Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

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EDITOR Dr. J. Ignacio Aguaded University of Huelva (Spain)

EDITORES TEMÁTICOS (Guest-Edited Special Issue) , XXI • Dr. Bartolomé Rubia, University of Valladolid 42 • Dr. Montse Guitert, Open University of Catalunya

EDITORES ADJUNTOS (Assistant Editors) • Dr. Enrique Martínez-Salanova, Grupo Comunicar, Almeria EDITORIAL BOARD • Dr. Mª Carmen Fonseca-Mora, University of Huelva • Dr. Ángel Hernando-Gómez, University of Huelva • Dr. Miguel de-Aguilera, University of Malaga • Dr. Rafael Repiso, UNIR / EC3, University of Granada • Dr. Manuel Ángel Vázquez-Medel, University of Sevilla • Dr. Mª Amor Pérez-Rodríguez, University of Huelva • Dr. Joan Ferrés-i-Prats, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona • Dr. Agustín García-Matilla, University of Valladolid COEDITORES INTERNACIONALES • Dr. Javier Marzal, Jaume I University, Castellón • Ecuador: Dr. Diana Rivera, University of Loja (UTPL) • Dr. Francisco García-García, Complutense University, Madrid • United Kingdom: Dr. Mark Gant, University of Chester (UK) • Dr. Concepción Medrano, University of País Vasco • Chile: Mgter. Andrés Scherman, Diego Portales University • Dr. Julio Cabero-Almenara, University of Sevilla • Dr. J. Manuel Pérez-Tornero, Autonomous University of Barcelona ADVISORY BOARD • Dr. Elea Giménez-Toledo, CSIC, Madrid • Dr. Ana García-Valcárcel, University of Salamanca • Dr. Ismar de-Oliveira, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil • Dr. Manuel Lorenzo, University of Granada • Dr. Guillermo Orozco, University of Guadalajara, Mexico • Dr. Donaciano Bartolomé, Complutense University, Madrid • Dr. Cecilia Von-Feilitzen, Nordicom, Suecia • Dr. Javier Tejedor-Tejedor, University of Salamanca • Dr. Geniève Jacquinot, University Paris VIII, Paris, France • Dr. Juan Antonio García-Galindo, University of Malaga • Dr. Pier Cesare Rivoltella, Catholic University of Milano, Italia • Dr. Pablo del-Río, Carlos III University, Madrid • Dr. Alberto Parola, MED, University of Torino, Italia • Dr. Pere Marquès, Autonomous University of Barcelona • Dr. Teresa Quiroz, University of Lima, Perú • Dr. Domingo Gallego, Open University (UNED), Madrid • Dr. Claudio Avendaño, Diego Portales University, Chile • Dr. Manuel Cebrián-de-la-Serna, University of Malaga • Dr. Mar Fontcuberta, Catholic University, Chile • Dr. Manuel Area, La Laguna University, Tenerife • Dr. Jacques Piette. University of Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada • Dr. Juan de Pablos-Pons, University of Sevilla • Dr. Jesús Arroyave. University of North, Colombia • Dr. Manuel Fandos-Igado, UNIR/UNED, Zaragoza • Dr. Samy Tayie, University of Cairo, Mentor Association, Egipto • Dr. Begoña Gutiérrez, University of Salamanca • Dr. Vítor Reia, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal • Dr. Ramón Pérez-Pérez, University of Oviedo • Dr. Sara Pereira. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal • Dr. Ramón Reig, University of Sevilla • Dr. Armanda Pinto, University of Coimbra, Portugal • Dr. Rosa García-Ruiz, University of Cantabria • Dr. Divina Frau-Meigs, Université Sorbonne, Paris, France • Dr. Felicísimo Valbuena, Complutense University, Madrid • Dr. Patrick Verniers, IHECS, Belgium • Dr. Carmen Echazarreta, University of Girona • Dr. Graça Targino, University UESPI/UFPB, Brazil • Dr. Jesús Valverde, University of Extremadura • Dr. Tania Esperon, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil • Dr. Victoria Tur, University of Alicante • Dr. Vania Quintão, University of Brasilia, Brazil • Dr. Gustavo Hernández, ININCO, Central University, Venezuela BOARD OF MANAGEMENT • Dr. Gerardo Borroto, CUJAE, La Habana, Cuba • Dr. Ciro Novelli, University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina • Águeda Delgado, University of Huelva • Dr. Jorge Cortés-Montalvo, UACH/REDECA, Mexico • Francisco Casado, University of Huelva • Dr. Patricia Cortez, Catholic University of Cochabamba, Bolivia • Dr. Isidro Marín-Gutiérrez, University of Huelva /UTPL (Ecuador) • Dr. Silvia Contín, University of Patagonia, Argentina • Dr. Margarita García-Candeira, University of Huelva • Dr. Karina P. Valarezo, University Téc. Part. Loja, Ecuador • Manuel González-Mairena, University of Huelva • Dr. Carlos Muñiz, Autonomous University of Nuevo León, Mexico • Dr. Vicent Gozálvez, University of Valencia • Dr. Evgeny Pashentsev, Lomonosov Moscow University, Rusia • Dr. Jacqueline Sánchez-Carrero, University of Huelva • Dr. Fahriye Altinay, Near East University, Turkey • Dr. Mar Rodríguez-Rosell, UCAM, Murcia • Paolo Celot, EAVI, Bruxelles, Belgium • Dr. Inmaculada Berlanga, International University of La Rioja • Jordi Torrent, ONU, Alliance of Civilizations, NY, USA • Kathleen Tyner, University of Texas, Austin, USA • TRANSLATIONS: Noel Byde • Marieli Rowe, National Telemedia Council, Madison, USA • DESIGNED BY: (Cover) Enrique Martínez-Salanova • Yamile Sandoval, University of Santiago de Cali, Colombia • COMMERCIAL MANAGER: Alejandro Ruiz

C O N T E N T S Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Revolution in Education? Computer Support for Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

FOREWORD • Contents ...... 4/5 • Editorial ...... 7/8

DOSSIER Presentation: Revolution in Education? Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) ...... 10-13 Presentación ¿La revolución de la enseñanza? El aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales (CSCL) Bartolomé Rubia & Montse Guitert. Valladolid / Barcelona (Spain) 1. Collaborative Construction of a Project as a Methodology for Acquiring Digital Competences ...... 15-23 La construcción colaborativa de proyectos como metodología para adquirir competencias digitales María Pérez-Mateo, Marc Romero & Teresa Romeu. Barcelona (Spain) 2. Planning Collaborative Learning in Virtual Environments ...... 25-32 La planificación del aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales Nuria Hernández, Mercedes González & Pablo Muñoz. Madrid / A Coruña / Lugo (Spain) 3. Construction of the Foundations of the PLE and PLN for Collaborative Learning ...... 35-43 Entornos y redes personales de aprendizaje (PLE-PLN) para el aprendizaje colaborativo Victoria Marín, Francisca Negre & Adolfina Pérez. Palma de Mallorca (Spain) 4. Audioblogs and Tvblogs, Tools for Collaborative Learning in Journalism ...... 45-53 Audioblogs y Tvblogs, herramientas para el aprendizaje colaborativo en Periodismo Nereida López & Patricia González. Valladolid / Madrid (Spain) 5. Collaboration and Social Networking in Higher Education ...... 55-62 Colaboración y redes sociales en la enseñanza universitaria Adriana Gewerc, Lourdes Montero & Manuel Lama. Santiago de Compostela (Spain) 6. ICT in Collaborative Learning in the Classrooms of Primary and Secondary Education ...... 65-74 Las TIC en el aprendizaje colaborativo en el aula de Primaria y Secundaria Ana García-Valcárcel, Verónica Basilotta y Camino López. Salamanca (Spain) 7. Meaning Processes mediated through a Protagonists’ Collaborative Learning Platform ...... 75-85 Procesos de significación mediados por una plataforma de aprendizaje colaborativo desde los protagonistas Marcelo Arancibia, Iván Oliva & Francisco Paiva. Valdivia (Chile) 8. Exploring Student and Teacher Perception of E-textbooks in a Primary School ...... 87-95 Explorando la percepción de estudiantes y profesor sobre el libro de texto electrónico en Educación Primaria Janaina de Oliveira, Mar Camacho & Mercè Gisbert. Tarragona (Spain) 9. A Community of Practice: An Intervention Model based on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning . . 97-105 Comunidades de práctica: un modelo de intervención desde el aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales Mª Rosa Fernández & Jesús Valverde. Cáceres (Spain) 10. Design Thinking and Collaborative Learning ...... 107-115 Pensamiento de diseño y aprendizaje colaborativo Teemu Leinonen & Eva Durall. Helsinki (Finlandia)

C O N T E N T S Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014

KALEIDOSCOPE Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014

11. Primary School Second Grade Teachers’ and Students’ Opinions on Media Literacy ...... 119-127 Creencias sobre alfabetización mediática en profesores y estudiantes de Educación Primaria Emine Sur, Emre Ünal & Kamil İşeri. Konya, Niğde & Niğde (Turquía) 12. Empowering Media Citizenship through Educommunication ...... 129-136 Empoderar a la ciudadanía mediática desde la educomunicación Vicent Gozálvez & Paloma Contreras-Pulido. Valencia / Huelva (Spain) 13. Media Literacy and Information Literacy: Similarities and Differences ...... 137-145 Alfabetización mediática y alfabetización informacional: similitudes y diferencias A.Y.L. Lee & C.Y.K. So. Hong Kong (China) 14. Adolescent Students as Media Fictional Characters ...... 147-156 Relatos audiovisuales de ficción sobre la iden tidad adolescente en contextos escolares Laia Falcón & Mª José Díaz-Aguado. Madrid (Spain) 15. Researching on and with Young People: Collaborating and Educating ...... 157-164 Investigar con y sobre los jóvenes colaborando y educando M. Domingo, J.A. Sánchez & J.M. Sancho. Barcelona (Spain) 16. Educational Possibilities of Social Networks and Group Work. University Students’ Perceptions ...... 165-172 Posibilidades educativas de las redes sociales y el trabajo en grupo. Percepciones de los alumnos universitarios Julio Cabero & Verónica Marín. Sevilla / Córdoba (Spain) 17. Media Literacy for Older People facing the Digital Divide: The e-Inclusion Programmes Design ...... 173-180 Diseño de programas de e-inclusión para al fa betización mediática de personas mayores Leopoldo Abad. Madrid (Spain) 18. College Students’ Views about Journalism Education in Spain ...... 181-188 Valoración de los estudiantes sobre la enseñanza del Periodismo en España María Luisa Humanes & Sergio Roses. Madrid / Málaga (Spain) 19. Critical Analysis of Government vs. Commercial Advertising Discourse on Older Persons in Spain ...... 189-196 Análisis crítico del discurso publicitario institucional/comercial sobre las personas mayores en España Susana de Andrés & Rosa L. Maestro. Segovia (Spain) 20. Digital Media in Ecuador – Future Perspectives ...... 199-207 Medios digitales en Ecuador: perspectivas de futuro M. Isabel Punín, Alison Martínez & Nathaly Rencoret. Loja (Ecuador)

BINNACLE

VISUAL STORIES 210/213 REVIEWS 214/242 NEXT TITLES 243 QUALITY CRITERIA 247

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 6 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 2. SCOPE AND POLICY AND SCOPE 2. System). Identifier Object (Digital DOI a with submission each identifying 1988-3293), (e-ISSN: worldwide. repertoires international and engines search catalogues, databases, 210 over and Scopus centres. their and authors the of profile the raises pu papers inter the of of therefore databases dissemination and the blished increases na which field, this in journals tional APA (American Psychological Association) manual. Com pliance with these re quirements facilitates indexation in the main Oc and March in months six every year. published each 1994, of since tober continuously print in been has journal This established non-profit pro fessional group, foun ded in 1988 in Spain, specialises in the field of media education. The INFORMATION GENERAL 1. 4. 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Editorial DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-a1

From Infoxication to the Right to Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Communicate Desde la infoxicación al derecho a la comunicación

Dr. J. Ignacio Aguaded Editor of «Comunicar»

e spend hours hooked to our screens for many and various reasons: for work, study… but increasingly for pleasure and to feel connected. Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp are now part of our everyday language and Whabits. The latest figures for 2013 show that there are 6 billion mobile phones in use around the world one for each inhabitant – but unevenly spread among regions and social classes. ccording to recent stats, teenagers in Germany and the USA spend more than seven-and-a-half hours a day using these media in what can only be described as a total convergence of the audiovisual, multimedia and digital. We Aare witnessing compulsive hyperconnection, a global excess of information, an obsession for perpetual communication but which is devoid of content… Infoxication, infopollution… are now real factors affecting our lives. Overexposure to the media is generating more infrainformation. Moles saw this coming decades ago, that this pollution of information was going to require «an ecology of communication». There have been many responses to this situation and most seem to take to it like «a fish to water», blithely unaware of the changes that these technological absorbents, which are increasingly universal, accessible and cheap, have on our lives. Media have become the mod cons of our lives today, almost like «extensions of our personal selves» as Marshall McLuhan put it. There always appears a radical reaction, none more so than Nicholas Carr, who left his hyperconnected life behind to retire to the Colorado mountains, as he relates in his book «The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains»? (Taurus, 2011). owever, when faced with media, there really is no other sensible choice other than to learn to live with them since we cannot live without them unless we go on a spiritual retreat from civilization, like Carr. As an individual Hresponse, empowerment is the best strategy in order to consume media in an intelligent way, and enjoy and make the best use of them in our everyday lives; to learn about them, get to know them and relate to them. Citizens’ media competences, a skill that is sadly lacking in today’s school curricula, is the key for preparing people to understand the media message, with an overview and a critical eye, to establish a healthy relationship between the two. ut we need more than just individual actions and educational initiatives; we need worldwide communication strategies. As a universal human right in our hypecommunicated society, it is crucial that governments develop communi- Bcation policies that defend the right of citizens to communicate and to have access to good quality communication. For this reason, a group of professors and academics in Chile set up PolComChile «Public Communication Policies» (www.políticasdecomunicacion.cl), a space for reflection, research and proposals that aims to reconfigure and establish a digital-media system that is pluralistic, diverse and participative along the lines of the «Universal Declaration of Communication Rights». They have drawn up a 12-point manifesto which, on a social and community level, amounts to

Editorial

the best instrument available to counter the effects of infopollution and the infrainformation that follows in its wake.

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 These are: 1) Communication as a right, as a basic human right that must be embodied in structures and communicative practices worldwide. 2) A media system, with regulations that respect the right to communication, in line with digital convergence and respect for plurality not only from public service media and the private sector but also from the third sector. 3) Encourage pluralism, because the media must represent social, cultural, geographical, rational and ideological diversity beyond the agenda of a few proprietors in whose hands the major media outlets are concentrated. 4) A space for publicity that is state-owned, pluralistic and open to all media regardless of their orientation or supports. 5) Regional, local and community media, to encourage initiatives that promote pluralism in news reporting and terri- torial diversity. 6) Internet, as a universal public service. Connectivity must be the duty of the state, as well as the development of digital competences in its citizens in order for them to make intelligent use of the Net. 7) The entities that manage and promote communication as a citizen’s right must be properly institutionalized and independent. 8) Media and digital education, based on an active state policy that encourages the instruction of citizens as critical, creative and participative beings when dealing with digital and audiovisual media. 9) A television that is educational and cultural, with the creation, implementation and sustainability of educational and cultural television programming in the context of digital media. This should generate a space for citizens to meet and express their various cultural backgrounds. 10) Public television of real quality committed to the common good, as an expression of cultural diversity. 11) The promotion of an audiovisual industry that generates content which is plural in form and crosses over media, and has multiplatform applications within the digital convergence. 12) A communicative citizenship, with the encouragement of public-private sector alliances, citizens’ organizations, universities… which, with projects, observatories, experiences of good practices, research, seminaries and work - shops… generate information and knowledge for the citizen and effectively encourage people to avail themselves of their communication rights. hese measures are some of the best strategies for making communication a right for all citizens. Yet for this to happen, public policies are needed that can diagnose the major problems behind the infopollution and Tinfoxication we see all around us, and that can set out clear plans and preventive actions based on citizens’ rights. ree citizens, citizens who can communicate… in a dizzying and dynamic panorama of digital transformation in communication. Six billion mobile phones that are more and more «intelligent» require citizens to be edu- Fcated and well-instructed in media as well as the development by governments of plural policies of communication as a universal human right.

D ossier

Special Topic Issue

Revolution in Education? Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL) 10

Introduction

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-a2 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Revolution in Education? Computer Support for Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

¿La revolución de la enseñanza? El aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales (CSCL)

Topic Editors: Dr. Bartolomé Rubia, University of Valladolid. GSIC-EMIC Group (Spain) Dr. Montse Guitert, Open University of Catalonia. Edul@b Group (Spain)

he issue of learning has been one of the great debates in Education for the past two centuries. Educational institutions start by questioning how to deal with the teaching process, «educa- T tional model», «ideology», «method»... but do they make the same effort when focusing on their students’ learning? With the French Revolution the servant became a citizen, and with this concept the school as we know it was born and evolved through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but with very few changes, as suggested by Manuel Area. The question of how learning is understood in this period in terms of methodology means that we could extend the classical structure of individual bookish training and banking, to a more open, social and dynamic training group process. The pressure of social change has produced this transformation in philosophy and methodology in the school, because it has evolved in the way we understand learning. Learning theories helped us understand the logic of human development. Vygotsky and Piaget, in their writings on thought, language, maturation and development, show us the complexity of the learning processes associated with the brain’s mechanisms for evolving and maturing. From Freinet’s pedagogy, Rousseau, Neill, Makarenko and Cousinet and Ferrer i Guàrdia have helped us develop pedagogical models for processes of cooperation and peer learning. They understand learning from the perspective of relationship and cooperation, mainly from interaction, and show how students faced with appropriate tasks can increase their mastery of critical concepts. These principles have helped us to create a way of understanding and developing educational activity, dynamics and practices of the student’s classroom setting. If our brain is able to evolve and pass from instinct to higher thinking processes, we have to help this development by supporting the educational processes to provide greater capabilities. We learn socially from our language learning, so we therefore create models of the world around us in the form of language, concepts that are constructed in reference to what the social group agrees. We also interact to learn, and it helps us to mature and develop concepts, to establish procedures and acquire shared attitudes towards life. Pierre Dillenbourg points out that the word «collaborative» refers to four aspects of learning: the situation needed to enable collaboration between people of the same status (a teacher and his-her students) e.g., the interactions to facilitating collaboration, for example when there is negotiation instead of instruction, the learning mechanisms themselves, supported by dynamic assimilation and accommodation, for example, from the perspective of group agreement on what they have learned, and finally, the effects of collaborative learning which is supported by recording different dynamics of learning and action that build results beyond

Introduction Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the content that is learned. If we keep this perspective in mind as we build our thinking and learning, we become aware that the dynamics of training must help the peer relationship, improve communication and reach agreements/ behavioral concepts in ways that make us equal, responsible, free and respectful of others. This training might help us reach a synergistic partnership and exemplary society, as it promotes the ideal school and college. These «advances» or theoretical perspectives have clarified school practices during the past fifty years, materializing visions into something more methodologically recognized, accepted and extended in the approaches of the school ideologies, converting words like «group work», «learning by doing» and of course «collaboration», into perfect concepts. They have also been the basis for innovation in education, sometimes extending to all levels of education, including higher education. A significant example has been the reform of the European Higher Education Area, which has broken with the long tradition of individual banking model of the university. But, what has happened in education with its new models and collaborative concepts of learning with the arrival of information and communication technologies in the classroom? In essence it has seen a decline since the seventies and eighties from the pedagogical models of the open and collaborative group, returning to individual models where the learning process is like a one-way street focused on training. Clear examples of these models were computer-assisted instruction (CAI) or computer-based instruction (EBO), which see training as a process through the implementation of targeted routines and individual dynamics, which help the learning procedures and concepts through behaviour-shaping mechanisms. In this case, the technology was probably at fault for its inability to facilitate open global processes to the normal grouping work already in operation in schools. But as the winds of progress blew through schools, with the introduction of technology, we relied on models that did not facilitate the development of a collaborative learning perspective. Practical examples may be found in the school setting in the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century as the basis for the creation of resources for schools; the resources of the National Information and Communication Technology Plan (PNTIC) in Spain were a clear example, as well as dynamic ones which have spread as far as CLIC’ RACO (www.xtec.cat/web/recursos/recursos).

As a reaction to the unfortunate introduction of technology in education and in an attempt to build tools to make learning and development easier there came «computer supported collaborative learning» (CSCL), in response to the integration of behavioral order models, and taking into account the need to apply technology to dynamics. So in the 90s we begin to consider that technology and all its uses, with collaborative/cooperative aspects, must be incorporated in the methodologies. There then ensued a debate that ultimately ended up with the imposition of «collaborative» as the magic word. It is at this point in the mid-to-late nineties when the first virtual universities and creation concepts appear in the Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 form of online learning, virtual learning environments, cooperative learning in virtual environments, or online collaboration. Consequently, with the works of Dillenbourg, Roschelle and Teasley, Koschmann, Kirschner, Gros and many more authors, a new perspective emerges as the basis of educational processes in which empowerment is pursued in different ways, in terms of concept and methodology, planning and implementation of technology-supported learning processes. These authors understood the use of technology for learning as a process of resource usage to help us work together in a coordinated and synchronized way. That is the result of a continued attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem; it helps us to learn, where the responsibility and involvement in solving the problem is a function of the whole group. As Panitz advocates, invoking another of the classics, collaboration as a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle where individuals are responsible for their actions, including apprenticeships, on the basis of equality and responsibility. There are four basic characteristics in these processes which condition technology so that this functionality exists; the resources should allow students: To work to develop a dynamic that fosters positive interdependence among members of the working group or class group. This means that work must be organized in such a way that if there is that level of responsibility and respect among students, it will be effective and carried out properly. Moreover, it is critical that resources enable planned activities and processes to produce face-to-face interaction. It is essential that training dynamics be organized so that students have to generate a proper relationship and organization of their work, a relationship that forces them to develop the activity. To achieve this, educational activities must promote individual and group responsibility. Learning is a process that makes our brain function, but we do it as a community; if we want to avoid inequalities in access to learning, we cannot lose sight of achieving an important level of individual and group responsibility. And so, as we generate educational plans that require the learner to develop this series of social skills, they learn to live and work in community. It is essential that the tasks and results be organized as a process that involves the internal dynamics of organization, conduct and conclusion of the negotiations to help build the knowledge to be acquired by students. These conditions in which to produce a type of collaborative learning require that when technology is used to achieve this, the machines must not only be reactive but be mindful of the demands of space, process and storage that these dynamics need. So this becomes a call to technology to configure ‘machines’ in the sense of allowing these types of processes to become reality. But in terms of the birth of CSCL, we can now say that we are changing the model or even paradigmatic concept, because although the training processes are focusing on learning about collaborative planning, technology is changing its role. During the birth of CSCL as a concept of technology usage, technological resources enable dynamic support for training but in many cases they do not integrate the dynamics themselves. An example from the nineties is the use of the BSCW platform. Many of us participated in experiences which included technologies that allowed collaborative dynamics where the system helped and supported cooperation training, but group processes, relationship and collaboration are developed face-to-face beyond the resource, which only served to support shared documents or explore the relationships between members of the classroom through their interactions (reading documents, comments, etc.). Today this is changing, and technological resources enable more comprehensive uses, and learning dynamics occur within the resource. What happens, then, when technology becomes a transparent element that is present in all actions? Nowadays, technology has developed ubiquitous systems which allow the user to perform actions in a totally transparent way and without receiving the technology that supports it. The actions are carried out with applications that integrate all the actions that the user needs to

perform collaborative learning processes. This collaborative learning in the network is defined by the Network of Collaborative Learning in Virtual Environments (RACEV) as «a shared process, coordinated and interdependent, in which students work together to achieve a common goal in a virtual environment. Collaborative learning is based on a process of activity, interaction and reciprocity among students, facilitating joint construction of meanings and individual advancement to higher levels of development» in which technology appears only as a work environment; the most profound technologies are disappea- ring, and the presence of learning processes related to the contributions made by the networks to new

ways of learning are the most vivid example of collaborative processes. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 In this sense, this monograph provides evidence of the evolution that collaborative learning processes have undergone in digital environments, focusing on different dimensions and facets of the uses of technology, innovative experiences of good practices developed and methodological contributions in the elaboration of this collaborative revolution. Thus, CSCL in the university is the topic that features heavily in the first five papers in this issue, specifically the first three deal with the methodological aspects of collaboration. The article by Pérez-Mateo, Romero and Romeu (Barcelona), entitled «Collaborative Construction of a Project as a Methodology to Acquire Digital Competences», discusses the importance of the methodological definition of CSCL processes and how methodology for collaborative projects enables the acquisition of ICT competences by students and their perception of a virtual university such as the UOC. The second, «Planning Collaborative Learning in Virtual Environments» by Hernandez, Gonzalez and Muñoz (Madrid, A Coruña and Lugo) highlights the importance of planning in CSCL, planning that is both technological and methodological in terms of the configuration of working groups in order to encourage exchanges and community learning. The third aims to experiment with teaching methods such as VLE integration and PLEs, and analyzes developments in the construction of PLE by students, with special emphasis on building a personal learning network. On the other hand, «Environments and personal learning networks (PLE-PLN) for collaborative learning» by Marin and Perez Negre (Balearic Islands), examines strategies that facilitate and promote collaborative learning. The fourth, entitled «Audioblogs and Tvblogs, tools for collaborative learning in Journalism», Lopez and Gonzalez (Valladolid and Madrid) analyzes how blogs promote abilities and individual and group skills, in order to determine the advantages and challenges of collaborative learning in the virtual environment of the blogosphere from a college experience. Meanwhile, Gewerc, Montero and Lama (Santiago de Compostela) present an analysis of the impact of social networks for collaboration and communication processes at university, entitled «Collaboration and social networking in higher education». The next block includes three items related to collaboration at the level of primary and secondary education. The sixth article, entitled «ICT in collaborative learning in elementary and secondary classroom», García-Valcárcel Basilotta and Lopez (Salamanca), analyzes the contributions of technology in collaborative work processes in the classroom, from the point of view of teachers in primary schools. Olive and Paiva Arancibia (Chile) present the results associated with the processes of meaning that teachers and students built from the basis of their participation in the staging of a project design implemented with the use of collaborative learning with ICT, entitled «Meaning Processes mediated through a Protagonists’ Collaborative Learning Platform». The study of this block, entitled «Exploring Student and Teacher Perception of E-textbooks in a Primary School», by Oliveira, Camacho and Gisbert (Tarragona), uses an exploratory study to examine the practices of meaning-building by students and their perceptions, as well as those of their teachers, while they interact in learning activities with an electronic textbook. The ninth paper, «Communities of practice: an intervention model from collaborative learning in virtual environments», by Fernandez and Valverde (Cáceres), takes place in the field of non- formal education and presents a study on the creation of a community of practice; the subjects are gipsy women for contextualization and subsequent design, followed by the implementation and evaluation of training with e-learning on equal opportunities and social leadership. This edition ends with a work by Leinonen and Durall (Finland) on «Design thinking and collaborative learning» as an alternative approach to develop research on collaborative learning by means of technology.

Received: 30-05-2013 / Reviewed: 07-07-2013 l María Pérez-Mateo, Marc Romero & Teresa Romeu Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Barcelona (Spain) Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21851 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-01 Collaborative Construction of a Project as a Methodology for Acquiring Digital Competences La construcción colaborativa de proyectos como metodología para adquirir competencias digitales ABSTRACT As a result of the emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) we are currently experiencing a period of major changes. Higher education plays a key role in helping students to acquire the competences which enable them to be autonomous in both academic and professional environments, where ICT literacy and collaborative processes are considered crucial. This study analyzes students’ perceptions about how the collaborative construction of an online project facilitates the acquisition of digital competences. It examines the methodological approach, within the context of the Open University of Catalonia, of the subject: «ICT Competences». This subject is conducted fully online at the UOC, and learners are required to engage in a collaborative project organized in 4 phases: starting, structuring, developing and concluding. Based on an evaluation research approach, quantitative and qualitative data from a survey have been triangulated. The results support the pedagogical methodology which forms the basis of this subject and indicates that collaborative projects facilitate the acquisition of digital competences, highlighting those linked to digital teamwork and digital attitude. The conclusions reinforce the importance of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) processes, the need to put forward pedagogical proposals for the acquisition of both digital and collaborative competences and the relevant role of the teacher in this process. RESUMEN Actualmente presenciamos una etapa de importantes cambios como consecuencia de la emergencia de las tecnolo- gías de la información y la comunicación (TIC). La educación superior ejerce un papel clave para ayudar a los estudiantes a adquirir las competencias que les permitan desenvolverse en los entornos académico y profesional. Entre éstas, las vinculadas a las TIC y los procesos de colaboración se consideran claves. La finalidad del presente estudio es analizar la percepción de los estudiantes a fin de evidenciar cómo la construcción colaborativa de un proyecto digital facilita la adquisición de las competencias digitales. Para ello, se aborda el planteamiento metodológico de la asignatura «Competencias TIC» de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, la cual se desarrolla a través de un proyecto colaborativo en red organizado en cuatro fases: inicio, estructuración, desarrollo y conclusión y cierre. Mediante una investigación evaluativa se triangulan datos de naturaleza cuantitativa y cualitativa provenientes de un cuestionario. Los resultados muestran la evolución en la propuesta metodológica de la asignatura a la vez que ponen de manifiesto cómo el proyecto digital en equipo facilita la adquisición de las competencias digitales, destacando concretamente las vinculadas al trabajo en equipo en red y la actitud digital. Las conclusiones refuerzan la importancia de los procesos CSCL, la necesidad de trabajar propuestas pedagógicas para la adquisición de competencias digitales. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Collaborative learning, virtual learning, digital literacy, competences, virtual environment, teaching practice, social web. Aprendizaje colaborativo, aprendizaje virtual, alfabetización digital, competencias, percepción crítica, práctica docente, web social, wikis. v Dr. María Pérez-Mateo is Research Assistant on the OportUnidad Project and a member of the Edul@b research group at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Marc Romero is Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Teresa Romeu-Fontanillas is Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 15-23 www.revistacomunicar.com 16

1. Introduction active participation in the creation of educational con- The Parliament and the Council of Europe (2006) tent have been strengthened by the so-called Web 2.0 have laid down eight key competences for lifelong (O’Reilly, 2005). Web 2.0 incorporates technology, learning, and among these, digital competences are knowledge and users as essential aspects and is cha- included. Given its rapid expansion, ICT are under - racterised by the collective creation of content, the stood to be one of the most effective agents of social establishment of shared resources and collaborative change (Domingo & Marquès, 2011). Digital compe- quality control between users (Ribes, 2007), adopting

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tences are at the same time considered to be transver- an active role, of reader and/or editor. sal in that they facilitate the acquisition of others (Pu- The tools associated with Web 2.0 increase and nie, 2012). reinforce the possibilities for collaboration, communi- In accordance with the European Commission, cation and production of knowledge (Rhoades, Friedel we will adopt in our case the term digital competence & Morgan, 2009; Dimitriadis, 2012). The wiki stands to refer to the «set of knowledge, skills, attitudes, stra- out as one of the Web 2.0 tools in that it facilitates tegies and awareness which are required when ICT processes of collaboration. Bruns and Humphreys and digital media are used to perform tasks, resolve (2005) propose the use of wikis in education as spaces problems, communicate, manage information, colla- of communication where some of the skills are deve- borate, create and share content, and build knowledge loped and, fundamentally, attitudes towards a new in an effective, efficient and adequate way, in a criti- type of technological literacy which is «critical, colla- cal, creative, autonomous, flexible, ethical and a sensi- borative and creative» and goes beyond the mere ins- ble form for work, entertainment, participation, lear- trumental mastery of the tools and communication ning, socialization, consumption and empowerment» environments which ICT offer. (Ferrari, 2012: 3). Supported by the literature in this field (Dillen- As this definition reflects, digital competences have bourg, 2003; Martínez & al., 2003), a group of re- been attributed with a set of skills that go beyond the searchers from the Open University of Catalonia use of ICT as an instrument (Pérez & Delgado, 2012). (UOC) began in 1998 a new line of work in collabo- At the same time, the European Higher Education rative learning in virtual environments based on stu- Area acknowledges the importance of the carrying out dent activity through the use of ICT. In recent years, of collaborative activities to be developed in today’s our analysis has shown that the student must acquire society, defining teamwork as a generic competence digital competences in order to optimise the process of (González & Waangebar, 2003). The processes of learning in a virtual environment (Guitert & al., 2008) collaboration are even contemplated as one of the key following a collaborative methodology (Guitert, characteristics of online learning (Garrison, 2006; Romeu & Ro me ro, 2012). Afterwards, we focus on Harasim & al., 2000). Experts have referred to this project work in terms of a collaborative methodology edu cational paradigm as Computer Supported Colla - for the acquisition of digital competences. In a comple- borative Learning (CSCL). CSCL focuses on the use mentary manner, different studies linked to online of technology as a mediation tool among the collabo- collaboration have been carried out (Pérez-Mateo, rative methods of instruction (Koschmann, 1996). In 2010; Romeu, 2011, among others). This present accordance with Kirschner (2002), CSCL is regarded study takes a greater look at collaborative methodology as a tool which permits educators to hold on to current between students. constructivist approaches in order to develop the processes of teaching and learning, involving dialogue and 2. Materials and methods social interaction among the group members, students The objective of the present paper is to analyse and geographically dispersed teachers. the perception of students to demonstrate how the The advance and integration of digital technolo- collaborative construction of a digital project facilitates gies are making a great impact on education, changing the acquisition of digital competences. The study will the methods of teaching-learning, curriculum, learning address the following research questions: To what objectives and the role of students and teachers (Wen extent have they perceived that they acquired digital & Shih, 2008). ICT promote this change of role inso- competences following the use of a collaborative met- far as they facilitate opportunities for active learning hodology? How do they rate the methodology for the (Williams & Chann, 2009), changing the role the stu- collaborative construction of knowledge?, How do dent and teacher play. the value the wiki as a tool for developing a project in The changes in the role of the students and their a collaborative manner?

2.1. Scenario Structuring, Development, Concluding), each of which This present research falls within the context of puts forward a set of interrelated activities (figure 1). the UOC, in which the process of teaching-learning The starting phase provides an environment for takes place entirely online. In particular, we focus on creating working teams and perform the initial sear- the analysis of a case from the perspective of Stake ches. This assists the students in setting out the theme (2005): a transversal subject which is ICT Compe- of the project. The second phase involves making a tences (ICTC) that is part of a block of basic training deeper search for information to structure the project. in the degrees at the UOC. ICTC are obligatory for Subsequently, the project is developed: the processing Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 most degrees and recommended in the first term of the and the development of the information gathered are university. Its objective is that students begin in a gra- carried out. Through this step, the first version of the dual and integrated way with the acquisition of trans- project is achieved. Finally, the closing and dissemina- versal competences at the UOC, «Use and application tion of the project are done; sharing and discussing the of ICT in an academic and professional environment» final version of the project. and «Online team work». These competences are The approach to be carried out is not only orien- outlined as: Search and selection of information onli- ted to the use of technological instruments but also to ne, Processing and development of digital information, the putting into practice of key methodologies and skills Presentation and dissemination of digital information, for working in a virtual environment. The teacher Basic notions of digital technology, Work planning in orients and facilitates this process of construction in an a virtual environment, Management of a digital pro- ongoing way. This assessment is based on continuous ject, Communication strategies in the Net, Teamwork evaluation (group and individual), thereby assuring the in an online environment and Digital attitude. progressive acquisition of competences in each phase. The methodological approach is project-based The resource «Collaborative Digital Project»1 learning (Railsback, 2002); concretely, developing a (http://389658.uoc.wikispaces.net/?ajax=true) invol- collaborative digital project is contemplated. To deve- ves the implementing of a consistent methodological lop it, students form groups of 4 participants, having proposal with respect to project work, being applica- their own group space which integrates different tools. ble to groups of students of varying profiles. Such a Among these, the wiki stands out as the tool that links resource represents a methodological advance for the all the process of creation of the project. The develop- completion of the subject. Its objective is to introduce ment of the project is planned in 4 phases (Starting, students to a methodology for project work and provi-

Figure 1: Phases and activities of the Collaborative Digital Project.

de guidelines to develop the project in a collaborative digitally through the Netquest tool at the end of the way. course. The reliability of the quantitative questions was checked using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 2.2. Research design internal consistency obtaining a general value of 0.938 Responding to this process of applied research, the in the first questionnaire and 0.874 in the second; both design of the present study aims to analyse a collabo- are considered to be highly reliable following Cohen rative digital project as a methodology for online colla- & al. (2011). Both the qualitative questions and the

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 boration. Given the transversal character of this sub- structure and items of both questionnaires were vali- ject, a large number of students have been involved: dated by experts in the area. The institutional evalua- an average of 5,500 annual enrolment. In this study, a tion surveys of the corresponding courses were also sample of 1,887 students participated from 12 diffe- taken into account, which focus on the satisfaction rent degrees of the UOC. with the subject, the teacher, the resources and its eva- In the framework of this evaluative research the luation, and there was a response from 942 students. aim of which is to favour the improvement of educa- Academic performance data was also considered. The tional practice in ICTC, the perception of students is processing of the information gathered involved the ga thered in a systematic way by means of a question- analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The statis- naire. For this present research, two questionnaires tical analysis was based on frequencies. The analysis were taken into account, which constitute the instru- of the qualitative data from the open questions was ments for the gathering of the data and at the same done from the identification of categories. All the data time re vealing the process of development and sound- of a quantitative and qualitative nature was triangula- ness of the proposed learning methodology. The first ted to have an in-depth understanding of the experien- questionnaire sets forth a rethinking of the subject bea- ce. ring in mind the changes in the proposed methodology (teamwork, incorporation of web 2.0 tools, changes in 3. Analysis of results and discussion the platform for the development of the project, etc.) The purpose of the methodology developed in and the second questionnaire responds to a consolida- ICTC is to provoke situations that will drive students ted vision of the methodology. Both questionnaires to acquire digital competences. From the first edition combine data of a quantitative and qualitative nature. of the subject in 1998, ICTC have adapted methodo- The first questionnaire (2009-2010 cohort) was logically to professional and academic contexts. The oriented towards analysing the perception of the stu- result of this analysis and the scope for constant impro- dents with respect to the degree of acquisition of the vement has caused a greater adaptation and advance competences of the subject and also to procedural in the methodology for project work to respond to this aspects for the development of the project (resources, objective: facilitate the gradual acquisition of digital tools, perception of each one of the activities, role of tea- competences. This trend is summarised in: cher, etc.). The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions: • Gradual incorporation of the methodology for 16 of Likert-type rating scale and 4 open. It was sent to online group work in all of the degrees at the UOC. a population of 1,922 students (second term) and com- • Changes in the format of the project to be deve- pleted by 37.4%, so having a sample of 720 which can loped. be considered significant (sampling error of 2.95%). • Development of digital competences. The second questionnaire (2011-2012 cohort) In the scope of the present investigation, students focused on the learning resources and the methodo- are requested to evaluate the degree of usefulness of logy for online project work based on a concrete the proposed methodology for the acquisition of digital resource «Collaborative Digital Project» and the analy- competences. The objective is to determine if there sis of the base tool; the wiki for the carrying out of the are significant differences in the methodological approa - project. The questionnaire combined 3 questions of ches. This comparative analysis allows us to observe a Likert-type rating scale and 2 open ones. It was sent to marked difference and confirm that the development a population of 3,183 students (second term) and was of the methodology has favoured a greater acquisition responded by 36.6% so there was a sample of 1,167 of the competences of the students (figure 2): the stu- which can be considered significant (sampling error dents perceive that the changes in the methodological 2.32%). approach of the subject adapts to a great extent to their Both questionnaires were of voluntary character, needs, favouring the acquisition of digital competences anonymous and not assessable and were distributed in a much more effective way.

