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The “friend of zone of proximal development” role: ePortfolios as boundary objects
Author(s) -
Impedovo M.A.,
Ligorio M.B.,
McLay K.F.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of computer assisted learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.583
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2729
pISSN - 0266-4909
DOI - 10.1111/jcal.12282
Subject(s) - zone of proximal development , psychology , general partnership , compromise , mathematics education , identity (music) , pedagogy , sociology , social science , physics , finance , acoustics , economics
This research investigates how a role called "friend of zone of proximal development" (ZPD), assigned to one student in a peer partnership, supports the transition from university to professional life. Two near‐identical blended courses are compared. In Course 1 (6 F, 3 M), the friend of ZPD role was introduced into the ePortfolio structure. In Course 2 (6 F, 3 M), this role was not introduced. Students taking up the "friend of ZPD" role offered comments and advice. A total of 790 notes, posted by 9 students (average age: 24) for each course, were analysed. Through a quantitative analysis of the notes, we identify 3 emerging identity positions: I‐as‐university learner; I‐as‐informal learner; and I‐as‐future professional. Course 1 registered a higher number of identity positions, and the I‐as‐future‐professional position was the most frequent. Further, sudents who predominantly took up the I‐as‐university‐learner position had the lowest grades. Findings suggest that a poor projection towards the profession may compromise student learning outcomes.