Synchronous Environments for ECE

As I was looking for an article to use for annotation in this week's group assignment, I came across a research article titled Representational guidance and student engagement: examining designs for collaboration in online synchronous environments. The article basically explains that student's in an undergraduate child development class who participated in their study were asked to design a "theoretically-based, developmentally appropriate, preschool classroom setting" (p.619). The researchers divided students into 3 different groups to accomplish this task and evaluated their online on-line text chat discussions, used an instructional rubric, and student survey. Each group was assigned to a different synchronous condition to complete their collaborative design assignment- 1) Text-only, 2) Shared Representations (2D+Text), and 3) Multi-user Virtual Environments (MUVE). The research by F.R.Sullivan et al. indicated that "representational design appears to have an impact on student collaborative problem solving in chat environments" (p.641). In an early childhood preschool environment, there is often lots of collaboration as various staff, family members, and specialist often come together for the common good of the child. Finding this kind of research, environment, and element in my field excites me.


I thought about my training in the early childhood associate's program at Kauai CC and how routine my child development course was- lots of note-taking, tests, and reading. In fact, our professor spoke so fast we had to use a voice recorder just to keep up. Using a 3D virtual classroom and materials in Active Worlds could have helped me understand how classroom aesthetics and developmentally appropriate design could have been better applied with the theories learned in class. The idea of actually moving furniture and selecting material from a child development perspective would make a great collaborative final project. Instead we did a group brochure that lacked substance and any real connection to the space and children we would one day serve. In addition, so much learning happens among teachers/peers when we get out into the field and actually visit other programs and classrooms, that using the virtual world to bridge our current understanding about design and child development in a manner for further discussion and evaluation seems ideal. Up until now I struggled with seeing the value of Second Life in my profession or personal locus of control, but I am now thinking how very appropriate it could be if used in the right way.


Resource:

Sullivan, F., Hamilton, C., Allessio, D., Boit, R., Deschamps, A., Sindelar, T., & ... Zhu, Y. (2011). Representational guidance and student engagement: examining designs for collaboration in online synchronous environments. Educational Technology Research & Development, 59(5), 619-644. doi:10.1007/s11423-010-9178-x