2005) towards a collaborative one based on teamwork. It is worth highlighting that this fact has major repercussions in the approach to the methodology. Indeed, teamwork does not just become exclusively a change in terms of the willingness of the students to work in

a team but also implies a set of actions and Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 strategies oriented to help students to manage their work in a team both at the beginning of the process (through the establishment of an internal regulation and a group work plan) as well as during its development, fostering reflection and construc- Figure 2: Comparative analysis of the perception of students regarding the useful- tive criticism related to its dynamics. The ness of the methodology of the subject in the acquisition of digital competences students have found how the subject provi- (frequencies). des opportunities to learn to work collaboratively online. The following are some of As we have already expressed, the evolution of the the opinions of the students on this issue: subject is shaped through the «Collaborative Digital • «One of the strengths which would stand out is Project» resource, which strengthens both the strate- the experience acquired with teamwork in an asynch- gies and guidelines for developing the processes of ronous and virtual way; an experience that I had not online collaboration as well as the use of Web 2.0 known before». tools in order to favour the acquisition of digital com- • «I had no knowledge of group work using the petences. The student evaluation regarding this Internet. It has been very useful for me. I think it will resource is positive. In the words of the students: be a very useful tool in the future for professional • «Due to the lack of experience of working in a needs» group online, many times throughout the term I con- • [The teamwork] «has been a key element that sulted a set of resources which the subject provides; will facilitate taking up other subjects that require team especially the resource which provides the methodo- working and quite a lot of knowledge of the tools and logy on how to carry out team work in a virtual way». how interaction with our colleagues achieves the best • «I particularly liked the body of the subject but learning results». especially the resource on how to accomplish a colla- In a collaborative learning scenario, the teacher borative digital project and the advice and guidelines exerts a specific and differential role from other lear- of the tutor». ning methodologies, considering it one of the key ele- From the interpretation of both questionnaires, a ments in the process of learning (Urhahne & al., common element emerges and is therefore indepen- 2009). Reinforcing these studies, the students reflect in dent of the evolution of the methodology: the role the following way: which the teacher plays in guiding the learning process • «Have an external vision has been very useful to and help the students to acquire digital competences. improve the project and group work». While it is true that the questionnaires used did not • «Having made the effort to follow the guidelines make any reference to the teacher, this role appears and advice for the completion of the project. We think repeatedly in the responses of the students, thus that these instructions were very appropriate and demonstrating the importance of being accompanied constructive». throughout the process. It is for this reason why we • «The different evaluations have helped us in tackle the following sections in a transversal way. building the group, and these have been enriching to correct situations, improve...». 3.1. From the individual project to collaborative project work 3.2. From the textual account to the wiki In accordance with the literature in the field, the The inclusion and the progressive use of different preparation of the project in ICTC evolves from a Web 2.0 tools for the making of the project is another model of individual work (Guitert, Romeu & Fuentes, key element in the approach of ICTC: it develops

from a textual project prepared in a local hard disk default. The final result of our wiki was very perso- from file versioning to a project that is fully constructed nal». using online tools in a hypermedia format. Since 2007, the project has begun to develop 3.3. Develop digital competences through a colla - collaboratively by means of a wiki. The wiki stands out borative online project among the Web 2.0 tools as the one that facilitates From the beginning of the subject until now, the processes of collaboration. The research in this field concept of ICT has evolved through progressively

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 states that the wikis have the potential to improve the including emerging technologies. This is why the sub- collective construction of knowledge in academic con- ject is currently evolving towards the concept of digital texts (Elgort, 2007; Raman, Ryan & Olfman, 2005) competence. The analysis of the student perception and in the results (Robles & al., 2009). The data de- with respect to the degree of acquisition of digital com- monstrates a favourable progression in the use of the petences points to a positive evaluation. The means of wiki as a tool to develop a collaborative digital project. these items points to the evaluation of these (taking into Figure 3 illustrates the students’ perception with res- account a scale of 1 to 3) stand above 2.6 with a stan- pect to the degree of perceived difficulty, and we can dard deviation inferior to 0.4. Figure 4 shows in grea- see that 85.3% of students from the cohort do not per- ter detail the student evaluation on the basis of digital ceive difficulties in the use of the tool, in contrast to competences worked in ICTC and linked to the pro- 81% from the 2009/10 cohort. This perception can be cess of learning. due to the fact that the wiki and its use have spread to As is evident from figure 4, students perceived that a greater extent and its technological development is they have acquired a high level of digital competences, more intuitive and with less requirements of HTML highlighting two as being key in relation to collabora- language. tion: civil attitude and teamwork as a collaborative The students affirm its usefulness very explicitly strategy. when they state that «the use of the wiki has been really useful in carrying out collaborative work, and Acquiring a civil digital attitude that it is a tool that could be used in other learning On the one hand, 98.75% of the students (a total situations in the UOC and outside it». Another student of 711) perceived to have developed to a higher or comments: «we were all a little lost at the beginning medium degree of the competence related to the but between us we learned how to use it although it acquisition of a civil digital attitude. These results coin- required practice, especially if one has never worked cide with the studies performed in the field of online with it before». The teacher plays an important role in teamwork. Authors like Guitert and Romeu (2006) guiding how to use the tool. As one student has affir- emphasise that for the preparation of any collaborative med: «it is interesting that the tutor encourages us to activity, the attitude adopted by the members is key for use the comments of the wiki as a means of communi- its success. In particular, among the set of values that cation and it encourages us to change format by stand out: commitment, transparency in the interchan- ge of information and the expression of ideas, persistence and respect as basic attitudes in a virtual collaborative environment. The fact of working collaboratively online leads to the development of these attitudes in accordance with the perception of the students: «I have had the opportunity to share in a group project and interact and personally meet other classmates that I had not previously known. Our positive attitude, undoubtedly, has contributed to this» (Pérez-Mateo, 2010).

Acquire teamworking skills online On the other hand, 97.2% of the stu- Figure 3. Perception of the students regarding the degree of difficulty of the wiki dents (a total of 700) value the fact that as a tool to develop a collaborative digital project. they have developed skills linked to team-

Figura 4. Evaluation of the grade of acquisition of digital competences in the subject (frequencies). working online to a high or medium degree. A student to be very useful for the carrying out of collaborative made a point concerning this line: «Although I initially activities. had some reticence since I did not know my compa- The changes in the methodological proposal nions, I value as one the strengths the virtual dynamic which ICT have witnessed in recent years has led us aspect of the subject that I obtained through team- to redefine digital competences, strengthening those working». Another student states to be currently: «be - related to collaborative work and the use of ICT; fun- coming more familiar and prepared for group work. I damentally oriented to managing group processes and have learnt a lot from my team-mates, to respect the the importance of the publication and dissemination of way things are done and communication». its contents by means of 2.0 tools. To analyze the per- We consider that the high valuation of the stu- ception of students regarding these competences, students with respect to the acquisition of these compe- dents were asked to what extent the methodology of tences to be the due the relationship that exists be - the collaborative digital Project had helped them in tween the two. Concerning this, Guitert and Romeu acquiring them overall. Figure 5 illustrates how the (2006) highlight the relevance of the attitudes adopted majority (865) have shown to agree with this aspect. by the members in the configuration of collaborative The intervention of the teacher emerges once dynamics. The high rating of the students with regard again as a key element in the perception of students in to the acquisition of digital competences coincides the acquisition of digital competences. In the words of with the higher number who passed the subject the students: which, according to institutional data, stands at 73% • «The guidelines offered by the teacher have hel- for the 2009/10 cohort and 77.2% for 2012/13 cohort, ped me to acquire the digital competences; his/her increasing the positive impact that the evolution of the communication and immediate, clear and efficient dia- subject has had on the students. logue with us has created an accessible and personali- Likewise, the effectiveness of the proposed me- zed contact». thodology for the acquisition of competences is reflec- • «I especially value the function of the guide and ted when making reference to the application or trans- advisor that the teacher has demonstrated throughout fer of skills that are put into practice. 94.5% of the stu- all the process and indicating whenever possible dents value positively the degree of usefulness of such which resources to work with in order to gradually competences for the completion of other subjects at acquire those competences». the UOC. In the words of a student: «I will now be • «I stress the importance of the tutor’s attitude able to apply this knowledge to other subjects in online with us». team work». Another student affirms to have: «learnt to use the tool and work in a team. I am going to use 4. Conclusions and prospects all of this in the next term’s subjects». In accordance In a social context influenced by the emergence with the rating of the students, generally speaking, the and availability of applications and functionalities that competences acquired in the subject have been found provide support to learning processes, pedagogical

tance of the processes of CSCL; the methodology in the acquisition of digital competences and the role of the teacher. • «I feel that teamwork is really interesting. The subject has been really great in order to gain greater confidence in new technological tools. It has also been really interesting and appropriate

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 to learn to work in an asynchronous way which is each time more valued». • « I was delighted with the work methodology and the organisation of the subject». • «I have had the impression throughout the subject I had the feeling that the working guideli- Figure 5: Perception of the students towards this finding: «The method nes came at the right moment for me, something of a collaborative digital Project has helped me to acquire digital which has permitted me to feel guided at all times. competences» (frequencies). I find that it has been a subject that has been really well drawn-up, planned and managed». processes are in a moment of change and develop- The results that have been obtained encourage us ment. to continue in the direction of research initiated at the Being conscious of the importance for students to very beginning and at the same time to tackle those acquire digital competences for use in academic and new questions raised in order to improve the metho- professional fields, we have developed a methodologi- dological approach of the subject. Some lines of future cal proposal which integrates collaborative learning work are: to validate the proposal of the current digital and the use of ICT. The data gathered brings to light competences of the subject from the perception of stu- the positive perception of students with respect to the dents and teachers; to carry out a study of longitudinal acquisition of digital competences by means of the cases with students that have passed the subject satis- drawing up of a collaborative digital Project using a factorily; to determine the level of the transfer of digital wiki; among these competences which specifically competences at the end of the degree; to systematise stand out are those linked to the acquisition of a civic the process of research through posing comparable digital attitude and team working skills online (collabo- questions throughout the different stages of the rese- ration). This perception is reinforced by the high level arch which is an aspect that constitutes the principal of satisfaction of the students towards the subject, stan- limitation of the present work; to analyse the possible ding at an average of 82%. differences and similarities according to the profiles of The results described are evidence that the me- students (according to of the course they are doing); to thodology for collaborative team work is valid, confir- boost the reuse of student projects in the direction of ming at the same time the positive development of the open education; etc. In short, the outlined research subject methodology. It involves, therefore, a coherent endeavours to provide students with the essential skills and effective proposal, in which the attainment of the and techniques to perform better in a digital society. phases and associated actions leads students to acquire digital competences. Notes The intervention of the teacher has been identi- 1 The resource outlines the key aspects of the methodology to be used: fied as a key element to re in force the process of the phases, objectives and expected products, resources to be used, etc. acquisition of competences through the follow-up of groups in an active, accessible and personalised way. References The institutional data support this fact, given that it BRUNS, A. & HUMPHREYS, S. (2005). Wikis in Teaching and Assess - ment: The M/Cyclopedia Project. Proceedings of the 2005 Inter - deals with that part of the subject that is best rated in national Symposium on Wikis. (pp. 25-32). New York (USA): all cases, with an average score of 91%. These results ACM. (DOI: 10.1145/1104973.1104976) reinforce the necessity of having a teacher whose COHEN, L., MANION, L., & MORRISON, K. (2011). Research Methods function is to guide and dynamise the learning process in Education. London: Routledge. (Guitert & Romeu, 2011). DILLENBOURG, P. (2003). Preface. In J. ANDRIESSEN, M. BAKER & D. SUTHERS (Eds.), Arguing to Learn: Confronting Cognitions in The following students’ comments emphasise the Computer-supported Collaborative Learning Environments (pp. three key aspects in the approach to ICTC: the impor- VII-IX). Dordrecht (Holanda): Kluwer.

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Received: 03-06-2013 / Reviewed: 11-07-2013 l Nuria Hernández, Mercedes González & Pablo Muñoz Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21924 Madrid / A Coruña / Lugo (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-02

Planning Collaborative Learning in Virtual Environments

La planificación del aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales

ABSTRACT Collaborative learning has a strong presence in technology-supported education and, as a result, practices being developed in the form of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) are more and more common. Planning seems to be one of the critical issues when elaborating CSCL proposals, which necessarily take into account technological resources, methodology and group configuration as a means to boost exchange and learning in the community. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relevance of the CSCL planning phase and weigh up the significance of its key design components as well as examining group agreement typology and its usefulness in team building and performance. To do so, research was carried out using a non-experimental quantitative methodology consisting of a questionnaire answered by 106 undergraduate students from 5 different CSCL-based subjects. Results prove the usefulness of the planning components and the drafting of group agreements and their influence on group building and interaction. In order to ensure the quality of learning, it is essential to plan CSCL initiatives properly and understand that organizational, pedagogical and technological decisions should converge around a single goal which is to sustain the cognitive and social aspects that configure individual and group learning. RESUMEN El trabajo colaborativo es una de las presencias dominantes en la formación apoyada en tecnologías, de ahí la importancia de las prácticas que se están desarrollando bajo las siglas CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning). Entre los aspectos que parecen ser determinantes para elaborar propuestas de CSCL se encuentra la pla- nificación, que debe contemplar tanto los recursos tecnológicos como la metodología y la propia configuración de los grupos de trabajo con el fin de favorecer los intercambios y el aprendizaje en comunidad. El propósito de este estudio es analizar la importancia de la fase de planificación del CSCL, estimando el alcance de los componentes clave de su diseño, y examinando la tipología y utilidad de los acuerdos grupales en la creación y funcionamiento de los equipos. Para ello se llevó a cabo una investigación con una metodología cuantitativa de carácter no experimental de tipo encuesta en la que participaron 106 estudiantes de grado de cinco asignaturas que implementaron CSCL. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la utilidad de los componentes de la planificación, así como la importancia de la redacción de acuerdos grupales y su incidencia en la creación y funcionamiento del grupo. Resulta esencial planificar adecuadamente el CSCL para garantizar el aprendizaje y entender que las decisiones organizativas, pedagógicas y tecnológicas deberían confluir en el objetivo de sustentar tanto los aspectos cognitivos como sociales que configuran el aprendizaje individual y grupal. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Collaborative learning, group agreements, virtual environment, university, e-learning, CSCL, formal education, planning. Aprendizaje colaborativo, acuerdos grupales, entorno virtual, universidad, e-learning, CSCL, educación formal, planificación.

v Nuria Hernández-Sellés is Head of the E-learning Department at the Centro Superior de Estudios Universitarios La Salle (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Mercedes González-Sanmamed is Full Professor in the Pedagogy and Didactics Department of the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of A Coruña (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Pablo-César Muñoz-Carril is Assistant Professor in the Didactics and School Organization Department and Teacher Training Faculty at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 25-32 www.revistacomunicar.com 26 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 an attempt to reach certain goals or ideals. The rela The ideals. or goals certain reach to attempt an Introduction 1. practical work. CSCL-based practical of relevance the hence education, ted technology-suppor- in features dominant the of one is Dillenbourg (2003)evenstatesthatcollaborativework Kirschner, 2002; Palloff & Pratt, 1999; Román, 2002). 2000; al., & Harasim 2006; (Garrison, environments virtual in learning for necessary are that characteristics 64). 2001: (Rodríguez-Illera, collaborate» to learning thors au note the twin effect of «collaborating to and learn and 2012), Muñoz-Carril, & Hernández-Sellés 2011; (Guitert, work team in competences transversal 2005; Slavin, 1985). Collaborative work also improves Roberts, 1993; Holubec, & Johnson (Johnson, dies stu- many in covered broadly psychological are benefits, social academic, and as such stages, different at & Johnson 2000; al., John & 1999). son, Harasim 2011; (Guitert, together meanings configure to group the allows that process reflection and interaction the to refers which 1994), Bereiter, & (Scardamalia knowledge» «built of idea the on is emphasis the where perspective, work collaborative ongoing the and work group of ception is it so, Even con traditional the between differentiate to necessary 2000). (Vygotski, approach cultural socio- the or theory activity constructivism, social tion, cogni distributed or shared situated, learning: of tion concep non-individualistic this anthropological covering and approaches psychological several to points (2001) Rodríguez-Illera 2001). al., & (Hiltz learning effective to contributes interaction social that evidence objectives. learning the achieve to is it nities, commu- learning of case the in goals; common pursue to required interaction the by extent large a to blished esta are together stay group the make that tionships consideration. into taken be to aspects social and pedagogical as well as technological requires learning collaborative online (Onrubia & Engel, 2012). Therefore, any proposal for dynamic particular a promote or model a propose not phisticated, is not enough since the tools themselves do so how matter no itself, Technology spontaneously. collaborate will they that and groups in work to how 1998; Suthers and (2006) refer to the risk of assuming that students know (Brush, Koschmann Stahl, work 2002). Dillenbourg, collaborative good rantee It is evident that human beings join communities in However, initiatives for group work do not gua not do work group for initiatives However, Collaboration is perceived as one of the distinctive learning for work collaborative of advantages The considerable find we literature the of review a In ------ment in the system supports student learning. student supports system the in ment ele each so and objectives, the in learning included activities the with methods assessment and both teaching aligns system good a hand, other the On tives. objec and method between relationship the establish to regarding and competences contribution subject and CSCL transversal generic, the a identify is to there need Therefore, 2010). on (Rubia, deciding methodology before objectives and competences on the identify to aspects: relevant us following enabled has planning and design of some of the major studies regarding effective CSCL review The 2001). Brent, & (Felder process learning their with satisfied more be to appear monitored and activity. academic the planned is work collaborative whose students Indeed, damage could time considerable that of wasting risk a is there otherwise since work collaborative asynchronous plan to need the on remarks (2011) Guitert education. in Rubia, essential is tion 2004; al., prepara- that state & (2007) Dennick and Oakley Exley 2010). 2008; Suthers, & na Medi 2003; al., & (Guitert community the in learning technologies and at the same time foster exchange and pedagogical and curricular as implementation. Both aspects should take advantage of well as planning ful roles and the tutor’s role as a guide who guarantees collaboration. who guide a as group role tutor’s assign the and to roles need the discussion emphasizing or interactions, deveopment project resolution, blem pro to work collaborative relate & also (2004) Gros Adrián decisions. and actions various requires that nificant when it entails the resolution of a complex task sig is learning that out pointing learning, collaborative to tasks problem-solving and analytical procedural, te rent. As for task type, Escofet & Marimon (2012) rela- need to systematize a model to communicate to stu- to communicate to the model a suggest systematize hand, to (2004) need other Jochems the and On Martens Strijbos, organization. task support to as well as teacher, and students between commitment a establish to means a as used also are scripts These problem. or task the solve to order in collaborate and interact groups, form to students guide that scripts tion Tchounikine and collabora- producing of idea Sobreira the studied have (2012) and (2012) Engel and and Hong (2008), Haake and Pfister (2010), Onrubia Dillenbourg as such authors Recently, objectives. cal pedagogi- and phases its with together students, the to model collaborative the communicate will that mation ) ehdlg ad ak ye ed o e cohe be to need type task and Methodology b) reflection initial an with begin to necessary is It a) care- needs design CSCL efficient an why is That c) It is necessary to generate resources with infor with resources generate to necessary is It c) © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 25-32 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: ------27

dents the type of interaction that is expected of them, work and emphasize establishing some basic rules and and clarify the relation between task result and group defining an attitudinal and rational framework for colla - interaction. boration; they also refer to the need to explain and cla- d) It is necessary to decide group characteristics rify task and schedule distribution. Indeed, these au- and define the group-building process, taking into con- thors relate malfunctioning groups to inconsistent initial sideration the drafting of the group agreement. It planning. Guitert (2011) and Guitert & al. (2003) refer seems that the group-building process is decisive in to the importance of drafting group agreements in fostering collaborative work and guaranteeing learning order to support the group consolidation phase. These Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 (Dillenbourg, 2002; Exley & Dennick, 2007; Guitert, agreements are useful for grounding an exchange sys- 2011; Guitert & al., 2003; Isotani & al., 2009; Pujolàs, tem and for setting frequency of contact to guarantee 2008). It is also necessary to estimate grouping endu- that the intragroup contrasts relevant to the task are rance since stability in the group enhances the maturation process(Barberá & Badía, 2004; Guitert & al., 2003; Online learning processes occur on two decision levels. Exley & Dennick, 2007) as well as the development of On the one hand, they are linked to the curricular frame in team work competences, parti- which the topic is involved, and therefore relate to esta - cularly if there is effective guidance from the teacher (Her - blished organizational conditions as well as to pedagogical nández-Sellés, 2012). In the case of teacher-for- guidelines or a selected pedagogical model, and to the tech- med groups, Muehlenbrock (2006) points out that the pers- nology available in the institution. On the other hand, at the pective of grouping by charac- micro level in the classroom they are linked to the role of teristics is broadened in virtual environments due to the ubi- teacher and students and the specific activities promoted. quity of remote work. This is why it is necessary to take The interrelations of all these factors inevitably condition the aspects such as location, time potential to teach and learn. and availability into account. Webber & Webber (2012) determine that grouping through automatic mechanisms does not have a negative effect given a hearing. Regarding this matter, Pujolàs (2008) on collaborative work. In higher education, spontane- cites the team notebook which includes the group and ous grouping seems to imply greater commitment in members’ names, their roles and functions, rules, task performance (Guitert & al., 2003). group planning, session diary and regular team re - Several authors point out that heterogeneous grou- views. This author considers that each group member ping seems to lead to a deeper learning as a conse- should have an assigned role and recommends role quence of the contrast of different points of view and spinning. Gros & Adrián (2004) emphasize the need diverse leels of comprehension (Barberá & Badía, to assign group roles and highlight teacher guidance as 2004; Felder & Brent, 2001; Guitert & al., 2003; a means to guarantee collaborative activity. As already Exley & Dennick, 2007; Pujolàs, 2008). Both students stated the literature on collaborative scripts insists on with a higher comprehension level as well as those less the establishment of bases for internal organization, gifted benefit from collaboration. Different perspec- including group-building criteria, work planning and tives and points of view also support learning. contact modality in order to stabilize efficient group As far as group size, authors seem to agree on five interaction. members since more can limit some member’s contributions and less than five students might diminish in - 2. Material and methods teraction variety. This study analyzes university students’ assess- Exley & Dennick (2007) refer to the relevance of ments on the elements that support the organization manifesting the fundamental goals of collaborative and management of collaborative learning within a vir-

ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 25-32 28

tual environment. These are the specific objectives: The research context entails a group of five sub- a) To assess the relevance of the planning phase jects; two on the primary education Teaching degree within collaborative work in a virtual environment. course and three on the infant education Teaching b) To estimate the scope of the key components of degree course. They correspond to first-, second- and collaborative work design. third-year courses and are taught in a blended moda- c) To analyze the relevance of some previous lity at the CSEU La Salle (Madrid). The sample organizational aspects and their influence on collabo- collected was of 106 questionnaires, representing

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 rative work. 83.46% of the student population. d) To identify the elements to be considered in the All of these subjects implemented the same colla- configuration of group agreements and assess their borative work design in coordination. This design was usefulness in group building and functioning. grounded in planning which included: 1) a statement And the following hypotheses have been formulated: that communicated the task in a guide to collaboration • Genre reveals significant differences regarding that contained its description, a justification of the perception of collaborative work planning and the use- collaborative work, description of milestones, tools, a fulness of group agreements. proposal for drafting a written group agreement and a • The degree course studied and the year in description of the foundations for the collaborative which students are enrolled reveal significant differen- work with a framework outlining attitudes and team ces regarding perception of collaborative work plan- work skills; 2) Spontaneous student group building; 3) ning and the usefulness of group agreements. group agreement writing; 4) teacher review and feed- • Previous experience in face-to-face collaborative back on group agreements prior to group interaction. work reveals significant differences regarding percep- In order to pursue the exploratory and descriptive tion of collaborative work planning and the usefulness intentionality of the study, the methodology selected of group agreements. was non-experimental and quantitative, in the form of • Previous experience in virtual learning shows signi- a survey (Buendía, Colás & Hernández, 1997; Cohen ficant differences regarding perception of collaborative & Manion, 1990; McMillan & Schumacher, 2005). A work planning and the usefulness of group agreements. Likert scale questionnaire was designed for the purpose

of data collection with a five-answer level scale. The α=0.894 for «Usefulness of group agreements» and results appear in Section II under the titlen «Organi- α=0.867 for «Group agreement writing». zation and management of team work prior to task performance». This section includes three categories that 3. Results appear in Table 1: «Usefulness regarding the planning In order to address the research objectives and process» (including 4 items); Usefulness of group agre- hypotheses, several statistical analyses were underta- ements» (4 items) and «Group agreement writing» (7 ken. Table 1 collects the descriptive analyses of the dif- items). The questionnaire was answered in a face-to- ferent items, including frequencies and percentages, as Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 face class just before the end of the course. well as measurements of central tendency (mean) and A non-probabilistic, accidental or convenience sam- dispersion (standard deviation). Non-parametric statis- pling technique was used (Cohen & Manion, 1990; tical tests were carried out later in order to contrast the McMillan & Schumacher, 2005) to count the informants significant differences between the variables analyzed. according to their availability or accessibility. Statistical As far as the descriptive analyses are concerned, it analyses were undertaken with the SPSS 19 program. appears that students consider every aspect of collabo- In order to guarantee validity, the first version of rative work planning and group agreement writing to the questionnaire went through a subject-matter be very useful. Indeed, the means are all above 4 (in a expert content validation and was subjected to a pilot 5-point scale), except for «Connection frequency bet- study. As for reliability, Cronbach’s alpha intern relia- ween team members» (3.90 mean) and «Planned stra- bility index was used in all the three categories within tegies when a team member is not as involved as the section. The coefficients obtained were α=0.859 expected» (3.93 mean). The item that presents grea- for «Usefulness regarding the planning process», test variability is: «Connection frequency between

team members», with a 1.073 standard deviation. ve work methodology in a virtual environment, both to For the contrast tests, taking into account that the analyze the opportunities and challenges offered by variables considered are not normally distributed, non- CSCL as well as to see where future research can parametric statistics were used: Mann-Whitney for lead in terms of the weaknesses that emerge which two independent samples and Kruskal-Wallis for k have to be dealt with, and to identify those elements independent samples. that need further exploration. There are significant differences according to gen- Considering the design of CSCL, the results show

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 der (at an asymptotic level) between male and female the usefulness of the diverse components of planning, students. The former consider the following variables and it is worth pointing out that those students who to be more useful in the planning process: «Access to place more emphasis on the design phase were those guidelines for group organization» (p-value=.005); who had previous experience in face-to-face collabo- «Having clearly established work objectives» (p- rative work and a broader exprience of online lear- value=. 002); «Accessibility to all the information ning. In this sense, the drafting of the group agreement about task and its progress collected in a document» is considered very useful. Another important aspect is (p-value=.000). that «Connection frequency between team members» On the other hand, there are significant differen- and «Planned strategies when a team member is not as ces regarding those elements considered to be particu- involved as expected» are considered less useful in the larly useful in writing the group agreement, since male group agreement writing phase, maybe due to the fact students find some variables to be more useful than that they refer to a personal commitment and imply a others, such as: «Planned strategies when a team possible penalty. This may be awkward to include in member is not as involved as expected» (p-value= the document that will form the basis of future group .024); «Selecting communication channels» (p-value= relationships. In any case, these are aspects worth .001); «Role distribution and coordinator election» (p- exploring in detail in the future. value=.000); «Definition of work calendar» (p- The answer of those students who had recently value=.014) and «Task distribution between group experienced collaborative learning confirm other au- members» (p-value=.047). thor’s reflections –already cited– which claim that Focusing on the «degree» and «year» variables, collaboration can lead to learning. This means the there appear to be no significant differences except for appropriate planning of collaborative work in such a the item: «Access to guidelines for group organization» way to build common bases within groups (grounding) (p-value=0.20). Students on the Infant Education for understanding, and to overcome obstacles such as degree course as well as those in the first year rated low rates of participation and involvement (Kirschner, this item higher. 2002). As for the experience as a student in virtual envi- The collaboration-learning binomial cÇreates ronments (online or blended), Table 2 shows how interesting opportunities –on a personal, group and mean rankings are higher, in general, when students social level–, but at the same time they have profound have experienced learning in virtual environments for implications that entail a reconsideration of the peda- two or more years. It is curious that these same stu- gogical, organizational and technological elements dents find the different elements related to planning configuring a virtual learning environment. These collaborative work to be more useful. reflections should be made on an institutional level It is also worth commenting that contrast statistics (Bates & Sangrà, 2011) as well as within subject following the Mann-Whitney U reveal that those stu- design and curricular development. Online learning dents with previous experiences in face-to-face colla- processes occur on two decision levels. On the one borative work processes consider the planning process hand, they are linked to the curricular frame in which to be more useful than those who had never experien- the topic is involved, and therefore relate to establis- ced collaborative work methodologies. As for «Useful- hed organizational conditions as well as to pedagogical ness of group agreements», the only variable where guidelines or a selected pedagogical model, and to the there have been significant differences is «To support technology available in the institution. On the other an effective work process» (p<.005). hand, at the micro level in the classroom they are linked to the role of teacher and students and the specific 4. Discussion and conclusions activities promoted. The interrelations of all these fac- It is a very valuable exercise to collect the opinions tors inevitably condition the potential to teach and of those students who have experienced a collaborati- learn and, furthermore, that teaching and learning are

ment (Chapman, Ramondt & Smiley, 2005; Garrison, 2006; Picciano, 2002). Caring for the social aspects in collaborative learning and analyzing how it is possible for the two decision levels mentioned to support them constitute a key element in CSCL configuration and a challenge for research in the field (Pérez-Mateo & Guitert, 2012). Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 References BARBERÀ, E. & BADIA, A. (2004). Educar con aulas virtuales. Ma - drid: Antonio Machado Libros. BATES, A. & SANGRÀ, A. (2011). Managing Technology in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. BRUSH, T. (1998). Embedding Cooperative Learning into the Design of Integrated Learning Systems: Rationale and Guidelines. Edu ca - tional Technology Research and Development, 46 (3), 5-18. (DOI: Figure 1. Pedagogical, organizational and technological ele- 10.1007/BF02299758). ments interrelated in CSCL. BUENDÍA, L., COLÁS, M. & HERNÁNDEZ, F. (1997). Métodos de in - vestigación en Psicopedagogía. Madrid: McGraw-Hill. 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Received: 09-05-2013 / Reviewed: 10-06-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Victoria Marín, Francisca Negre & Adolfina Pérez Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21543 Palma de Mallorca (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-03

Construction of the Foundations of the PLE and PLN for Collaborative Learning Entornos y redes personales de aprendizaje (PLE-PLN) para el aprendizaje colaborativo

ABSTRACT In this article we approach the topic of collaborative learning by means of the creation and maintenance of personal learning environments and networks (PLE and PLN) and their integration within institutional virtual learning environments (VLE) as strategies to enhance and foster collaborative learning. We take an educational point of view: the student learns independently and carries out activities in groups to achieve common goals. Our aim is to experiment with didactical methodologies of integration between the institutional VLE and PLE, and to analyze the university students’ construction of PLE. Due to its importance in facilitating and fostering collaborative learning, special emphasis is placed on the construction of the personal learning network. We performed a design-based research on an academic course for Primary teachers. The results show that the students construct their PLE and PLN using newly acquired knowledge and that an appropriate methodological integration takes place between these environments and the institutional VLE for integrated learning. As conclusion, we propose an integrative methodological model for collaborative learning as a good practice. RESUMEN El aprendizaje colaborativo se puede afrontar desde diferentes estrategias. En este artículo contemplamos la creación y mantenimiento de entornos y redes personales de aprendizaje (PLEs y PLNs) y su integración en entornos virtuales institucionales de aprendizaje (EVEA) como estrategias que facilitan y promueven el aprendizaje colaborativo, siem- pre desde una visión educativa en la que el alumno es autónomo en su propio aprendizaje y trabaja para el logro de metas comunes mediante la realización de actividades de forma conjunta en grupos, existiendo interdependencias positivas. Los objetivos de este trabajo son experimentar con metodologías didácticas de integración del EVEA y los PLEs, y analizar la construcción del PLE por parte de los alumnos universitarios, haciendo especial énfasis en la construcción de la red personal de aprendizaje. Para ello se empleó una metodología de diseño y desarrollo, en una asignatura universitaria de los estudios de maestro de Primaria. Los resultados de la experiencia apuntan a que los alumnos construyen sus PLEs y PLNs en base a sus nuevos conocimientos adquiridos y se produce una adecuada integración metodológica entre esos entornos y el EVEA para el aprendizaje integrado. Como conclusión propone- mos un modelo de organización metodológica de integración para el aprendizaje colaborativo a modo de buena práctica. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Personal learning environments, personal learning, collaborative learning, higher education, blended learning, open learning, teaching innovation, Twitter. Entornos personales de aprendizaje, redes personales, aprendizaje colaborativo, educación superior, aprendizaje mezclado, aprendizaje abierto, innovación educativa, Twitter.

v Victoria I. Marín-Juarros is Associate Lecturer in the Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology Department at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Francisca Negre-Bennasar is Collaborating Lecturer in the Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology Department at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Adolfina Pérez-Garcias is University Lecturer in the Applied Pedagogy and Educational Psychology Department at the Universitat de les Illes Balears (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 35-43 www.revistacomunicar.com 36

1. Introduction and professional development (Couros, 2010; Dow - The university of the future should be an institu- nes, 2010; Sloep & Berlanga, 2011). The idea of the tion that provides education to a greater part of the PLN is that each person contributes their know ledge population throughout their lives and which generates so that what is most important is not what each person knowledge that is of service to educational needs has in their PLE, but the sharing of those resources. (Salinas, 2012). This has led to the setting-up of The LaaN theory is «an attempt to draw up a theore- various learning scenarios that are currently being tried tical foundation for learning and teaching which will

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 and researched. start up the construction and enrichment of the actual These learning scenarios are being developed wi- PLE» (Adell & Castañeda, 2013: 38). thin the concept of Personal Learning Environments In addition, PLE can also be used as bases for (PLE) and open learning environments (Brown, 2010; constructive learning (Adell & Castañeda, 2013), Hannafin, Land & Oliver, 1999; Sclater, 2008). The given that they are able to comply with the five fea - concept of PLE is defined, from a pedagogical point of tures for activities leading to significant learning propo- view, as the set of tools, materials and human resour- sed by Jonassen et al. (2003), they are active, cons- ces that a person is aware of and uses for life-long lear- tructive, intentional, authentic and collaborative. A ning (Adell & Castañeda, 2010; Attwell, 2007; collaborative environment (CSCL, Computer Suppor- Hilzensauer & Schaffert, 2008). The functions of the ted Collaborative Learning) is based on group work PLE that we took into account in this work, as indica- that begins with interaction and collaboration (John - ted by Wheeler (2009) are: information management son & Johnson, 1996; Lipponen, 2002), provides (related to personal knowledge management), creation commu nication tools and makes human resources of content and connections with others (which is from various fields available (teachers, experts, collea- known as the personal learning or knowledge net- gues, etc.). Collaboration as a learning strategy is work). based on working in heterogeneous groups of people PLE involve a change in education in favour of with similar knowledge levels to achieve communal student-centred learning by overcoming the limitations goals and carry out tasks together, with there being a of virtual learning/teaching environments (VLE) based positive interdependence between them (Dillenbourg, on learning management systems (LMS). PLE, there- 1999; Prendes, 2007). There is no single correct ans- fore, enable students to take control and manage their wer in collaborative tasks. Instead, there are several own learning, taking into account decisions on their ways of arriving at the result and, to achieve this, stu- personal learning goals, management of their own dents must share and reach agreements, an event that learning (content and process management), commu- helps them to be socially and intellectually more self- nication with others in the learning process and every- sufficient and mature (Bruffee, 1995). thing else that contributes to achieving their goals This study is framed within a wider research pro- (Salinas, 2013). ject that seeks to define and test various didactic strate- We started on the basis of the theory known as gies for the integration of PLE and VLE taking into LaaN, Learning as a Network, which includes various account different learning environments (formal, infor- concepts and theories, such as connectivism (learning mal and casual) on the basis of previous works (Marín, as a connection), the complexity theory (understan- 2013; Marín & Salinas, in press; Marín, Salinas & de ding the dynamics and uncertainty of knowledge in Benito, 2012, 2013; Salinas, Marín & Escandell, in current society), the concept of double loop learning press). (learning about errors and research) and, in particular, In this article, on the basis of these ideas, we pre- knowledge environments (Chatti, Schroeder & Jarke, sent an experiment in which methodologies that seek 2013; Chatti 2013), considering that «learning is the to encourage collaboration and integration of these continuous creation of a personal knowledge net- environments within the university (PLE and PLN on work» (Adell & Castañeda, 2013:38). the one hand, and VLE on the other) are put into This Personal Learning Network (PLN or PKN) practice, as well as some of the results observed during consists of the sum of connections with other people’s the process. PLE (their tools and strategies for reading, reflection and relationships), that make up knowledge environ- 2. Methodology for the study ments (Chatti et al., 2012) and whose interaction pro- The study was carried out on a group of teachers duces the development and enabling of strategies for and students on the course «Technological media and the actual PLE and, therefore, are central to learning resources for primary education» in the third year of

studies for the Primary Teacher’s Degree at the tion spaces and the development of the PLE enables University of the Balearic Islands. The material is development of information management processes worth 6 ECTS points and the intention is to develop and participation in external learning networks. skills in the use of technology that will enable teaching The elements of the strategy shown in figure 1, and learning processes at school. based on course tasks and some features of collabora- The course group was made up of three teachers tive learning are set out below. and 192 students organised into three large groups of • Access course study guides. Content is presented approximately 70 and ten practical groups of approxi- structured into concept maps that represent and inter- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 mately 25. connect basic concepts and provide supplementary All the students had prior knowledge of technolo- resources (reading, videos, examples, etc). Hints are gical tools given that they had studied a course relating given for development of the work project and practical to education technology during the first year activities. These materials are provided by the teachers (Information and Communication Technologies and are available on the Moodle-based VLE. applied to Primary Education). • Locate, access and organise supplementary According to an initial questionnaire, answered by materials using generic search engines (eg, Google), 179 students, it can be seen that the majority are social bookmarking (eg, delicious), specific search women (71%), are under 24 years old (70%) and are engines (eg, Google Scholar), content recovery (eg, frequent users of social networks (mainly Facebook), materials published/shared on Twitter by one person generic search engines (Google) and video web sites or another). Students are encouraged to find useful (Youtube). This creates an internet user profile that is information to carry out course activities and organise basically that of a consumer – they consume informa- information organisation systems. tion and communicate with their friends but hardly • Personally organise and manage information ever produce content. (using personal organisation tools, RSS subscription to The development of the course was based on blogs/web sites, following in Twitter, use of Symba- learning principles centred on student and methodolo- looEDU to organise new information). Furthermore, gies focusing on collaboration and social construction within the framework of the course, the student is of knowledge (Salinas, Pérez & de Benito, 2008). It offered shared resources and links (paper.li). was structured around the following activities, relating Activities related to creating content: to the development of the student’s PLE, according to • Organise the PLE itself using SymbalooEDU, in the basic functions indicated by Wheeler (2009): a) which each student organises the tools and resources development of a design and development-based work group project; b) creation of personal learning networks; and c) use of appropriate internet technology to locate and manage information, create content and share knowledge. In addition, a methodological strategy was organised that would allow integration of the use of the PLE into the VLE, in which the VLE offers access to basic documentation on the course and large group or private communica- Figure 1. Methodological strategy for integration of the VLE and PLE into the course.

that they use to carry out the course tasks and other entries, and on the other, the evolution of the PLE’s environments. construction, represented graphically by screen shots • Create a personal blog that gives an account of of their SymbalooEDU. the learning activities carried out during the course. • Observation of the student’s reaction in relation Entries include materials developed by students in dif- to implementation of didactic integration with respect ferent formats (text, audio, video, texting, interactive to the personal learning network. This is done by carry - multimedia, etc) and reflections on teaching practice. ing out a non-exhaustive descriptive and quantitative

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 • Develop and publish a collaborative group pro- analysis of interactions on Twitter. The number of ject that requires the creation of didactic materials for log-ons, comments between students, following peo- primary education (interactive multimedia, video and ple inside and outside the course, interactions aimed at WebQuest). This project follows the features of sharing resources and activities, etc, are taken into collaborative learning according to Johnson, Johnson account. A descriptive observation of the dynamic of & Holubec (1999) – existence of positive interdepen- the PLN in the blogs is also reviewed. dence, individual and group responsibility, stimulating interaction, availability of the necessary personal and 2.2. Study stages group attitudes and abilities, and group assessment. The experience is carried out in four stages, fo - The project is delivered through the VLE. llowing the methodology of design and development Finally, in relation to connection with others, the (Reeves, 2000; 2006; Van-den-Akker, 1999): following activities are included: • Stage 1. Analysis of the situation and definition • Interaction and collaboration with others of the problem. Precedent research on techno-educa- through the VLE in relation to the activities proposed tional integration of PLE and VLE is reviewed. This is in forums (debates) or via private messaging to the tea- defined as the need to improve and optimise teaching/ - cher or other students. These activities are in line with learning processes with the aim of integrating all fields the features indicated by Onrubia (1997) for collabo- of learning and centre on strategies that focus on the rative learning – they are group tasks, require contribu- student’s learning. tion by everyone and have sufficient resources to be • Stage 2. Development of solutions. Together completed. with the teacher in charge of the course, a methodo- • Share and circulate the results of activities using logical strategy for didactic integration of the PLE and the personal blog and sending messages on Twitter, VLE is designed, which has previously been des- using the hashtags set up for the course (chat on cribed. The elements of the strategy that are the least Twitter), to other people and/or colleagues to circula- known are worked on with the teachers. te their work on the blog and share interesting resour- • Stage 3. Implementation and assessment. This ces, encouraging interaction, participation and com- stage puts into practice the strategy designed for the munication (Ingram & Hathorn, 2004). course, while at the same time the process is followed • Communicate and collaborate on educational up and changes for iterative improvement are made to virtual communities and social networks or others of the strategy (eg, technical difficulties in the use of interest (outside the course hashtag on Twitter). paper.li and Twitter meant proposing the use of other • Widen their personal learning network (PLN) tools). At the start of the course a PLE workshop is by following people of interest, on Twitter as well as held with students and they are asked to put the Sym- other social networks or virtual communities or via ba looEDU screen shots representing their PLE on RSS subscriptions, with teachers, experts and people their blogs at the start and end of the course. Perio - related to field of interest, etc. dically, entries on personal blogs are collected and SymbalooEDU screen shots on the blogs are saved 2.1. Tools for information collection after following RSS. A content analysis is made of the The tools for information collection are qualitative screen shots by counting the number of blocks inclu- as well as quantitative with the aim of enabling inter- ded and according to type in accordance with the pretation and relevance of the information. three PLE functions. A descriptive analysis is made on The tools are as follows: the selection and inclusion of tools from the group pro- • Analysis of documents relating to integration of jects, included in the VLE, and blog entries. the PLE elements. These documents are amongst Furthermore, tweets made with the course’s hash- those produced by the students during the course. On tag are also collected using an automatic tweet collec- the one hand, group projects and personal blog tor system (Rowfeeder). Afterwards, a content analysis

used at the start and finish of the course, in spite of the fact that some remain the same. With respect to information management resources, a highlight is the use of tools relating to locating relevant information for developing is carried out using the tweet count and they are coded the course project, such as news links (many of which Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 according to type. Later interaction on the blog of the were related to the application of technology in edu- people identified as most active on Twitter is exa- cation), learning banks (eg, educational activities) and mined, reviewing the comments on their blogs. search engines. We can see an increase in the first • Stage 4. Document production and design prin- two. Some students included SymbalooEDU on their ciples. Assessment of the strategy using the data collec- home pages as tools for personal organisation. This is ted leads to the proposal for a didactic integration interesting because information organisation and model for the student’s PLE and the VLE. management is one of the PLE’s aims. The greatest increase is seen in content generation 3. Results tools. Given that the course mainly worked on educa- 3.1. PLE construction tional content generation for primary education, many With respect to students’ evolution in the PLE, the students included applications in their PLE that they following table shows the main statistics to be taken considered useful for that purpose. Among the blocks into account for SymbalooEDU screen shots and the included, highlights were collaborative creation and level of participation at the start and end of the course. interactive exercise creation tools, blogs, web site creation, audio, image creation, walls, comics and videos. A wide variety of tools can be seen within each category, although the most frequently used are small in number. At the start of the course, the most frequently used content generation tools were blogs (Blogger) and collaborative work tools (Google Drive). At the end of the course, The image given by this count gives us an idea these tools were still commonly used as they continue about the type of tools used by the students at the to be used during the course and were found to be beginning and end of the course on their PLE, whe - useful, but there is also evidence of an increase in ther they used them, or considered them interesting for other content generation tools, as indicated above. use now or in the not too distant future. The evolution of the percentage number of blocks per resource type is shown below. In spite of the fact that the evolution of the number of blocks per type of tool does not undergo serious changes (the most significant is the increase from 20% to 28% in blocks referring to content generation tools), a significant increase in the number of resources included at the start (101) and end (144) taking into account the various types can be seen. Looking at each type, as more specific statistics, notable differences can Figure 2. Percentage amount of information management resource blocks at the start be seen between the tools and links and end of the course.

