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This article explores how the adoption of educational robotics, cloud-based animation software, and simplified visual programming software can provide valuable opportunities for dialogic interaction and learning. The potentialities of this type of activity are often overlooked in dialogic investigations. Based on empirical illustration, we discuss how open-ended educational tasks involving the creation of material-digital artifacts can promote the expression of the students' voices and the emergence of a dialogic space in which both human and non-human Others, as well as chronotropic dynamics and materiality, play a crucial role. To provide a polyphonic account of the dialogical processes detected, we analyzed excerpts from two group interviews with seven lower secondary school students (aged 11-12) and excerpts taken from meetings with their teacher. Our qualitative analysis shows that the technology-mediated activity provided valuable opportunities for opening a dialogic space in which the students could express their own voice in interaction with both human and non-human Others. The material world (including the virtual materiality of computer-generated objects) seems to play a twofold role. First, the resistance of the virtual and material objects can contribute to the opening of a dialogical space between the child and the world; second, the chronotopic relations seem to have an impact on the dialogic learning process. These are valid opportunities for educationally relevant dialogic interaction. They should be cultivated and supported to further advance the pedagogical value of educational robotics and coding.

Blended learning usually refers to the combination of online/offline instructional methods. In this paper, we describe a university course in "E-learning Psychology" designed to blend not only modes of teaching, tools, and media, but also learning contexts; specifically, academic and professional contexts. To achieve an effective blend of learning contexts, students were monitored by academic and company tutors through an instant messaging app (WhatsApp). The unique contribution of the company tutor to the blending of academic and professional contexts is explored. By qualitatively analyzing (i) process data (four WhatsApp log chats) and (ii) self-report data (interviews with six company tutors), we found that the company tutor contributed to both the traditional blended dimension (mixing online and offline) and to the blend of the academic and professional contexts. When company tutors participated in the chat, students moved from an organizational dynamic, featuring chats monitored by only the academic tutor, toward a more collaborative and reflective dynamic. The company tutors considered the opportunity to blend academic and professional contexts as the best aspect of the course for both themselves as educators/company representatives, and for the students. This paper offers insights into the ongoing discussion about what blended is--or should be--and the role of company tutors in blending educational contexts.

Due to ongoing cultural-historical transformations, the space-time of learning is radically changing, and theoretical conceptualizations are needed to investigate how such evolving space-time frames can function as a ground for learning. In this article, we argue that the concept of chronotope--from Greek chronos and topos, meaning time and place/space--lends itself well to reach this aim. In particular, we outline three features of chronotope: 1) its analytical focus includes the examination of the potential interdependency between space and time; 2) it allows us to examine space and time as social constructions, negotiated in dialogical interaction; 3) it involves the analysis of both the material organization and the discursive negotiation of space and time. We use examples from our own studies and from relevant literature to illustrate how these features of the concept allow us to examine the role that space-time relations play in educational practice. Finally, we draw our conclusions and briefly introduce the theoretical and methodological challenges to be addressed for a full development of the concept.

Based on behavioral science assumptions, the main purpose of this study is to validate a theoretical model of the relationship between serious game play, patient empowerment and health-related behaviors. We first hypothesized that serious games for health enhanced patients' empowerment-related education; second, we expected that gender may influence such an educational model. To test our hypotheses, 124 Italian young diabetics (Mean age = 14.12 years old, SD = 2.14; 59.67% female) were involved in the research study named "Tako Dojo". After participating to a training session about the use of the serious game for diabetes, they filled in a questionnaire that included several scales of game experience, patient empowerment and adherence-related behaviors. Multiple regression analysis partially confirmed our hypotheses. First, it pointed out that serious game for health directly supported the patients' empowerment and their therapeutic adherence indirectly. Then, it showed that patients' gender influenced the game-based patient empowerment. To conclude, some relevant theoretical issues concerning the game-based patient education and practical implications about the game design in the healthcare contexts were highlighted.

This paper describes a three-step method for the construction of codebooks meant for analyzing ePortfolio content. The first step produces a prototype based on qualitative analysis of very different ePortfolios from the same course. During the second step, the initial version of the codebook is tested on a larger sample and subsequently revised. Finally, during the third phase the codebook is applied to analyze ePortfolios' contents and to chart trends of usage. We tested the codebook on the ePortfolios of 16 students attending a university blended course. This codebook and the method for building it enabled us to follow the ePortfolios' evolution over the course, to observe students' individual differences, to understand and guide students' self-assessment, and to customize teachers' and/or tutors' interventions. Our method produces a tailored codebook for the examination of ePortfolio contents.

In this paper, we describe a procedure to promote active participation in online courses by supporting students in performing the role of an e-Tutor during group activities. A case study, conducted to explore the procedural effects both on students' interactions and on their perceptions about the role, is discussed. Eighteen university students (67% female, mean Age = 23 years) took part in online collaborative learning activities as part of a 15-week blended learning course. Twelve participants took turns in covering the role of e-Tutor. Findings were based on a mixed methods analysis of 7105 contributions posted online by the 18 students. An analysis of e-Tutor self-assessment forms was also considered. Results indicated that utilising peer-based e-Tutors promoted substantial active participation in online discussions. Moreover, students performing the role of e-Tutor adopted a supportive, collaborative and educational style, which was maintained even after their turn as e-Tutor had ended.

