Abstracts - Earli

J 530 August 2007 17:00 - 18:20Room: -1.64Paper SessionDevelopment of expertise in specific domainsChair:Szilvia Jámbori, University of Szeged, HungaryProductive writing and multivoiced feedback in the study of law Enculturation and legal problemsolving in a Virtual Learning EnvironmentArne Vines, University of Bergen, NorwayThis paper explores the pedagogical affordances of using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)in the study of Law. Through a close investigation of undergraduate law students’ writteninteraction in a VLE, this case study shows that this technology affords a framework for a morecomplex interaction between a large numbers of students and more knowledgeable teacherassistants at an innovative Norwegian Law faculty. A clear finding is the productive aspect ofconflict, resistance, arguing and meaning exchange between different voices in the writteninteractions. However, the study also indicates and discusses indications of unproductive and evencounterproductive peer feedback. Viewed in the light of the Bakhtinian dialogic theory of learning,and also with the aim of preparing law students for a future working practice, it is claimed thatthey need to learn how to produce knowledge, not just reproduce set opinions from authoritiessuch as textbook authors, professors, and legislators. From this research it is shown that systematicwriting and thorough feedback from peers and a more knowledgeable teacher assistant, mediatedby a thought-through use of a VLE, represents a prolific way of learning and appropriating thecore practices and methods of the law discipline. But the findings from this case study is, however,ambiguous towards the role of the VLE, and one of the main conclusions is that educators andlearning designers should take serious cautions to the subtle boundary between socialising studentsinto an academic community and its discourse, and, on the other hand, to foster their ability tocreate and make use of their own ‘voice’ in subject matters.A self-regulatory action research model for learning to teach using the WebQuest as a mediatorMaria Cardelle-Elawar, Arizona State University-West Campus, USAMaria Luisa Sanz de Acedo Lizarraga , Universidad Publica de Navarra, SpainThis paper reports on the use and instructional benefit of a WebQuest on the Theory of MultipleIntelligences in a graduate-level course on Learning and Instruction. The WebQuest provides aninteractive learning experience for students to explore the theory of multiple intelligences andenhance their learning by guiding them through a self-reflection of their teaching skills. Studentfeedback regarding the WebQuest as a mediating tool indicated that it served as a frame ofreference to learn about themselves and their students’ diversity. Ultimately, students gain newinsights into student performance, behavior and success by using learning and multipleintelligence theories to tap the individual needs of their students. Through the WebQuest, theauthors emphasize the importance of the role of the teacher as a mediator in facilitating thelearning process. We conclude with a discussion of future directions we are taking with theWebQuest as a result of this study.– 541 –