• 1451 tweets (73%) shared the results of course activities with other the other students, as was indicated in the initial instructions for the course. • 190 tweets (10%) shared resources of interest to the rest of the

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 course group. This content was related to that being worked on in class. 37 of these 190 tweets produced interaction with people outside the course (teachers, educational organisations, etc) by retweets or citations. • 182 tweets (9%) were informal communications, with these consi - Figure 3. Percentage amount of blocks content generation tools at the start and dered to be messages to the whole end of the course. group (greetings) and comments or dialogue with other students about Finally, social networks and asynchronous com- the course (asking for help, questions, etc.). munication tools stand out in relation to communica- • 163 tweets (8%) were recorded relating to in- ting with others. An increase in the tools needed to teraction between students: retweets to colleagues or share course activities on the blog can be seen (eg, comments on jointly written blog entries, the group tools for sharing files, videos, visual presentations, text project, etc. documents, etc.). It can also be seen that in the cate- In addition, the number of followers and followed gory of generic social networks, compared to the start, was reviewed. It turned out that the average number there was a majority inclusion of the students’ PLE on of followers for each student was 38.38 and followed, Twitter. 61.39. Regarding those followed, out of the 189 students who took part on Twitter with their group’s 3.2. Development of the PLN hashtag for the course, 82 started to follow people/ - Regarding the development of the personal lear- organisations outside the course. Therefore, in many ning network, the use of Twitter by students was cases, students enriched their use of the social network mainly taken into account. A total of 1986 tweets using by going further than the formal environment, and par- the hashtags set up were counted, without taking into ticularly into the informal. account repeats. In total, 189 of the students in the Based on the percentage of non-obligatory partici- three groups took part, 47 of whom already had an account on that social network. The average number of tweets per person was 10.51 (the minimum was 1 and the maximum 112), the trend was 10 and the density was low (0.11), as the greater number of interactions came from just a few authors. These were those configured as «group leaders». These people were significant as they acted as the catalyst for the group on the social network and encouraged participation by other colleagues. The 1986 tweets were divided up according to their use. The results can be Figure 4. Percentage amount of blocks of interconnection tools at the start and end of seen below: the course.

pation (interactions not directed at sharing the blog) (average: 2.83), those taking part with more than 5 tweets were taken into account. Those who went over this number were discounted if their interactions were the type citing joint work in blog entries (tweets not aimed at boosting the social space). In this way, a total of 13 people were counted, 9 students from the first group, 2 from the second group and 1 from the Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 third group. In addition, the dynamic of each group on Twitter was different. The active students in the first group, and to a lesser extent in the third group, aimed to share Figure 5. Percentage of tweets according to use. resources and comment on them, while the second group was more of an informal help space. In this the students have learned to take part in social net- case, it was seen that the students’ PLN was created works, organise a social learning network, and partici- around the blogs, as one of them acted as mentor and pate in a sharing culture. Nevertheless, it is still neces- the others followed and were supported by the men- sary to overcome some challenges such as the level of tor’s explanations. On the other hand, no significant participation and the degree of involvement in order to interaction was noticed between the groups. develop a truly collaborative process based on interaction and communication (Kirschner, 2002). What has 4. Discussion and conclusions been seen were various types of networks but con - Throughout the course the VLE was the bridge fined to the group for the course with occasional exter- between the student’s PLE and the educational institu- nal, support-based interaction, distribution of filtered tion. It was used, above all, as an initial portal although resources and redistribution of contributions, whether almost all the learning process was developed using their own or from others. external elements that made up or became part of the The impact of the experience on students’ lear- student’s PLE (blogs, Twitter, etc). In addition, the ning arising from implementing the strategy was asses- VLE was didactically integrated into the student’s PLE sed as positive, as it promotes the student’s indepen- naturally. dence while learning, as well as collaborative know- Furthermore, the evolution in the student’s cons- ledge construction based on the development of the truction of the PLE and PLN was confirmed. They group project and networks constructed around the developed procedures based on locating and mana- course. These learning networks have huge potential ging information that would be useful for solving pro- that should be valued as a strategy for methodological blems, creating content and communicating with the change towards meaningful ways of learning based on others. During this process well-known tools were problem solving or project development. used and new ones were continuously selected. Tools This experience enabled the development and used in other environments were integrated and the evaluation of social knowledge construction processes, spaces created within the framework of the course encouraging the student: a) to search for information, were extrapolated to other contexts. identify problems, acquire filtering criteria, intercon- During this evolution in management of the actual nect and locate relevant data and distribute useful learning process, the students experienced the passage information; b) acknowledge and express their perso- from being passive consumers of information and nal viewpoint (ideas and progress); and c) share this resources to being creators of content and materials in with the group and be able to change their point of a variety of formats (Hilzensauer & Schaffert, 2008). view, adopt new perspectives, clarify points of disa- This variety responds to the methodological strategy greement, debate, negotiate agreements (Bruffee, for the course that promotes content creation while at 1995) and, finally, formulate and present knowledge the same time giving independence so that it is the stu- (Stahl, 2000). Therefore, we propose a methodologi- dent –or group– who chooses the tools that are the cal organisation model as good practice for collabora- most appropriate for the needs of the activity and its tive learning, with a suggested tool for each element in features. brackets. Furthermore, foundations have been laid for the The PLE, as the central element, includes the spa- creation of personal learning networks in as much as ces and processes marked out for its uses (Wheeler,

2009): content creation, whether individual (e-portfolio, tool selection) or group (using collaborative work and communication

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tools), information management (individual and collaborative selection and re commen da tion of re sources) and connection with others (using an open space for social communication and colla boration to create learning communities for colla- Figure 6. Proposed model for methodological organisation of integration for collaborative learning. borative knowledge construction). Web 2.0 for learning and teaching. Interactive Learning Envi ron - Compared to the initial model, the proposed chan- ments, 18 (1), 1-10. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ 104948 20 8 - ges to tools with respect to the technical difficulties 02158983). with Twitter and paper.li are included: introduction of BRUFFEE, K. (1995). Sharing our toys - Cooperative learning versus collaborative learning. Change, 27 ≠(1), 12-18. (DOI: http://dx.doi. - content aggregation systems (Scoop.it, Twubs) for org/ 10.1080/00091383.1995.9937722). better information and PLN management and the CHATTI, M.A. (2013). The LaaN Theory. In S. DOWNES, G. SIE - tools that are the subject of this course (generation of MENS & R. KOP (Eds.), Personal learning environments, networks, educational materials for primary education). and knowledge. (www.elearn.rwth-aachen.de/dl1151|Moha - med_ Chatti_LaaN_preprint.pdf) (07-05-2013). CHATTI, M.A., SCHROEDER, U. & JARKE, M. (2012). LaaN: Con ver- Acknowledgments gence of Knowledge Management and Technology-enhanced This work is framed within the research project EDU2011-25499 Learning. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 5 (2), 177-189. «Methodological strategies for integrating institutional virtual envi- (DOI: http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/ 10.1109/TLT. 20 11. 33). ronments, personal and social learning», developed by the COUROS, A. (2010). Developing Personal Learning Networks for Educational Technology Group (GTE) of the University of the Open and Social Learning. In G. VELETSIANOS (Ed.), Emerging Balearic Islands since 2012 and funded by the Ministry of Education Tech nologies in Distance Education. (pp. 109-128). Canada: AU and Science of Spain, within the National Programme for Press, Athabasca University. Fundamental Research. DILLENBOURG, P. (1999). Collaborative Learning Cognitive and computational Approaches Advances in learning and instructional References series. Oxford (UK): Pierre Pergamon. ADELL, J. & CASTAÑEDA, L. (2010). Los Entornos Personales de DOWNES, S. (2010). Learning Networks and Connective Know- Aprendizaje (PLEs): una nueva manera de entender el aprendizaje. ledge. Collective Intelligence and ELearning 20 Implications of In R. ROIG VILA & M. FIORUCCI (Eds.), Claves para la investigación Web Based Communities and Networking. (pp. 1-26). IGI Pu - en innovación y calidad educativas. La integración de las tecnolo- blishing. (http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-729-4.ch001). gías de la información y la comunicación y la interculturalidad en HANNAFIN, M.J. LAND, S. & OLIVER, K. (1999). Open Learning las aulas. (pp. 19-30). Alcoy: Marfil / Roma TRE Università degli En vironments: Foundations, Methods and Models. In C.M. REI - Studi. (http://hdl.handle.net/10201/17247) (10-05-2013). GELUTH (Ed.), Instructional-Design Theories and Models. A New ADELL, J. & CASTAÑEDA, L. (2013). El ecosistema pedagógico de Paradigm of Instructional Theory. (Volume II, pp. 115-140). Mah- los PLEs. In L. CASTAÑEDA & J. ADELL (Eds.), Entornos Personales wah (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. de Aprendizaje: Claves para el ecosistema educativo en Red. (pp. HILZENSAUER, W. & SCHAFFERT, S. (2008). On the way towards 29-51). Alcoy: Marfil. (http://digitum.um.es/xmlui/bitstream/ 10201/- Personal Learning Environments: Seven crucial aspects. In Elearn - 30409/1/capitulo2.pdf) (10-07-2013). ing Papers, 9. (www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media15 9- ATTWELL, G. (2007). Personal learning environments - the future of 71. pdf) (10-05-2013). eLearning? In eLearning Papers, 2 (1), 1-8. (www.elearning eu ro- INGRAM, A. & HATHORN L. (2004). Methods for analyzing collabo- pa. info/files/media/media11561.pdf) (10-05-2013). ration in online communications. In T. ROBERTS (Ed), Online BROWN, S. (2010). From VLEs to learning webs: the implications of Collaborative Learning: Theory and Practice. (pp. 215-241). Her -

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Received: 02-05-2013 / Reviewed: 03-07-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Nereida López & Patricia González Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21448

Valladolid / Madrid (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-04

Audioblogs and Tvblogs, Tools for Collaborative Learning in Journalism Audioblogs y Tvblogs, herramientas para el aprendizaje colaborativo en Periodismo

ABSTRACT The aim of the present submission is to show the results of the study carried out with 199 students of journalism degree from the University of Valladolid. This experience evaluates to what extend blogs promote individual and group competences and skills, with the goal to determine the advantages and disadvantages of collaborative learning in the virtual environment of the blogosphere. New hybrid weblogs, audioblogs and tvblogs, have been used for practical on the subjects of News on Radio and News on Television for two consecutive courses. The experience has shown great usefulness not only in building the horizontal knowledge about the journalistic work from the classroom, the labs, and in their individual work outside the university environment, but it has also contributed positively to their community integration, enhancing negotiated decision-making and respect for the work of the others. These multimedia logs have enabled students to participate in the creation of content, in the production process, corporate design, bringing out and social media distribution, while learning to organize every element in harmonious and consistent way in order to create an independent audiovisual product related to other webs that can be used as documentary, specialized or critical complement. This collaborative experience has joined creativity, initiative, self-assessment and knowledge of online news production. RESUMEN El propósito de la aportación es mostrar la experiencia llevada a cabo con 199 alumnos del Grado de Periodismo de la Universidad de Valladolid para analizar hasta qué punto los blogs potencian habilidades y competencias individuales y grupales, con el objetivo de determinar las ventajas y los retos del aprendizaje colaborativo en el entorno virtual de la blogosfera. Para ello se han utilizado nuevos formatos híbridos, «audioblogs» y «tvblogs», con los que se han construido las prácticas para las asignaturas de «Radio Informativa» y «Televisión Informativa durante dos cursos consecutivos. La experiencia ha demostrado una notable eficacia no sólo en la construcción horizontal de su conocimiento sobre la profesión periodística desde el aula, los laboratorios y su trabajo individual fuera del entorno universitario, sino que ha contribuido positivamente a su integración comunitaria, potenciando la toma de decisiones negociadas y el respeto al trabajo de los demás. Estas formas multimedia han permitido a los alumnos participar en la creación de los contenidos, en el proceso de producción, diseño corporativo, edición y distribución social, mientras aprendían a organizar cada elemento de forma armónica, coherente, para construir un producto audiovisual independiente que se relaciona a su vez con otras web que sirven de complemento documental, especializado o crí- tico. Esta experiencia colaborativa ha unido en su elaboración creatividad, iniciativa, actividad continua, autoevalua- ción y conocimiento de la producción periodística en Internet. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Skills, blogs, communication, collaborative learning, journalism, Web 2.0, audiovisual creation. Competencias, blogs, comunicación, aprendizaje colaborativo, periodismo, Web 2.0, creación audiovisual.

v Dr. Nereida López-Vidales is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Valladolid ([email protected]). v Dr. Patricia González-Aldea is Professor of Journalism at the Carlos III University of Madrid ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 45-53 www.revistacomunicar.com 46

1. Introduction and state of the question in the search to bring out the best in himself». The Internet has provided 21st century citizens Among the technologies and tools that can be with new communication tools to allow them to cons- applied to the practice of so-called «Computer truct information and take part in the very process of Supported Collaborative Learning» (CSCL) wikis and message delivery. In the media ecology, following the blogs are the most widely used, especially on university emergence of the Web at the start of the 90s, blogs courses in education (Santos & al., 2009; Rubia, are now considered to be the most significant land- 2010). And podcasts are a recent addition. For Gó-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 mark in Internet history (Islas-Carmona, 2008). These mez, Palomares & Pino (2010) «the collaborative tools binnacles of the Net enable the personal expression of in the current development of Web 2.0, such as wikis individual experiences without the need for computer and blogs or virtual environments for learning/ work skills, journalistic editing or content production which, (Moodle, Google Docs) are a tremendous aid for as a result, enhances the socializing power of the collaborative work in teams, groups and for people World Wide Web among citizens around the world. who come together to share, work and learn in a com- The blog perhaps represents the first breakdown mon virtual space to achieve their goals». of the public-private citizen space in the face of the The positive results of CSCL have come about communicative fact, with this opening-up of the virtual through fruitful group interaction (Solano & Amat, space in which participation with other individuals is 2008), based on techniques that provoke disagree- continuous. Through the publication of one’s own or ments, such as providing conflicting information and others’ content, and the power to share this content role distribution, as Dillenbourg (2012) points out. rapidly via the social networks, the use of blogs has One of the weaknesses of collaborative learning is spread in recent years to reach across all social envi- that «most studies on the subject center on the tools ronments. rather than the educational or social processes that One of the settings where blogs have demonstra- occur as a consequence of their use» (Pérez-Mateo & ted great potential has been in education. As Lara Guitert, 2009: 221). The recent creation of the (2005) points out, «weblogs, as well as education, are Thematic Network on Collaborative Learning in by their very nature, processes of communication, Virtual Environments is aimed at precisely that, to socialization and knowledge construction». Here focus on «the learning processes beyond the context in knowledge is constructed from the bottom up because which they are developed or the technological tools the student participates in the project which is global, used» (Guitert & Pérez-Mateo, 2013:14). The «Guide open and collaborative. Although the mere use of to Collaborative Learning in Virtual Environments» blogs does not guarantee efficacy in education, their provides examples of good practice through guidelines transparency can make a significant contribution. «The for the design of this type of projects. digital literacy that the new generations need demands that they learn to read and write via links, so weblogs 1.1. Background to the question: collaborative are a more transparent tool to achieve this» (Orihuela, practices in current education 2006: 172-173). The fundamental characteristics of blogs make In collaborative pedagogy, the student is the cen- them an attractive tool for educating citizens in the ter, just like the Web 2.0 user. If the user is the king in process of digital literacy in the society of knowledge. this setting, the student should be likewise in In the educational environment, blogs represent a sup- Education 2.0. The teacher as learning facilitator orga- port to «E-learning», they create virtual external set- nizes the activities and supervises the project that the tings, establish an informal communication channel students carry out in an independent and more flexible and direct interaction between student and teacher; way. So this is a constructivist model of knowledge in they promote social interaction and give the student a which the student constructs his own knowledge. personal medium for experimentation. But they also The student’s sense of autonomy and the confi- provide a personal space which is open to the public dence placed in him as the actor in his own learning that gives the student a sense of responsibility when process that is interdependent with the group means posting online, helps him to focus on improving output that collaborative learning projects can also help to and stimulates him to read other blogs and participate enhance motivation and self-esteem. As Vélez (1998) in other content through his responses to comments or states, «trust is placed in the educating and in his capa- weblog «trackbacks», and he is obliged to broaden the city to explore his world, which in turn motivates and personal information he presents to keep his page awakens the desire to develop competences and skills updated. The student in the weblog constructs his

new knowledge knowing that he is being observed ports such as tablets and smart phones. The various and corrected by colleagues, teachers and others who forms of content publication on the web each have are online but outside the educational environment. their own name: audioblogs, radioblog, vblogs (video- In Spain, the GSIC-EMIC group (Cooperative Inte- blogs), tvblogs, moblogs, edublogs, etc. lligent Systems Group; Education, Media, Computing Blogs have become more complex with the intro- and Culture) and the TACEV group (Working and duction of multimedia messaging; they allow users to Learning in Cooperation in Virtual Environments) of the share the link on social networks. Syndication makes

UOC are both well-known for their research and content distribution to the weblog public even easier. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 pedagogical proposals, with technology at the heart of It incorporates metadata that enable the user –man or collaborative learning experiences in virtual settings (Gi- ménez, Guitert & Lloret, 2004). The use of these «weblogs» enables students to learn how The most important precedent in terms of the impulse to develop an idea for an audiovisual program in a virtual towards best collaborative practices is a tool created in environment and comprehend the need to work as a team in 2006 called «Bersatide: Best order to see a media project through to the end. They also Practices Collaborative Design Editor». Jorrín, Rubia & Gar - get to practice using the typical media techniques of produc- cía Pérez (2006) presented it as «a web tool to help design tion, correction, editing and framing of messages and news, collaborative learning scena- and to value the opinion of other group members and the rios based on CSCL principles». rest of the class. Apart from Education courses, the first «weblogs» experiences in Journalism and Communication were those promoted by Orihuela & Santos (2004), in Audio - machine– to interact with the web objects via collabo- visual Design at the University of Navarra, and by Lara rative tagging or the tag cloud (Foulonneau & Francis, (2005, with Journalism students at the Carlos III 2008). University of Madrid in 2004/05. An audioblog can be a blog consisting mainly of In Málaga, Blanco (2005) set up a learning project clips either recorded by the creator, shared by syndica- with blogs as tools. Blanco (2005: 159) emphasized tion or an aggregator, using podcast technology. These «the increase in interrelationships among students who contributions include listeners’ text and comments as did not relate before, as a result of the exchange of well as those from the blogger, which all serve to com- comments on articles published by their colleagues, plement the audio broadcast. Prior to this format, and both on their pages and in the classroom, which made the emergence of personal websites, we had bitcas- the debate much more enriching». Also in Málaga, ters, Mp3 and various other audio distribution formats Gómez, Palomares & Pino (2010) engaged students of such as streaming and «peer-to-peer» networks: Publicity and Public Relations in an experience in Napster, Audiogalaxy, Soulseek, Emule, etc. WebTV publicity material using collaborative 2.0 tools. At the blogs, videoblogs and tvblogs are blog formats based American University of Acapulco (Mexico) Noguera on presenting information as image, specifically video (2007) got students to produce a thematic blog on the clips tvblogs which, according to placement and orga- coverage of an aspect of local news. nization on the page, take the form of a blog of videos similar to a video channel like YouTube of Vimeo, or 1.2. The hybridization of weblogs: new opportuni- which are similar to a television program selection. ties Students studying Publicity and Public Relations at The hypertext format of blogs has evolved into the University of Alicante carried out a podcasting new multimedia formats that integrate audiovisual experiment on the Print Media and Communication content that can be posted via the net to mobile sup- course in which they produced podcasts for the

«Comunic@ndo» university cybermedia. Iglesias and their own and the work of their colleagues more posi- González-Díaz (2013) compiled other podcasting ini- tively, enhance their ability to express ideas and tiatives at universities abroad –the IMPALA project at defend them and increase their sense of responsibility the universities of Leicester and Kingston– and in when publishing their own personal creations, by con- Spain, the University of Salamanca, applied by Notario tributing to a coherent form of learning that reflects on to Philosophy studies. Professor Fernando Rosell- the knowledge acquired in the classroom and in their Aguilar (2013) of The Open University has worked own individual study spaces.

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 with podcasts as a tool for learning foreign languages, The main aim of the project was to determine to as have Ramos and Caurcel (2011) at the University of what extent the new digital tools based on the creation Granada, whose goal was to help students improve of «weblogs» proved useful for team work on the com- their level of spoken foreign languages at the Faculty of pulsory «Radio reporting» and «Television reporting» Educational Sciences. Yet experiments with tvblogs or compulsory courses (6 ECTS) that were part of the videoblogs are far fewer at university. In fact, we have Journalism degree1 (2009-10 study plan). not found a single collective project that uses a hybrid The verification statement on the Journalism tvblog format in higher education. degree course2 states that the aim of the two subjects, Mobile phones and tablets were reported to be «Radio reporting» and «Television reporting», as taught the most significant technology to be used for learning at the University of Valladolid, is to provide students this year, according to the «NMC Horizon Report with the following specific skills and competences (in 2012», with gaming to come to the fore in learning in simplified form): to know the fundamentals of social the next two to three years. The report indicates one communication and the national and international particular challenge that affects teachers: «the changes media system, to be able to create ideas, plan and exe- in university teaching mean that the majority of univer- cute news projects and tasks, to be able to communica- sities now regard teacher competence as a strategic te in language suitable for each type of news medium element in the quality of education» (Durall & al., and to be aware of the importance of Journalism as a 2012: 2). vital tool for acquiring knowledge and a balanced jud- gement of the reality of today’s society, as well as beha- 2. Material and methods ving with the responsibility that this entails. Information and Communication Technologies All these points are covered in the group practice (ICT) are inseparable from the new reality, and insti- carried out on the two courses, and the use of the two tutional support for these tools in the classroom is now weblog formats proposed, «audioblogs» and «tvblogs», seen as essential for the new generations to become is aimed at achieving specific fundamental objectives: digitally literate. And it is even more vital in the case of • To encourage debate and participation on the communication courses to give students the appropria- net. te knowledge to enable them to understand the digital • To enhance discourse organization. revolution that has taken place in the media environ- • To increase student awareness of and responsi- ment and also to comprehend the impact this is having bility for what is published in their name. on culture and a society in transformation. • To construct a personal identity and be respon- This study presents an innovative teaching expe- sible for that identity. rience involving 199 students studying a Journalism • To encourage personal criteria (choices and degree course at the University of Valladolid in order comments); to accept criticism and take others’ opi- to analyse how far blogs («audioblogs» and «tvblogs») nions into account. can boost individual and group skills and competences • To acquire knowledge and know how to hand- in a relevant collaborative environment within the le new ICT and the Internet European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and to dis- • To become familiar with the production process cover the advantages and challenges of learning within of journalism (as well as its digital settings). the virtual environment of the blogosphere. • To work as part of a team, to collaborate; to The main hypothesis is that students, by means of organize and distribute tasks among all group members the collaborative construction of an audiovisual project and take responsibility for keeping the group together –which employs all kinds of audiovisual, text and in order to reach a common goal. metadata elements for possible posting and sharing on • To carry out individual tasks (which can be the Internet through the social networks – would show done anywhere, and enables the student to continue a proactive attitude in terms of team work, and rate constructing)

• To help students to manage their time and tutorial sessions in which professors provided guidan- energy, and learn how to plan work. ce and advice on production and presentation. This These objectives are designed to understand the project accounted for 50% of the student’s overall construction of knowledge as something global, not mark in both subjects. compartmentalized, so that to think in a critical way, to The applied qualitative methodology was based get information, to edit, compress and upload to a ser- fundamentally on direct observation of how the stu- ver, to syndicate and share content based on team dents handled this experience. So, a timetable was decisions become a complete, didactic and entertai- drawn up for each individual student to cover the enti- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ning form of practical work that draws students closer re practice period, taking one real time week of prac- to the real professional world where journalism is mul- tical work in the lab as a single unit of data collection. timedia and increasingly collaborative in its functio- The students were divided into teams of 10-12 and ning. each assigned a task or professional routine in radio or The experience consists of constructing a project- television, depending on the medium chosen, for idea for a 30-minute news program on radio and / or which they were responsible until the practice was television, including digital recording and editing, to be concluded. broadcast in its entirety on a weblog (audioblog/video- To evaluate whether these objectives had been blog or tvblog) as it is assembled over the final 10 reached, a screen was designed to contain all the rele- weeks of the teaching period. All content was to be vant data on each group: members’ names, task for produced separately as independent units which, which they were individually responsible in the final when put together in a specific order, would form a project, contact address, interests, photo of the stu- coherent program for broadcast on Internet. Despite its dent, project title, general structure, objectives, content broadcast on the Net, the program was to be recorded synopsis and a rough schedule for each of stage of the on a television set or at a radio station depending on works to be carried out. the content. The continuity elements also had to be At the end of the project, the students were to original. hand in a report explaining their experience based on The collaborative project for the organization of four central themes which they had to grade from 1 to the practice was structured in these phases: 5, 1 denoting the lowest level of intensity and 5 the • «Briefing» on the project and explanation of the highest, according to the category: technical difficulties goals to be achieved (teachers and students). in production, advantages and disadvantages of wor- • «Brainstorming» among students of each group king in a team (problems of coordination and respon- to reach unanimous decisions on the title, form and sibility), the knowledge applied to the job based on content of the project. theory taught, and an overall assessment of the lear- • Team Meeting 1: tasks shared out and time ning experience. schedule drawn up for each stage to be completed. • Team Meeting 2: dates set for production in the 3. Analysis and results radio studio or on the television set, for editing suites, A total of 31 projects were carried out and asses- recording, exteriors, etc. sed to the first four months of 2013. There were 11 • Creation of a blog on which to post project con- groups in 2011-12 and 10 in 2012-13, and each group tent and transform it into an audioblog or tvblog, for produced two projects, one every four months for eit- syndication and social networks. her radio or TV. Each group consisted of between 10 • Team work and field work supervision: mee- and 13 members. It should also be noted that the big- tings, decision-taking, planning of tasks for the week, ger groups were assigned the television projects to recording live, provision for unexpected events, digital facilitate task distribution since fewer people are requi- editing and staging, and publication on the weblog. red for content production in radio. • Completing the project and presentation of pro- The students did their practical work with free or gram to the general public. open access tools: screens for the design and creation • Discussion on the final report and assessment. of the start-up blog (Blogger and Wordpress were the The aim of this structure is based on the need to most widely used), cloud storage for audio and video familiarize students with the professional routines and content –podcasts, videos and images– via Podomatic habits of journalism such that they gradually assimilate and Soundcloud hosting sites and personal accounts the production process of content from as broad a that each student had to enable them to work from perspective as possible. The students received specific home or anywhere outside the university.

All the students learn in class about the multimedia teacher, each defending the validity of the project and they need to create a blog and later they elect one of giving their overall assessment. This presentation was the members to represent the group. They also choose followed by an open debate and questions were taken a webmaster to be responsible for updating the blog so that the opinions of the rest of the group could be each week. With this distribution of the learning exer- heard regarding the presentation, the things they could cises, from the individual to the collective, the group’s have done better, and the strong and weak points of virtual pages were configured by all participants, the project. The overall evaluation of the practice was

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 hence the debate and discussion were permanent and positive as the following table, which shows the final ongoing. This exercise in negotiation among equals ratings of the students, demonstrates: with different tastes was extremely important in terms The item rated lowest in the practice referred to of the structuring and defence of the student’s indivi- coordination and technical difficulties. The former dual identity; also very positive was the evolution of relates to the continuous effort students needed to the students’ attitude within the group, the increased reach agreement on questions such as who would be self-confidence in the personal work done, and the a member of the group, sharing the tasks, supervision greater respect shown towards other colleagues as the of the work done by their own colleagues, the choice project progressed. One piece of data that confirms of program content or the need for all members to this is the number of recommendations of the respec- finish their own particular task on time. Drawing up tive blogs by colleagues in the different groups on each the initial deadline schedule was not difficult but stic- course, which was considerable. This usually occu- king to it week-by-week was (absence of a group rred via the two social networks most widely used by member during the practice, low productivity in cer- the students, Facebook and Twitter, to recommend tain members or failure to complete the job assigned to an audioblog or tvblog put together by other groups. them as part of a group task). Three out of five students included a link to other The technical problems related to the lack of tech- groups’ work in their pages, and two out of five linked nical and digital infrastructure at the UVA campus in them all. Valladolid which only has a fledgling radio station and As the virtual environment was being created, the a television set with limited resources. The technicians students constructed a physical collaborative environ- at the radio station are the same students and teachers ment to simulate a real journalistic work space or a on the course. This was a constant challenge for stu- digital editing room. All groups planned listings of radio dents and teacher, which acted as a spur to imagina- or television programs, whichever was applicable to tion and the ability to overcome problems, and obliged them, and these were distributed as they were to them to make decisions quickly. Sometimes this appear in the listings in the order in which it was brought the group closer together and even made it thought they would appeal to the type of viewing or easier for the teacher to integrate as one of the group. listening public that the programs were aimed at. This The academic results showed that 70% of the stu- listing format was to act as a nexus between all the dents got a B grade in both subjects. programs and obliged the students to think about a specific «target», possible competition in the market and the justification for and real interest in their proposal, and the possible success or failure of the project, etc. The programs chosen were (by year and subject): a news service, one or two magazine-type programs, one or two «infoshows», a sports program and a fiction format. When the practice period fi - nished, the leaders or directors of each group presented the report on the work they had carried out as well as their virtual environment they had created to their colleagues and the Students’ opinions in the reports and final evaluation of the education practice.

The main feature of the collaborative environment ming of messages and news, and to value the opinion created by teacher and students was its open space, in of other group members and the rest of the class. They which «feedback» between both was continuous as realize the importance of individual work in the cons- the teacher was actively present in the virtual setting truction of a collaborative project, getting increasingly established for the group members to work as a team; more involved and taking responsibility for undertaking the teacher was also on hand to offer permanent assis- tasks, and submitting to self-criticism where necessary tance in the tasks being carried out (correction of in the development of a real journalistic project. scripts, texts, videos, audio material, theme presenta- The social and educational processes that derive Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tion, production tips, suggestions on how to improve from the project were what really enriched the pro- or change something, etc.) accompanying and interac- ject. And as Johnson & Johnson (1987) point out, the ting with the students, forming part of the group not as main features of collaborative learning are the auto- a leader but as a «users’ manual». The work of the tea- nomy of the groups to define the role of the teacher as cher here was to provide support, constant tutoring supervisor only, with shared decision-making and stu- (via the day-to-day practice work that took place and dent responsibility as an individual and as a group on the university’s virtual platform –Moodle) showing member, since the final result and the grade achieved students that they can be more independent by active by the group is based on the sum of all the parts, which involvement in the construction of their own know- entails a sense of co-responsibility. Yet there is no gua- ledge, taking their own decisions and negotiating with rantee that collaborative learning alone will be effec- the other group members who occupy the same sha- tive just because it is used, as Dillenbourg (2012) says, red learning space. and our experience confirms this. The positive results There is not enough space to show all the data or images from the projects, but here are some of the weblogs that demonstrate the work done during the practice phase. For the students, the experience was positive, as quotes from their «weblogs» testify: «We have learnt a lot», «Now we know how to work in today’s media», «It has been hard work but worth it», «We have been on edge and we have argued a lot but we had a great time», «I will miss this feeling when I am on other courses», «Now I know I am capable of working in the profession I love»…

4. Discussion and conclusions The project was designed as a collaborative work model: it is a process coordinated by the teacher, a shared and interdependent process for the students with the result that the group achieved were based on a fruitful group interaction constructs knowledge via the creation of an audioblog that deployed techniques such as role distribution. or tvblog, in effect a common project. The use of The practice also had its limitations and some pro- these «weblogs» enables students to learn how to blems arose which we have already alluded to. Future develop an idea for an audiovisual program in a virtual challenges will be: environment and comprehend the need to work as a • The difficulty in making students aware that team in order to see a media project through to the what they are going to post on the weblog on the end. They also get to practice using the typical media Internet will be seen by everybody, and this means techniques of production, correction, editing and fra- taking on an important ethical and social responsibility;

although incorrect or inappropriate content can be eco sistema digital: Modelos de comunicación, nuevos medios y público en Internet (pp. 151-167). Valencia: Universitat de València changed at any moment, somebody might have al- (www.vinv.ucr.ac.cr/docs/divulgacion-ciencia/libros-y-tesis/ecosis- ready seen it. tema-digital.pdf) (03-04-2013). • Updating content came to a halt in practically all DILLERNBOURG, P. (2012). Classroom Ergonomics. Jornada de cases once work on the two subjects had finished, so Apren dizaje Colaborativo en Entornos Virtuales. Barcelona 26-27 these tools provided insufficient motivation for the stu- noviembre (www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdF_AnyiYfk) (28-03- 2013). dents to use them as channel for communication or DURALL, E., GROS, B., MAINA, M., JOHNSON, L. & ADAMS, S. (2012). Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 instruction after the conclusion of the practice. Perspectivas tecnológicas: educación superior en Iberoamérica 2012- • The journalistic work posted in the virtual envi- 17. Austin: The New Media Consortium. (ht tp://openaccess. uoc.- ronments or on the platforms was also insufficiently edu/webapps/o2/bitstream/10609/17021/6/horizon_iberoameri- interesting for the students to revisit once the subjects ca_2012_ESP.pdf) (25-04-2013). FOULONNEAU, M. & FRANCIS, A. (2008). Investigative Study of had finished. These tools were used only occasionally Standards for Digital Repositories and Related Services. Amster dam: while activities in real spaces prospered. Amsterdam University Press. (DOI: 10.5117/9789053564127). • The content is shared on the social networks, GIMÉNEZ, F., GUITERT, M. & LLORET, T. (2004). Bridging the Gap which are also used by students to communicate between Higher Education and Labour Market: How a Networked among themselves, especially by mobile phone apps Team of Students Developed a Professional Multimedia Product in a Virtual University Setting. International Conference on Distance rather than by e-mail, «weblog» comments or even Education. Hong Kong, 18-24 June. (www.uoc.edu/in3/esp/pro- telephone. jectes/tacev.html) (10-03-2013). As an idea for adapting higher education to the GÓMEZ-CAMARERO, C., PALOMARES, R. & PINO, J. (2010). La utili- technological evolution, we emphasize the common zación de herramientas colaborativas 2.0 en el ámbito de la docu- ground between this experience and the conclusions mentación publicitaria. DIM, 18. (http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/ar - ticulo? co digo= 3671495) (12-03-2013). of the «2012 Horizon Report» which underlined the GUITERT, M. & PÉREZ-MATEO, M. (2013). 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Received: 30-05-2013 / Reviewed: 04-07-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21864 l Adriana Gewerc, Lourdes Montero & Manuel Lama DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-05 Santiago de Compostela (Spain) Collaboration and Social Networking in Higher Education Colaboración y redes sociales en la enseñanza universitaria

ABSTRACT This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the experience of educational innovation in the configuration of a social learning network in a subject for the Education degree course at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). This innovation is based on the premise of student-centered teaching (independent learning, self-regulated, authentic and breaking boundaries between formal and informal areas) enriched with collaborative activities. The study aims to analyze the intensity and relevance of the student´s contributions in this collaborative framework. We used learning analytics tools with two types of techniques: social network analysis (SNA) and information extraction, to measure the intensity, centrality and relevance of collaboration among students. The results obtained allow us to confirm: 1) The consistency and coherence between the pedagogical approach and the option of using a social network in university education; 2) A dense network with a high level of interaction, a moderate degree of centrality and a low centralization index (structure moves away from star), with a group with the capacity to influence the rest (degree of betweenness); 3) High level of relevance to the content analyzed; 4) The usefulness of learning analytics techniques to guide teacher decision-making. RESUMEN El presente trabajo analiza, de forma exploratoria, la experiencia de innovación docente en la configuración de una red social de aprendizaje en una asignatura del Grado de Pedagogía de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. La innovación se justifica en las premisas de la enseñanza centrada en el alumno (aprendizaje autónomo, autorregulado y auténtico, ruptura de fronteras entre ámbitos formales e informales), enriquecida con actividades colaborativas. El estudio pretende analizar la intensidad y pertinencia de las aportaciones del alumnado en este marco colaborativo. Para ello se han utilizado herramientas informáticas de la analítica del aprendizaje (learning analytics) con dos tipos de técnicas: análisis de redes sociales y extracción de información, que dan cuenta de la intensidad, centralidad y relevancia de la colaboración entre los estudiantes. Los resultados obtenidos posibilitan concluir: 1) la con- sistencia y coherencia entre la propuesta pedagógica y la opción de utilizar una red social en la enseñanza universitaria; 2) la existencia de una red densa con alto nivel de interacción, grado de centralidad medio e índice de centra- lización bajo (estructura que se aleja de la forma estrella), con un grupo con capacidad de influencia en el resto (grado de intermediación); 3) alto nivel de pertinencia de los contenidos analizados; 4) la utilidad de las técnicas de analítica de aprendizaje para orientar la toma de decisiones del docente. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES University teaching, learning, innovation, collaboration, social networking, e-portfolio, personal learning environments, learning analytics. Enseñanza universitaria, aprendizaje, innovación, colaboración, redes sociales, portafolio electrónico, entornos personales de aprendizaje, analítica del aprendizaje.

v Dr. Adriana Gewerc is Senior Lecturer at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Lourdes Montero is Full Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Manuel Lama is Senior Lecturer at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 55-62 www.revistacomunicar.com 56 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 prah ol sget Cags n h wy of ways the univer at processes in address learning and teaching teaching Changes ing suggest. transmissive would predominant approach the as uniform faculties, as teaching is Nor people. of and institutes, departments, polyhedron a rather but university, one only not is there meaning; political and cultural social, that takes place within institutions that are loaded with Introduction 1. chers. tea- with together students and students among chers, tea among ways: several in Collaboration ronments. professional of envi learning virtual education higher in collaboration experience extended critical an facilitate of to analysis precisely aims which article this 2009). It is in this context that we frame the content of Fonseca, & (Aguaded research to respect with ching tea- of appreciation greater a for and 2004) Shulman, in world English-speaking the 2008; (Lueddeke, teaching» for «scholarship of favour from calls with line in space, teaching their in research for place a made have who professors university many so and of work good wisdom the demonstrated have independence, tions produced on the job, often the result of academic innova- internal Nevertheless, «mandatory». becomes tion Area (EHEA), however, in this context innovation Educa Higher European the of novelty a not are sity gogical strategy along the lines of cultural and socio- and cultural of lines the along processes. strategy gogical own their on reflect Furthermore, metacognition is given priority as to a peda ability the and initiative have who learning and teaching of work the in partners as conceived are students framework, this authentic and 1991) learning (Herrington, Oliver & Reeves, 2003). Within Wenger, & (Lave situated of perspective a to committed be to teachers Gutierrez-Braojos, and 2012) & Salmerón 2001; 2004; Zimmerman, Vermetten, & Vermunt 2004; (Pintrich, ning lear their self-regulate to students requires proposal to learning formal This spaces. learning informal of value the of appreciate interests limits their the explore transcending while to encouraged are Thus, students strengths. person’s each enhance and dence, approach indepen teaching their foster diversity, student address to aims This in others. learn with who students collaboration on centered teaching of ses premi the to true be to try we which in practice, ding regar- inquiry of process continuing a is Ours 2003). Montero, & Gewerc (Agra, processes assessment and learning teaching, of breadth and length the spanning artifacts as 2010) Seoane, & Alvarez Montero 2012; Lamas, & Montero Gonçalves, 2009; (Gewerc, folios Teaching at university is a complex social activity social complex a is university at Teaching We have long been working with student e-port student with working been long have We ------in rdcd y h sca ntok n hs teaching this in network social the by produced tion media- of type the identify to aim we experience, this analyzing By learning. their out carrying for context a as network social a use students when happens what platform. the on stored activity student of records inside» «peering for Hence, we consider the potential evaluated. of learning analytics as a tool and monitored be must that tion informa- student of amount the to respect with blem pro management a represents teaching social in of networks use the to openness This 2007). & Damiani, Wangsa, Uden, 2011; Engel, & Busts Coll, Saz, 2012; (Gros, environments collaborative in students by faced ecology learning complex the understand to analysis these network by need we mediated Specifically, is technologies. it when occurs learning how understanding of ways accurate increasingly for need complex. more tion processes, while also making their analysis and evalua- learning and teaching enriched have Internet on lable diverse information sources and the vast potential avai- complex map involving a variety of learning tools? The dents. stu- by demonstrated and built knowledge the view to which lead to the of formation of a personal e-portfolio All in which etc.). pages, bookmarks, blogs, files, personal micro (blogs, analyses text and material, ding rea- opinions, posting for spaces individual of use blurred the the reveal and settings; informal and formal that between boundaries resources learning diverse sultation in knowledge construction; the confluence of social network as a collaborative environment for con academic an of use the here: play into come issues of de feedback (Rubia, Jorri & Anguita, 2009). A number provi- and learning individual support network, social class the in collaboration encourage PLE, own their learning. are students how and what demonstrate that e-portfolios of construction the tate up set are facili- can this all how finally, and, ), 2013 (Casquero, networks learning personal how Adell, 2013), Personal & (Castañeda students’ (PLE) our Environments Learning by on taken characteristics the education, in networking social of use the by ted genera- collaboration the following: the explore to us led has gravitates teaching university of understanding Engel, & Busts Coll, 2011). (Saz, learning constructivist n hr, u ga i t dsrb ad understand and describe to is goal our short, In the to responds experience our of analysis The this in play into come processes what then, Now In the process, we help students become aware of our which around axes of combination This © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 55-62 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: - - 57

proposal. To do so, we review other studies on the veyed would prefer a social network over the current use of social networking in higher education and apply university content management platform. Students use learning analytics tools to the social network content in social networks to resolve their doubts, stay informed the subject selected for this study. Finally, we will dis- about classes, do group work and share information cuss our results in light of previous research and pre- (Espuny, González, Lleixá & Gisbert, 2011). sent our main conclusions. Many suggest that if they want to continue to be an option for framing e-learning proposals, the next

2. Social networks in higher education generation of learning management systems (LMS) Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 The penetration of social networks in Europe is a should incorporate different forms of participation confirmed fact (ONTSI, 2011). In some circles, this (Mott, 2010). has produced pedagogical enthusiasm under the assumption that using social networks in education will enable some long-standing educational goals The network centralization index shows that participation such as greater democratiza- was not only focused on one dominant node, but that tion, fostered by the apparent flatness of social media (Buc - «power» was distributed. We saw that at the beginning the kingham & Martínez, 2013), and a much closer relationship teacher was the system «connector», but afterwards a core between educational institu- group was empowered and gained autonomy to produce tions and the social environment, to be achieved. The exchanges and interrelations. This knowledge can spur the possible educational virtues of social networks are based on generation of activities that get a greater number of students their enormous communica- to join in, which is consistent with the subject’s tion potential, and there is already evidence that students pedagogical aims. may respond positively to their use (Gómez-Aguilar, Roses & Farías, 2012). Some teachers argue that students are already present in social net- We have observed that most of the experiences works with their relationships and interests, and this involving social networks undertaken in formal settings offers an opportunity to make learning more attractive have used commercial networks, which raises ques- by joining informal and formal channels together tions about the conditions of use. Teachers are «for- (Bugeja, 2006). ced» to resort to these external «agents» in order to use In contrast to the pedagogical optimism extolling a variety of Web 2.0 resources (Canole, 2010), the value of these environments to encourage collabo- because the LMS that continue to prevail do not res- ration, content generation and meaningful learning, pond to the emerging needs of teaching and learning. there are detractors who suggest that these networks The specific environment that is selected comes along produce alienation and a superficial analysis of reality. with a conception of knowledge, a particular way of These critics also allude to privacy issues and the defining what is private or public, the inclusion of advertising that goes along with free usage (Zaidieh, advertising in academic spaces, and other concerns 2012). In sum, the use of social networks continues to that affect the very meaning of university teaching. be controversial in the field of education (Selwyn, Facebook is the most widely used social network 2009). Most studies have shown only tangential aca- by academics aiming to improve teaching methodology, demic achievement, which comes out in the commu- create an attractive learning environment and develop nication that goes on among groups (Selwyn, 2009; communities of practice (Ractham & Firpo, 2011; Gomez-Aguilar & al., 2012). The study by Gómez- Piscitelli, Adaime & Binder, 2010). However, studies Aguilar and colleagues (2012) attributes this to the low have shown that using social networks in formal set- value given by university faculty to interpersonal rela- tings requires teacher supervision and support so that tionships. In contrast, almost 40% of the students sur- students do not feel lost in the Web (Garrison, 2005).