This article aims to investigate how university students perform agency in an online course and whether the collaborative nature of the course affects such expression. A total of 11 online web forums involving 18 students (N = 745 posts in total) were qualitatively analysed through the use of a codebook composed of five categories (individual, interpersonal, epistemic, transformative and collective) and several sub-categories purposely developed for the sake of this research. The results show that each category follows a specific path, although two events--the re-mixing of the groups and the assumption of the peer-tutor role--particularly affected the evolution of trends. Although this study needs further development, the authors believe that an in-depth understanding of the nature of agency, including how to analyse it as well as empower it when implementing blended educational activities, engages relevant theoretical and pedagogical issues.

This article presents the findings of a qualitative interview study of professional identity of 38 Italian teachers close to retirement. Through a dialogical analysis of the interviews, the authors trace the trajectory of the teachers' voices along a temporal axis, to retrieve the history of the voices and the connections to a specific period of the teachers' careers. In particular, the authors focus on how the interviewees dealt with problems and dilemmas in their professional lives and solved their feelings of professional inadequacy. This study highlights the importance of the time dimension in relation to teacher professionalism, in particular with regard to identity resources to overcome critical moments in their careers.

This paper investigates teachers' agency in relation to their professional development. In particular, we refer to research skills and attitude in-service teachers may acquire while attending an international master of research in education. A semi-structured interview was administrated to nine in-service teachers, coming from three different African countries. All of them are attending an international master course aimed to acquire skills in science educational research. The data collected was qualitatively analysed through a category system based on five types of agency. Teachers express the various types of agency in their attempt to extend their action in the context of belonging, with a strong social connotation towards colleagues, students, and the community.

This article analyses how a group of teachers managed the resources available while performing computer-supported collaborative problem-solving tasks in the context of professional development. The authors video-recorded and analysed collaborative sessions during which the group of teachers used a digital environment to prepare a pedagogical scenario for subsequent implementation in their schools. The findings provide evidence that some aspects of context management can be explained in terms of explorative (opening problem space) and focused (closing problem space) actions. The results indicate that (a) the focused problem-solving took place when the problem space reached a provisional stability and problem-solvers developed a plan for proceeding with the task, (b) the individual exploration of the context was associated with the process of appropriation of a digital educational environment, and (c) the collective exploration of the context fostered the advancement of collaborative problem-solving and the introduction of new elements in the joint problem space.

In this paper, we use the concept of chronotope to analyse the co-construction of spatial and temporal frameworks during collaborative interaction. A chronotope is a genre of movement or pacing in the space that participants adopt over the temporal duration of an activity. We look in particular at the conjunction point of time and space as revealing how collaboration works and what role is played by technology. Six sessions during which 10 teachers prepared a pedagogical scenario to be implemented in school were filmed and qualitatively analysed. The tempo of the activity was found to vary considerably depending on various factors, such as the features of the tools used, the aims of the activity, and the skills employed by the participants to achieve them. Three different tempos were identified, which we named, using a musical metaphor, Adagio, Andante, and Allegretto. Some representative excerpts of each of these tempos, and of the moving from one tempo to another, are selected and discussed. Our results allow an in-depth understanding of coordination within a group of teachers working on planning a common educational scenario for their classrooms with the mediation of a software tool. (Contains 7 figures, 1 table and 3 footnotes.)

Virtual environments are more and more used in primary schools. One of the most interesting potentialities of these environments is to foster cross-national applications. Yet, this specific feature is not fully exploited. This paper presents a successful virtual learning environment for primary education involving two European countries and concerning multidisciplinary contents. Theoretically the project is inspired by the concepts of learners and virtual community, and refers to computer-supported collaborative learning and knowledge building. The virtual environment is composed by three-dimensional software able to generate virtual worlds and a discussion forum. Four Italian and three Dutch classrooms at different primary school grades participated. The virtual world built, called Euroland, is composed by several cultural houses. The qualitative description of the building process of the cultural houses proves virtual environments can be successfully introduced in primary education and fosters cognitive and social skills. Such success is due to the capability of the virtual environment to conjugate a playful dimension, the development of innovative content, and a real collaboration at a distance. The article ends with some conclusions and a reflection on some structural conditions at the school level, which are necessary for successful implementation in schools of such projects. (Contains 2 tables, 5 figures, and 1 note.)

New kinds of jobs require managing new kinds of work life competences and a number of such key competences for lifelong learning which equip young people for further learning and employability in a knowledge society have already been identified. Research has however indicated that formal education is not providing adequate support and opportunities for acquiring the needed competencies in practice. More discussion and empirical research is needed about knowledge work competences and related practices in secondary schools, higher education and in the work life. The theme of this special Issue is 'Knowledge work: educational practices preparing students for work life' and it has as its aim to contribute to a discussion on how changes in professional work can be taken into account in educational settings. Of particular interest in this special issue is how educational theory about 'knowledge-creation' is applied in practice. The trialogical approach to learning highlights collaborative knowledge creation and the development of shared, mediating objects. This theory and its associated design principles are introduced. The contributions of this special issue relate to implementing ideas of the trialogical approach to learning in various ways and each contribution is briefly presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]