program was designed to explore ways that instructional designers might leverage adolescents’ existing interests in games in order to engage them in practices that are both aligned with schools and meaningful in their everyday offline lives. Data collection included multimodal fieldnotes, in-game chatlogs, videotaped and transcribed face-to-face discussions, and participants’ blog (GK) and forum (GLS) posts. The coding scheme used for this analysis was constructed out of the instructional goals of each program and functioned as a shared framework for tracing the emergence of key practices and dispositions within each site. A team of eight researchers then coded the entire data corpus from both sites using NVivo. Interrater reliability, calculated on 10% of the data corpus, was 98%.

One conclusion that can be made from this analysis is the need to balance standardization with customization. A program designed for intentional learning offers structured goals with equal outcomes but runs the risk of alienating students from their own learning preferences. On the other hand, an interest-driven program gives the students opportunity to pursue their own interests but at the risk of narrowing their exposure to new concepts outside their immediate interests. Positioning staff as nodes of equal status rather than conversational hubs allows the participants to develop systems of individual expertise where their social network as a whole can function as the thinking apparatus through discussions. However, regardless of the program design, the facilitation of participant discussions by staff using revoicing techniques appears important for fostering and sustaining more sophisticated forms of discursive argument. Finally, having participants write reflections on their virtual world experiences was a powerful activity. It functioned as a way to engage in informal formative assessment and fostered more sophisticated information literacy practices (GK), and provided opportunities for more complex forms of metacognitive processing (GLS).

References

Barab, S., Arcici, A., & Jackson, C. (2005). Eat your vegetables and do your homework: A design-based investigation of enjoyment and meaning in learning. Educational Technology, 45(1), 15-21.

Dede, C., Ketelhut, D. & Ruess, K. (2003). Motivation, usability, and learning outcomes in a prototype museum-based multiuser virtual environment. In P. Bell, R. Stevens, & T. Satwicz, (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth ICLS. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Neulight, N. Kafai, Y.B., Kao, L., Foley, B., & Galas, C. (2007). Children's participation in a virtual epidemic in the science classroom. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(1), 47-58.