Due to the commercial nature of free Web 2.0 trate the interactions. This analysis was done with environments and their privacy problems, we opted Unicet and NetDraw tools that make it possible to dis- for adapting an open source software (ELGG) play interactions, i.e. friend requests, and obtain the (http://elgg.org) with social networking features where following parameters: students can create content, build friend networks, as — Network density: the proportion of actual links well as import and syndicate information with content between the nodes in the graph with respect to total sharing formats. Research involving this software tai- possible links. This parameter indicates the intensity of

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 lored to specific situations of university teaching and collaboration. learning (Valetsianos & Navarrete, 2012; Valetsianos, — Node Centrality: indicates the importance of a Kimmos, & French, 2013; Koulocheri & Xenos, 2013) particular node in the social network as a result of its has revealed that tension and a degree of complexity relationships with other nodes. A centralized network are inherent to this topic. An interdependence exists has a set of relevant nodes with which the remaining between the pedagogical framework used in the con- nodes establish a large number of relationships. We text of the social network and the results obtained. have considered the degree of centrality and the Thus, it is not simply a question of the tool that is used, degree of intermediation to be indicated by the fre- but a question of conceiving a whole ecological sche- quency with which a node connects to two others me for carrying out the processes we are studying. over the shortest distance. • Information extraction: analyzes the content of 3. Material and methods blog posts generated by students and automatically The experience that we report is a «case study» of extracts the terms that characterize each of them. This the subject of Educational Technology. It is a core makes it possible to determine the relevance of each subject in the third year of the degree in Education at blog post. For this, ADEGA (Lama & al., 2012) was the University of Santiago de Compostela with 58 stu- used. This is a tool that identifies the terms that cha- dents in the 2012-13 academic year. racterize a text document (blog posts in this case) and To analyse this experience we used digital tools puts them in order of relevance. The relevance of a based on learning analytics, a scientific discipline term for a given post was obtained by means of TF- whose main aim is to measure, store and analyze stu- IDF, a technique used for information retrieval which dent activity data collected by virtual environments in measures the frequency of a term in the blog post (TF) order to understand and optimize teaching and lear- and in the other blog posts (IDF): if a term appears ning processes (Siemens & Gasevic, 2012). With often in all blogs, then it is too common and is not rele- these tools, it is possible to explore what is happening vant, in terms of the subject’s concepts. in the «black box» of student processes carried out in the virtual environment of social networks through 3.1. The Stellae Group social network friend relationships and student blog posts. Table 1 Since 2006, subjects from different degree pro- shows the number of records generated by students in grams in the Faculty of Education at the University of the subject of «Educational Technology». Santiago have been using the ELGG open source plat- With these data and friend relationships, two form, hosted on an institutional server (htpp://stellae.- types of analysis were conducted to discover, on the usc.es/red). This is a social network that includes dis- one hand, the intensity of collaboration occurring cussion forums, blogs, micro-blogging in a central among the students and, on the other, its degree of space, user profile information, friend lists, an activity relevance. To do so, the following learning analytics screen, personal walls, calendars, bookmarks, and techniques were used. pages. When a user adds content to the platform (i.e., • Social network analysis (SNA ) (Long & Sie - texts, images, sounds), the user can select who to mens, 2011), that examines the relationships esta- share it with by choosing one of the following options: blished during the course and creates a graph to illus- private, friends, all platform users or public. Under the last option, the content is fully open to the network and can be shared. When uploading content to Internet, it is vitally important that students consider authorship and privacy issues. The subject is taught in blended learning mode with weekly classroom sessions where students discuss syllabus topics or practice with a particular

resource. Projects are also done in small groups that cooperate to achieve a shared aim. Then, each student makes a personal quest to show how they have resignified the concepts addressed in class and adds a new blog post or file to their personal social network with reflections on class work and outside reading. Although this is invisible and reflects the individual process of each student’s knowledge construction, once Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 uploaded to the platform the issues are shared with other classmates so that everyone can read, comment, and discuss them. The set of elements that make up one’s personal environment is evaluated by the teacher using a rubric at two points in the process. In short, although e-portfolios are individual, they are carried out under social network conditions which gives the whole process a collaborative approach.

4. Analysis and results Figure 1 shows the evolution of the student group at different times during the course. Each member is represented by a node and connecting lines showing the friend relationships between them. The arrows indicate the direction of these relationships. The out- going arrows show the direct connections initiated by each participant, the incoming arrows show the number of relations that contact each. The red node is the teacher of the course. The network is a living environment that moves constantly, and relationships take shape from the first week of class (figure 1, graph A). At first, the teacher is in the middle (in red on the graph), then she gets repositioned to one side, though still within the central core. The average density is 46%. In the tenth week of the course (figure 1, graph C) we can see a core consisting of green nodes that account for the greatest number of interactions. Surrounding this core there is a set of yellow nodes with less interactions. A third group, the blue colored nodes, is further away and has little interaction with the rest. If we remove some of the green nodes, the structure remains, but is less dense. The out-degree of centralization is 37.93% and the in-degree is 48.63%. This presents a picture showing a group of key actors with cross connections Figure 1: Evolution of the social network in the subject of who do not depend on the work of one person. In «Educational Technology» in (A) the first week, (B) the third figure 2, the teacher has been removed to see what week, and (C) the tenth week of the course. happens. The resulting graph is similar to figure 1 (graph C), indicating there is no dependency on the 2, respectively. The core group (green nodes) repre- teacher to maintain participation. sents students with a degree of centrality ranging from The graph shown in Figure 2 is based on degree 48 to 29. The yellow nodes range from 28 to 9. The of centrality. The average of all friend relationships is remaining group has the lowest degree of centrality, 46.11. The maximum and minimum levels are 48 and ranging from 9 to 2.

Figure 3 shows the nodes in terms of their level of intermediation. The green nodes in the center are the ones with the highest levels of intermediation (from 4085 to 1180). The yellow nodes represent students with a level of intermediation from 1045 to 0.217 and, finally, the blue nodes range from 0.200 to 0.000. In this case, the green

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 nodes have the most links; thus, they are more independent and have more alternatives and resources. An individual with many links in the social network is said to be prominent or prestigious. Thus, we can see that this network has a medium density, and a significant core group with potential to influence the rest of the members. This description provides valuable information regarding network composition and features, because it makes it possible to discover which stu- Figure 2. Social network in the subject of «Educational Technology» wit- dents are less involved and which are doing work hout taking the teacher into account. that helps network density. It also helps to carry out network in higher education. An interdependence was teaching support activities such as scaffolding to help found between student-centered teaching –characteri- students that need it. zed by independent, collaborative, authentic and self- To obtain a more complete and thorough view of regulated learning– and the resulting learning analytics the process, a qualitative analysis of blog posts or pages indicators. It should be noted that the level of partici- would be necessary. Given the amount of information pation in the social network was not evaluated, nevert- which this represents, it is very helpful to pre-select heless, the social network has become a substantial aid relevant entries. To do so, we applied information for promoting individual growth through group sup- extraction techniques which automatically provide the port (Dillenbourg, 1999). A number of other studies terms characterizing student blog posts. If those terms using this software adapted to their own pedagogical correspond to the keywords that should be addressed situations report similar findings (Valetsianos & in the blog as defined by the teacher, then student are Navarrete, 2012; Valetsianos, Kimmos, & French, considered to have constructed relevant content. 2013; Koulocheri & Xenos, 2013). We would like to Otherwise, these contributions are considered to be highlight that it is not only a question of the tool that is inadequate. used, but rather the interdependence of the tool and With this in mind, a preliminary study was carried the pedagogical proposal, underlining the ecological out analyzing 474 blog entries, of which 89.87 % tur- framework within which university teaching and learned out to be relevant reflections on various topics ning processes take place. Collaborative environments related to educational technology. A post was conside- are not generated magically by the existence of a spe- red to be relevant if it contains at least 10 keywords cific software. They require approaches and proposals defined by the teacher and the relevance of those key- that mobilize, sustain and enrich collaboration. words is greater than 5. A low relevance threshold Our group presented a manifestly high degree of was chosen in order not to exclude blog posts with interaction. The density findings demonstrate that the many keywords that are not repeated in the post itself network offered ample opportunities for collaboration (low frequency). It can be concluded, therefore, that and visibility. Therefore, we can trust that the content this social network is not only strongly interconnected, contributions and subsequent reflections are comple- but that it also generates valuable information. mentary and provide feedback, meaning greater and richer learning opportunities, as well as an awareness 5. Discussion and conclusions of the process. Along these lines is the research by The analysis of findings allows us to draw some Casquero (2013) and Wenger (1998). These interac- conclusions regarding the study questions. First, we tions provide a consistent foundation that enables qua- would like to point out the consistency and coherence lity exchange and the joint construction of knowledge. of our pedagogical proposal and the use of a social Above all, they provides the social support for work, as

conditions at Spanish universities. They enable better-informed decisions to improve teaching and contribute to change along the line proposed by Long & Siemens (2011). Further research is necessary in this direction by means of methodological triangulation involving qualitative analysis of the

teacher-elaborated records (field notes, dia- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ries, practical assessments) and student comments and self-assessments. These records would allow us to investigate issues regarding rigor as well as autonomous, situated and authentic learning in collaborative experiences mediated by digital envi- Figure 3. Social network in the subject of «Educational Technology» grouped ronments. according to intermediation. References reported by Ballera, Lukandun and Radwan (2013). AGRA, M.J., GEWERC, A. & MONTERO, L. (2003). El portafolios co- The network centralization index shows that par- mo herramienta de análisis en experiencias de formación on-line y ticipation was not only focused on one dominant presenciales. Enseñanza & Teaching, 21, 101-114. node, but that «power» was distributed. We saw that AGUADED, J.I. & FONSECA, M.C. (Coords.) (2009). Huellas de inno - at the beginning the teacher was the system «connec- vación docente en las aulas universitarias. La Coruña: Netbiblo. (DOI: 10.4272/978-84-9745-428-5). tor», but afterwards a core group was empowered BALLERÁ, M., LUKANDU, I.A. & RADWAN, A. (2013). Collaborative and gained autonomy to produce exchanges and inte- Problem Solving Using Public Social Network Media: Analyzing rrelations. This knowledge can spur the generation of Stu dent Interaction and its Impact to Learning Process. Internatio- activities that get a greater number of students to join nal Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications, in, which is consistent with the subject’s pedagogical 3, (1), 25-42. BUCKINGHAM, D. & MARTÍNEZ, J.B. (2013). Interactive Youth: New aims. Citizenship between Social Networks and School Settings. The density and centrality indicators are related to Comunicar, 40, 10-14. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013- «teacher presence» (Garrison, 2005), which is essen- 02-05). tial for giving specific attention to those students who BUGEJA, M. (2006). Facing the Facebook. The Chronicle of Higher need more scaffolding to achieve the desired results in Education. (http://chronicle.com/article/Facing-the-Facebook/46 9- 0 4) (14-01-2013). (DOI: 10.1080/02680511003787438). terms of knowledge construction. CASQUERO, O. (2013). PLE: una perspectiva tecnológica. In L. CAS - Finally, the information extraction technique has TAÑEDA & J. ADELL (Eds.), Entornos personales de aprendizaje: cla - served to filter out those posts that are not relevant to ves para el ecosistema educativo en Red. (pp. 71-84). Alcoy: Mar fil. the content of the course. This filter helps the teacher CASTAÑEDA, L. & ADELL, A. (2013). (Eds.). Entornos personales de to make an initial classification and facilitates the qua- aprendizaje: claves para el ecosistema educativo en Red. Alcoy: litative analysis of posts. The results of the exploratory Marfil. CANOLE, G. (2010). Facilitating New Forms of Discourse for study conducted using this technique demonstrate its Learn ing and Teaching: Harnessing the Power of Web 2.0 Prac ti- usefulness and reveal that the content elaborated by ces. Open Learning, 25, (2), 141-151. (http://oro.open. ac. uk/ 214- students has a high level of relevance. This is ex- 61/ 2) (16-03-2013) (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10. 1080/ 0268 05- tremely interesting given the freedom to delve into the 11003787438). theoretical and practical topics studied in class, which DILLENBOURG, P. (1999). What do You Mean by Collaborative Learning? In P. DILLENBOURG (Ed.), Collaborative-learning: Cogni - is an indicator of self-regulated learning skills. Students tive and Computational Approaches. (pp.1-19). Oxford: Elsevier. have set goals, done searches and carried out self- ESPUNY, C., GONZÁLEZ, J., LLEIXÀ, M. & GISBERT, M. (2011). Ac - reflection processes. titudes y expectativas del uso educativo de las redes sociales en los The findings obtained in this exploratory study alumnos universitarios. Revista Universidad y Sociedad del Co- reveal the value of using learning analytics techniques nocimiento, 8, 1, 171-185. (http://rusc.uoc.edu/ojs/in dex.php/ rusc/- article/view/v8n1-espuny-gonzalez-lleixa-gisbert/v8n1) (18-11-20- to delve deeper into university teaching. These techni- 12) (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v8i1.839). ques can serve as lights to guide us in the analysis of GARRISON, D.R. (2005). El E-learning en el siglo XXI: investigación the huge amount of data confronting teachers who y práctica. Barcelona: Octaedro. work with e-portfolios under the current institutional GEWERC, A. (2009). La bitácora y el viaje: El portafolios como he -

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Received: 27-05-2013 / Reviewed: 03-07-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Ana García-Valcárcel, Verónica Basilotta & Camino López Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21655

Salamanca (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-06 ICT in Collaborative Learning in the Classrooms of Primary and Secondary Education Las TIC en el aprendizaje colaborativo en el aula de Primaria y Secundaria

ABSTRACT Digital technologies offer new opportunities for learning in an increasingly connected society, in which learning to work with others and collaborate has become an extremely important skill. This article presents the results of a research study into the conceptions and practices of working teachers regarding collaborative learning methodologies mediated by information and communication technologies (ICT) in Elementary and Secondary Education schools. We analyze data concerning ICT contributions to collaborative work processes in the classroom, from the point of view of teachers at schools accredited with a high level of ICT by the Regional Government of Castile and Leon. We furthermore take into account the limitations of these tools, as well as teachers’ conceptions of collaborative learning strategies. The methodology is based on the content analysis of interviews of teachers from a representative sample of schools. The results indicate that teachers think that ICT have great potential for enhancing collaborative activities among students and for developing highly relevant generic skills, although they are also aware of the difficulties that both students and teachers face in educational practice. RESUMEN Las tecnologías digitales ofrecen nuevas oportunidades para el aprendizaje en una sociedad cada vez más conectada, en la cual aprender a trabajar con otros y colaborar se convierte en una competencia trascendental. El texto presenta resultados de una investigación sobre concepciones y prácticas del profesorado en ejercicio acerca de las metodo- logías de aprendizaje colaborativo mediadas por las tecnologías de la comunicación (TIC), en centros de enseñanza de Educación Primaria y Secundaria. En el artículo se analizan los datos referidos a las aportaciones de las TIC para llevar a cabo procesos de trabajo colaborativo en el aula, desde el punto de vista de los docentes de los centros acre- ditados con alto nivel TIC por la Junta de Castilla y León. También se expondrán las limitaciones que imponen estas herramientas, así como las concepciones docentes sobre las estrategias de aprendizaje colaborativo. La meto- dología se basa en el análisis de contenido de entrevistas realizadas a equipos docentes de una muestra representativa de centros educativos. Los resultados apuntan que en estos centros los docentes atribuyen a las TIC una alta poten- cialidad para enriquecer las actividades de trabajo colaborativo entre los estudiantes y conseguir el desarrollo de competencias transversales de gran relevancia, aunque son conscientes de las dificultades a las que tanto alumnos como profesores se enfrentan en la práctica educativa. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Teaching methodology, curriculum integration, collaborative learning, virtual learning, teacher training, teaching practice. Metodología didáctica, integración curricular, aprendizaje colaborativo, aprendizaje virtual, formación de profesorado, práctica docente.

v Dr. Ana García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso is Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Salamanca (Spain) ([email protected]). vVerónica Basilotta Gómez-Pablos is a PhD Student at the Department of Didactics and Organizational Research Methods at the University of Salamanca (Spain) ([email protected]). vCamino López García is a PhD Student at the Department of Didactics and Organizational Research Methods at the University of Salamanca (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 65-74 www.revistacomunicar.com 66

1. Introduction cess. The academic, social and psychological benefits Digital technology arrived in Spanish educational of this type of learning have been demonstrated by centres through various programmes for introducing many authors, among them Kolloffel, Eysink & Jong ICT in the classroom, with one of the newest and (2011), Kozma & Anderson (2002) or Panitz (2004), most relevant programmes being the national Escuela who highlighted a long list of advantages, such as (School) 2.0 developed in Castilla and León under the boosting mega-cognition and permitting students to name Red XXI. Funding for technology has brought feel a sense of control over what they are learning

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 computers and smartboards to a large number of class- (academic benefits). Collaborative learning encoura- rooms in elementary and secondary schools. Now is a ges students to see situations from different perspecti- good time to determine the changes this new techno- ves, creates an environment where they can practice logy has brought about in teaching methods, and the social and leadership skills (social benefits), and provi- results in terms of student learning. To this end, the des a satisfactory learning experience that significantly GITE-USAL research group at the University of reduces anxiety (psychological benefits). Salamanca is carrying out research on collaborative Constructive-collaborative learning works very learning strategies based on ICT use at those schools well with the Internet, placing us in the realm of «colla- that boast a high level of technology in the region of borative learning using computers» (CSCL: Computer Castilla and León (research financed by the Ministry Supported Collaborative Learning), as a new model of Education «Aprendizaje colaborativo a través de las that unites learning theories with technological tools, TIC en el contexto de la Escuela 2.0»; EDU2011- based on a socio-cultural view of cognition that propo- 28071). ses an essentially social nature for the learning process, Several decades ago, Piaget stated that «the princi- and looks to technology for its potential to create, supple goal of education is to create men who are capable port and enrich interpersonal contexts for learning of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other (Kolloffel, Eysink & Jong, 2011; García, Gros & generations have done - men who are creative, inven- Noguera, 2010; Gómez, Puigvert & Flecha, 2011; tive and discoverers» (1981). Developing metacogniti- Salmerón, Rodríguez & Gutiérrez, 2010). ve, creative, and communicative skills is still an educa- According to this model, it is the role of informational goal today, and one that should view learning as tion and communication technologies (ICT) to offer a process of acquiring and building knowledge with a new possibilities for social intervention, to create colla- strong social and experiential component. Current borative learning environments (communities) that pedagogy must allow students greater freedom to allow students to carry out group activities, activities expand their thinking beyond conventional models, and that are integrated into the real world and planned collaborative learning methods are likely to generate with real objectives. Research in this area consistently learning environments that meet this objective. Building points out the necessity of preparing technology to be and sharing become transversal objectives for which used as a tool rather than as an end in and of itself, a the use of ICT proves to be quite advantageous for tool the main purpose of which is to help students developing curricula and for teaching students. learn in a more efficient manner. Helping others to Education through the exchange of ideas is a far cry learn has to do with offering better channels for com- from bureaucratic education that values quantity over munication as well as better tools for exploring the quality, and reaches out to inner transformation and domain that holds the primary materials for learning mobilization. «Through such techniques as open dis- (Coll, Maurí & Onrubia, 2008; García-Valcárcel & cussion, people in small groups may change collective Hernández, 2013). thinking, learn to mobilize energy and actions toward Teachers at innovative European secondary scho- common goals, and rely on an intelligence that is supe- ols who make significant use of ICT to support lear- rior to the sum of the individual talents of the members ning based on problem-solving report improvements in of the group» (Carneiro, 2009: 20). concepts and skills, motivation, responsibility and self- Collaborative learning methods involve teamwork reliance (OCDE, 2003). For their part, the teachers among students. Various strategies may be used to and students who participate in collaborative learning help students work together to achieve specific com- projects with other schools express a high degree of mon objectives which are the responsibility of all mem- satisfaction, especially concerning communication bers of the group. Collaborative learning is based on with students from other countries, as can be seen in the «construction» theory that assigns an important role the evaluation reports from the eTwinning project to students as main protagonists in the learning pro- (Baca, 2010).

Data from a study published by Sáez (2011) reveal her than with technical aspects of the programs or that almost half of teachers maximize self-reliance and platforms used.» They also note that ICT «actually individual work using ICT, and 40% of teachers make aggravate conflict when teachers misinterpret messa- use of ICT for collaborative and group activities using ges or when multiple messages that need to be answe- technology. red immediately are received» (57-58). On the other In studies carried out in Latin America (Murillo & hand, we find a lack of experience on the part of stu- Martínez-Garrido, 2013; Puentes & al., 2013; Román dents with this type of method and with the tools they

& Murillo, 2012), the conclusion is that teachers are must use in virtual environments, which are frequently Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 aware of the potential that ICT possess as motivators poorly thought out in terms of promoting work that is for the teaching-learning process, and that they also both continuous and easy to evaluate. recognize that they promote collaborative learning. The other great disadvantage has to do with the In Spain, and specifically in the region of Castilla time factor, an aspect that has also been mentioned in and León, the use of collaborative learning methods using ICT is both new and complex, even though technological tools are positively valued in We must insist once again on the transformation that needs the sense pointed out by to take place in school practices, so that practices will Suárez & Gros (2013: 56): «The use of tools that allow promote the development of collaborative projects with for communication, collaboration and the acquisition of ICT, and so that ICT will become the channel for commu- knowledge is fundamental for nication and information that is essential for guaranteeing improving learning processes.» (p. 56). The main advantages learning environments that are open, interactive, replete that they point out have to do with easing communication with incentives and sources of information, motivating for (Plomp & Voogt, 2009). The students, and focused on developing skills. official website for the Escuela (School) 2.0 initiative lists seven advantages of using ICT as part of collaborative learning and work procedures: efficiency, moral values, several research papers on the subject. Ferrero, the exchange of information, innovation, limitation of Martinez & Otero (2009: 8) state that the use of ICT duplicities, viability and unity. requires much more teacher time than do conventio- ICT use has also been correlated with increased nal methods. «Internet communication requires learning as it promotes better interaction between tea- enough time to read and answer messages, and to surf chers and students. For Carrió (2007), collaborative the web, which may cause teachers to feel overwhel- learning is simply a very useful way of teaching in that med. Clearly, far from saving time, the use of ICT may students and teachers work together, whatever the actually use up time that could otherwise be spent per- subject matter. In his opinion, if we were to add tech- forming other tasks that are also a part of a teacher´s nological advances to this model as they occurred, we responsibility.» would, at the same time, increase learning. Finally, we should point out the importance of As far as drawbacks or disadvantages to collabora- relating these methods based on collaboration and the tive learning using ICT, Suárez & Gros (2013: 59) use use of ICTs to build knowledge with the variables that the following words to refer to planning for activities, affect student performance- skills acquisition, motiva- «collaborative learning requires much greater preparation, satisfaction, etc. Studies of interest in this respect tion in order for students to be able to work indepen- include those by Camilli, López & Barceló, 2012; Cox dently in groups»; «The difficulties encountered in & Marshall, 2007; García-Valcárcel & Tejedor carrying out collaborative processes are usually the (2010); Martín & Tyner (2012); Monereo & Badía result of poorly designed activities and problems with (2012); Rué (1998); Tejedor (2010); Zaho & Ken- communication and organization of those activities rat- neth (2002).

2. Research methods an ICT coordinator whenever possible. The objective of this study was to determine the In analysing the interviews we focused on the conceptions held by teachers who work in schools that advantages and disadvantages that teachers perceived are well-equipped with information and communica- in collaborative learning strategies oriented both tion technology (ICT) as to the advantages and disad- towards students and towards their own professional vantages of collaborative learning methods based on development, since these are the considerations that their own teaching experience. determine to a great extent the practices that teachers

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 At the same time, our study sought to discover to carry out. Thus, using the information from the inter- what extent teachers value and use ICT to support views on our topic, we inductively created a set of collaborative work projects for students as well as for categories which, in turn, was validated by experts their own professional development. and subjected to control through double categorization We chose a method that was qualitative in nature of 5 interviews by two different researchers, obtaining so that we could straightforwardly explore teacher a high index of reliability as revealed by the high conceptions regarding the potential value of collabora- degree of correlation between the two. We used the tive learning processes, their actual classroom expe- NVivo10 program to analyse the contents of the inter- riences with collaborative work activities, and the role views and that provided us with frequencies for the that ICT play in these activities. categories and allowed us to compare the opinions Our technique for gathering information com - from each school using cluster analysis and the prised interviews with key persons at the schools; spe- Jaccard index. cifically, we spoke with groups of teachers in primary (third cycle) and secondary (first cycle) levels of edu- 3. Results cation who teach at schools that have well-developed At first glance, a general calculation of the textual technological infrastructures. The population of inte- units referring to the advantages and disadvantages of rest was defined as schools that have received ICT collaborative learning and the use of ICT indicates accreditation (level 4 and 5) from the Junta of Castilla that the teachers interviewed identified many more and León for 2010 and 2011, and again, specifically, advantages than disadvantages. Specifically, there are teachers who work at the educational levels mentio- 101 textual references to advantages as opposed to 76 ned above, since they are the ones directly involved in mentions of disadvantages, i.e. 57% as opposed to the Red XXI Program for the region of Castilla and 43% of interventions in this sense. León. Twenty schools from the following provinces 3.1. Advantages of Collaborative Learning and the agreed to participate in the study and form the sample Use of ICT group: 2 schools in León, 2 in Palencia, 4 in Burgos, 1 The main advantages that teachers attribute to in Soria, 3 in Valladolid, 2 in Zamora, 2 in Salamanca, collaborative learning are related to «developing trans- and 4 in Segovia. Of these schools, 11 are city schools versal skills, », «interaction among students» and «curri- while the other 9 should be considered rural schools; culum development». They also make frequent refe- there are 14 schools with pre-school and primary clas- rence to increased student learning, motivation, and ses (CEIP), 2 secondary schools (IES), 2 compulsory the repercussions of collaborative learning on students education schools (CEO), and 3 clustered rural scho- with learning disabilities. Table 1 shows the frequency ols (CRA). The latter are schools that are part of a group of small schools in several nearby villages. Field work was carried out during the school year 2011-12. In all cases, the administrators of each school had given their approval for the interviews, and an ordinary semi-structured protocol was applied. Each interview was led by a researcher with participation by a group of primary (third cycle) and/or secondary (first cycle) teachers at the school, teachers who taught different subjects, and

the subject he has been given, places an image and a commentary. They also use Webquest. For history class, one teacher uses a timeline with sli- des where students look for images and add data» (interview 14). Graph 1 shows the different

points that teachers identified as the Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 advantages of collaborative learning using ICT. The notion they mention most often is that «they facilitate student work», which includes the following subcategories: they economize student work, they motivate students, Graph 1. Advantages of Using ICT with Collaborative Learning. they grab students´ attention, they of mention for the various categories related to the promote student responsibility and advantages of collaborative learning. self-reliance as they carry out their tasks, they help stu- The transversal learning skills mentioned refer to dents with learning disabilities, ICT can be adapted to social skills (such as respect), problem solving, and each student´s level, and student learning increases. work habits (self-reliance, responsibility, organiza- Rated second as an important advantage are «pro- tion…), plus the capacity for reflection, critical thin- moting interaction and communication» and «changes king, and initiative. Below are a few notable referen- in approaches to teaching». ces to these skills: Teachers point out the high level of motivation for •«They are more critical when it comes to carry - collaborative learning that digital tools inspire in stu- ing out tasks. Since they have access to more material, dents, as can be seen in the following opinions: they discuss things more among themselves, in such •«ICT provide the motivational component for ways as, what do we all think?, what do we want to collaborative projects» (interview 17). do?, I think this bit would be better farther up or fart- •«Students help each other and it´s easier for her down in our writing.» interview 14). them to work collaboratively with the computer than •«To learn to learn, so that in the future they will with traditional materials (paper and pencil); the pro- know how to do things for themselves, how to coope- cess becomes more practical» (interview 5). rate with others, to work as a team, to speak in public, The following teacher opinions regarding inclu- and all these kinds of things. That is what is really going ding students with learning disabilities are especially to be of value to them in the future» (interview 2). interesting: •«Yes, and especially camaraderie, getting along •«Somehow, the ones that truly grasp or understand with others, being able to work with others, knowing the project pull the others along; the ones doing the work how to fit in with the world, in society, to respect dif- bring the others up to the group little by little, and in the ferences and opinions» (interview 6). end we have a homogenous bunch» (interview 18). Regarding curriculum development, teachers •«The use of ICT with collaborative projects has expressed the following: an added value, which is that it promotes the integra- •«Less and less time is spent transmitting information of students with learning disabilities» (interview 6). tion. The student gets bored less and the teacher has more time to truly evaluate, and can be there with the student groups, lending support, observing…. At the same time you can be evaluating; you are able to follow the learning process much better» (interview 2). •«Working collaboratively, students create digital walls on which each student, depending on

3.2. Disadvantages of Collaborative Learning and ning. They also feel that students already have certain the Use of ICT work habits regarding computers that make collabora- Even though the various schools all consider colla- tion difficult, such as computer game expectations, borating work as fundamental, they also describe a individualized work, and difficulties with reading (they few disadvantages, in many cases related to curricu- copy and paste text without reading it first). They lum development (table 2). express themselves in the following manner with res- Some aspects related to curriculum development, pect to planning efforts:

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 such as time wasted in the classroom, loss of control •«It requires much more preparation beforehand. over students, differences in level of involvement You have to have everything very well prepared in among students in the group (the more self-reliant advance; before you start, you have to figure out more direct the work, the least reliant just go along), inherent or less what will be confusing for the children so you limitations because of students being so young (too can guide them as they work» (interview 12). young to be left on their own), student evaluation •«The drawback with collaborative work with more difficult and incoherent (students evaluated indi- ICT is the time needed to prepare for it. It’s different vidually even though they are working collaboratively), because you have to gather together a lot of informa- and difficulty in applying collaborative learning to all tion; you have to choose the information that suits subjects are the major obstacles that teachers perceive what you’re trying to accomplish; well, it’s more work when using collaborative learning-teaching strategies. but the results are perhaps better» (interview 18). Below are a few examples along these lines: •«Collaborative activities with ICT are usually used with subjects that carry less academic weight» 3.3. Comparative Analysis of Teachers from (interview 10). Different Schools •«They are very needy; sometimes I have to… Cluster analysis was used as a multivariable tech- not deny them help, but certainly delay giving it becau- nique to classify our set of interviews into homogene- se otherwise they have a tendency to take the easy ous groups. This markedly exploratory type of analysis road, which is the way they think solves all their pro- was used to measure similarity (or difference) in con- blems» (interview 8). tent in function of the codification that we set up. •«There is a contradiction in that what is propo- Similarity was calculated by comparing all the inter- sed is that the work will be done collaboratively, as a views in pairs using the Jaccard index, a coefficient group, but then the exams will be taken individually» that makes comparisons based on presence-absence (interview 16) data. Teachers also feel that collaborative learning with Graphs 3 and 4 show the similarity codifications ICT means a lot of work and effort, that is to say, that between schools. A high degree of similarity is obser- it requires very good planning and, above all, time to ved in some cases such as 5 and 11, or 14 and 20, prepare the sessions (see graph 2). Some teachers do which would indicate that the teachers in these scho- not see the added value of ICT for collaborative lear- ols, in general, share the same opinions. In any case, no interview was observed to be significantly different from the rest, a fact that allows us to confirm the cohesion of opinions expressed by the different sets of teachers. As we can see in graphs 3 and 4, the interviews or sets of teachers that are most distant one from the other in their conceptions about the subject at hand, according to the codification we carried out, are interviews 4 and 15 which correspond to two urban schools located in the province of Burgos. At one of the schools the teachers pointed out more advantages Graph 2. Disadvantages of Using ICT for Collaborative Learning. than disadvantages when speaking

about collaborative learning and the use of ICT. We borative learning, but also its weak points or the note, as an example: «Collaborative work produces demands it makes on teachers: «ICT provide many improvements at both the individual and collective benefits for collaborative learning»; «Collaborative level, students are more motivated, ICT favour inclu- learning is easier with technology»; «Students like sion, and teachers learn a lot when they collaborate collaborative learning»; «ICT make it easier to carry among themselves» (interview 4). At the same time, at out collaborative projects»; «It kindles student inte- the other school, teachers pointed out more disadvan- rest»; «It increases student motivation»; «It is a very tages, stating: «ICT do not provide any added value good way to meet the needs of diverse students»; for collaborative work; maybe when society becomes «There are teachers who do not get sufficiently invol- better prepared, because it is too individualistic. There ved»; «Collaborative learning is difficult to carry out»; is extra effort in creating materials and an increase in «Collaborative learning has the drawback of having to time spent on preparing students to handle the techno- be thoroughly prepared beforehand»; «Collaborative logy» (interviews 15). We feel that such different opi- work but then individual exams»; «There is a lack of nions between these schools may be linked, among tools for evaluation»; «It would take time away from other things, to the existence or not of an ICT coordi- other topics to be covered in the class». nator. At the first of the two schools, there is a person who carries out these functions and who develops 4. Discussion and conclusions training plans for the school, while also conferring The data we analysed clearly shows that the con- with staff virtually. On the other hand, at the second ceptions held by teachers who work in schools that are school, the headmaster must also play the role of ICT well-equipped with ICT regarding the potential for coordinator, which means that this person has less collaborative learning and the use of ICT for its imple- time to devote to ICT. mentation are complex and reflect both the positive aspects and the limitations of this type of educational 3.4. Analysis of the Context of the Concept practices. «Collaborative» The principal advantages of collaborative learning We chose the key word «collaborative» to analyse are those related to developing transversal skills that sti- in its context, creating the word and sentence tree mulate social skills, problem solving, self-reliance, res- shown in figure 1. This tree shows the sentences from ponsibility, and the capacity for reflection and initiati- the different interviews in which the selected term ve, all of which are considered of great relevance by appears and the number in parenthesis tells which teachers for achieving a well-rounded education for interview they came from. students. As for ICT, they are valued for the way they There are some especially interesting ideas on the facilitate student work, giving them more independen- tree for analysing the subject at hand and that summa- ce, motivating them, grabbing their attention, and rize in one way or the other the ideas expressed by this adapting to varying student levels, which especially set of teachers as far as the potential of ICT and colla- supports students with learning disabilities, while

Comunicar, 35, XVIII, 2010

Figure 1.Word and Sentence Tree for the Key Word «Collaborative».

increasing learning for all students. with classroom organization, unequal participation by These results coincide with those of other resear- members of the groups, the work progressed more chers (Alfageme, 2003; Cabero, 1994; García- slowly, a decrease in the amount of material that can Valcárcel & Tejedor, 2010; Lee & Tsai, 2013), who be covered…». For his part, Lobato (1998: 31) says note that collaborative learning is a strategy for impro- that in this mode of work we may run into such diffi- ving the acquisition and retention of knowledge, one culties as differences in academic levels and work that enhances specific strategies that students may use pace, strikingly individualistic attitudes and learning when acquiring knowledge (problem solving, expres- patterns in students, a lack of teacher preparedness, sing ideas and thoughts, and expanding vocabulary). difficulties establishing parameters and modes for eva- These authors also point to the high motivating power luation, lack of support by groups of teachers, and the of ICT for students, the development of responsibility mind-set of families. towards others and for their own learning, and the These examples lead us to suppose that the same possibilities for integrating students with learning disa- problems that teachers pointed out years ago regarding bilities. the implementation of this type of teaching method are Regarding the principal obstacles when implemen- still plaguing us today, in spite of the many changes in ting collaborative learning methods in the classroom, infrastructure that schools and other educational cen- several questions have been raised that will impact tres have experienced in recent years. This is another curriculum development: These include more time indication of the difficult and slow methodological spent on preparation, a certain loss of control, the une- reconversion in schools, which, in spite of being well- qual participation of students in the process, or the dif- equipped with technology, have not seen a change in ficulties found in evaluating the learning process and conceptions or practices in consonance with the new the results obtained for each student. These conclu- perspectives for learning which demand more perso- sions also fall in line with those expressed by other aut- nal and independent learning environments, while at hors. Nogueiras, Membiela & Suárez (1993: 23) con- the same time being interactive, mobile, universal, etc. cluded that teachers noted the following disadvanta- and all of this certainly requires new teaching strate- ges: «poor performance by some groups, problems gies.

