Designing for Learning Talk Across Digital and Face-to-Face Settings in a Secondary English Classroom

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Leveraging the Affordances of Multimodality to Support Youth Literacies

Abstract

With the popularity of interactive technologies in K-12 spaces, many teachers are adopting digital discourse—defined as written communication via signs and symbols in online spaces that is characterized by interactivity—as a potentially generative form of classroom communication. However, the relation between learning and digital discourse is less clear. This study reports on a three-month design-based research collaboration with a secondary English teacher that aimed to encourage dialogic discourse across face-to-face discussions and digital discussions embedded in an interactive e-reader. Findings suggested connections between digital and nondigital discursive practices that influenced collaborative meaning making opportunities among students, as changing practices around digital discourse required a reorganization of rules and tasks in both digital and face-to-face learning environments.

Author

• Jennifer Higgs, University of California - Davis