Both the document associated with the OEI´s para la construcción colaborativa del conocimiento. Cultura y Edu- (Organization of Ibero-American States) Educational cación, 22 (4), 395-418. (DOI: 10.1174/113564010793351867). GARCÍA-VALCÁRCEL, A. & TEJEDOR, F.J. (2010). Evaluación de pro- Goals for 2021 and the report written by Puentes & cesos de innovación escolar basados en el uso de las TIC desarro- others (2013) reflect upon the necessity of training tea- llados en la Comunidad de Castilla y León. Revista de Educacion, chers better. We must insist once again on the trans- 352, 125-148. formation that needs to take place in school practices, GARCÍA-VALCÁRCEL, A. & HERNÁNDEZ, A. (2013). Recursos tecnoló- so that practices will promote the development of gicos para la enseñanza e innovación educativa. Madrid: Síntesis. GÓMEZ, A., PUIGVERT, L. & FLECHA, R. (2011). Critical Communi ca - collaborative projects with ICT, and so that ICT will tive Methodology: Informing Real Social Transformation Through Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 become the channel for communication and informa- Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 17, (3), 235-245. (DOI: 10.1177/10 - tion that is essential for guaranteeing learning environ- 77800410397802). ments that are open, interactive, replete with incenti- KOLLOFFEL, B., EYSINK, T. & JONG, T. (2011). Comparing the ves and sources of information, motivating for stu- Effects of Representational Tools in Collaborative and Individual In- dents, and focused on developing skills. In this sense, quiry Learning. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 6, 223-251.(DOI: 10.1007/s11412-011-9110-3). we must continue to maximize teacher training and KOZMA, R.B. & ANDERSON, R.E. (2002). Qualitative Case Studies of the communities of practice that have been and are Innovative Pedagogical Practices Using ICT. 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Received: 30-05-2013 / Reviewed: 09-07-2013 l Marcelo Arancibia, Iván Oliva & Francisco Paiva Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21878 Valdivia (Chile) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-07 Meaning Processes mediated through a Protagonists’ Collaborative Learning Platform Procesos de significación mediados por una plataforma de aprendizaje colaborativo desde los protagonistas ABSTRACT The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the classroom requires the creation of contextua- lized proposals which foster in students collaboration and the use of resources to hand. This paper shows the results obtained in the analysis of the signification process which teachers and students have built through their participation in a project implementing collaborative didactic designs using ICT, in particular social networking. Focus groups were formed with 102 students and interviews with 21 teachers took place in two stages (pre- and post-), and they participated in 21 learning experiences developed at 12 schools in southern Chile. Main results reveal a positive assessment of the experience related to the motivational effects of the use of ICT and social networking among students; a considerable change in the didactic interaction inside the classroom; an interest in the possibility of collaborating with students from different contexts and from different regions; a lack of knowledge of the Web 2.0 resources available on the part of teachers, and some negative considerations on the inappropriate use of the Internet. In conclusion, the meaning-creation process of the protagonists enabled this study to gain relevant qualitative information related to didactic, technological and logistic factors in the development of learning experiences through a virtual learning platform. RESUMEN El uso de tecnologías de la comunicación (TIC) en el aula escolar requiere la creación de propuestas contextualizadas que fomenten la colaboración y el uso de recursos cercanos a los estudiantes. El presente artículo muestra los resultados asociados a los procesos de significación, que profesores y estudiantes construyeron desde su participación en un proyecto en el que se implementaron diseños didácticos colaborativos con uso de TIC, en particular de redes sociales. Se efectuaron grupos focales con 102 estudiantes y entrevistas en profundidad a 21 profesores, en dos momentos (pre y post), quienes participaron de 21 experiencias didácticas ejecutadas en 12 colegios en el sur austral de Chile. Los principales resultados revelan que existe una alta valoración de la experiencia vinculada principalmente a los efectos moti- vadores que provocan las tecnologías y redes sociales en los estudiantes, el cambio en la interacción didáctica al interior de las aulas, el interés ante la posibilidad de colaborar con estudiantes de otros contextos escolares geográficamente dis- tantes, el desconocimiento, por parte de profesores, de los recursos de la Web 2.0 y aprensiones ante el uso indebido de los recursos que provee Internet. En conclusión, la investigación permitió levantar desde los procesos de significación de sus protagonistas, información cualitativa relevante en torno a las implicancias didácticas, tecnológicas y logísticas de la ejecución de experiencias de aprendizaje colaborativo mediadas por una plataforma virtual de aprendizaje. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Web 2.0, social networking, ICT, collaborative learning, digital competences, learning, virtual platform. Web 2.0, redes sociales, TIC, aprendizaje colaborativo, competencias digitales, aprendizaje, plataforma virtual.

v Dr. Marcelo Arancibia-Herrera is Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at the Universidad Austral de Chile (Chile, South America) ([email protected]). v Dr. Ivan Oliva-Figueroa is Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at the Universidad Austral de Chile (Chile, South America) ([email protected]) v Francisco Paiva-Cornejo is Psychologist and Research Scholar in the Graduate School of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at the Universidad Austral de Chile. (Chile, South America) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 75-85 www.revistacomunicar.com 76

1. Introduction (Valverde & Fernández, 2013). Following these ideas, In many countries educational innovation proces- the issues that influence the relationship between ICT ses have mainly focused on the successful introduction and teachers have to do with cultural factors, training, of ICT in schools. Although technological needs are identity, interest and management. Mominó and partially covered in school learning, there are still pro- others (2008) organized those factors into two catego- blems with the adoption of digital competences on the ries: the first connected to situations of access, connec- part of teachers and students (Gutierrez & Tyner, tions, software, time and technical and administrative

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 2012). Nevertheless in Chile, «several studies showed support, tasks that do not depend directly on the a very low degree of transformation in school and school staff but which influence the willingness and classroom practices, and the same actors of the system interest they show; the second category refers to the perceived the poor impact of the policies implemen- influence of the beliefs of the school staff regarding ins- ted» (Enlaces, 2010: 81). This shows how complex it truction and learning with ICT. In this sense, modif- is to introduce ICT in a school system where ana- ying practices is a difficult task because of the difficulty chronistic structures continue to resist innovative pro- entailed in the conceptual change and the deeply held cesses. theories that lie behind the didactic action (Schnotz & Diverse authors (Arancibia & al., 2010; Sigalés & al., 2006). al., 2009) coincide that the process of adaptation and According to the previous classification by adding adoption of ICT in the school context has been diffi- other perspectives we can interpret that the behavior cult due to their multidimensional characteristics. On underpinning the relationship between teachers and the other hand, to implement an educational proposal ICT is extremely varied and influenced by different for ICT use requires taking into consideration the factors in school culture. At the same time authors like Social Web, because its character has transformed all Cebrián (2005) demand an ideal profile of the teacher the didactic strategies planned before its emergence, who must take ICT into consideration in the exercise forcing a rethink of pedagogical practices. Contreras et of his profession. al. (2009) show that this change essentially transforms The existing relation between students and ICT interaction as the students transit from a Web dedica- also corresponds to a complex scenario because many ted to reading to one that is a mixture of reading and of the characteristics originate outside the school. At writing, creation and publication; from readers they present, the process of ICT adoption in adolescents is become authors, thus transforming the mediations be- automatic (Erstad & al., 2013). Children and youngs- tween users and content. ters are surrounded by information that comes from Even though several papers exist on the use of the television and Internet. tools on the Social Web for learning, little has been Even though the school represents a very impor- said about the experiences of applying them to lear- tant place for connection to the Internet and use of ning platforms in schools oriented to the assessment of resources for both wealthy and more vulnerable chil- the observations of students and their experiences of dren, the research carried out by PNUD (2006) shows learning mediated by ICT (Tay & al., 2013). a social divide in terms of usage that amounts to a step In that sense this paper emphasizes the voice of backwards in students’ acquisition of knowledge in teachers and students, the actors that are mainly ig - school, transforming the most vulnerable users who nored by public policy makers but who will be expec- were previously active into potential functional digital ted to meet their demands. illiterates (Arancibia, 2004). Colás and collaborators (2013) state that there are 2. Signification processes in the use of ICT in stu- cultural and social conditions that influence interest dents and teachers and characteristics in the use of the Web, which In general the relationship between ICT and tea- opens up an interesting space when identifying how to chers is analyzed as an isolated action, as if this rela- include educational activities according to expected tionship with these technologies was merely as techni- outcomes and the way to present them, that is to say, cians disconnected from global society and the social according to the role of the school as an important and cultural environment. Yet this link is complex; it place for diminishing social divides. includes actors, rules and emotions that constantly influence this process. In this sense it is very difficult to 3. Collaborative learning mediated by ICT clarify the influences of actors and the school commu- Recent studies on collaborative learning mediated nity when identifying the factors involved in ICT use by ICT are centered more on interactions than on

effects. The idea of collaborative learning is «to deve- It this virtual space, teachers can consult and use 16 lop ways to increase the probability that those types of CDDs that work with regular curriculum units. interaction might occur between students with greater Although the topics presented are in accordance with potential from the point of view of the process of the those proposed by the Ministry of Education, the joint construction of significance» (Onrubia & al., didactic aim goes further by incorporating a creative 2008: 234). Therefore, it is vital to know what makes and dialog-like use of Internet resources. The CDD teacher and students decide on the practical uses of selects an app from the Social Web and converts this

ICT in the classroom, and to ascertain their ex-post tool into an active part of the school scenario. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 assessment of that usage. Kelluwen proposes a B-learning modality In the last five years, the influence of Web 2.0 has (Bartolomé, 2004) because it is an initiative that seeks given us the clue to understanding collaboration in the to revitalise the classroom by means of the pedagogical learning processes mediated by ICT because it enables a two-way relationship by means of the utilization of collective intelligence in which In the last five years, the influence of Web 2.0 has given us the user provides the content. the clue to understanding collaboration in the learning The Social Web offers new opportunities to participate in processes mediated by ICT because it enables a two-way collaborative learning activities (Crook & al., 2008), which re - relationship by means of the utilization of collective intelli- inforces a demand for a new gence in which the user provides the content. The Social pedagogy (Grenfell, 2013) that not only facilitates the creation Web offers new opportunities to participate in collaborative of individual content but also encourages sharing and co- learning activities. building, which in turn will increase the possibility of peer evaluation based on the evidence of the joint construction of learning. We cite conditions and infrastructures that this presents. Thus, what Crook (2012:64) said in relation to learning pat- the proposal combines classes in the computer lab, in terns that facilitate the use of the Social Web in the a regular classroom and, potentially, at home, so that classroom: 1) Investigate (research): it creates new the technology becomes a support to learning that structures for data organization, it searches for new takes place in different locations. sources and tools to enable access to information that Collaboration and a deeper horizontal relationship is varied and plural; 2) Literate: digital media offer between professor-student is a central purpose of this new ways to represent and offer tools that encourage model. The collaboration is played out in two spaces: the development of new ways of expression; 3) the development of group activities where 3 to 5 stu- Collaborate: the concept of joint activity expands and dents participate, the twin classroom relationship in remains flexible as it is based on the coordination that which work using the same CDD is carried out in dif- exists within the structures of participation in the net- ferent geographical points. The twin classroom set-up work, it also offers new tools that facilitate intimate enables students to evaluate and express their opinions and intense collaborative activities. 4) Publish: The of other students’ work based on the evidence of lear- Web 2.0 platform en courages users to create material ning. This work is guided by a rubric provided by the for use on the social networks. platform, coordinated by automatic devices that allow them to follow the progress of the groups and the gra- 4. The Kelluwen Experience ding of their peers at the same stage of progress in the Kelluwen proposes implementing Collaborative CDD. Didactic Design (CDD) with the use of Web 2.0 All this is evidence that the learning process is an resources. This didactic-methodological proposal act of dialog-like collaboration (Aubert & al., 2011) that encourages classroom work with tools from the Social happens inside and outside the classroom. When a stu- Web and a virtual platform (www.kelluwen.cl/app). dent carries out a task in the classroom he interacts

directly with his teacher and peers, and the product of this task will also be evidence of learning shared and evaluated among peers. The CDD used makes for a located didactic expe-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 rience that provides the modelling for the collaborative activities among peers and with twin classrooms, 5.1. Resources for the generation of information where the student must self-regulate his learning pro- The strategies for the generation of information cess in relation to the tasks he carries out with others contemplated in-depth interviews with teachers and (Álvarez, 2009), this being an interaction that happens focus groups with students from the schools in the pro- in the virtual thread of the Kelluwen platform. ject (Table 1). In this way the proposal aims to stimulate the The development of in-depth interviews and development of disciplined content, starting from the focus groups was defined within the framework of creation of evidence of learning through the procedu- communicative control but not by managing events, res of search, selection, construction and publication rather by stimulating the processes of observation on (Crook, 2012). Learning, as seen this way, is an exer- each communicative level of the study. The interview cise associated to the capacity of the students to colla- processes were, therefore, flexible and dynamic, invol- borate in the elaboration of the product that can be ving a conversation opened by talking about risks seen on Web 2.0. For example, a video produced by (Taylor & Bogdan, 1987). The focus groups, conside- students in Valdivia City, the capital of the region of ring students’ enthusiasm for multi-criteria construction rivers in Chile, can be seen and commented on by stu- and for their potential for participation and self-know- dents in a rural location like Hualaihué, 300 kilometers ledge, made it possible to turn these discussion groups away. into dynamic devices for self-reflection (Thorn, 2007). To meet the central objectives of Kelluwen, this research presents and analyzes some interesting quali- 5.2. Criteria for the selection of the key informants tative information oriented to observation that charts Considering the predominantly qualitative nature the feelings and contributions of students and teachers of the study, a structural selection of informants was from different units associated with the project. carried out, to include teachers and students from 7th A series of interviews and focus groups implemen- to 10th grade at educational establishments involved in ted in 2010-2011 were analyzed in relation to the the Kelluwen project in 2010-2011. didactic, technological and logistical implications of the process of carrying out the CDD. 5.3. Communicative levels of the phase The communicative levels were defined as the 5. Method pertinent spaces of communication for the study, in The study should be understood as an observation this case, all those topics that generated meaning for of the second order, based on the observers’ observa- the key informant in the context of his participation in tions and their remarks. Following Arnold (2004), the the project. This implies that the processes of distinc- nucleus of interest was to observe what those obser- tion that were to the base for the remarks of the infor- ved state and describe, «what they observe», also mants were those that were fixed by them; they taking into account how they classify such remarks and thought about the aspects of 2.0 that would generate differentiations, «how they observe». In this sense, the meaning for students and teachers in the communica- macro-orientations centered on the beginning of tive context opened up by the qualitative implications synergy, based on the identification of related sets of associated with the implementation of didactic strate- distinctions and not only on the analytical and causal gies supported by the Web in every context. reduction of components and outlying processes. That is to say, remarks that support a few in relation to 5.4. Analysis and interpretation of the information others in the context of the qualitative implications The interviews and focus groups were transcribed associated with the implementation of DDC supported in their entirety, respecting the informed consent of the by the Web 2.0 in school classrooms. reporters and protecting the identity and remarks made

by these subjects. First, a codification process was ini- regarding the influence of this methodology in stimula- tiated that complemented strategies of an inductive ting students, in which they specifically highlighted the and deductive nature. To do so, a counterfoil of codes positive effects on motivation attributed to work with was generated deductively, which was projected from ICT. the principal theoretical bases of the project (with We can point to the expectations related to skills emphasis on the dimensions associated with the tech- that students display in the management of ICT tools, nological mediations and their implications in the dyna- in which there is a perceived expectation of the advan- mics of learning), and inductively, from the preliminary ced knowledge of these tools in the youth population Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 analysis of qualitative regularities and the appearance in contrast to the skills of the adult population. Another of emergent categories from the diverse expressions category reiterated by teachers in this first interview and representative remarks at each stage of the project was the grouped observations related to the induction and from the relative structural position of the infor- and training needs of teachers for the implementation mants (students and teachers). of the project. In this dimension, some teachers men- From the convergence of these instances, we tioned the importance of carrying out higher-level pre- developed a coding process that enabled the final two practice activities with students. levels of analysis. First we analyzed and compared the In the post-implementation phase there were simi- frequency distribution with the aim of characterizing larities to pre-implementation but also some differen- diachronically the observational field which moved the ces; new categories of analysis emerge that reflect gra- distinctions generated by key informants as a way of dual differences compared to the initial observations. contrasting pre- and post- project. First, teachers reinforce expectations about students’ Secondly we analyzed the effects of association of motivation for using ICT. This is complemented by the codes from a systemic perspective. The criteria observations related to «active student participation» used as an indicator for the association was the co- which translates into behavior observed by teachers occurrence of codes within the same semantic field, that link the motivation of their students to the «adjust- the latter defined as each unit of intervention from an ments» or to CDD flexibility. informant in the context of a specific question. The Also, with the expectation of the ease with which Jaccard coefficient (0.00001 tolerance) was the speci- students work with ICT, there emerge differences that fic indicator or occurrence of adjacent overlapping involve a broad and diverse range of these abilities, segments, which was the basis for the construction of suggesting that these would not be consistent across dendrograms and global interaction network codes. the study population. At the same time, there are new The complementary methodological and interac- differences that shape the analysis categories related to tion frequency analysis of observed codes assumes the needs and difficulties faced by teachers in imple- communicative events not only of relevant frequency menting the project and the need for continued sup- diversity and coding, but also the effects of the interac- port to solve those problems, mainly «technical», in tion of these elements on the meaning of complex net- managing the platforms or software. works of observation. Teachers make observations related to the proposed Kelluwen communicational space, which include 6. Results occasional difficulties with the informal language used Figure 1 presents a diachronic analysis frequency by students. Together with this, teachers perceived coding of the interviews comparing the pre- and post- that the use of social networks, given their potentially project instances and then the co-occurrence. distracting characteristics, sometimes make classroom work difficult. 6.1. Diachronic analysis of frequency coding: teachers 6.2. Diachronic analysis of frequency coding: According to Figure 1, based on the coding of Students interviews prior to the project, in relation to the expec- Figure 2 identifies those categories that occurred tations of teachers regarding their participation in the most frequently in the case of students. In the instance project we observed a high frequency of codes asso- of pre-project monitoring it was possible to encode ciated with innovation processes in teaching and the marginal discursive elements with little regularity, sig- updating of new learning tools. Another predominant naling a weak substrate of significance about the pro- factor in teacher observations of design-based digital ject objectives and didactic nature. However, there platforms relates to the expectations of participants emerges a high valuation of the «use of ICT as a moti-

vational factor» alluding to the students demonstrating emerge after the previous instance that have various a preference for this type of interactive tools. This qualitative implications post-implementation. The use identifies the expectation of ease of use for learning of ICT as a motivational factor and ease of use of ICT mediated by ICT tools. regularly appear in the second assessment with stu- In the post-instance phase significant differences dents. This is complemented with observations com- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014

Figure 1. Diachronic distribution of frequency coding in teachers.

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 75-85 of student self-employment that enabled this methodo classroom. traditional a of dynamic paring this collaborative methodology to the expository interaction between students and the relationship with tools. interactive using by information addition, students also noted as a strength the access to In learning. own their regulate to ability the and tools the to these of according use the in have students that assessed skills of diversity aspect an is which logy, © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 75-85 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: Another prominent category is related to the sense the to related is category prominent Another One important issue is related to the effects on the Figure 2. Diachronic distribution of frequency coding in students. in coding frequency of distribution Diachronic 2. Figure - the progress of the group given their distracting nature. impeded claim some which activities, project in works group. the within distributed tions func- the experienced of result a as unbalanced be to deemed was work the where cases were there and groups, the within forms organizational and groups of formation the to related meanings observe to possible is it groups, in working students the of terms In room. class- the in climate favorable more a produces dology metho this that emphasize students this teacher; their Finally, comments emerge on the use of social net- - 81 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 82

6.3. Interaction analysis (co-occurrence) coding At the same time, both teachers and students (figu- Expanding and complementing the coding fre- re 4) make observations on the ease of use of ICT for quency analysis, we ran an analysis of patterns of asso- young people which were significantly associated with ciation between codes using as an indicator the coding the notion of ICT use as a positive factor in the moti- of co-occurrence events. When analyzing the catego- vational dimension. Students in particular make com- ries presented, it is possible to observe recurrent inter- parisons between the project methodology of the actions between the various codes, while maintaining expository practices, emphasizing their participatory

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 regularities throughout the investigation or by genera- and autonomous characteristics. ting mainstreaming in the groups of teachers and stu- Another analysis domain was associated to the dents. idea of «Student ease of use of ICT» in relation to From the teaching perspective (figure 3), it is impor- «twin classroom interaction and learning community». tant to note the close interaction of the co-occurrence of This suggests the importance of the skills of young the codes «Access to new information through ICT» and people in the management of technology as an enabler «Need to delimit and select information». This involves of learning interaction phenomena and of coping with a significant tension between the dimensions of access increasing degrees of complexity and interest in ICT- and organization of information in pedagogical terms. At mediated peer contact. the same time, teachers and students also highlight the Also, ICT management skills are far from homoge- fact that the platform allows greater access to informa- neous in the study population, and teachers express tion, but, according to the teachers, this is also in corre- the need to consider the timing required to complete lation to the difficulty entailed in analyzing and organizing the activities, referring to the different learning rates of information appropriately. participating students. Finally, there is an association There also emerges a significant relationship be - shared by teachers and students in their observations tween the codes associated with the «active construc- on group work by students and the use of social net- tion of learning» and «student self-employment». In works as a development distracter for focusing activity this sense, we could identify a trend that is a focus of sessions. interaction based on learning for which the approaches of teachers are consistent with an overview of the 7. Discussion and conclusions methodology that favors the collaborative building of Both points of the analysis revealed high expecta- knowledge. tions of the positive effects of the use of digital plat-

Figure 3. Dendrogram based on co-occurrence: teachers.

forms in motivating students: «I feel a sense of renewal ze, together with teachers, that sometimes the simulta- in my profession, I have always been permanently in neous use of social networking disrupts the sequence training and I think I have not done so for the past two CDD development. years, (...) I am eager to continue in training, knowing Another expectation shared by teachers and stu- new ways of working with this virtual learning, which dents relates to the skills that students have today to I find complicated right now». handle ICT tools in the second assessment; both tea- Teachers observe this motivation through the ac - chers and students observe that these skills are diffe- tive participation of students. This is consistent with rent and that these characteristics are not homoge- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the observations of students through comparisons be - neous in the study population, which affects the possi- tween these methods and the traditional expository bilities for interaction in the joint-construction proces- methodology. They highlight active participation in the ses of learning, so the tasks required in school are not project, revealing glimpses of a new emerging lear- comparable to the intuitive learning young people ning-oriented pedagogy (Grenfell, 2013). Likewise, acquired on the social web (Erstad & al., 2013 ). This they identify some strengths of the DDC that promote emphasizes, for example, aspects related to social sta- an active and collaborative construction of knowledge tus in relation to the resolution of technology jobs (Onrubia & al., 2008). In this sense, the ability to (Colàs & al., 2013), which potentially contributes to select information according to their own interests the configuring of functional informational illiterates plays an important role: «It’s just so good for students, (Arancibia, 2004). it is attractive; it’s boring for them to be in a class From a collaborative perspective, teachers and where the teacher is explaining a Power Point presen- students agree that CDD favors varying degrees of tation or something like that. So this makes it a much interaction among them. Students in particular observe more participatory experience, which raises questions positive effects in the interaction with their peers. In and stimulates them to get together as a group to res- this dimension, for example, teachers and some stu- pond». dents found that group formation for the development So students associate this feature of the participa- of group work was adequate, referring to the process tory methodology with a higher degree of self-regula- of diagnosis made in the first session. Students note the tion and autonomy in their work. In this sense, they positive effects of the interaction between students value the autonomous work that Kelluwen enables, as participating in the project. However, there were they may advance at their own pace and regulate their some negative experiences in which they observed own learning (Álvarez, 2009). However they recogni- that the formation of groups did not help in the internal

Figure 4. Dendrogram based on co-occurrence: students.

distribution of tasks. However, collaboration is not a Notes substantive element and it was not highlighted expli- 1 Kelluwen: this word comes from Mapudungún (the Mapuche lan- citly, but rather through the transformation of modes guage of the indigenous peoples of Chile) and means «work among all». Kelluwen started at the beginning of 2010, and was funded by there emerged closer interaction between students FONDEF-CONICYT with the sponsorship of Research Mana- and teachers with the formation of working groups. gement at the Universidad Austral de Chile (www.uach.cl), which Informants also noted that the platform offers stu- involved a gradual and collaborative process for the formation of an dents greater access to information, but as teachers educational community to work with schools in southern Chile

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 noted, it entailed difficulties in the ability to select, (www.kelluwen.cl). Supported by: the National Committee of Science and Technology organize and analyze data pertinently: «The selection (CONICYT), and the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and of information was a little slow, perhaps because they Technological Development (FONDEF), Code D80i-1074 (2010- are unaccustomed to this kind of work », «Maybe what 12). Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile. Research Mana- they find most difficult is the ability to analyze informa- gement, Universidad Austral de Chile. Project budget: U$ 420,000. tion, to summarize it in their own words; at this point, they have not yet developed that skill». References It also emerges from teachers’ observations is the ÁLVAREZ, I. (2009). Evaluar para contribuir a la autorregulación del aprendizaje. 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Received: 25-02-2013 / Reviewed: 23-06-2013 l Janaina de Oliveira, Mar Camacho & Mercè Gisbert Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Tarragona (Spain) Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 20609 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-08 Exploring Student and Teacher Perception of E-textbooks in a Primary School Explorando la percepción de estudiantes y profesor sobre el libro de texto electrónico en Educación Primaria ABSTRACT The potential of technology in digital society offers multiple possibilities for learning. E-books constitute one of the technologies to which great attention has to be paid. This article presents a case study on the perceptions held by a teacher and his students on the use of e-textbooks in a Primary education classroom. It examines students’ meaning-making practices and the perceptions that teachers and students have towards their engagement in learning activities in this context. In the analysis of the data generated, the classroom is considered a multimodal learning space, where virtual, physical and cognitive environments overlap, allowing students to negotiate meaning across multiple contexts and reflect upon it. Results show that e-textbook users’ perceptions greatly depend on the institutional culture in which they are embedded. While the adoption of e-textbooks does not necessarily mean a transition from traditional textbooks to e-textbooks, students and teachers may develop a more demanding range of criteria which must be met by e-textbook providers. By doing this, e-books become a real alternative to free internet resources. Although e-textbooks favor a communicatively active style of learning, there are still real challenges to be overcome by publishers so that e-textbooks do not become the next forgotten fad. RESUMEN El potencial que posee la tecnología en el marco de una sociedad digitalizada supone también múltiples oportunidades para el aprendizaje. Los libros electrónicos constituyen una de esas tecnologías a las que hay que prestar especial aten- ción. En este artículo se presenta un estudio de caso sobre la percepción de un profesor y sus estudiantes sobre el uso de un libro de texto electrónico en un aula de Educación Primaria. Se examinan prácticas de construcción de significado y actitudes mientras se realizan actividades con un libro de texto electrónico. El aula se considera como un espacio de aprendizaje multimodal en el que se solapan entornos como el virtual, el físico y el cognitivo. Los estudiantes negocian significados en múltiples contextos, reflexionando durante el proceso. Los resultados demuestran que la percepción de los usuarios de los libros de texto electrónicos depende de la cultura institucional en la que están inmersos. Cuando su adopción no significa una transición de los libros de texto tradicionales a los libros de texto electrónicos, existe una gama más exigente de criterios a fin de que puedan convertirse en una alternativa real a los recursos disponibles en Internet. Pese a que los libros de texto electrónicos favorecen un estilo activo y comunicativo de aprendizaje, aún existen desafíos reales que las editoriales deben superar para que el libro de texto electrónico no se convierta en una moda pasajera. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES E-book, textbook, multiple literacy, semiotic, Interaction, teaching resources, ICT, collaborative learning. Libro electrónico, libro de texto, alfabetización múltiple, semiótica, interacción, recursos didácticos, TIC, aprendizaje colaborativo.

v Dr. Janaina Minelli-de-Oliveira is Associate Professor in the Department of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology at the Rovira I Virgili University (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Mar Camacho is Assistant Professor in the Department of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology at the Rovira i Virgili University (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Mercè Gisbert is Professor in the Department of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology at the Rovira i Virgili University (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 87-95 www.revistacomunicar.com 88

1. Introduction ther data on teacher and students’ perception on e- Today’s pedagogical practices are largely permea- textbook use in the context of an elementary school. ted by the tools and semiotic resources of the digital Some of the guiding study questions of this present age, a period which has lately undergone changes research have been: Do kids have favorable, negative metaphorically described as coming from the solid cul- or mixed perceptions on e-textbook use? Do kids and ture of the 19th and 20th centuries to the liquid infor- their teacher hold a shared perception on the use of e- mation culture of the 21st century (Area & Pessoa, textbooks? How does school culture regarding selec-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 2012). E-books and e-textbooks may be described as tion of course materials for students influence e-text- examples of such tools, which offer new opportunities book adoption? In writing this paper, we hope to con- as well as challenges for teachers and learners in a tribute to the understanding of how school culture and continuously evolving educational landscape. In gene- classroom idiosyncrasies may pose further considera- ral, good information on book sales is hard to come by tions regarding whether e-textbooks should be adop- since industry interests influence most figures. ted in the classroom. However, in order to capture the size and scope of the subject, the US market can be taken as an exam- 2. Theoretical basis ple, where the consistent growth of e-books demons- The observed classroom is approached as a multi- trates that publishers have successfully evolved the modal learning space, where virtual, physical and cog- technology environment for their content. According nitive environments overlap. In the first part of the the- to the 2013 report presented by BookStats, e-books oretical principals, modality is explored as a useful frame - are now fully embedded in the format infrastructure of work to develop our approach. It leads us to conside- trade book publishing (BookStats, 2013). In fact, e- ring e-textbooks as semiotic resources, as will be dis- books sales have grown 45% since 2011, comprising cussed in the second part of our theoretical basis. In 20% of the current trade market and playing an inte- the third part, the relevance of studying student and gral role in 2012 trade revenue. teacher perceptions on the use of e-textbooks is pre- This present research paper examines the percep- sented and examined. This way the complexity of tions that one teacher and his students have towards e- pedagogic practices in relation to traditional and new textbooks in an elementary school. Most research con- literacy technologies is taken into consideration. ducted on e-textbooks to date has been on undergraduates (Sun, Flores & Tanguma, 2012; Quan-Haase 2.1. A multimodal lens on digital technology, litera- & Martin, 2011; Rose, 2011; Nicholas, Rowlands & cy and learning Jamali, 2010), who can be expected to have far more Multimodal literacy emphasizes the fact that scho- sophisticated study techniques and work practices ols today do not respond to the multiplicity of texts than students who are in elementary school. An in - with which students interact in real life (Kress, 2003; creasing number of primary, middle and high schools Jewitt, 2006; 2008). Researchers such as Unsworth, are in the process of testing out the switch from prin- Thomas and Bush (2004), Unsworth (2006), Jewitt ted textbooks to e-textbooks. The Educat 1x1 project, and Gunther (2003) state that the school continues to launched by the Education Department of Catalonia, focus on the genres of written communication, where- Spain, in 2010, is one such initiative (Veguin, 2010). It as reality offers multiple modes of communication such aims at the progressive introduction of one computer as the visual, auditory and gestural. per student, digital books, and other computerized Significant literature accounts for the technologiza- curriculum materials in the classrooms. In a pool aimed tion of school literacies and pedagogy (Cope & Ka- at identifying the perception of teachers participating in lantis 2000; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Marsh, 2005; the project, Padrós-Rodríguez (2011) found that the Leander, 2007). Emerging literacies change the edu- majority of them do not see the 1x1 project as neces- cational landscape (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; Sef- sarily related to the adoption of e-textbooks. ton-Green & Sinker, 2000). Teachers can integrate In this paper it is discussed how e-textbook adop- students’ knowledge of narrative characterization into tion raises questions that greatly depend on institutio- the planning and creation of narratives, either in print nal culture. Attention focuses on the meaning-making (Millard, 2005; Newfield & al., 2003) or multimedia practices of a classroom while performing learning narratives (Burn & Parker, 2003; Marsh, 2006). Multi- activities. Specifically, classroom interaction and parti- modal research reflects on the pedagogical use of cipants’ feedback and comments made on the expe- semiotic resources. This constitutes the point of depar- rience are analyzed in depth. The objective is to ga- ture for our study as we understand the transition to e-

textbooks is intended to respond to the communicative produce and purchase, and less exciting than the sexy and technological requirements of a digitalized society. digital content available via devices such as the iPad’ In the following section, we briefly present the defini- (Thayer, 2011: 2). In fact, at least part of the interest tion of the e-textbook used in the present study, taking on e-textbooks is justified in terms of the need to iden- it as a semiotic resource. tify ways to decrease the cost of college textbooks and supplemental resources, while still supporting acade- 2.2. Pedagogical affordances of digital textbooks mic freedom of faculty members to select high quality

New technologies offer a varied potential for lear- course materials for students (Reeves & Sampson, Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ning. We might expect people’s use of representatio- 2013). nal and communicative modes of new technologies to Most research conducted on e-textbooks to date re-shape the social interaction experience of the classroom in complex ways. Although both publishers and libraries are The use of e-textbooks in the case classroom favored a sort unsure about the future and the impact of e-books, there is of distributed learning. The teacher was definitely not the an increasing awareness that e-books demand further atten- protagonist. Students’ work was something intermediate tion. As practitioners and rese- between being individual and collaborative. Additionally, the archers embark on a more extensive engagement with e- classroom was both a rich and supportive environment. Not books, it has progressively become clear that there is being the centre of attention of the classroom gave the major ongoing confusion on teacher enough freedom of movement to assist those the definition of e-books (Lynch, 2001; Tedd, 2005; students who requested his presence. There was also plenty Edwards & Lonsdale, 2002). We will adhere to Vassiliou of peer to peer support. Combined, those two results seem and Rowley (2008)’s e-book to indicate positive aspects of e-textbook use, even if they definition, which will allow us to move further into its peda- are not specific of this semiotic resource. gogical articulation. Vassiliou and Rowley (2008) define e- books as digital objects with textual and/or other content –semiotic resources, in a was aimed at undergraduates (Brint & Hier, 2005; multimodal approach–, which arise as a result of inte- Sun, Flores & Tanguma, 2012; Quan-Haase & grating the familiar concept of a book with features Martin, 2011; Ditmyer & al., 201; Rose, 2011; that can be provided in an electronic environment. Nicholas, Rowlands & Jamali, 2010) who naturally The authors claim e-books typically have in-use featu- have far more sophisticated study techniques and res such as search and cross reference functions, work practices than elementary school students. E- hyper text links, bookmarks, annotations, highlights, texts receive mixed reviews from undergraduate stu- multimedia objects and interactive tools. dents (Doering, Pereira & Kuechler, 2012; Jung-Yu & Khire, 2012; Lai & Ulhas, 2012; Rockinson- Szapkiw 2.3. Teacher and students’ perceptions on e-text- & al. 2013). Do students in elementary schools present book use as a varied perception on e-textbooks? Comparatively Dillon (2001a, 2001b) mentioned that school speaking, few studies have turned to schools for the administrators might be interested in e-textbooks time being and little is yet known about kids’ preferen- because they are relatively cheap, easy to handle, and ces in this subject area. Shiratuddin and Landoni capable of obtaining usage statistics. Even researchers (2002, 2003) found that kindergarten children are skeptical of the replacement of analogue to digital rea- very much at ease with e-book technology, being able ding technologies in schools acknowledge that ‘printed to use devices, e-books, and e-book builder without textbooks are heavy, quickly outdated, expensive to much effort. Obviously enough, their school level

allows no inference on whether they would rather use mary school which does not use traditional textbooks. traditional or e-texbooks. More recently, Shamir and 14 students were involved in this study, 11 and 12 Lifshitz (2013) examined the effect of activity with an year olds. They are all Catalan speakers. All students educational electronic book (e-book), with/without in the observed group had computers at home and all, metacognitive guidance, on the emergent literacy (rhy- but one, had Internet connection. In class, each stu- ming) and emergent math (essence of addition, ordinal dent had a laptop with access to internet and user numbers) again of kindergartners, this time at risk for name and password to access the e-textbook online

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 learning disability (LD). The researchers concluded platform. The teacher in charge of the group has been that there was a significant improvement in the study in this school for five years and has been the school variables among the two groups of subjects who wor- technology planning coordinator for three years. He is ked with the e-book when compared to the control 29 years old and uses technology in his classrooms on group, the experimental group that received metacog- a regular basis to teach mathematics, social sciences nitive guidance as part of their e-book experience exhi- and language. biting greatest improvement in rhyming. Thayer (2011) suggests elementary school stu- 3.3. Data gathering dents would benefit more from the replacement of 3.3.1. Lessons observation printed textbooks with e-readers and slate computers, The recordings lasted around 40 minutes each since young people typically have more malleable and took place in the participants’ usual classroom, a study habits and academic reading practices than bright aired room which was a familiar setting for undergraduate students. Though not specifically them. The classes seem to have had three distinct approaching e-books or e-textbooks, Burke and moments, however, there is no abrupt end and begin- Rowsell (2008) developed a case study over digital ning of a new phase: reading practices of young adolescents. It highlighted 1) First, students began getting in the classroom, the complexity of the critical skills young adolescents settling down, turning computers on and connecting to need to comprehend interactive texts. In the next sec- internet. The teacher gave brief instructions on the tion, we describe our study on the perception of stu- activity that the students were supposed to do and dents and teachers in an elementary school in Spain on organized group sittings of students who had chosen to e-textbook use. study the same period of history together. He also helped some students access the digital pedagogical mate- 3. Study method rials on the server’s online platform. Altogether, this The study questions which guided our reflections phase lasted about 10 minutes, though, occasionally, were: 1) Do kids have favorable, negative or mixed one or more students experienced more connections perceptions on e-textbook use?; 2) Do kids and their problems than the rest of the class. teacher hold a shared perception on the use o e-text- 2) In the second phase, students would concen- books?; 3) How does school culture regarding selec- trate in reviewing the information available in the e- tion of course materials for students influence e-text- textbook and in doing the activities the teacher had book adoption? A case study approach (Yin, 1994, assigned them on the online platform. This phase las- Yuen, Law & Wong, 2003; Hoseth & McLure, ted about 15 minutes. 2012) guided by multimodal principles (Jewitt, 2006; 3) In the last part of the classes, students would Knight, 2011) was adopted. start to do the self correction of their activities. Most of them share their assessment grade with other students 3.1. Data gathering and/or the teacher and some of them ask the teacher Three sources of data were used: 1) Video recor- why they were corrected in a particular way by the e- ding and class observational notes. In-depth focus textbook. For most of the students, the teacher revises group interviews, 2) E-textbook online platform. The the digital textbook correction looking at their own lap- data language is Catalan, the official language spoken tops, but a few of the students would occasionally get in Catalonia, Spain. Whenever data transcripts are their correction on the class digital board. This final relevant to support analysis presentation, an English part of the classes lasted about 15-18 minutes. version of them will be provided. 3.3.2. Focus group interviews 3.2. Sampling The focus group interviews were conducted at The school chosen for the study is a public pri- two different levels: student level and teacher level.

The teacher interview lasted 25 minutes. Students were inter - viewed in groups with 3 or 4 participants. These interviews lasted approximately 10 minutes. All interviews were semi- structured. With consent from the respondents, all the discus- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 sions and interviews were video recorded.

3.3.3. The e-textbook The e-textbook under ana - lysis is available to students on an online educational platform managed by an e-learning content service provider. Each lesson was structured in six parts Figure 1. History e-textbook under analysis. which can be accessed by a curved verbal side bar menu or from an iconic lateral 4. Analysis and results menu, as can be seen in figure 1. Four main themes emerged out of the analysis of The lessons are organized as follows: the interviews: • Get down to work: Students can find introduc- • Classroom roles: From the initial 5 minutes, tory text, images and activities. when the teacher would tell the students what activity • Let’s explore: Generally relates the content each group should do, there was no moment when all under study in the lesson to the students’ previous students were listening to the teacher. Students usually knowledge through self-correcting activities like quiz- reviewed the content they had assigned to their group zes, drag and drops, cross words, ordering letters or and did the corresponding activities. Those who had open questions. doubts on the corrections they received from the e-text- • Let’s learn: Content is presented through a com- book raised their hands or called out the teacher’s bination of text, images and animations. name – something that happened pretty often. Students • Applying knowledge: Students are expected to also extensively spoke to their classmates, especially in form groups and do activities that may involve interac- the self correction phase and after it, making comments tion with their classmates and teacher, less dependent on their punctuation, boasting, expressing surprise or on technology. complaining about it. The teacher frequently used the • Wrapping it up: Students can find a list of the digital board to review the answers given by some stu- things they have learned in the lesson. dents and at this moment some other students would • Activity menu: Students have access to all the listen to what was being said about their colleague’s activities which are presented in the different parts of activity correction. the lesson. • Mutual support: Though the teacher instructs There are no videos in the materials selected by the the students to do the activity individually, this recom- teacher for the classes observed, neither links to mendation is taken in very flexible terms both by the Internet sources of related content. In the lateral side students and by the teacher. When performing the bar menu students could also find a link to a printable activity, students would frequently check what was on version of the unit, in PDF format. their classmate’s screen, point at it, ask and answer The class recordings and field notes were revie- questions. It was usually only after not being able to wed and discussed by the authors. This information solve a difficulty by asking nearby colleagues that stu- allowed us to prepare the semi-structured approach of dents would raise their hands and ask for the teacher’s the focus group interviews. At the data analysis phase, help. The unsolved doubt of a student would become the interviews were inductively open coded for emer- a shared doubt of many students as a consequence of gent themes and analyzed for patterns using grounded presenting a challenge that none of the students seated theory approach. near each other could solve. Such doubts could be

technical aspects - especially if in the first phase of the ceptions: When we asked the study participants how class-, related to content, to the activities procedure or well they valued the e-textbooks, we found that the feedback, or more generally to the functioning of the students and the teacher both shared a common view e-textbook. on it, but different perceptions regarding this view. • Complementary literacy technologies: We iden- The common view is that both the teacher and the tified the coexistence of traditional and digital literacy students think the e-textbook used in their history pro- technologies in the pedagogical practice of the teacher ject classes presents very specific, concrete informa-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 in charge of the observed group. For example, apart tion. This shared view of the digital resource, howe- from drawing on digital resources like the e-textbook ver, leads to different perceptions on it. While the stu- lessons the group was using to study different periods dents liked the resource style, highlighting the easiness of history, the students also created a timeline where to find the information they wanted to do the activities they identified historical periods, outstanding historical proposed, the teacher valued it negatively because it characters and relevant facts for each period. The offered students a limited amount of information. timeline was placed on the classroom walls. All students said they liked the e-textbook and they It is not surprising that teachers draw on traditional actually preferred using it to traditional textbooks. and digital resources in different moments to achieve However, they also seemed to find the information their pedagogical objectives. However, in the obser- presented in the material insufficient, since one recu- ved classes, the teacher drew on both traditional and rrent theme in the focus group interviews was the pos- digital technologies simultaneously. At the beginning of sibility to complete the information using search engi- class, the teacher would give the students printed ver- nes, like Google, or complementary sources of con- sions of the lessons they were supposed to study. This tent, like Wikipedia. The students actually did not means all students received a printed document of the seem to draw a definite line distinguishing the e-text- PDF which was available to students online as an book from other digital resources. option in the e-textbook menu. The teacher had three Easiness to do activities and find information, the reasons for doing that: 1) He felt it was important to possibility to see images and videos, and the novelty of have an alternative in case the computers did not work e-textbooks were the positive aspects of e-textbooks properly or Internet was too slow; 2) He thought the highlighted by the students. The teacher, on the other printed documents would be useful for the kids at hand, was less attracted then students by e-textbooks. home; 3) He wanted to avoid students from getting The teacher also had a list of other limitations which lost, in case menu navigation was not enough to help will probably hinder future e-textbook adoption in the them. case school. First, the teacher acknowledged this Most students drew on the printed versions of the generation of e-textbooks is better than previous mate- lessons extensively, checking the computer screen and rials, which were simply PDFs, but he still missed more the paper documents in turns, as can be seen in figure 2. We asked the students if they thought the paper versions of the lessons were necessary. All students but one agreed they would not need them. However, class recordings show students looked for information as much on the printed documents as on the computer screen. In the focus group interviews, students explained they used the printed documents as a personal note taking resource. It seems reading on the screen was an easier step to accomplish than writing down the information they personally considered most important. Figure 2. Student drawing on e-textbooks on screen and in its printed version • A shared view, different per- simultaneously.

multimodal content. Secondly, the perspective given in and sound in the content presentation, they also do not the materials is frequently farfetched from a more local seem to favor traditional teacher centered approaches view of relevant facts. in which the teacher is the main source of feedback in Thirdly, the teacher thought the economic limita- the classroom. tion would be an important obstacle for the adoption Literacy technologies change fast, pedagogical of the e-textbook at the case school. The school practices do not. The case classroom observations would have to pay to use the platform and also pay for showed there was a symbiotic interaction of digital and the educational resources. In the case school, teachers non digital technologies. The pictures and drawings Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 were supposed to develop the curriculum drawing which changed the classroom wall into a timeline, for extensively on their own ability to find and elaborate example, constitute semiotic work which compliments pedagogical materials. In this situation, e-textbooks in symbiotic ways the work done while students en- would have to offer a richness of form and content gaged with the e-textbooks. Also, while students were which does not convince the teacher we interviewed using the e-textbook itself, they often referred to the for the moment: «You can find it all on the Internet, printed version of the lesson provided by their teacher. and here (e-textbooks) you have to pay. You have to It is possible they did not need the printed materials, pay for the platform and for the educational resources. but the class observation clearly shows students exten- If you have it well structured, you can find it all on the sively use them as scaffolds. There is no simple way to net» (Teacher). take all the richness of symbolic meaning going on Notwithstanding the more than reluctant percep- during a classroom into account. Multimodal theory is tion the teacher expressed on e-textbooks, we could clearly an attempt to, from the acknowledgement of notice the students clearly enjoyed using it. We asked the diversity of data available to the analyst, makes an the teacher if the students simply enjoyed anything or effort to systematize impressions not always easy to if he thought there was something special about this reconcile. If the analyst only takes into account clear material that was calling their attention: «These stu- cut realities presented in objective data, much of the dents are happy to come to school. They want to meaning making practices going on during the most learn, they like anything that is new to them. I think ordinary classroom will simply be disregarded, though some time in the future, after they grow up like this, the richness of the evidence. using so much technology, you will give them a sheet We asked at the beginning of this paper if kids of paper and they will «uaaauu», a sheet of paper. have favorable, negative or mixed perceptions on e- That’s so cool» (Teacher). In this respect, the tea- textbook use, if the kids and their teacher hold a shared cher’s perception is that the reason the e-textbook is a perception on the use of e-textbooks and how school success among students is in their own predisposition culture regarding selection of course materials for stu- to learn, on the one hand, and on the resource’s dents influence e-textbook adoption. Kids participating novelty, on the other one. in this research hold favorable perceptions on e-textbooks. The students enjoyed using the e-textbook and 5. Discussion and conclusion reported preferring it to traditional textbooks, however The use of e-textbooks in the case classroom favo- expressing the need to compliment its information red a sort of distributed learning. The teacher was using search engines, like Google, or complementary definitely not the protagonist. Students’ work was sources of content, like Wikipedia. The students are something intermediate between being individual and not always able to distinguish the e-textbook from collaborative. Additionally, the classroom was both a other digital resources: the computer (in the case of rich and supportive environment. Not being the centre this present research), the Ipad or the e-book reader of attention of the classroom gave the teacher enough seems to be what kids identify as the learning object, freedom of movement to assist those students who not the semiotic resources which educators make avai- requested his presence. There was also plenty of peer lable to them on the different pieces of technology they to peer support. Combined, those two results seem to use. indicate positive aspects of e-textbook use, even if they As mentioned above, the students and the teacher are not specific of this semiotic resource. It is obvious basically shared a common view on the e-textbook, any digital learning object can produce such results, but different perceptions regarding the specific e-text- but the fact that an e-textbook does it is something book used. The common view is that the e-textbook notorious in itself. It shows that even if e-textbooks are used in their history project classes presents very spe- not as multimodal as they could be, including videos cific, concrete information. The differing perception is

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 87-95 94 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 D Routledge. 0110394826). 1. part B high (20-05-2013). lights.pdf) release]. A 20. 2.0. Web of Challenges Cultural the to racies C racy. A high style, resource the liked students the while that References purposes. dissemination short clips, stills and allowing photos to be team, used for teaching and research the with shown be to dings wider the on endeavor. intellectual this of scope light shed to needed be be will research should study More definitive. case than rather illustrative our as understood of relevance the perception. 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Received: 08-06-2013 / Reviewed: 09-07-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Mª Rosa Fernández & Jesús Valverde Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 22048 Cáceres (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-09 A Community of Practice: An Intervention Model based on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Comunidades de práctica: un modelo de intervención desde el aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales

ABSTRACT This paper describes the results of a research study on the establishment of a Community of Practice through social eLearning and Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). The sample consisted of 20 adult women of gypsy origin of various ages, educational level and work activity residing in Extremadura (Spain). The study makes a contextualization and then describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a training scheme in social eLearning about Equal Opportunities and Social Leadership. This is followed by an analysis of the content of the course forums, according to the dimensions of the «Community of Inquiry» model (CoI) which is one of the most promising theoretical perspectives on e-learning and collaborative and constructivist approaches developed in hundreds of studies during the last decade. And finally, the study evaluates the learning experience, using triangulation as procedure for data analysis. The most important research results are: a) the validity of the design and implementation of the training, b) the forming of an effective Community of Practice for Roma women in virtual learning environments, and c) the significant changes in the participants that can favor the cultural promotion of women. It provides a new model of ICT-based educational intervention in CSCL, aimed at improving training for and promotion of sociocultural groups in situations of social exclusion. RESUMEN Este artículo describe los resultados de investigación de un estudio sobre la conformación de una comunidad de prác- tica a través de e-learning social y aprendizaje colaborativo en entornos virtuales (CSCL). La muestra está formada por 20 mujeres gitanas adultas y residentes en Extremadura (España) heterogéneas en edad, nivel formativo y actividad laboral. El estudio parte de la contextualización y posterior diseño, implementación y evaluación de una acción formativa de e-learning sobre igualdad de oportunidades y liderazgo social. Posteriormente, analiza el contenido de foros del curso, según las dimensiones del modelo «Comunidad de Indagación» que es una de las perspectivas teóricas más prometedoras sobre e-learning y enfoques constructivistas colaborativos y que ha sido desarrollada en cientos de estudios durante la última década. Y, por último, evalúa la experiencia formativa, utilizando la triangulación como pro- cedimiento para el análisis de datos. Se destacan como resultados la validez del diseño y aplicación de la acción formativa; la conformación efectiva de la comunidad de práctica de mujeres gitanas en entornos virtuales de enseñanza- aprendizaje colaborativos; y los cambios significativos en las mujeres participantes que favorecen su promoción socio- cultural. Se aporta un nuevo modelo de intervención socioeducativa con TIC basado en CSCL, destinado a la mejora de la formación y a la promoción sociocultural de los grupos en situación de exclusión social. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES E-Learning, community of practice, digital literacy, digital inclusion, collaborative learning, virtual learning environment, social change, women. E-Learning, comunidad de práctica, aprendizaje colaborativo, alfabetización digital, inclusión digital, entorno virtual de aprendizaje, cambio social, mujeres.

v Dr. María-Rosa Fernández-Sánchez is Assistant Professor-PhD at the Teacher Training Faculty of the University of Extremadura in Cáceres (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Jesús Valverde-Berrocoso is Professor and Coordinator of the Research Group «Nodo Educativo» at the Teacher Training Faculty of the University of Extremadura in Cáceres (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 97-105 www.revistacomunicar.com 98

1. Introduction city to identify and use different forms of knowledge, Virtual learning environments offer a series of pos- to understand its various forms of expression and sibilities for collaborative processes in which students assessment, and to assume the perspectives of others actively produce knowledge, formulating ideas that are that operate with different epistemic structures. It is shared and constructed as from the reactions and res- achieved by means of collaborative tasks so as to des- ponses of others (Resnick, 2002). A new centre of cribe, explain, predict, argue, criticise, assess and defi- interest is arising in educational sciences around the ne concepts or realities. In a direct approach collabo-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 so-called Computer Supported Collaborative Learning rative techniques are used to structure a task within a (CSCL ) that became an emerging paradigm of educa- learning activity (e.g. Jigsaw). Finally, in a conceptual tional research in the 1990s in which a variety of stu- approach use is made of positive interdependence; the dies were carried out that have in common an interest interaction promoted within the group itself; the indi- in understanding how Information and Communica- vidual responsibility to learning; teamwork skills; and a tion Technologies (ICT) can facilitate collaborative reflection on the execution of the group itself (Kreijns, development processes in teaching-learning situations, Kirschnerb & Jochems, 2003). and how collaborative learning environments can The scientific community agrees on the impor - improve and favour interaction, teamwork and conse- tance and congruence between e-learning and colla- quently the result of the learning process of the partici- borative constructivist approaches. One of the most pants (Rubia & al., 2009; Rubia, Jorrín & Anguita, promising theoretical perspectives is the «community 2009). of inquiry» (Coi) (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, Collaborative learning is characterised by being 2000), which has been developed in hundreds of stu- active; the teacher is a facilitator; teaching and learning dies over the last decade (Arbaugh & al., 2008). This are shared experiences; the students must assume res- theoretical model maintains that the construction of ponsibility for their learning; they are encouraged to knowledge in virtual teaching-learning environments reflect on their cognitive processes, and social skills (VTLE) takes place by means of the development of a and teamwork are developed by means of the cons- community that is characterised by three «presences»: truction of consensus (Krischner, 2001). Collaborative teaching, social and cognitive. In the absence of face- learning leads to a more profound level of critical to-face interaction, participants in virtual learning envi- thought, shared understanding and a more prolonged ronments must strive to recreate the social processes of retention of the material learnt (Garrison, Anderson & the building of knowledge that take place in the nego- Archer, 2001; Johnson & Johnson, 1999). It also pro- tiation of meanings in the classroom. vides opportunities for the development of social and «Teaching presence» refers to the curriculum and communicational skills, positive attitudes towards peo- organisational design, the facilitation of a productive ple, group cohesion and the building of social rela- discourse, and direct teaching developed in VTLE in tions. a context of collaboration between teachers and stu- These effects are strengthened when collaborati- dents (Ander son & al., 2001). «Social presence» ve learning is applied in flexible environments and in allows one to understand how VTLE participants pro- the face of complex tasks within authentic contexts, as ject themselves as «real» people, especially in asynch- these conditions also increase the efficiency of the ronous communication contexts based on texts (e.g. social building of knowledge (Jonassen, 1991; 1994). forums) that show attachment, group cohesion and Although different variables exist (e.g. group size and communicative opening-up; these elements are neces- composition, characteristics of the task, learning styles) sary to establish a feeling of confidence and belonging that have been identified as factors influencing the effi- to a community orientated towards the building of ciency of collaborative learning, all of them are related knowledge. Finally, «cognitive presence» is included in one way or another to a basic element: social inte- through a series of four cyclic phases that begins with raction (Kreijns, Kirschnerb & Jochems, 2003). If a trigger event that promotes exploration, integration, colla boration is present, then social interaction exists; and resolution. They define critical and creative and vice versa, without social interaction there is no thought processes (Shea & al., 2010). real collaboration (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, Garrison, Anderson & Archer (2000) propose a 2001). The mere grouping together of students does conceptual on-line learning model that encourages not guarantee collaboration, which means that instruc- interaction between teachers and students with the tive design is essential for its development. A cognitive aim of building, facilitating and validating understan- approach promotes «epistemic fluidity», i.e. the capa- ding, and developing skills that aim at the continuity of

training, encouraging simultaneously cognitive inde- out with a qualitative research approach within the pendence and social interdependence. The essential framework of CSCL and the social perspective of e- characteristic of this model lies in its communicational learning (Planella & Rodríguez, 2004; Ros, 2004; Gar- and interactive potential. It establishes that learning cía-Martínez, 2007). processes will be more profound and meaningful when the three «presences» mentioned come to- 2. Material and methods gether. These dimensions are characterised by the fact 2.1. Methodology that they can be provided to the community by the dif- The dialogue approach of research into CSCL has Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ferent participants even beyond their specific roles of been used; it is based on the idea that learning is a students or teachers, which assumes a flexible model socially organised activity. The unit of analysis is a that allows the capturing of the horizontal dynamics of group of people who interact to achieve a shared goal. a community. The key concepts are mediation, appliances and tools, The objective of the research presented in this and social practice so as to encourage collaborative article is the forming of a Community of Practice of learning (Ludvigsen & Mørch, 2010). It is located on gypsy women by carrying out a virtual training action the central axis of this research and is connected with on equal opportunities and social leadership so as to the socio-critical paradigm, with Research-Action encourage the socio-cultural promotion of this group (RA). As a support it uses the case study method trans- of women. In order to do so a virtual training action posed to virtuality and takes cyberspace as a field of was designed, implemented, and assessed, and it was study (Hine, 2000; Olsson, 2000). This perspective analysed whether the Community of Practice had forces the reformulation and adaptation of certain re- been formed together with its predominant characte- elaboration techniques (Hine, 2000) owing to the ristics. The whole of this inquiry process was carried characteristics of the field of study itself.

2.2. Sample of the study ment. The second study carried out is that of the for- The incidental sample is that of a virtual learning ming of the Community of Practice according to the community of gypsy women (N=20) with heteroge- model of CoI and the CSCL, in which it can be ob- neous levels of study. served that of the three presences the one considered most important for one of the objectives of the rese- 2.3. Procedure arch is that of the analysis of «Social Presence» be- Three distinct parts of the research can be establi- cause of its special significance within a CSCL con-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 shed. In the first part a study is carried out that is inten- text. A high percentage has been identified of messa- ded to contextualise and subsequently design, imple- ges belonging to this dimension, in particular those ment, and assess an e-learning practice based on referring to the category of «cohesion». It can be said CSCL and that aims to train gypsy women in Equal that a learning community identity is created, integra- Opportunities and Social Leadership. In order to ting the others within the discourse and recognising assess the appropriateness of the initial design, it was them as part of the same. Taking into account the full submitted to the opinion of four experts on the subject analysis of the categories making up Social Presence by means of a «Design Assessment Pattern for Experts» and the data on the evolution of the categories of this to include five assessment sections: the pedagogical dimension, it can be affirmed that the basis of the approach, the contextual framework, the selection of Commu nity of Practice has been established and that didactic strategies (methodological, of motivation, and on the completion of the formative action its shaping of learning), the designing of the formative action, and can be witnessed. interactivity, support, and communication elements. In this dimension a number of references to «affec- The second study is based on a content analysis of the tive communication» can be observed; in other words forums of the formative action designed to confirm the explicit indicators appear that show that the students dimensions of the «Community of Inquiry» model share a socio-emotional sphere that is essential to the (Garrison & Anderson, 2005) that lead to the forming communicative function and to the cohesion of a com- of a Community of Practice. The third study is based munity, and that likewise they constitute the basis of on the assessment of experience. Triangulation as a collaborative learning. This category includes the data analysis procedure was implemented so as to expression of emotions and feelings, which in the face obtain the results of the assessment of the formative of the impossibility of establishing visual and intonation action from a descriptive-interpretative analysis of data clues show themselves by means of the written resour- from the assessments of students, external experts, and ces of punctuation, emoticons, and capital letters. the teachers taking part in the course. The data for this Taking into account the visual environment in which it analysis were obtained from participative observation is developed, affective communication becomes a key during the carrying out of the formative action, from a element for the satisfactory operation of collaborative semi-structured interview, and in depth in classroom work (Garrison & Anderson, 2005). The indicators and on-line modes to the teachers-tutors and the com- studied in this category show that there is an important municational discussion group with participants after degree of confidence in which the group strengthens teaching the course (Flecha, Vargas & Dávila, 2004). the relationships between them as the formative action Two questionnaires complement this last part of the progresses. Another of the categories related to Social study: a questionnaire to assess the formative action Presence is «open communication», the study of applied to the students and a questionnaire on the which results in the appreciation of a strong level of didactic assessment of the model and the teaching stra- commitment in the process of reflection and critical tegies used which is aimed at external experts. discourse (which is closely related to the cognitive dimension) on the themes that are intended to be wor- 3. Analysis and results ked on during the course. The third category related to If we take into account the three parts of the study Social Presence is «cohesion» and it is here where in indicated in the procedure, we obtain in the first place reference to the indicators established by Garrison, a complete design of the virtual formative action Anderson, and Archer (2000), three types of interven- «Equal Opportunities and Social Leadership». As far tions can be found that it is important to emphasise. as the designing and planning of the latter is con- • The first group of interventions located belong cerned, the ADDIE generic design model (Branch & to formalisms in communication such as introductions, Merril, 2012) has been followed from the stages of greetings, and farewells. conception, analysis, design, production, and assess- • A second group of interventions in which the

a rapprochement to the idea of a joint enterprise in the search for common objectives (Wenger & al., 2002) as an element of the Communities of Practice. On the other hand, another of the themes is that of the search, proposed by one of the students with the agreement of the remainder, for the joint commitment that determines another of the essential aspects of the Communities

of Practice (Wenger, 2001). Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 On putting into practice the didactic model pro - posed it should be emphasised that taking students from the level of the exchanging of ideas and reflections to the joint construction of knowledge, referred to «Cognitive Presence», is a task that entails difficulties in virtual teaching. It is observed that the students participate in the exchanging of opinions and the sharing of ideas, but that it is more difficult to go deeper into knowledge of some themes by means of debate on the forums. A response pattern was detected that is shown in the following diagram: After inquiring into this characteristic that has been detected, it can be seen that this may be due to two factors: • Many of the forums analysed are opened on the initiative of the students, who share a teaching role that on occasion leads to a lack of guidance and orientation Figure 1. Different moments of response in the development of in the debate established. forums (cognitive presence). • Most students had never taken part in a formative action of this kind. Together with the low digital student or students declare themselves to be identified literacy level of some of the students, this may have within the group through expressions such as «us, our, contributed towards the fact that the resolution phase the group, the community, classmates, friends», among is not always reached. others. As we have seen in the analysis carried out, The educational activity carried out by means of expressions of this type are numerous. It is stressed that the forum by the teachers of the course, the «teaching the fact of belonging to the same ethnic group has con- presence», is essential if the phase of the resolution tributed towards cohesion in this formative action. A and building of knowledge is to be reached. This shared repertoire is identified in which they recognise didactic dimension entails the assuming of different each other, in principle based on their cultural identity; roles by the teachers, such as debate facilitators, mode- this generates one of the aspects present in any rators, guides-advisers, experts answering individual Community of Practice (Wenger, 2001). and group questions, managers, etc. The study of this • Thirdly, it is appropriate to place the interven- dimension includes all the categories and indicators in tion where the students make proposals or suggest the teaching carried out in the formative action. It is themes, whether these are related to this formative important to stress that on the virtual forums studied a action or not, that include the whole group. This greater participation by students than by tutors has group of interventions can be found within one of the been detected, thus inverting the tendency in class- forums. These aspects, which are characteristic of an room teaching in which teachers intervene and parti- informal relationship, refer to themes treated outside cipate more than students, concentrating more on the work and proposed activities (Crook, 2000) that must teaching process than on that of learning. It has even develop in the formative action, and play an important been affirmed that teaching presence is not restricted social role in the forming of the Community of Practice. to the teacher and that students have at times taken on If one of the themes originates in a proposal from one this role: of the students to «make the forum their own» in order • In one of the themes we can observe the hori- to debate themes related to joint interests, this denotes zontality with which one of the tutors intervenes in a

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 97-105 102 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 h gop o xhne oe, ih h tahr assu teacher the with roles, exchange to group the of member a as students the of one by opened theme and others, assuming a teaching role that is shared is that role teaching a assuming others, and to identified show the interchanging of be roles between some students can indicators some students, the by appreciated. be can cation communi interactive student-teacher-student zontal» «hori- Here versa. vice and student of part the ming iy f cie td b mas f h ceto o an of creation the learning. collaborative of of atmosphere means by study active of nity commu- that maintaining for essential are and related Presen are three ces the which in of dimensions, make Anderson these they & representation the Garrison in that establish (2005) relationship the in her toget comes this All strength. gather to dimension is tic it completed didac- be the and communication affective for to necessary are stages the research if words, practical other In process. building knowledge so that the stage of the final resolution is reached in the by the social presence and from the teaching presence created basis the from needed has presence cognitive the which action, formative the throughout this taining the to meaning main- emotions, giving through knowledge of administration by basis the establishes that Presence Social the is it study the in this dimensions; rent that affirmed be diffe the between over cross categories its and model can It meaning. educational an with Practice of Community a achieve to order in that the confluence of the three presences is necessary or role one seen be can it hand, other the On adopted. is another whether to according communication initiative. student-student interactive «vertical» own of speak can We their on themselves open former the that themes in and teachers from intermediation hout wit- occurs students the among communication that tween them. It may be, especially in one of the forums, oiain ad erig A t te tegh o the of strengths the to As learning. and motivation, participation, perspective: learning collaborative social a and from actions e-learning of designing gogical three provides essential axes Research based on experience as keys to the peda- enriching. and motivating both is that opportunity good a as assessed been has campus virtual a using by action formative university students. the of dynamism and motivation, cipation, parti the were success to keys the that consider chers tea- the first one, «didactic» the the as concerned, far is dimension As dimensions. three obtain to as so environments virtual through Practice of the Community of shaping the for action formative the of cation • In some other themes, especially those opened those especially themes, other some In • Finally a study was carried out to assess the appli the assess to out carried was study a Finally o te tdns h psiiiy f arig u a out carrying of possibility the students the For be ------may have managed to reach this level and others have others and level this reach to managed have may some activities; between differences be may there that out pointed is It knowledge. previous their with ping in kee reached in learning this of use been made them of each which has meanings of construction the that believe students, the of levels academic different and experiences. knowledge sharing al., collaboration, & in (Aubert and equals 2008) among about come has ning lear- which in process motivating a as constituted is it the course by means of the tools used for this purpose, during occurs that communication of process the for As together. knowledge building and sharing for and participants the between communication and action the in predominate interventions. This has been the key resource for clearly inter forums used, resources professional and/or personal reasons. If we specify the for course the left who participants to traced be can it motivation, of lack this for reasons the into deeper go we If somewhat. them discouraged been has that has detected participation their in reduction a which in students. course the of stage last the in work own the their criticise students of the positive, been characteristics have results the the Although to owing out, started originally we which from obstacles the given results, surprising report tutors The rigidity. excessive whom have been rigorously complied with but with out suitable for the target students, the didactic and strategies profound and demanding is that design adapted an as assessed been has it design, pedagogical the to As sessions. classroom the and component virtual the both course, the teach to needed time the with do to has observed weakness biggest The participation. and motivation out: stand constructs key two experience, On the other hand, the teachers, recognising the recognising teachers, the hand, other the On © Figure 2. Didactic dimension. Didactic 2. Figure ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 97-105 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: of - - blished that the contents worked on through the acti the through on worked contents the that blished esta- is It situation. their to adaption their and students the of heterogeneity the account into taking tualised, contex- been has experience this that consider tutors actions. formative virtual some terises as well as avoiding that feeling of solitude that sometimes charac- students, the of participation continuous and motivation the maintaining for pillar basic a titutes the by played cons and one vital a been has course the of revitaliser role The «instrumental». more been this community feeling. The efficiency of the tutorials the of efficiency The feeling. community this to keys the as enjoyment, particular in and classmates, between help and collaboration dynamism, cipation, parti- communication, good dialogue, fluid mentioned and community learning virtual a of part be to selves them- felt have they that confirm students The cipate. parti to desire the and commitment, motivation, tion, themes, wishing to make progress and change, dedica- new to opening-up curiosity, is predisposition, Emphasis to given Practice. of Community the the for of have shaping must participants the that attitudes the at taken also is look closer a hand, other the On ning. matter approached, and the dynamics followed in trai- the students and their previous knowledge, the subject to adaptation virtual the interactions, of the system the working, platform, of manner the of designing the others: among are which Practice, of Community the of shaping this of determinants as mentioned be factors can Other Practice. of Community a of basis the of establishing the encourage to order in and ponent aspects and even virtuality as determinants of this com cultural as such factors stressing mentioned, be component must «emotiveness» the all above dimension, contexts. socio-cultural their to applied be can vities © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 97-105 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: n h «oi-utrl ieso» i gnrl the general in dimension», «socio-cultural the In s o sca peec» s n niao o this of indicator an as presence» «social to As Figure 3. Socio-cultural dimension. Socio-cultural 3. Figure - - - - the «Social Presence» being that establishing the basis the establishing that being Presence» «Social the the of categories with dimensions, three the over cross model analytical The constituted). are Practice of Communities the characterise that enterprise joint the an important social function (the mutual commitment and fulfil course the outside out carried interventions shared the forms (it repository of the Communities of generated Practice) and that the is it within students the of integration the and community the with cation identifi that show cohesion to referring messages the that concluded be can It action. formative the in tion participa- students’ the increases community of sense strong a that inferred be can it model presence» tive cogni and teaching, «social, the on based out analysis carried the from Thirdly, nature. in constructivist is itself from a globalising and integrating perspective that justify should model This adopted. be should raction model didactic learning/inte- a and motivation, VTLE of participation, on based the Communities of form means to by Practice order in is that it concluded adopted approach the from Secondly, context. CSCL a in e-learning social determining factors the of analysis the to keys new and e-learning of revision cal bibliographi- and contextualisation a to contribute we place, first the In aspects. five to refer study complete conclusions and Discussion 4. action. ve significant incidents in the development of the formati- from platform free and adequate and functional technological been has used the that assessed been has it ones previous the than effect less has that dimension» when shyness overcoming communicating. and people, other with ring of knowledge, personal growth and effort, contact that should be emphasised are the updating and acqui- elements Other home. at Internet installing and ment equip- computer new purchasing acquiring for and habits; for new even and life, family and work of cing balan- the studying for seeking employment, and for information people, new know to getting for cation, communi- for medium a as ICTs of possibilities the to opening-up discourse; in changes stressed: be can ing fo The latter. the in transformations and changes of evidence llow is there participants the by action the of development the of assessment the concerning that is noted. also the and were action formative the of development relationships satisfactory positive these encouraging in h mi cnlsos n cnrbtos f this of contributions and conclusions main The «technological the from starting conclude, To A final matter of vital importance in this dimension - - - 103 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 104

through the VTLE; and it has been accompanied by changes in the participants that point to their socio-cultural promotion. The results of this research provide specific strategies that can guide the introduction of ICTs in educational practice, in this case from an environment that links what is formal and what is not formal, strengthe-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ning these new ways of learning in virtual collaborative spaces. On characterising a virtual community as an analytical tool and studying it from an educational perspective in a VTLE, specific pedagogical strategies are provided that will allow use of the potential of participation in these communities for training purposes Figure 4. Technological dimension. (Sloep & Berlanga, 2011). It must be pointed out that this research is not only of scientific value owing to its for the «teaching presence» and both for the success of results, but also of social value in that it makes the the «cognitive presence». It is important for the tea- study original from the moment when our interest is chers to create a positive environment so that good directed towards studying how ICTs affect social and cognitive results can be obtained. All the results show educational dynamics and in what way. Through that the Community of Practice is formed. It can be them and in the last analysis, it can contribute towards concluded that the qualitative content analytical model the welfare and general development of a group of used is suitable for studying the forming of Commu - gypsy women who experience situations of discrimi- nities of Practice in virtual learning environments and nation that may even be multiple. We point out that that it is a model that is simple to apply. It can be adap- the contribution of ICTs to the social development of ted to a variety of pedagogical designs and allows the this community may constitute the objective of further study of interactions to try to improve them and to research deriving from this thesis. All the foregoing exploit the pedagogical and social value. Fourthly, the implies a contribution to the development of the so- virtual formative action carried out was appropriate, called «social perceptive of e-learning» (Planella & was successfully implemented, and was defined as Rodríguez, 2004). For this reason, a scenario is pro - innovative in its field of action. ICTs as a medium have posed in which ICTs are used from a social perspec- helped to provide an opportunity for learning and per- tive with the objective of helping to encourage the em- sonal development. From this point of view and fifthly, powering of gypsy women through learning and thus a new model of social intervention is provided by encourage their social leadership within the ethnic means of ICTs; it is sustained by a piece of research group to which they belong. Given what may be a that aimed to constitute an intervention process desig- new learning environment for these students, it is con- ned to improve and promote the way of life of the sidered important to provide them with an atmosphere gypsy women taking part. Changes have occurred in that will encourage them to undertake the joint cons- the participants that point to their social and cultural truction of knowledge supported by critical reflection promotion. From this point of view this study confirms and social interaction with others in a Community of that it is necessary to encourage the creation of lear- Practice based on CSCL. ning contexts among equals that help in communication between the various participants in a virtual for- References mative action. We believe that by means of this envi- ANDERSON, T., ROURKE, L., GARRISON, D.R. & ARCHER, W. (2001). ronment of exchange of information obtained from Assessing Teaching Presence in a Computer Conferencing Context. various sources, reflection and the acquiring of new Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5 (2), 1-17. (DOI: knowledge is possible from a framework of indepen- 10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003). dent learning, always assessing the moment for this ARBAUGH, J.B., CLEVELAND-INNES, M., DIAZ, S.R., GARRISON, D.R., ICE, P., RICHARDSON, J.C., & SWAN, K.P. (2008). Developing a acquisition. In short three keys can be indicated: peda- Community of Inquiry Instrument: Testing a Measure of the Com- gogical design and the principles within which it is munity of Inquiry Framework Using a Multi-institutional Sam ple. established correspond to the results obtained by vali- The Internet and Higher Education, 11 (3-4), 133-136. (DOI: dating its appropriateness; the Community of Practice http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.06.003). of gypsy women from Extremadura has been formed AUBERT, A., FLECHA, A., GARCÍA, C., FLECHA, R. & RACIONERO, S.

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Received: 11-06-2013 / Reviewed: 17-07-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Teemu Leinonen & Eva Durall Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 22109 Helsinki (Finland) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-10 Design Thinking and Collaborative Learning

Pensamiento de diseño y aprendizaje colaborativo

ABSTRACT This paper presents design thinking as an alternative approach to conduct research on collaborative learning with technology. The underlying premise of the paper is the need to adopt human-centered design principles in research and design of computer-supported collaborative tools. Two research results are described in order to discuss the possibilities and challenges of applying design methods for designing and researching collaborative knowledge building tools. The paper begins by defining collaborative learning with new technologies as a wicked problem that can be approached by adopting a design mindset. Design thinking and particularly research-based design relies on a shared, social construction of understanding with the people who will later use the tools. The key phases in research- based design (contextual inquiry, participatory design, product design and software as hypothesis) are described and exemplified through the presentation of two research results. The two prototypes presented are the fourth version of the Future Learning Environment (Fle4), a software tool for collaborative knowledge building and Square1, a set of hardware and software for self-organized learning environments. Both cases contribute to the discussion about the role of artifacts as research outcomes. Through these cases, we claim that design thinking is a meaningful approach in CSCL research. RESUMEN El artículo presenta el pensamiento de diseño como un enfoque alternativo para realizar investigaciones sobre aprendizaje colaborativo con tecnología. Se describen dos resultados de investigación a fin de debatir las posibilidades y los retos de aplicar métodos de diseño para diseñar e investigar herramientas de construcción de conocimiento colaborativo. El texto comienza definiendo el aprendizaje colaborativo con nuevas tecnologías como un problema com- plejo que puede afrontarse mejor mediante la adopción de una actitud de diseñador. Se presenta el Diseño Basado en la Investigación (DBI) como un ejemplo de pensamiento de diseño basado en la construcción social del conocimiento con las personas que más adelante utilizarán las herramientas. Se describen las fases clave que caracterizan el método DBI (investigación contextual, diseño participativo, diseño de producto y software como hipótesis) y defiende la necesidad de adoptar un enfoque de diseño centrado en las personas. Los dos prototipos presentados son la cuarta versión de Future Learning Environment (Fle4), un software para la construcción de conocimiento colaborativo, y Square1, un conjunto de dispositivos y aplicaciones para entornos de aprendizaje auto-organizados. Ambos son ejemplos de DBI y contribuyen a la discusión sobre el rol de los artefactos como resultados de investiga- ción. A través de estos casos, se afirma que el pensamiento de diseño es un enfoque significativo en la investigación sobre el aprendizaje colaborativo mediado por ordenador. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Methodology, design, research, learning, collaboration, cooperation, environments, tools. Metodología, diseño, investigación, aprendizaje, colaboración, cooperación, entornos, herramientas.

v Dr. Teemu Leinonen is Associate Professor and Group leader of the Learning Environments Research Group at Aalto University in the Department of Media at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture (Finland) ([email protected]). v Eva Durall Gazulla is PhD Candidate at Aalto University in the Department of Media at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture (Finland) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 107-116 www.revistacomunicar.com 108

1. Introduction centered, social, responsible, optimistic, and experi- Wicked problems is a term used to describe pro- mental. blems that are difficult to solve because they are In this article, we present design thinking as an incomplete, requirements are constantly changing, and alternative approach for conducting research in the there are various interests related to them. Solutions to field of CSCL. To demonstrate the results of design wicked problems often require that many people are thinking-driven research in CSCL, we present two willing to think differently on the issue and change artifacts produced with the approach. We start with a

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 their behavior. Wicked problems are common in eco- general discussion about design and design thinking. nomics, social issues, public planning, and politics. We continue with a description of our methodological Characteristic of wicked problems is that solving part approach. We then present two results from our re - of the problem often causes other problems. To wic- search in the field of CSCL, which we got by using a ked problems there are no true or false answers, but strong design-thinking approach. The results are appli- rather good or bad solutions (Rittel & Webber, 1973). cations designed for collaborative knowledge building Teaching, learning with technology in general, (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2003) and collaborative lear- and computer-supported collaborative learning ning in a self-organized learning environment (Mitra, (CSCL) in particular can be seen as a wicked problem 2013). (Mishra & Koehler, 2008; Leinonen 2010). Many problems related to collaborative learning and computers 2. Design thinking in context are incomplete and contradictory. In CSCL practices, Design research often starts with observation, there are many actors with various complex interde- reflection, and questioning. A questioning design re- pendencies, including teachers, learners, and the inter- searcher is especially interested in everyday life practi- connected computers. According to Mishra & Koehler ces. He or she may realize that many things that are (2008), researchers working in the field should recog- considered to be normal, natural, and unchangeable nize the complexity of the situations in an educational are actually problematic. A questioning design resear- context with learners, teachers and technology. In this cher is interested in reflecting upon his or her research’s sense, there is a growing demand for collaboration significance for human life in general and on different between researchers, designers, teachers, and learners human practices in an everyday context. People in- during the process of designing technologies for lear- volved in the research are seen as part of the same ning (Dillenbourg & al., 2009; Bonsignore & al., human reality. In the research, they are not objects of 2013). the research, but rather subjects in the research. A ques- Design thinking has been identified as a meaningful tioning design researcher does not see that his or her job approach to tackle wicked problems (Buchanan, would be to produce neutral facts or be neutral at all. 1992). For instance, according to Nelson and Stol- Therefore, consideration and discussions on value and terman (2003), design does not aim to solve a problem their impact on the research are a large part of the re - with an ultimate answer, but to create a positive addi- search. An inquiry by a questioning design researcher tion to the present state of affairs. This way, design dif- holds an ethical meaning as a valuator of human existen- fers significantly from ordinary problem solving. ce and behavior (Varto, 2009; Leino nen, 2010). Designers do not see the world in such a way that In questioning design research, the focus is not somewhere there is a perfect design they should disco- only on aesthetics and usability, much broader and ver; rather they aim to contribute to the current state fundamental issues are taken into consideration. For with their design. So, design is an exploratory activity instance, Hyysalo (2009) categorizes design on five where mistakes are made and then fixed. Poetically, different levels. To illustrate the different levels of one may say that design is navigation without a clear design, we may use the design of a mobile phone’s map, relying only on current context and the informa- power button as an example. tion gathered from it. 1) On the first level, design is about details. For The epistemological basis of design thinking is that instance, design of a mobile phone power button’s most parts of the world we are living in are changea- physical shape, icon, and color is a design of details. ble, something we as humans can have an impact on. 2) On the second level, there is the user interface In design thinking, people are seen as actors who can design. A decision that one should hold the power but- make a difference. People can design relevant solu- ton down for a second and after that the phone will tions that will have a positive impact. This way, design give feedback with a vibration telling that it is starting thinking is a mindset characterized by being human- up is one example of user interface design.

3) On the third level of design, the interest is on as well as the curricular goals and the institutional fra- systems. The logic that the phone will keep its setting mework (Stahl, 2011). Therefore, recognizing people although it is turned off is design of the entire software as the primary source of innovation is crucial in order system running on the phone. to reach designs that will serve the needs of the people 4) The fourth level in design includes social issues. who will work, learn, or teach with the designed tools. For instance, the functionality included in a mobile This means that at the same time as the design of the phone’s power button making it possible to put it in tool, the community is asked to partly reconsider and silent mode or in meeting mode is a decision that pays redesign their current work processes. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 attention to the social contexts in which the phone is First, design thinking, in the case of designing tools used. for CSCL, means that the design researchers will work 5) The fifth level in design takes into consideration simultaneously on all the different levels of design. broad societal implications. The decision that swit- Rather than enabling just collaboration, a successful ching off with the power button will make the phone collaborative learning environment creates the condi- impossible to track can be a decision made to protect tions for effective group interactions (Dillenbourg, the user’s privacy. 2009). When designing tools, design researchers must Decisions made on the different levels of design adopt a complex understanding of group interaction cannot be made separately. They are interconnected and consider the social implications of their work, but and influence each other. The complexity of design they also make decisions on the user experience, inter- requires research, the ability to see both the whole and face, and their details. Secondly, in the design of the details, and the skill to analyze them. CSCL tools, we must be aware of the different inte- Design may provide people an idea of new ways rests among the different stakeholders. In the case of of doing things and different perspectives and interpre- education, there are, for instance, different value tations about the reality they are living in. This way, bases, ideologies, and pedagogical approaches that are design can be a way to confront complexity and res- often hard to consolidate. The designers must stand pond to people’s intentions to deliberately change the for something and be transparent about the value- world (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003). When including based decisions in the process. Thirdly, teachers and interpretations of complexity, design can never be a learners must have a voice in the design process, and neutral activity. Behind design, we may find value- the object of design should not only be the CSCL tool, laden, even ideological, ideas and principles. As Bruce but the entire learning process and practices of the (1996) highlights, it is not only that the meanings of school. these artifacts are socially constructed, but the physical design and social practices around them are socially 3. Methodological approach: Research and design constructed. Understanding design as socially cons- interventions tructed and results of design as something that will To tackle the wicked problem of CSCL, we have have a real impact on the socially constructed reality used research-based design as a methodological people are living in, asks for responsibility and accoun- approach (Leinonen & al., 2008; Leinonen, 2010). In tability from the designers and the people taking part in research-based design, it is essential to see the results the design. of the design –the artifacts– as primary outcomes and The Scandinavian tradition of participatory design the main results of the activity. This way, the artifacts is one of the earliest models of design thinking. In par- on their part are arguing the research results. ticipatory design, the people who are expected to be The research-based design process is a research the beneficiaries of a design are invited to take part in praxis inspired by design theories (Ehn & Kyng, 1987; the process from the early stages. By involving people Schön, 1987; Nelson & Stolterman, 2003). It empha- in the process, it is expected that the results as a whole sizes creative solutions, playful experiments, and the will be better than if done without them. For instance, building of prototypes. It encourages researchers and Ehn and Kyng (1987), who have done design research designers to try out various ideas and concepts. The related to computers in workplaces, have noticed that research-based design process can be described as a the design of a computer tool is not just a design of a continuous process of definition and redefinition of tool, but it also has consequences on the work proces- problems and design opportunities, as well as design ses and the entire workplace. The adoption of colla- and redesign of prototypes. Most of the activities take borative learning in education presents similar challen- place in a close dialog with the community that is ges, since it requires rethinking the classroom culture expected to use the tools designed. The process can

be divided into four major phases, although they all Ultimately, the prototypes are developed to be happen concurrently and side-by-side (figure 1). At functional on a level that they can be tested with real different times of the research, researchers are asked people in their everyday situations. The prototypes are to put more effort into different phases. The conti- still considered to be a hypothesis, prototypes as hypo- nuous iteration, however, asks researchers to keep all thesis, because they are expected to be part of the the phases alive all the time. solutions for the challenges defined and redefined In the first phase –the contextual inquiry– the during the research. It remains to the stakeholders to

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 focus is on the exploration of the socio-cultural context decide whether they support the assertions made by of the design. The aim is to understand the environ- the design researchers. ment, situation, and culture where the design takes Research-based design is not to be confused with place. The results of the contextual inquiry are better design-based research (Barab & Squire, 2004; The understanding of the context by recognizing in it possi- Design-Based Research Collective, 2003; Fallman, ble challenges and design opportunities. In this phase, 2007; Leinonen & al., 2008). In research-based design researchers use rapid ethnographic methods, design, which builds on art and design tradition, the such as participatory observation, note-taking, sket- focus is on the artifacts, the end-results of the design. ching, informal conversations, and interviews. At the The way the artifacts are, the affordances and features same time as the field work, the design researchers are they have or do not have, form an important part of the doing a focused review of the literature, benchmarking research argumentation. As such, research-based existing solutions, and analyzing trends in the area in design as a methodological approach includes research, order to develop insights into the design challenges. design, and design interventions that are all inter- In the second phase –participatory design– works- twined. hops with the stakeholders are conducted. The workshops are based on the results of the contextual 4. Results: FLE4 and Square1 prototypes inquiry. In small groups of 4-6, the results of the con- By using the design-thinking approach and re - textual inquiry are discussed and developed further. A search-based design process described in the earlier common practice is to present the results as scenarios sections, we have designed and developed two proto- made by the design researchers containing challenges types of the CSCL tools: (1) the fourth version of the and design opportunities. In the workshop, the partici- Future Learning Environment (Fle4), a web-based pants are invited to come up with design solutions to software program for collaborative knowledge buil- the challenges and to bring to the discussion new cha- ding, and (2) Square1, a collection of learning devices llenges and solutions. Later, the participatory design designed for collaborative learning at school. workshops are organized to discuss the early proto - Fle4 and Square1 both rely on social constructivist types. The results of the participatory design are analyzed in a design studio by the design researchers and used to create early prototypes that are then tested and validated again in participatory design sessions. By keeping a distance from the stakeholders, in the product design phase the design researchers will get a chance to analyze the results of the participatory design, categorize them, use specific design language related to implementation of the prototypes, and finally make design decisions. Figure 1. Research-based design process.

learning and Lev Vygostky’s theory of the proximal cess that is common among scientific research groups. development zone. The prototypes are designed to Similarly to other tools focused on collaborative help and guide the learners’ social process of know- inquiry, FLE aims to facilitate higher-level understan- ledge construction that is distributed among the people ding by asking learners to present questions, to generate and their tools in use. The pedagogical foundation has explanations and theories for the phenomena under had a great impact on the design of prototypes. For investigation (Bruner, 1996; Carey & Smith, 1995; instance, prototypes are designed so that learners do Dunbar & Klahr, 1988; Perkins & al., 1995; Scarda- not only construct knowledge but also have a role in malia & Bereiter, 1993; Schwartz, 1995). Engaging Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the co-creation of their learning environment. learners to formulate new questions and explanations is Fle4 and Square1 have been designed based on a key issue as learners are more used to find answers to the latest research in CSCL, where researchers have pre-existing questions rather than posing new ones. emphasized the importance of engaging students and The hypothesis of the FLE prototypes was that a teachers in coordinated efforts to build new know - well-designed computer supported collaborative lear- ledge and to solve problems together (Dillenbourg, ning tool could drive the inclusion of more knowledge Baker, Blaye & O’Malley, 1996). Similarly to other building activities in the classroom and therefore chan- environments such as CoVis1, CoNotes, Beldere2, and ge the existing pedagogical practices in schools. As the CLA RE, research on the two prototypes has focused first full prototype of the FLE, the Fle3 offered a digital on building upon and testing the theories of collabora- space in which members of the learning community tive production, knowledge building discourse, and could find: 1) Web-tops for learners to collect and scaffolding. In the following, we present the tools, share information, 2) a Knowledge building tool for Square1 and FLE4, and describe in more detail the scaffolded online discussion with the aim of increasing design research in different phases of the research- the group’s level of knowledge and understanding based design process. about the topic under investigation, and a 3) jamming tool for the collaborative design of digital artifacts. 4.1. FLE4 – Future Learning Environment 4 As the latest version, the Fle4 builds on the work Fle4 (Future Learning Environment 4) is a tool for carried out in the design of the Fle3. The FLe4 offers knowledge building designed to work on the a tool for knowledge building that can be integrated WordPress blog platform (http://fle4.aalto.fi/about). and used with a blog service. When compared to the Fle4 is the latest iteration and version of the FLE rese- Fle3’s knowledge building tool, the Fle4 provides arch started in 1998. During the years, we have relea- visual and zoom-able network views to the discourse sed four functional prototypes, FLE (1988-1999), (figure 2). This is expected to help learners keep track Fle2 (2000-2001), Fle3 (2002), and Fle4 (2012). FLE of the various activities in the knowledge building dis- was originally addressed to children, teachers, and course as well as organize notes according to their parents in Finland. Later the research was continued importance. Fle4 also provides more advantaged ways in a European context. In the case of Fle3, the tool has to explore the knowledge building discourse by cluste- been used in all the continents, and the user interface ring notes according to authors and used knowledge has been translated into more than 20 languages. Even types. Learners may also view the notes on a timeline. today, Fle3 is used in some primary and secondary In the design research of the different versions of schools. FLE, the contextual inquiry of the research-based The challenge that motivated the original design of design process has been focusing on the practices of FLE was the observed lack of student-centered know- school learning and the possibilities to change some of ledge building activities in schools in Finland. Although them. By studying school children, teachers and these ideas were discussed among teachers and in tea- parents were able to recognize a need to change the cher-training schools, the actual practices in classro- practice, although we also realized that it can be very oms were seen to be traditional and hard to change. hard and may take very long time. Another key obser- Therefore, FLE was intended to support Progressive vation deals with the changes happening in the whole Inquiry learning (Hakkarainen, 2003), a learning knowledge infrastructure: the Internet connections model developed side-by-side with FLE. Progressive and computers in schools were supposed to challenge Inquiry is a way of learning where teachers and lear- traditional school learning, although at the same time, ners are engaged in sustaining continuous knowledge services such as the Learning Management Systems building across different school subjects. The idea is to (LMS) provided for schools were relying on the tradi- imitate practices of knowledge-intensive work – a pro- tional methods of teaching and learning. With the

FLE, we wanted and still want to present an alterna- Orga nizing Learning Environments (SOLE) (2012, tive approach to use computers and the Internet in 2013; Mitra & al. 2010). In SOLE, schoolchildren, school learning: more student-centered with a strong working in groups of four in front of a single computer, emphasis on collaborative work with knowledge. are given relatively open-ended questions they must As part of the design-based research process in the answer by searching information from the Internet and FLE research, we have conducted numerous partici- by developing their own explanations. While studying patory design sessions with teachers and schoolchil- in small groups, they may visit other groups and see

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 dren in several European countries. In these, we have what they have found out and they can also change designed features with teachers and children and tes- groups if they want. This kind of collaborative cons- ted paper prototypes and early versions of the softwa- truction of explanations is expected to engage children re. in the learning process that Perkins et al. (1995) have In the product design phase of the research-based characterized as a process of understanding by «wor- design process, we have analyzed the qualitative data king through». By searching and trying to understand in gathered from the participatory design sessions and small groups, students are empowered to work with have made design decisions related to the prototypes. various information sources, to evaluate them, to com- Often we have found out that what teachers or scho- bine from them explanations with their own level of olchildren want is not what they need, and by negotia- understanding, and to have sensible and meaningful ting these conflicts, we have often reach a good con- discussions on difficult topics. sensus with most of the people who have taken part in Square1 connects with the move from personal to the sessions. interpersonal computers (Kaplan & al., 2009). This Later in the research-based design process, we has strong implications in how we conceptualize colla- have developed the prototypes by following the prin- borative work, learning, and the sort of interactions ciples of agile software development, which consists of that we intend to happen in face-to-face situations. In short cycles of development that allows getting imme- the original SOLE model, four children work in front diate feedback from the people using the software. In of a single computer. In practice, the computers are the case of FLE prototypes, they have been tested by used only to search information related to the topic thousands of users. From this testing we have collec- under study. With the Square1, we wanted to expe- ted both quantitative and qualitative data that has been riment with how devices could exist that are precisely analyzed to inform design decisions for the next itera- designed for SOLE or a similar kind of collaborative tions of the prototype. process, that, in addition to searching information from Parallel to the design and development of FLE, the Internet, supports students to negotiate on the fin- learning methods based on collaborative inquiry pro- dings, to organize them, and to create new knowledge cesses were designed and communicated to thousands such as problems, hypothesis, and conclusions about of teachers in order to validate the pedagogical appro- the issues under study. ach. By building an FLE prototype and introducing a new learning model –the progressive inquiry– we were able to raise awareness among the educators but not necessarily to change school learning. Still, we may claim today that the experiments carried out with the various FLE prototypes and discussions around them, have shaped in a small way the research field of technology-enhanced learning and computer-supported collaborative learning.

4.2. Square1 Square1 is a prototype that consists of several learning devices designed for collaborative learning at school. The design builds on Sugata Mitra’s Self- Figure 2: FLe4 knowledge building tool’s map view.

The Square1 prototype set includes three devices: The design of the Square1 prototype also carries (1) one for writing, (2) one for drawing, and (3) one the idea of slow technology. The slowness does not central computer device for search and presentation mean slowness of the software running in the device composition (figure 3). With these devices, a group of but rather being slow with some tasks when compared four schoolchildren can do searches on the Internet to the time needed to complete them with a pen and with the central piece, write notes with the writing paper or a laptop computer. This approach is aligned devices, and draw pictures with the drawing devices. with slow technology where, according to Hallnäs &

Working with the central piece is expected to genera- Redström (2001), slowness is a key factor that could Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 te negotiation on the reliability and selection of sour- bring forth, and make room for, reflection. In this ces, which will be used in the presentation of their regard, slow technology should be considered as an research. With the writing and drawing device, chil- attempt to discuss the foundations for design as such in dren are expected to create content that will be inclu- information technology (Glanville, 1999). ded in the presentation of their findings and explana- During the contextual inquiry of the Square1’s tions. The things written and drawn with the devices research-based design process, we have visit several can be moved to the central piece, where they are schools in Finland to observe their ways of using lap- again composed together to be the presentation of the tops, tablets, and smartphones as well as trends related research. to handicraft teaching in schools. In many schools, A distinguishing aspect of the Square1 prototype is there are good facilities to assemble devices like the its connection to and fostering of a maker culture. The Square1, and the lack of deeper technology education Square1 is designed to be assembled by children in with the information and communication technologies school. The blueprints of the cases can be downloaded has been recognized by many teachers. The SOLE from a website and manufactured either with compu- model is known by some teachers, and there is interest ter-aided manufacturing tools such as 3D printers and in trying it out in schools. The information gathered laser cutters or with traditional handicraft tools such as and the analyses of it done during the contextual saws and screwdrivers. From the website, children inquiry helped us to define the design challenge. may also find information about the components nee- In the participatory design phase of the research- ded to assemble the devices and download all the software needed. In this sense, Square1 relates to some extent to the principles of Educational Sloyd, an educational movement started in Finland in the 1860s, which advocated handicraft-based general education. Other references in the Square1 concept come from initiatives, especially in the United States, that promote children as makers (e.g., Tinkering School3, the Mentor Makerspace 4 program, and Otherlab)5. The hypothesis of the Square1 prototype has been that by introducing a set of computer devices that are built by children and precisely designed for SOLE purposes, children will reach a higher level of ownership of their learning, get a better understanding of the technology used in their everyday life, and get engaged to the SOLE kind of learning projects. The experience of building their own learning devices and by using them in learning where they are responsible for the results of learning is expected to have a long-las- Figure 3: Visualization of the Square1 November 2012 prototype ting empowering effect on the children. (by Anna Keune).

based design process, we have run 12 workshops with them as «owners of problems» to act as designers and schoolchildren in Finland and in the United States. In to keep the prototypes open for further development these participatory design sessions, children have been (Fischer, Giaccardi, Ye, Sutcliffe & Mehandjiev, creating the initial idea and have developed it further 2004). In the research-based design process, it is not with paper and cardboard prototypes. In the research possible to decide at first what the problems are and group, we also have played SOLE with the cardboard what is needed. Therefore, it is essential for designers prototypes to get a first-hand experience on the lear- to engage in an open dialogue with participants and

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ning model and its possible implementation with the collaborate with them in a process of shared meaning Square1 prototype. construction. Back in our design studios in Helsinki (Finland) Approaching CSCL research with a design-thin- and Berkeley (USA), we have analyzed the data from king mindset opens the door for more experimental the participatory design sessions and have made design prototypes in which failures are also considered as decisions on the development direction of the prototy- results. Although in research-based design it is impor- pe. Parallel to the hardware design, we have started tant to be systematic and analytical, creativity, serendi- working on a software prototype. Furthermore, we pity, and intuition that comes from the art and design have started to test potential components available in traditions can offer valuable input. the market. This way, the product design is already Another aspect to take into consideration in the partly mixed with the production of the first functional discussion about design thinking and research-based prototypes. design in CSCL research is the designers’ commitment Square1 is still in the stage of being an early pro- to service. The tools designed are there to serve the totype, and the research is a work in progress. Initial learners and teachers and this should be a driving testing of the first functional prototypes in a classroom force throughout the design research process. The uti- environment will start in the autumn of 2013. In the litarian service approach doesn’t mean that designers first stage of testing, we will focus on the use of the should not be aware of theories of pedagogy and devices in the SOLE and then move to the second social science – quite the opposite. Designers must stage of testing, where children will be asked to assem- understand pedagogical ideas and be able to use them ble their own devices. in their designs and enrich the field with their contribution. Therefore, we consider that design thinking 5. Discussion and conclusion can be an interesting, alternative approach in CSCL As a methodological approach, design thinking and research, especially when the aim is to provide lear- the research-based design process relies on a shared, ners and their teachers with CSCL tools that will serve social construction of understanding with the people them. who will later use the tools. For instance, Bonsignore et al. (2013) have proposed participatory design tech- Notes niques in the design of technologies for collaborative 1 CoVis: www.covis.northwestern.edu (02-09- 2013). 2 learning. When using the design-thinking approach, Beldevere: http://belvedere.sourceforge.net (02-09- 2013). 3 The Tinkering School, 2012: www.tinkeringschool.com/about we may also see that the insights are gained in a dyna- (02-09- 2013). mic process of «reflection-in-action», where action is 4 Mentor Makerspace, 2013: http://makerspace.com/tag/mentor- used to extend thinking and reflection is governed by maker space (02-09- 2013). the results of action (Schön, 1987). 5 Otherlab: www.otherlab.com (02-09-2013). Design thinking is deeply human-centered system thinking. In the case of CSCL research, it can help Sources of support The research has been developed in the context of the Learning researchers take into consideration both the students Design – Design of Learning (LEAD, http://lead.aalto.fi) project. It is and the teachers in a system. With research-based partially funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and design, design research can conclude with prototypes Innovation (TEKES). that will have a real impact on the everyday practices of teaching and learning. References The research-based design process aims to meet BARAB, S.A. & SQUIRE, K. (2004). Design-Based Research: Putting a the challenge of designing for use before it actually has Stake in the Ground. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13 (1), 1-14. (DOI: http://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls1301_1). taken place – design for use before use (Redström, BONSIGNORE, E., AHN, J. & AL. (2013). Embedding Participatory 2008). In order to achieve this goal, it is crucial to Design into Designs for Learning: An Untapped Interdisciplinary involve the participants in the design process, allowing Resource? In N. RUMMEL, M. KAPUR, M. NATHAN & S. PUN TAM-

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K aleidoscope

Research Studies Analysis 118 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: RESEARCH

Received: 19-11-2012 / Reviewed: 15-02-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Emine Sur, Emre Ünal & Kamil eri Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 19450

Konya / Nide (Turkey) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-11 Primary School Second Grade Teachers’ and Students’ Opinions on Media Literacy Creencias sobre alfabetización mediática en profesores y estudiantes de Educación Primaria

ABSTRACT In this study, interviews were conducted with teachers of media literacy to determine the needs of media literacy teaching in the classroom. As a result, we see that teachers need in-service training for classes in media literacy; the media literacy lesson is adequate in terms of content but inadequate as an activity. Students indicated significant changes in their perceptions of media after taking these lessons. A «Media Literacy Level Scale» and a «Media Literacy Attitude were applied to determine students’ level and attitude. The information on students was obtained through the «Private Information Form». As a result, a positive, low-level and significant relationship was found between the students’ attitude levels on media literacy lessons and their media literacy levels. The study’s conclusion is that there is no significant difference between the media literacy classes taken by the primary school second grade students and their attitudes and levels on media literacy. Also, no significant difference was found between the educational levels of the parents of these second graders and their attitudes and levels on media literacy. However, there was a significant difference between the students’ daily newspaper reading habits and the frequency of listening to the radio and their attitudes on media literacy classes and media literacy levels. RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo es definir la situación y necesidades actuales de alfabetización mediática en el aula, a tra- vés de una serie de entrevistas. Los resultados demuestran que los docentes necesitan formación en esta área, que la enseñanza en alfabetización mediática es adecuada en términos de contenido pero inadecuada como actividad. Los estudiantes muestran cambios significativos en sus propias percepciones sobre los medios tras recibir clases de alfabetización mediática. Para evaluar el nivel y la actitud de los estudiantes se aplicaron una escala de alfabetización mediática y una escala de actitud. La información se obtuvo a través de un formulario de información privado desa- rrollado por los investigadores. En las conclusiones se halló una relación significativa, positiva y de bajo nivel entre los grados de actitud hacia los contenidos de la alfabetización mediática. La principal conclusión obtenida es que no existe una diferencia significativa entre los estudiantes que asisten a clases de alfabetización mediática en segundo grado de educación primaria y sus actitudes en el aula y su nivel de alfabetización. Asimismo, tampoco se aprecia una diferencia significativa entre el nivel educativo de los padres y sus actitudes. Sin embargo, sí se aprecian diferencias notables cuando existe hábito de lectura diaria de la prensa y la radio. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Media literacy, Primary School, teacher training, perceptions, scales, attitudes, educational levels. Alfabetización mediática, educación primaria, formación docente, percepciones, escalas, actitudes, nivel educativo.

v Emine Sur is a Teacher in Konya (Turkey) ([email protected]). v Dr. Emre Ünal is Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary School Teaching of the Faculty of Education at Nide University (Turkey) ([email protected]). v Dr. Kamil eri is Associate Professor in the Department of Turkish Teaching of the Faculty of Education at Nide University (Turkey) ([email protected]).

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XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 119-127 www.revistacomunicar.com 120 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ting, video, books, tele-photos, radio-photos, lifax, fre lifax, radio-photos, tele-photos, books, video, ting, compu- Internet, of hypermedia, multivision, planning cinevision, and film) and media cinema television, electronic (radio, magazines), print (newspapers, includes that media media mass whole the the as describes media author This 1). 2000: (Bülbül, public the to belonging means which Mediae Medium, from Introduction 1. codn t te eiiin rm Te National «The from definition 195). 2009: the Özalpman, to & According (Çölolu them communicate and with evaluate analyze, to capacity the gain and messages of variety a access to capacity the most common definition of media literacy is defined as The 56). 2006: (Efe-Özad, simple not concept, ted complica- a is It literate. media completely is Nobody known. the and it conscious the Audience-oriented, to according person. changes the on depends and relative is It modes. different has It definitions. many 9). 2008: not time, to only in our country but also around the world (eylan, time from estates three other the affect even can they and pronouncement, and enforcement legislation, after estate fourth the of part be to sidered con are society on acting force effective an society. as Media influence only also not they individual, Media the 800). influence 2009: Karata, media the & in see (Karaman they those like just live or talk act, they when happy feel people furthermore, opinions; have on the the clothes they wear, their lifestyle or political realize messages or advertisements not news, media mass do effect mostly (2003) individuals Samuelson that unaware. declares be can other media he on to but occasions affected, subjected consciously is is and he influence that who realizes individual, the sometimes influence easily can ages all of beliefs and people all out seek that attitudes media The 56). 2006: (Özad, judgments, value individual’s the change sometimes and affect they entertain; but also inform only not extent lesser or greater a to ple) peo old and (young everyone reach that media The 62). 2006: (Kutolu, people ideas) exchange the and us and around friends our with communicate together and come we where world (the world real is the other the messages), access can we where media mass all contains world virtual (the world media the is one worlds; different two in live we (2001), Potter to wide area which covers all mass media. 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Likert students’ the determine to five-point used was scale A distinguishing. be to seen reliability symbol for each sub-factor; the articles of the scale a are consistency as correlations internal item-total alpha and coefficient the measures that scale literacy media 2009a). al., & (Elma towards attitudes students’ the mine «Attitudes Scale on Media Literacy» that aims to deter- parents. their of level educational the and TV ching wat- spend students the day a hours many how mine deter- to aim which Form», Information «Private ding hea- the under questions 8 are there first, the In parts. Turkish S1. as coded was Teacher Sciences Social interview. the while T3 and the T2 T1, as coded from were Teachers obtained data the analyze to order in number code a given were cipants parti- All interviewees. the of permission the with ded impact and subjective judgments. The interviews were recor- his minimize to tried and way, same phrased in and them order same the in questions the interviewer posed the teachers, with interview tools. the research During as Scale» Assessment Level Literacy «Media a and Literacy» Media on Scale «Attitudes tools collection Data 2.2. lesson. literacy media on education in-service no had had teachers The S1. with minutes, 20 was test In the third part, there is a «Media Literacy Level Literacy «Media a is there part, third the In 4-factor a is Scale» Attitude Literacy «Media The named scale 31-item a is there part, second the In three of consists students the to applied scale The an Form», Interview «Teacher a used study This 121 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 122

(2009), whose purpose is to determine teacher media to the statistics, Cronbach’s alpha value was.93, and literacy levels. Some articles are adapted in accordan- the values related to the scale’s first and second factors ce with the elementary school students’ levels of were .87 and .90 respectively. understanding. The data collection tool consists of three parts to 2.2.2. Structural validity and reliability of the atti- determine the students’ socio-demographic characteris- tude scale on media literacy tics, the relationship between the students and mass It was decided to make a factor analysis to deter-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 media, and the students’ media literacy levels. The ques- mine the validity of this scale. First, KMO and Barlett tions are rated as five-point Likert including 1= Never, tests were run to find out whether the scale was 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Mostly, and 5= Always. appropriate for the analysis. In this context, the KMO The articles on the scale are classified as three factors; test result should be .50 or higher, and the Barlett glo- «having true knowledge», «ability to analyze and form a balization test score should be statistically significant reaction» and «ability to hear/see the implicit messages». (Jeong, 2004: 70). In this study, the KMO test result was 88 and the Barlett globalization test (P<0.01) 2.2.1. Structural validity and reliability of the result was significant. In the exploratory factor analy- media literacy level assessment scale sis, the limit value was taken as .45 for the factor loa- It was decided to make a factor analysis of the ding, and the varimax rotation technique, as one of the study in order to determine the validity of the scale. vertical techniques was used to find items with a high First, KMO and Barlett tests were done in order to test correlation and to make determinations on the factors. whether the scale was appropriate for the analysis. In Four factors were obtained as a result of the this context, the KMO test score should be .50 or hig- exploratory factor analysis on the Media Literacy Level her, and the Barlett globalization test should be statisti- Assessment Scale. These factors amounted to 22.59%, cally significant (Jeong, 2004: 70). As a result of this 9.13%, 8.54% and 8.46% of the total variance of the study, the KMO test score was 93 and the Barlett glo- scale, respectively. The total scale size was 48.72%. balization test (P<0.01) result was significant. In the The data obtained from the factor analysis emphasize exploratory factor analysis, the limit value is taken as that validity of the scale is high level. .45 for the factor loading, and the varimax rotation The Media Literacy Level Assessment Scale ini- technique, as one of the vertical techniques, was used tially included 31 articles. However, after discarding to find items with a high correlation and to facilitate those substances with a load value under .45 (6, 11, determinations on the factors. Two factors were 12, 13, 25, 28), there remained 25 articles. obtained as a result of the exploratory factor analysis Büyüköztürk (2002: 119) indicates that if the factor co- on the Media Literacy Level Assessment Scale. The variance of the substances is close to 1 or higher than first factor reached 28.45% and the second factor .66 it is a good solution, but, in practice it is generally 27.97% of the total variance of the scale. The total size difficult to accept. After factor rotation, four factors of the scale was 56.42%. For Büyüköztürk (2002: were observed to include 13 (14,15,16, 17,18,19, 20, 119), ıt is sufficient for the rate variances to be explai- 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31), 4 (7,8,9,10); 5 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ned if the scale has one factor that is 30% or higher. and 3 articles (21, 22, 23), respectively. The data obtained from the factor analysis emphasize Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was per - that the validity of the scale is high level. formed to determine the reliability of the scale. The Media Literacy Level Assessment Scale ini- According to the statistics, Cronbach’s alpha value was tially included 16 articles, but then it was decided to .88 and the values for the scale’s factors were .89, .73, discard those substances (5, 16) which did not figure .63, and .70, respectively. in any article or which had a load value under .45, thus reducing the scale to 14 articles. Büyüköztürk 2.3. Data resolution and analysis (2002: 119) indicates that if the factor co-variance of Before resolution of the data, the surveys were the substances is close to 1 or higher than .66 then it is given a sequence number. We used 445 scales for the a good solution, but, in practice it is generally difficult evaluations. In conclusion, the points on the attitude to accept. After factor rotation, the first factor is seen scale on media literacy are: 5) I completely agree, 4) I to include 7 substances (8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15), as agree, 3) I have no idea, 2) I disagree, 1) I strongly does the second (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9). disagree. The media literacy level assessment scale is Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was perfor- determined as: 1=Never, 2=Rarely, 3=Sometimes, med to determine the reliability of the scale. According 4=Mostly, 5=Always.

between the classes taken by primary school second grade students and attitudes. Yeil & Korkmaz (2008: 68), who are student teachers, determined that there is a significant difference according to class grade between TV addiction and literacy levels. That is, the TV literacy levels of the students who are in 4th

3. Results and comments grade are higher than those of students in 1st grade. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 The correlation table related to the question «What is the level of the relationship between the atti- 2) The results of the second sub-problem. The tudes towards media education of students who have results related to the problem raised in the question received media literacy education in the second grade «Are primary school second grade students’ attitudes of primary school and their media literacy levels?» is on media literacy and their media literacy levels diffe- shown in table 4. rent according to their fathers’ educational level are When we analyze table 4, we see a positive, low- shown in table 6. level and significant relationship between the attitudes As observed in table 6, the result of the one-way of primary school second graders towards media lite- variance analysis shows there is no significant differen- racy and media literacy levels (r=.195, p<0,05). This ce related to media literacy lessons (F(4-440)=.342, result could mean that the greater the change in the p>0.05) and media literacy levels (F(4-440)=.802, attitude level towards media literacy classes of primary p>0.05) between the educational level of the fathers school second grade students, the more the media lite- of primary school second grade students and attitudes. racy levels can fluctuate. As the perception styles and levels of being influenced by the media literacy classes among primary school second grade students change, so their attitudes towards this lesson modify. The levels of media literacy of students with positive attitudes towards this lesson also increase. In literature, we have not found a study which shows 1) Results of the first sub-problem. The results the relationship between attitude levels on the media related to the problem expressed in the question «Are literacy of the primary school second grade students primary school second grade students’ attitudes on who take media literacy classes and their fathers’ level media literacy and their media literacy levels different of education. according to their classes?» are presented in table 5. As we see in table 5, the one-way variance analy- 3) The results of the third sub-problem. The sis shows that there is no significant difference related results related to problem posed in the question «Are to media literacy lessons (F(3-441)=2.555, p>0.05) primary school second grade students’ attitudes on and media literacy levels F(3-441)=.979, p>0.05) media literacy and their media literacy levels different according to their mothers’ educational level are shown in table 7. As seen in table 7, the result of the one-way variance analysis is that there is no significant difference related to media literacy lessons (F(5-439)= .807, p>0.05) and media literacy levels (F(5-439)=

mary school second grade students’ attitudes on media literacy and their media literacy levels different according to their habit of reading daily newspapers?» are shown in table 9.

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 As seen in table 9, the independent test reveals that there is a significant difference related to media .870, p>0.05) between the educational level of the literacy lessons (t(441)=3.582, p<0.05) and media mothers of primary school second grade students and literacy levels (t(441)=2.482, p<0.05) between the attitudes. In literature, we have found no study which primary school second grade students’ reading of daily shows the relationship between the attitude levels on newspapers and attitude. When we look for a refe- media literacy of the primary school second grade stu- rence for this difference, we see the balance is in favor dents who take media literacy lessons and their mot- of those who read daily newspapers. hers’ educational level. Karaman & Karata (2009) researched student teachers’ media literacy levels regarding reading daily 4) The results of the fourth sub-problem. The newspapers. According to their research, there is a sig- results related to the problem in the question «Are pri- nificant difference between those who read newspa- mary school second grade students’ attitudes on media pers on a daily basis and those who do not. In addi- literacy and their media literacy levels different accor- tion, the media literacy levels of these readers of daily ding to the hours they spend watching TV per day?» are newspaper are higher. ahin & Tüzel (2011) made a in table 8:ol Second Grade Students’ Attitude Level on study to determine to what extent student teachers Media Literacy and Media Literacy Levels according to believe the media reflect what is happening in the real how many hours they spend in front of the TV. world. They concluded that it is understood that those As observed in table 8, the result of the one-way student teachers who consider TV, radio and the variance analysis is that there is no a significant diffe- Internet to be the most reliable media tool have more rence related to media literacy lessons (F(5- positive views about the issue of the media reflecting 439)=1.030, p>0.05) and media literacy levels (F(5- the real world than those who consider books and 439)=.860, p>0.05) between the number of hours newspapers to be the most reliable media tool. the primary school second grade students spend wat- Santibáñez (2010); Ponte & Aroldi (2009) made an ching TV per day and attitudes. In literature, we have important study on this subject. In a study by Yazgan found no study which shows the relationship between & Kıncal (2009: 509), they determined that college the attitude levels on media literacy of the primary students who read more newspapers than their peers school second grade students who take media literacy have greater skills in critical media literacy (ahin & lessons and the amount of spent time in front of TV. Tüzel, 2011:135). The results of similar studies support the result of this research. 5) The results of the fifth sub-problem. The results related to the problem in the question «Are pri- 6) The results of the sixth sub-problem. The results related to problem expressed in the question «Are primary school second grade students’ attitudes on media literacy and their media literacy levels different according to how often they lis-

the educational level of the fathers of primary school second grade students and the attitudes related to media literacy classes and media literacy levels. It is also seen that there is no significant difference between the educational level of the mothers of primary school second grade students

and the attitudes related to media literacy Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 lessons and media literacy levels. There is also no significant difference ten to the radio?» are presented in table 10. between the number of hours the primary school As seen in table 10, the result of the one-way second grade students spend in front of the TV and variance analysis shows that there is no significant dif- attitudes related to media literacy lessons and media ference related to media literacy lessons (F(3-4441)= literacy levels. We also observe that there is no signi- 4.508, p<0.05) and media literacy levels (F(3-441)= ficant difference between the primary school second 3.868, p<0.05). between how often primary school grade students’ consumption of newspapers on a daily second grade students listen to the radio and attitudes. basis and attitudes related to media literacy lessons and According to the results of the Scheffe Test made media literacy levels. There is also no significant diffe- to determine the differential reference point in the pri- rence between how often primary school second mary school second grade students’ attitudes on media grade students listen to the radio and the attitudes rela- literacy between those who listen to or do not listen to ted to media literacy classes and media literacy levels. the radio, we can see that there is a difference in favor Finally it is understood that there is a significant diffe- of those who listen to radio a few hours a day. The rence in favor of those who listen to the radio once a test shows that in the primary school second grade stu- week and those who do not. The conclusions from dents’ media literacy levels, there is a difference in the interviews with teachers about media literacy are favor of those who listen to the radio once a week and that teachers do not have enough information about those who do not. In the literature review, we found the media literacy education program or they give no result that was as directly proportional or inversely media literacy courses using a system that is virtually proportional as this result. one of rote learning. Teachers think that media literacy lessons are ade- 4. Conclusions and recommendations quate in terms of content but the activities are inade- 4.1. Conclusions quate. They also indicate that they use the «Teacher’s When we examine the relationship between the Hand book for Media Literacy Lesson» and they primary school second grade students’ attitude level on mainly use the discussion method during the lesson. As media literacy classes and media literacy levels, we a result of interview we can see that teachers have find a positive, low-level and significant relationship. some difficulties with these lessons because they did This situation shows that the more the attitude level on not have in-service training on how to give media lite- media literacy lessons of primary school second grade racy classes. Teachers think that this lesson has a posi- students increases, the greater the fluctuation in media tive effect on the students’ perspective on media. On literacy levels. It is well-understood that there is no sig- the other hand, teachers indicate that there is positive nificant difference between primary school second progress in students’ attitudes after taking this lesson. grade students’ classes where they are taught media literacy and attitudes towards the media literacy lesson and media literacy levels. It is seen that there is no significant difference between

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SANTIBÁÑEZ, J. (2010). Virtual and Real Classroom in Learning Audio - THOMAN, E. & JOLLS, T. (2005). Literacy for the 21st Century: visual Communication and Education. Comunicar, 35 (XVIII),183- An Overview and Orientation Guide to Media Literacy Educa - 191. (DOI: 10.3916/C35-2010-03-12). tion. Center for Media Literacy:www.medialit.org/medialitkit. AHIN, Ç. & TÜZEL, S. (2011). Medya Dünyasının Gerçek Dünya - YAZGAN, A.D. & KINCAL, R. (2009). Eitim Fakültesi Örencilerinin yı Yansıtma Düzeyinin Öretmen Adaylarının Görüleri Dorultu - Medya Okuryazarlık Düzeyleri, Demokrasi Algıları ve Dogmatik sunda Belirlenmesi. [Identification of Reflection Level of Media Düünce Becerileri Arasindaki Ilikinin ncelenmesi. [Faculty of World to Real World with Opinions of Teacher Candidates]. Edu - Edu cation Students’ Media Literacy Levels, Dogmatic Thinking cation and Science Journal, 36, 127-140. Skills Perception and examine the relationship between democracy.] EYLAN, S. (2008). Medya Okuryazarlıı Ders Uygulamalarında nternational Symposium on Democracy Education in Europe. (pp- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Dün ya Üzerinde Görülen Aksaklıklar. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, stanbul 516-530). Çanakkale/Turkey. Kültür Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, stanbul. [Media Li- YEIL, R. & KORKMAZ, Ö. (2008). Öretmen adaylarının televizyon teracy Course on the Application of the Problems in the World. baımlılıkları, okuryazarlık düzeyleri ve eitselliine ilikin düüncele- Mas ter’s Thesis, Istanbul Kultur University, Institute of Social Scien- ri. Selçuk Üniversitesi Ahmet Keleolu Eitim Fakültesi Dergisi. ces]. Istanbul. [Teacher Candidates’ Television Addiction, Educational, Literacy TAKIRAN, N.Ö. (2007). Medya okuryazarlıına giri [Introduction Levels, and Thoughts About]. Keleolu Ahmet Selçuk University to Media Literacy]. Beta Basın Yayınevi, stanbul. Faculty of Education Magazine, 26, 55-72.

Received: 06-06-2013 / Reviewed: 23-06-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 22007 l Vicent Gozálvez & Paloma Contreras-Pulido Valencia / Huelva (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-12 Empowering Media Citizenship through Educommunication Empoderar a la ciudadanía mediática desde la educomunicación

ABSTRACT This article analyses the different meanings of the citizenship concept (political, legal, social, economic, ecological and intercultural) in order to justify the current media citizenship concept, which is particularly useful and valid for media education. The ultimate goal is to rebuild the social, ethical and political dimension of educommunication on a practical and philosophical foundation. With this in mind, we have analysed two very powerful and current ap - proaches, the ethics of dialogue and ability, mainly because of their links to communication and their contribution to the human development concept, which is on the media education agendas of international organizations such as UNESCO or the European Commission. From the philosophical foundation proposed, the criteria for evaluating and reconstructing the practical dimension of educommunication are: civic participation, freedom as development and critical autonomy, which are also considered goals of the educational systems in pluralistic and democratic societies, especially from a model of deliberate and participatory democracy. The paper concludes with a positive evaluation of interdisciplinary approach in the study of media education, an educational project that is crucial for the revival of civil society and the empowerment of citizens in the current communicative context. RESUMEN En el presente artículo se analiza el concepto de ciudadanía en sus diferentes significaciones (ciudadanía política, jurídica, social, económica, ecológica e intercultural), con el fin de justificar la actualidad del concepto de ciudadanía mediática, sobre todo por su validez en el ámbito de la educomunicación. El objetivo último es reconstruir la dimen- sión social, ética y política de la educomunicación a partir de un fundamento filosófico práctico. En esta tarea de fundamentación, cabe apelar a dos enfoques muy potentes en la actualidad como son la ética dialógica y el enfoque de las capacidades, por su vinculación con el ámbito comunicativo y por su contribución a la noción del desarrollo humano, presente en los programas de educación mediática de organismos internacionales como la UNESCO o la Comisión Europea. A partir de la fundamentación filosófica ofrecida, los criterios para evaluar y reconstruir la dimen- sión práctica de la educomunicación son la participación cívica, la libertad como desarrollo y la autonomía crítica, consideradas asimismo como fines de los sistemas educativos en sociedades plurales y democráticas, sobre todo desde un modelo deliberativo y participativo de democracia. Tras esta argumentación, el artículo concluye a favor de la interdisciplinariedad en el estudio de la educación mediática, un proyecto educativo que es crucial para la reac- tivación de la sociedad civil y el empoderamiento de la ciudadanía en el actual contexto comunicativo. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Media education, educommunication, media literacy, citizenship, participatory democracies, development, critical thinking, freedom. Educación mediática, educomunicación, alfabetización mediática, ciudadanía, democracias participativas, desarrollo, pensamiento crítico, libertad.

v Dr. Vicent Gozálvez Pérez is Contracted Professor of Educational Theory at the University of València (Spain) ([email protected]). v Paloma Contreras Pulido is Researcher in the Agora Research Group and FPI intern in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the University of Huelva (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 129-136 www.revistacomunicar.com 130

1. Introduction. The social and ethical dimension the sense of among equals). It means defending and of educommunication strengthening our legal and judicial condition as citi- The theoretical framework of this investigation is zens, equal before the law and entitled to its protec- directly influenced by an ethical viewpoint that is radi- tion. It also means reinforcing our social citizenship cally democratic and civic in nature, as befits the times with the understanding that life in society cannot deve- we live in, since each time has its fundamental task lop with dignity without the guarantee of a minimum (Ortega-Gasset, 2003), and ours is to provide an ethi- of social justice in education and public health, a stan-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 cal and citizen-based explanation of the information dard of living based on social rights such as the right to and technology societies we live in. How can we work, to education, health and housing (Ibíd.: 66). To develop a broad conception of citizenship in today’s be a citizen in todays’ society means making our eco- world from a media literacy perspective? nomic citizenship a reality, that is, to be free to partici- The main statement of this article would be that pate actively in our economic environment via respon- educommunication cannot be understood in its enti- sible and informed consumption or via a business acti- rety unless it has a civic purpose, that is, it must be vity governed by a sense of social responsibility that this endowed with an ethical, social and democratic base entails. Economic citizenship derives from «the need that empowers citizens in their dealings with the to redirect economic activity by means of moral para- media. Citizen empowerment means strengthening meters such as justice, responsibility and solidarity» freedom, critical autonomy and participation in politi- (Conill, 2004: 28). And this immediately leads to ano- cal, social, economic, ecological and intercultural ther form of citizenship, ecological citizenship (Dobson affairs based on the correct use of the media and com- & Bell, 2006). Ecological citizenship means assuming municative technologies. What is the true meaning those civic virtues needed for a sustainable society, for and reach of this statement? The answer lies in redis- an environmental sustainability which is an ethical covering the various dimensions of the concept of citi- requirement of and a responsibility towards our and zenship in democratic settings and showing the close future generations (Dobson, 2005: 53). link that exists between this concept and the action In this short summary of the current dimensions of made possible by the media or communication techno- citizenship which is unavoidable in any exploration of logies. This link leads the way to an acceptance of a the ethical and civic dimension of educommunication new notion of citizen: media citizenship. Our article is we cannot ignore cosmopolitan citizenship (Nuss- based on this double challenge as an in-depth study of baum, 1999; Benéitez, 2010), a notion that comes the more practical (social, ethical and political) side of from the old ideal of stoic philosophy which through educommunication. philosophers like Kant emerges today with real force in the idea of interculturality. The new world context, 2. Civic aspects of educommunication: of political characterized by the processes of economic globaliza- citizenship to media citizenship tion and communicative connections between coun- The notion of citizenship has recently made a tries, explains the reflection on the need for a globali- comeback in response to post-industrial society’s need zation of human rights and in the field of ethics, in to «generate among its members an identity they can which the defence of the equality of dignity for all peo- recognize and which makes them feel they belong» ples is associated to the acknowledgment of cultural (Cortina, 1997: 22). To talk of citizenship is more than diversity, with the aim of overcoming ethnocentric ten- just a reference to an administrative category related to dencies and extreme multiculturalism, that is, the ten- the legal and judicial recognition of a person by the dency towards cultural imposition on the one hand State. It is a call to a certain condition: to be an inde- and radical ethical relativism on the other (Cortina, pendent being in possession of freedom, acting with 1997: 186). responsibility and as protagonist in the various spheres Secondly, to live citizenship to the full in his day or dimensions of public life. It assumes liberation from and age when so much is hypercommunicated and the servitude and submission that can prevail in diffe- screened worldwide (Lipovetsky & Serroy, 2009) rent settings in our lives in society today. means emphasizing the civic use of the media, in other So, to live as a citizen with full rights means activa- words, that set of media actions that citizens have to ting the idea of our political citizenship which first learn in a democracy in order to be valid protagonists appears in Ancient Greece and which currently in the political, legal, social, economic, educational amounts to the active participation in public affairs, and intercultural fields, and to avoid sliding into new helping to shape the democratic ideal of «isegoría» (in forms of servitude within these settings. To be a citi-

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 129-136 being configured as a platform that enables direct citi direct enables that platform a as configured being is Internet the politics, and law in example For sense. integral most and broadest their in technologies cative ces necessary in order to use the media and communi tivating and acquiring an education in those competen- cul- means that and citizen, media a be to is today zen the meaning of identity and dignity by giving voice and broadens and frontiers down breaks that 2008) Varis, & (Pérez-Tornero dialogue intercultural authentic of resource an are which by interactions strengthened communicative and enabled is citizen intercultural the level, another screens…On computer and phone mobile make to used coltan, of commercialization and extraction the of consequences the stop to and about informed be to demand also citizens media discarded; poor recycling of mobile the phones or computers once they are example for consumption, communicative of acts private of consequences environmental the of 38.6 were there users millioni). language English entries, for million while 6.08 «consumer found Google for active, in search associations» for (a instrument an consumption as demanding or Spain), shares» in «preference scandal the by to affected calls those to mobilize «foroantiusura.org» 22.3 from generated results, Google million for on search banks» (a against institutions «forums financial by example, for rights, those of abuse of face enable to them to claim their rights in the media infinite of an number with citizens des provi- Internet the field, nomic eco the imbued In justice. social with society a is of that worthy system educational mobilizes to claim a health and media the through informed is who citizen the as just setting, work and educational the in skill basic that a is interaction such sense the in citizenship tion is also an element of social interac Media etc. rency.org), (transpa corruption political of consultations reports on corporate crime and open via or themselves Change.org), citizens (Avaaz.org; by promoted mobilizations & and Lee campaigns (Kahne, in participation virtual level via 2012), Feezell, international and national a on interest public of areas various in participation zen © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 129-136 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: The civic use of the media encourages awareness encourages media the of use civic The - - - them and their priorities». their and them affect that issues the problems, their define openly to and heard be to want also they But consequences. their about and policies political generate that processes the of informed be to demanding increasingly are governed the democracies, modern communication…In of space a necessarily is arena public The discussed. are issues public which in circuits communication of network multiple «a but anything as conceived be cannot democracy purposeful or Participative - - o Euomncto wud ed o ok o the to look for point reference theoretical a for discourse of ethics to need would Educommunication for program pedagogical Any critique». «hermeneutic a to «ethics of dialogue», with their roots in Kant and linked or discourse» of «ethics the have we Firstly, zenship. citi- media of construction pedagogical the for theory in basis operational solid a offer that models sophical philo provides landscape ethical current The cation. luate the ethical and social dimension of educommuni- eva to us enable to references philosophical various education media current for theories Ethical educommunication. of base Philosophical 3. media education requires a deeper philosophical base. media. the with However, to dealings talk of ethical, civic and political values in our in solidarity or dence indepen - critical freedom, of values the from removed the goals of educommunication since it is by no means of one becomes citizen media the here, And crucial. is institutions educational of role the sense this in and society, and age our defines undoubtedly dimension communication and media the since media, the in economic, social, so less no is it then fields intercultural legal, and educational political, the in citizen a be to important is it today If 2012). (Gozálvez, interactive in and by the grace of the media, be they traditional or citizenship is which citizenship, media citizenship: of form new a to points technologies communicative and culture. ferent dif- a from and stranger a is who someone to visibility To help us in this reconstructivist task we look to look we task reconstructivist this in us help To media the of use civic the on reflection a sum, In - - 131 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 132

its critical perspective, or put another way, a founda- use of reason»; the media can play their part as an tion based on the conditions of possibility for our acts expression of «human social activity», with legitimate of speech or communication given meaning. In recent goals and internal resources that help to define how a times ethical dialogue has provided us with a broad citizen uses these media, one of which would be their reflection on the critical and prescriptive evaluation of contribution to enabling «mature, responsible public all argumentation (Apel, 2007: 284); such evaluations opinion» (Cortina, 2004: 20). So, we see the connec- help define communication performed in suitable set- tion between proposals based on the ethics of dialogue

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tings, hence this philosophical approach is especially and educommunication: the latter aims to use educa- interesting for media education. tion to promote those values of communicative ratio- A key work on the ethics of discourse is Haber - nality crucial for criticism and social progress. We mas’ «The theory of communicative action» (1981), refer to values such as transparency and plurality, the which presents a critical theory of society based on its freedom to discuss and argue based on being well- informed, equality in dignity and the respect for others as valid interlocutors, or the effort to reach agreement following This article analyses the theoretical link between educom- best-argued case criteria. And munication, the ethics of dialogue and the capabilities appro- of course, the call to citizen solidarity as a resource for proach in order to reconstruct a valid ethical and political base pagating calls for justice. Secondly, and from a neo- for media education. We have also investigated the keys Aristotelian tendency, the that will empower citizens and convert them into protago- «capabilities approach» promoted by Sen (1999; 2009) and nists in the media environment by extending the current the- Nussbaum (2012) represents another convincing model for ory of citizenship by means of the «media citizen». today for setting the foundations of the social and ethical dimension of educommunication. The key to this philoso - participants’ communicative relations which open up a phical model (ethical, social, economic and political) is space for intersubjectivity in the search for agreement understanding that human development is based on on questions of truth, justice and social progress. In freedom understood as the ability to carry out one’s discourse ethics, the communicative action amounts to own life project in a way that is socially and humanely an interaction between subjects mediated by symbols, compatible. Sen says that «according to this approach, and which adjusts to the aims that the participants pre- the extension of freedom is both the main aim of deve- suppose as the conditions of dialogue in their acts of lopment and its principal medium. Development con- speaking: truth in dialogues on reality, correction in sists of eliminating those restrictions on freedom that dialogues on justice with a view to those interests that leave individuals with few options and opportunities to can be universalized, freedom to enunciate and inter- exercise their reasoned agenda» (Sen, 1999: 16, 223). pret acts of speaking, equality or symmetry among the Obviously «agency» or people’s free capability within participants (in which the key lies in the force of the a hypercommunicated environment requires guaran - best argument and not in the position or privileges of tees of transparency regarding pubic information as the speaker), and truth or sincerity in the process of well as access to «a free press and active political communication. These conditions of «communicative opposition». rationality» aim to provide an intersubjectively ack- For several years Sen (Nobel Prize for Economics, nowledged validity which is required, out of a sense of 1998) was director of the United Nations Develop - responsibility, to resolve conflicts of action by means of ment Program (UNPD) which published numerous consensus and to critically evaluate which acts of com- development indicators for countries that went munication match the criteria of authentic dialogue beyond the usual GDP. What interests us most here is and rational deliberation. With dialogue as a base, and the clear and close relationship between freedom, in pluralist societies, it is vital to cultivate the «public human development and the media especially in edu-

cation. Citizen empowerment in the media arena is use of the media. This adds value to media education one of the conditions for human development and free - as a means to social and democratic progress and dom in the broadest sense; freedom which is the capa- human development in line with the philosophical bility to search for and select information, detect its ori- approaches explained in the previous section. gin and intentions and to decipher meaning in the ima- One of the main principals is to prevent the infor- ges and understand the values and emotions behind mation society from becoming, as Brey, Campàs and the audiovisual world in order to produce alternative Mayos (2009) put it, an «ignorant society». These aut- channels and messages, etc. In the end, «it is clear that hors state the vast quantity of information we are cons- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 we have good reason to pay attention to the creation tantly bombarded with can induce «an attitude of of those conditions necessary for individuals to take knowledge-renouncement due to lack of motivation, a better-informed decisions and promote intelligent surrender and a tendency to tacitly and comfortably public debate» (Sen, 1999: 336). accept prefabricated and clichéd viewpoints. A lack of Several UNICEF and UNESCO reports support critical capability is just another sign of our growing this idea, which acts as a bridge between human deve- ignorance» (Brey, Campàs & Mayos, 2009: 26). lopment, communication, citizenship and educommuni- In the face of this paradoxical ignorance Brey, cation. This link can be seen in the «Media Develop- Moeller (2009: 66) emphasize the urgency of teaching ment Indicators» report in UNESCO’s Inter national citizens to be autonomous from a critical perspective, Program for Development of Communication (2008), inviting people to «evaluate what they read, hear and UNICEF’s «Development of Capabilities for the see, and also to teach them to take notice of what is Exercise of Citizenship» report of 2006 and the left unseen and unsaid». This is «crucial» to enable «Media as Partners in Education for Sustainable citizens to exercise «their own rights as citizens and Development» report by UNESCO in 2008. These have access to economic, political and social opportu- reports link media empowerment to the ecology of citi- nities available». zenship. The new communication technologies can In response to these challenges, international also be very useful in reaching the UN’s Millennium public institutions have for many years been proposing Objectives (Del-Rio, 2010). Frau-Meigs and Torrent that states and social institutions adopt measures to (2009) have analysed various international reports as encourage media education in their regulated educa- references for a new global policy on media education tional systems and also as part of an informal and con- aimed at «the well-being of its citizens, the pacific tinuous education of citizens. UNESCO and the development of civic societies, the preservation of indi- Grünwald Declaration of 1982 urge states to assume genous cultures, the growth of sustainable economies «those obligations that correspond to them to promote and the enriching of contemporary social diversity». a critical understanding of communication phenomena Definitely, the social and ethical values of educom- among their citizens» (Grünwald Declaration, 1982: munication are not the mere subjective preferences of 1). The Paris Agenda of 2007 also stated that «media a researcher or group of experts but are supported by education helps to empower people and offers them a internationally prestigious initiatives and a solid philo- sense of shared responsibility in society, and as such, is sophical framework that justifies or legitimizes the most an integral part of citizenship and human rights». axiological facet of media education. Recently UNESCO’s Braga Declaration (2011) urged the development of education for the free, inte- 4. Educommunication and citizenship: freedom, lligent and critical use of the media as a necessary critical autonomy and participation in media educa- dimension of instruction for independent citizenship. It tion also emphasized the need for politicians to incorporate With this clarification of fundamental criteria, our this aim in their action programs in order to facilitate interest now lies in reconstructing the ethical, social and foment this initiative among the social actors. For and political dimension of media education or edu- Gutiérrez and Tyner (2012: 36), the call to critical communication as defined by international organiza- thinking by UNESCO amounts to the need to provide tions such as UNESCO or the European Parliament an education in «the knowledge of personal and social (and by Spain, with its own Law on Audiovisual values and responsibilities derived from the ethical use Commu nication). These educational proposals and of information, as well as participation in cultural dia- recommendations declare for an education that logue and the preservation of autonomy against the foments reception and critical interpretation, and res- possible threats to this that are often hard to detect». ponsible civic production, in short, its aim is the correct In 2008 the European Parliament declared that

«media education is essential for achieving a high level and participatory. This call for the reactivation of of media literacy, which is an important part of the democracy leads us on to the most political dimension political education that enables people to better direct of educommunication. In this respect Masterman ack- their behaviour as active citizens and to be aware of nowledged that «in a world in which slogans are fre- their rights and obligations». It also stated that «well- quently taken more seriously than reasoning, and in informed and politically mature citizens are the basis of which we all take political decisions based solely on a pluralist society…and by constructing their own con- what the media show us, audiovisual education is

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tent and media products they acquire the ability to essential for the exercise of our democratic rights and reach a deeper understanding of the principals and to defend ourselves against the excesses of politically values behind professionally produced media content» motivated media manipulation» (Masterman, 2010: (European Parliament, 2008: 11). 28)ii. So media education is a fundamental element in In Spain, the General Law on Audiovisual the «long march to true participatory democracy and Communication (7/2010) clearly refers to the possibi- the democratization of the institutions. Audiovisual lite- lities of citizen participation via the media. For the first racy is vital if we want citizens to exercise their power, time in Spain, the state provides a legal framework for to take rational decisions, to be effective agents of community media, or non-profit enterprises such as change and to actively participate in the media». community radio. Article 32 specifies that these Similarly Sen declared that democracy must be valued media’s function is to «attend to the social, cultural and in terms of the ability to enrich reasoned participation communication needs of communities and social by increasing the availability of information and the groups, as well as fomenting citizen participation and opportunities for interactive debate: «Democracy must the construction of an associative network». These be judged not only by its institutions but also by how media can act as open microphones for citizens to air far the diverse voices of the various sectors of the their grievances, and as such they play an important population can be heard» (Sen, 2009: xviii). role in the media education of citizens. Consequently, media education comes to be seen Chapter 2 of Title 5 of this law includes the media as a pillar of democracy, above all in its more purpo- education of citizens as one of the functions assigned seful and participative form (Macpherson, 2003). We to Spain’s State Council of Audiovisual Media talk of an education to achieve a form of communica- (CEMA). This organization is obliged to «oversee the tion that is an open, interactive and participatory pro- promotion of media literacy in the audiovisual field cess and not a one-way communication determined by with the aim of fomenting the acquisition on the part the powers that be (government, religious authorities, of the citizen of the highest levels of media competen- media, business or financial corporations). As Sánchez ce». Likewise, this body must also evaluate the level of Ruiz (2005) states, participative or purposeful demo- media citizenship among citizens by referring to «those cracy cannot be conceived as anything but «a multiple indicators used by the European Commission and network of communication circuits in which public other information that the Council deems worthy of issues are discussed. The public arena is necessarily a interest». So, as stated by Gavara and Pérez-Tornero space of communication…In modern democracies, (2010: 7), this law understands educommunication the governed are increasingly demanding to be infor- and media literacy as a civic right. med of the processes that generate political policies However, Gavara (2013) doubts that all this can and about their consequences. But they also want to happen since a proposed law would abolish the be heard and to openly define their problems, the CEMA and replace it with the CNMC (National issues that affect them and their priorities» (Ibíd.: 22- Market and Competition Commission). The author 23). says that this would mean that media education would The problem arises when the media cease to be of «pass from one authority, the CEMA, whose aim is to and for communication and become mere transmitters guarantee civic rights, that is, an authority based on the of messages, a vertical process that goes in one single protection of citizens, to another centered on the direction. This would be the desired aim of the demo- audiovisual market in which the public is treated as a cratic elites (Cortina, 2010). Nevertheless, with the mere consumer or user». emergence of the Internet, Web 2.0 and the social Despite these problems, there is clear international networks, new technological and structural bases are recognition of the need to boost real media education being established to provide a more horizontal form of among citizens as a resource for inclusion in accordan- communication for the democratic redistribution of ce with a model of democracy that is more purposeful powers as a consequence of the redefinition of a

public space that is increasingly globalized (Castells, institutions such as UNESCO are involved but also 2008). journals such as «Comunicar», which has provided a Education needs to respond to these new commu- platform for socially committed scientific research nication relations and global powers in such a way that dating back to Jacquinot (1999) and the more recent media education for citizens converges with an educa- study by Culver and Jacobson (2012) and the contri- tion for a global and deeply democratic citizenship. bution of Aguaded (2013: 7) on European recommen- The way this new space for public deliberation is con- dations for an integral media education whose aim is figured will be the key to the future of democracy. to «promote a citizenship that is more active, critical Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Media education, especially in the digital sphere, can and participatory». develop crucial competences for an active, committed Initiatives for media education understood as a for- and participatory citizenship (Mihailidis & Thevenin, mative process through media literacy (Buckingham, 2013). To counter communication understood as 2005: 21) necessarily assume certain axiological refe- mere message diffusion, society-the global network rences in their discourse. These practical and axiologi- represents an opportunity for the creation of purpose- cal references (ethical, political and civic) have been ful public opinion open to new forms of participation, the focus of this study which is dedicated to explaining the communication of ideas and projects. and interpreting them from the perspective of current In the words of Greppi, what is important is not to philosophical approaches. Hence we insist on the talk about democracy but to determine its quality and need for interdisciplinarity in educommunication, in conditions. Democracy is about an education in the our case articulated as a means to legitimize this disci- notions of participation, public commitment and social pline from a social, civic and political viewpoint. To responsibility, ideas that require a communicative, educate the media citizen is, reciprocally, and as we dynamic and open space. Public opinion in a demo- have argued throughout this article, a way of em- cracy based on quality in reality amounts to critical powering citizens in plural, democratic and hypercon- public opinion that is purposeful and reflective, and nected societies. this requires a space for its citizens «that is endowed with sufficient resources to enable them to pronounce Notes on the relevant political questions of the day» (Greppi, 1 Searches carried out on 25-03-2013. 2 2012: 16-36). It is easy to deduce from these propo- This can be consulted on www.cca.eca.usp.br/noticia/756 (26- 05-2013). sals that educommunication in its social, ethical and 3 A bill for the creation of the National Market and Competition political dimension is an education that makes a valid Commission. BOCG. Congreso de los Diputados Nº. A-28-1 de contribution to this public communicative space which 19/10/2012. This can be consulted on www.congreso.es/pu blic_- is increasingly global. A space that is interconnected oficiales/L10/CONG/BOCG/A/BOCG-10-A-28-1.PDF (26-05- which welcomes a public that is attentive, committed 2013). 4 Originally published in 1985. and well-informed, a public composed of «citizens capable of understanding the ebb and flow of reaso- Support and acknowledgements ning that constitutes the substance of the democratic This article forms part of the Research and Development project process». «Compulsory education for competence in audiovisual communication in the digital environment» (EDU2010-21395-C03-03), whose 5. Conclusion: A media education to reactivate inestimable support we greatly appreciate. civil society and empower the citizen This article analyses the theoretical link between References educommunication, the ethics of dialogue and the AGUADED, J.I. (2013). 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Received: 12-02-2013 / Reviewed: 23-06-2013 Accepted: 01-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 22486 l A.Y.L. Lee & C.Y.K. So Hong Kong (China) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-13 Media Literacy and Information Literacy: Similarities and Differences Alfabetización mediática y alfabetización informacional: similitudes y diferencias

ABSTRACT In knowledge society, there is currently a call for cultivating a combination of media literacy and information literacy. This, however, requires cooperation from these two separate fields of study, and uncertainty regarding their boundaries hinders a smooth merger. It is unclear whether they are subsets of each other or separate entities. In this study, we have explored the relationship between these two fields by empirically mapping out their territories and discussing their similarities and differences. We have made use of the Web of Science database to delineate the content and boundary of these two fields. Our findings from 1956 to 2012 show that the two fields have different authors, university affiliations, and journals; they also differ in terms of academic origin, scope, and social concern. Information literacy has a closer tie to library science, while media literacy is more related to media content, media industry, and social effects. Due to their different academic orientations, the two fields adopt different analytical approaches. We have found that media literacy is not a subset of information literacy as some scholars have suggested, although the two fields have similarities. They share the same goal, and their publications overlap in terms of subject areas, countries of origin, and titles. The two fields could find common ground by cooperating together to contribute to the promotion of new literacy in knowledge societies. RESUMEN En la sociedad del conocimiento presenciamos la necesidad de plantear una combinación de alfabetización mediá- tica e informativa que requiere, sin embargo, cooperación entre estas dos áreas de estudio independientes. La incer- tidumbre que rodea estos vínculos dificulta una fusión homogénea, y no resulta fácil determinar si, cuando hablamos de estas alfabetizaciones, nos referimos a subcategorías o entidades independientes. En este estudio hemos explora- do la relación existente entre estas dos áreas de estudio determinando empíricamente sus territorios atendiendo a sus similitudes y diferencias. Para ello, hemos empleado la base de datos bibliográfica Web of Science, con el objetivo de delinear el contenido y los nexos comunes a ambos campos. Los hallazgos realizados entre 1956 y 2012 muestran cómo en cada ámbito se desarrollan distintos autores, afiliaciones universitarias y revistas; asimismo, también difieren en términos de origen académico, alcance e interés social. Mientras que la alfabetización informacional tiene una relación más estrecha con la biblioteconomía, la alfabetización mediática está más conectada con el contenido mediático, la industria de los medios y los efectos sociales que éstos causan. Debido a estas diferencias de orientación académica, ambos campos adoptan enfoques analíticos diferentes. En contra de lo sugerido por algunos expertos, hemos podido determinar que la alfabetización mediática no es una simple categoría de la alfabetización informacional, a pesar de que ambos campos muestran similitudes: comparten el mismo objetivo, y sus publicaciones se solapan en áreas temáticas, países de origen y títulos. Ambas disciplinas podrían identificar contextos comunes cooperando conjuntamente para contribuir a la promoción de nuevas alfabetizaciones en las sociedades del conocimiento. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Media literacy, information literacy, communication technology skills, knowledge society, Web of Science, boundary work. Alfabetización mediática, alfabetización informacional, destrezas informativas, Web of Science, delimitación.

v Dr. Alice Y.L. Lee is Associate Professor at the Department of Journalism at the Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong) (China) ([email protected]). v Dr. Clement Y.K. So is Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong) (China) ([email protected]).

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Through not the same but do have some overlaps; 3) and media basically different; 2) media literacy and information literacy are are 1) literacy views: information competing and literacy three Media are there sum, In racy. lite media and literacy information between tionship et atr ad ru iett. fed f td is study of field A usually defined by the presence of certain subject mat- identity. group and matter, ject institu- members, tions, theoretical approaches, constituting stock of knowledge, sub its to according pline disci- particular a delineated has (1995) So tingencies. met- con historical and applications, tools, integration, analytical hods, theoretical of level matter, subject objectives, of set its criteria: different by seven applying disciplines between distinguishes (1972) hausen Heck study. of field a or discipline a evaluating for ria The objective of this study is to investigate the rela While UNESCO is seeking to promote media and In the academic world, there are established crite established are there world, academic the In ------139 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 140

ter but not by the existence of certain theoretical ele- ted to «media». The ratio was about 1.6 to 1. Between ments. By adopting these criteria for evaluating a disci- «information literacy» and «media literacy», the speci- pline/field of study, we have compared media literacy fic ratio of documents found was about 3.2 to 1, and information literacy by empirically examining which is even larger. several aspects, including their patterns of development, academic origins, journals, constituting mem- 4. The landscapes of information literacy and bers, institutions, and subject matter. media literacy

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 In this study, we have made use of the Web of Information literacy is an area that is receiving Science database, which includes about 12,000 jour- increasing attention in academia. Before the 1990s, nals, 150,000 conference proceedings, and more than there were very few studies about this topic, and by 47 million documents from 250 fields. It is widely 1994, it still only accounted for 3.4% of the total docu- recognized, authoritative, and easily accessible. To be ments. Research in this area slowly began to increase, as inclusive as possible, we chose to use all document and between 1995 and 2004, the share rose to 22.4%. types from all three indices and from all possible years. This interest has continued to grow; from 2005 The exact date of data collection was February 2, onwards, the topic of information literacy accounted 2013. We searched the database by topic instead of for 73.8% of the documents in the Web of Science title, as the former is more inclusive and is not limited database. by specific title words. We looked at the key words of In terms of the subject areas of the information lite- «information literacy» and «media literacy» from 1956 racy articles, information science and library science to 2012 to determine what territory each concept are the most popular topics at 54.2% (see Table 1). would empirically reveal. Specifically, we gathered Two closely related areas are computer science information about various descriptors, including: 1) the (16.8%) and education and educational research size of the territories; 2) the years in which the docu- (11.1%). The other topics vary, and each comprises a ments were published in order to see the trend; 3) the very small percentage of the overall content area. So it subject areas involved; 4) the journals in which the is obvious that this information literacy is unmistakably documents were published; 5) the countries of origin; situated in the areas of information science and library 6) the authors; 7) the institutions; 8) the words used in science. Among the top 13 journals shown in Table 2, the document titles. all of them are in the field of library and information The term «information» generated 1,451,947 science. The Journal of Academic Librarianship document items. The term «media» generated stands out as the most important publication outlet. 912,069 items. In contrast, «literacy» only produced Table 3 shows the top 24 authors in the field of 25,706 items as it is more specific in focus. For the information literacy. Heidi Julien, Maria Pinto, and combination of information and literacy (i.e., the terms Christine Bruce are the top three authors on the list. were not necessarily adjacent to each other or formed Table 4 is a list of the top institutions involved in infor- a single concept), there were 4,803 items in the database. Using lemmatization and a more restricted search, the term «information literacy» generated 1,501 items. Similarly, for media and literacy, there were 1,468 items, but for «media literacy», there were only 467 items. From the above numbers, it is clear that the fields related to «information» are larger in scope than those rela-

mation literacy research. Researchers from the ted to technology (online, web, technology, digital, University of Alberta and the University of Illinois head and Internet). It is worth noting that the word «media» the list. Among the 18 institutions analyzed, 9 are from is not on this list. the United States and the rest are from 6 other coun- The concept of media literacy began to be addres- tries. As expected, the United States has produced the sed in the documents in the Web of Science database lion’s share of the documents in information literacy at beginning in 1995, and this focus has grown steadily 40.6%. England (7.7%) and Australia (6.9%) take the ever since. Before 1995, its share of the database was second and third spots, respectively, followed by only 3%, but this percentage jumped to 26.2% betwe- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Canada (5.3%) and China (4.7%). Among the 17 en 1995 and 2004. Interest in media literacy has con- countries and territories currently researching informa- tinued to rapidly develop in the past few years. From tion literacy, most of them are in North America, 2005 and onwards, it has accounted for 70.9% of the Europe, and East Asia. total documents. The use of certain words in the document titles There is no single dominant area in media literacy. can reveal the research foci in information literacy stu- The top three research areas are education and educa- dies. When counting the words that appeared in all tional research (25.7%), communication (19.1%), and the documents, we found that «information» (N= psychology (11.6%). The other fields, as shown in 1,173) and «literacy/literacies» (N=937) were the top Table 1, include other social sciences, health and infor- two words. The rest of the frequently used words mation, and library science. Table 2 shows the various help to illuminate the focus of information literacy journals that publish media literacy articles. Comunicar is research. Table 5 shows that there are three groups of the top journal (N = 47), followed by American words. The first group is related to library science Behavioral Scientist (N=24). For the rest of the journals, (e.g., library and librarian). The second group is rela- there are two major areas of focus—communication and ted to education (student, learning, education, instruc- health. There are also some «hybrid» journals involving tion, teaching, university, etc.). The third group is rela- both of these fields, such as Health Communication and

the Journal of Health Communication. mation literacy emerged from the library and informa- The major authors in media literacy are Brian tion sciences, media literacy originated from the Primack, Renee Hobbs, and Erica Austin. In terms of media, education, and social sciences. The top three the institutions most related to media literacy, the journals that carry information literacy publications are University of California system tops the list, while library journals, while those carrying media literacy Washington State University is a close second. As publications are communication and social sciences Table 4 also shows, among the 19 institutions, the journals. Media literacy-related journals tend to have

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 United States is home to 14 of them. The other coun- higher impact factors, while the library journals are eit- tries represented include Australia, England, Canada, her non-Social Sciences Citation Index publications or and Spain. For the origins of the documents, the have lower impact factors (table 2). United States ranks first with a share of 51.8%. The third aspect is the difference of constituting England comes second, but its share is only 5.8%. members and institutions. In Table 3, of the 48 au- Canada, Spain, and Australia are also near the top of thors shown on both lists, only one of them is listed in the list. North American and European countries are both fields. For the top three authors on each list, they dominant, but East Asian countries, such as China, do not appear at all on the other list. This level of diver- Japan, and South Korea, are becoming a rising force. gence is a good indicator that the two fields are being The title words related to media literacy are investigated by two entirely different groups of resear- shown in Table 5. The words «media» and «literacy» chers. The institutional affiliations in Table 4 essentially rank first and second, with 346 and 255 uses, respec- repeat this finding. Of the 37 universities listed on both tively. Three groups of words were identified: The lists, most of them do not overlap. Of the 18 media lite- first group had something to do with education (such racy-related universities, 12 are ranked among the top as education, school, teacher, student, or curriculum), 100 in the 2013 Shanghai Ranking of world universities. the second group of words was related to communi- Of the 18 information literacy-related universities, the cation (such as television, effect, communication, corresponding number is only 5. advertising, news, or Internet), and the third group The fourth aspect is their overlapping scopes and was health related (such as smoking, eating, preven- subject matters. Education is the common bond bet- tion, intervention, or risk). Here we also see the presence of the word «information».

5. Similarities and differences We can compare the two fields in terms of six aspects. The first aspect is their similar patterns of development. The two concepts have developed rather quickly in recent years. This acceleration is most obvious in the 2000s, especially from the year 2005 onwards. In the past two decades, the two fields have been young and upco- ming academic areas in the literacy family (Google, 2012). As for affilia- ted countries, the United States is the most important place for both information literacy and media literacy research. Other countries that are active in both areas include England, Australia, Canada, Spain, China, and South Africa. The second aspect is their different academic roots. While infor-

ween the two fields (Table 5). This overlap forms a basis for the proposed integration and cooperation, but each field also has its own emphasis, as can be seen in their major title Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 words. In fact, they also differ in terms of their targets of study. The objects of interest for the information literacy scholars are mainly peer-reviewed publications. For media literacy, the attention is focused on mass media and media messages. In recent years, they have both focused on multimedia material and have been associated heavily with information and communication technologies. There is also an overlap between the two fields in terms of subject area. Both literacy concepts guide users to training people to access, understand, evaluate, com- meet their information needs through locating, retrie- municate, use, and create media messages and infor- ving, evaluating, using, and communicating media and mation. Both highlight the importance of the ethical information. One is more concerned with research use of information, the critical analysis of content, the skills, while the other is linked with critical analysis of use of multimedia platforms, and knowledge produc- media products (Hobbs, 2010; Lau, 2013). tion. There is a recent call for information literacy to The fifth aspect is their divergent analytical ap - extend its functions to build citizenship, to guarantee proaches. Information literacy concentrates on analy- the survival of democratic institutions, to serve as a zing information (Lau, 2013). Therefore, it mainly vital tool for lifelong learning, and to address the value focuses on textual analysis and emphasizes the rese- of relevant information in a commercial world that is arch value of finding the truth in documents. It is con- driven by a knowledge economy (Bawden, 2001). cerned with the critical assessment of research-related Media literacy scholars also propose that media lite- information quality but it does not examine informa- racy should contribute to democracy, the knowledge tion audience and information effects (Lau, 2013). In economy, and lifelong learning (Livingstone & al., contrast, media literacy has strong academic roots in 2005). media studies and social sciences. It addresses key facets of the mass media phenomena, such as media 6. Discussion and conclusion messages, media industries, media audiences, and The empirical findings from the Web of Science media effects (Martens, 2010). Thus, media literacy database show that there are more differences than adopts more analytical approaches. Apart from textual similarities between the fields of information literacy analysis, it also conducts institutional analysis, medium and media literacy. Information literacy is a much lar- analysis, and audience analysis. ger field than media literacy. It has a clear but narrow The sixth aspect is their objectives. Information focus on library science and technology. On the other literacy and media literacy have the same objective – hand, media literacy has a broader scope and is more

ledge creation. While we recognize their differences, it is not difficult to find that the two fields are, in fact, linked and complementary. The experts in these two fields should seek to learn from each other and to under - stand the specifics of the other field. In

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 today’s world, neither information literacy nor media literacy alone is sufficient to equip individuals to deal with the huge volume of media messages and the abundance of information platforms. There is an urgent call to combine these two fields to develop a joint set of media and information literacy competencies needed in the new technological environment. Their integration could certainly facilitate individuals’ participation in the emerging knowledge societies.

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CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (Ed.), In - Information Technology and Libraries, 13, 115-125. terdisciplinarity: Problem of Teaching and Research in Uni ver sities. MEDIA LITERACY WEEK (2010, November). What is Media (pp. 83-89). Paris: Organization for Economic Co-ope ration and Education? (www.medialiteracyweek.ca/en/101_whatis.htm). Development (OECD) Publications. MITRANO, T. & PETERSON, K. (2012). Information Literacy for the HOBBS, R. (2010). Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action. Academic Librarian in the Digital Information Age: Supporting Users Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute. to Make Effective Use of the Collection. In M. FIELDHOUSE & A. KOELSCH, F. (1995). The Infomedia Revolution: How it is Chang- MARSHALL (Eds.), Collection Development in the Digital Age. (pp. ing our World and our Life. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. 181-196). London: Facet Publishing. KOLTAY, T. (2011). The Media and the Literacies: Media Literacy, MOELLER, S., JOSEPH, A., LAU, J. & CARBO, T. (2011). Towards Information Literacy, Digital Literacy. Media, Culture & Society, 33 Media and Information Literacy Indicators. Background Document Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 (2), 211-221. (DOI: 10.1177/0163443710393382). of the Expert Meeting, 4-6 November 2010, Bangkok (Thailand). KRESS, G. (2003). Literacy and Schooling: A Sociocognitive Pers- Paris: UNESCO. pective. In E. HIEBERT (Ed.), Literacy for a Diverse Society. (pp. 9- NAMLE (2010). Media Literacy Defined. National Association 27). New York: Teachers College Press. for Media Literacy Education. (http://namle.net/publications/me- KURBANOGLU, S. (2012). An Analysis of Concept of Information dia- literacy-definitions). Literacy. The International Conference of the Media and In forma tion NEW LONDON GROUP (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: De- Literacy for Knowledge Society, June 24-28, 2012. Moscow (Russia). signing Social Futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66 (1), 60-93. LAU, J. (2013). Conceptual Relationship of Information Literacy OFCOM (2010). What is Media Literacy – Ofcom’s Definition. (htt - and Media Literacy. In Conceptual Relationship of Information p://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/media- Lite racy and Media Literacy. (pp. 76-91). Paris: UNESCO. literacy/about). LEE, A.Y.L. (1999). Infomedia Literacy: An Educational Basic for POTTER, W.J. (2010). The State of Media Literacy. Journal of the Young People in the New Information Age. Information, Com - Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54 (4), 675-696. (DOI:10.1080 - munication and Society, 2 (2), 134-155. (DOI: 10.1080/1369 11- /08838151.2011.521462). 89 9359673). SO, C.Y.K. (1995). Mapping the Intellectual Landscape of Com - LEE, A.Y.L. (2010). Media Education: Definitions, Approaches and munication Studies: An Evaluation of its Disciplinary Status. Un- Development around the Globe. New Horizons in Education, 58 published Ph.D. dissertation. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. (3), 1-13. UNESCO (2012). Media and Information Literacy. Communi ca- LIVINGSTONE, S., VAN COUVERING, E.J. & THUMIM, N. (2005). tion and Information. (www.unesco.org/new/en/ communica ti on- Adult Media Literacy: A Review of the Literature. London: Ofcom. and-information/media-development/media-literacy/mil-as-composi- MARTENS, H. (2010). Evaluating Media Literacy Education: te-concept). Concepts, Theories and Future Directions. Journal of Media WESTBY, C. (2010). Multiliteracies: The Changing World of Com- Literacy, 2 (1), 1-22. munication. Top Lang Disorders, 30 (1), 64-71. (DOI: 10.1097/TLD.- MCCLURE, L.J. (1994). Network Literacy: A Role for Libraries. 0b013e3181d0a0ab).

Received: 30-05-2013 / Reviewed: 01-07-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Laia Falcón & M. José Díaz-Aguado Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21841 Madrid (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-14

Adolescent Students as Media Fictional Characters Relatos audiovisuales de ficción sobre la iden tidad adolescente en contextos escolares

ABSTRACT Media fictional narrations on adolescents as characters and target are used by teenage audiences when looking for references for their identity building. As a starting point for Media Literacy activities to help teenage students in this process, this research focuses on the representations of adolescent students proposed by different kinds of media fictional narrations. Three European narrations have been chosen in order to analyse and compare different genres, codes and values: the television series «Física o Química» and the films «Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix» and «The Class». A classic narrative analysis approach has been applied in order to encourage teachers to use this kind of Media Literacy activities by employing methodologies that they are familiar with. The results show that such a methodology could facilitate the comparative analysis of important coincidences between these examples (such as the importance of friendship and couple relationships) and also underlines meaningful differences (like the orientation towards the future). The conclusion reached is that the comparison between such different kinds of media fictional narrations is a useful educational tool for improving Media Literacy skills and helping teenage students in the identification of the values and images they really want to choose as reference and inspiration for their own identity building. RESUMEN Los relatos audiovisuales que tienen a los adolescentes como audiencia y protagonistas son utilizados por éstos para buscar referencias con las que construir su identidad. Esta investigación busca comprender cómo es la identidad de los estudiantes adolescentes en distintos tipos de relatos audiovisuales de ficción, como punto de partida para la ela- boración de materiales de alfabetización mediática que les ayude en dicho proceso. Para ello se seleccionaron tres narraciones europeas recientes sobre la vida escolar de adolescentes, con las que poder contrastar entre géneros, códigos y valores: la serie televisiva «Física o Química» y las películas «Harry Potter y la Orden del Fénix» y «La clase». El método ha sido el análisis textual de tipo cualitativo, utilizando como categorías las de la morfología del relato clásico. Los resultados reflejan que dicho esquema, familiar para el profesorado de Literatura, permite detectar importantes coincidencias entre relatos (como la importancia de las relaciones de pareja y amistad…), que hacen más significativas las diferencias del contraste (como la orientación hacia el futuro o el valor del pensamiento y del profesorado en dicho proceso). Se concluye que la comparación entre los tres tipos de relatos representa un óptimo recurso para la alfabetización mediática así como para ayudarles a tomar conciencia de cuáles son los valores con los que quieren identificarse y los problemas que pueden obstaculizarlos. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Media literacy, media storytelling, film, television, character, education, adolescents, identity. Alfabetización mediática, relatos audiovisuales, cine, televisión, personaje, educación, adolescentes, identidad.

v Dr. Laia Falcón Díaz-Aguado is Assistant Professor in the Department of Audiovisual Communication and Publicity I, Faculty of Information Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid ([email protected]). v Dr. María José Díaz-Aguado Jalón is Full Professor of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 147-156 www.revistacomunicar.com 148

1. Introduction that the viewer would like to share (such as popularity, As underlined by UNESCO (2011), Information rebellion or beauty), when violence is shown as normal and Media Literacy is nowadays a necessary condition and legitimate behaviour and helps to gain an advanta- for protecting and guaranteeing the human right of free - ge, and when explicit examples of how to execute vio- dom since it endows citizens with competences that lence are shown (Bandura, 1986). Longitudinal studies allow them to use Media and Communication as tools have revealed that it is possible to predict the level of of empowerment and self-orientation. Accordingly, violence that would be executed at an adult age by con-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 research on the influence of Media during teenage sidering the level of violence that was seen during child- years underlines the need to teach adolescents how to hood (Huesmann & al., 2003). use new communication in order to increase their Despite the increasing consumption of new media opportunities and diminish the risks of such influence technologies among teenagers in recent years, televi- (Buckingham, 1996; Clarembeaux, 2010; Hart, 1998; sion is still seen as one of the leading agents of influ- Von Feilitzen, 2004). ence: a media that teenagers prefer to enjoy without In 1977, Umberto Eco stated that «democratic the presence of adults (Eggermont, 2006), and which civilization could only survive when considering the is considered by them as one of the principal sources language of image not as an invitation to hypnosis but of inspiration in their process of identity building as an invitation to critical reflexion». More than thirty (Imbert, 2002; Loirq, 2008). It seems important to years after these words, the competences to encode emphasize that adolescents prefer television content in and decode media messages have turned into a funda- which teenagers star in the leading roles and particu- mental literacy, as important as traditional reading- larly if they are playing rebel characters in strong oppo- and-writing. Despite such progress there is still an sition to authority and they are involved in current and absurd and very strong tendency to think that the mere controversial issues (Thornham & Purvis, 2005). consumption of media can alone guarantee the deep Research like this explains the huge success of cer- and real capacity to read and understand them, when tain media fiction with teenagers both as target and research seems to suggest the opposite (Aguaded, leading roles (Rodríguez-Merchán, 2013). Analysis of 2012: 7). the most successful American series underlines that Supporting this approach, a number of researchers such programmes often (70%) choose to connect their of very different contexts concur in detecting that ado- plots with a hedonistic and fatalistic dimension of lescents who spend more time watching television sexuality and only 10% choose to mention the conse- have more problems developing a strong link with quences: very significant conclusions, since research school and show significant levels of apathy, extreme has found that the frequency of viewing this content is orientation to the present and a lack of goals (Delle & related to an increase in teenagers’ estimation of sexual Bassi, 2000; Dotterer, McHale & Crouter 2007; activities and to the lowering of the age of first sexual Martín Serrano & Velarde, 2001). In order to explain encounters (Brown, Keller & Stern, 2009; Rivade- such characteristics, these authors underline two neyraa & Lebod, 2008). important issues: the difficulty of emotional self-regula- Studies on one of the most popular Spanish televi- tion, which is connected to those activities that can be sion series, «Al salir de clase», find that it presents a done over several hours without demanding any inte- very stereotyped portrait of teenagers (Guarinos, llectual or physical effort (Díaz-Aguado, Martínez & 2009), by mixing in a contradictory way values and Martín, 2010), and the values that are transmitted by problems that represent adolescents only as emotio- certain television broadcasts – highly popular among nally unstable, rebellious, undisciplined, egoistical and teenage audiences – whose characters are strongly materialistic, with very fragile social relationships and focused on the present and very rarely on the future. an exaggerated orientation to risk, since in the plots These results concur with education agents in a com- these characters are very often involved in drug pro- mon concern: the major difficulty of fighting against blems, alcohol abuse, gangs, rape or unwanted preg- the negative influence of such broadcasts on adoles- nancies (Montero, 2005). cent audiences (Montero, 2005). In order to counteract the possible negative in - Pioneer research on the risk of copying antisocial fluence of this sort of content, a new need emerges: to behaviour from television has detected some conditions train young audiences to read such representations that increase this risk of imitation: when spectators share (Díaz-Aguado & Falcón, 2006; Medrano, 2008) by gender with the characters that show such antisocial analyzing and comparing them in contrast with other conduct, when these characters present other features media alternatives that are oriented to protecting and

projecting the same values that school aims to instil. sion series with teenagers in the starring roles and Clarembeaux (2010) suggests using media narrations commercial films and alternative narrations proposed as a tool to educate individual and collective memory by independent productions. and to protect the European cultural patrimony. 2) To test the use of traditional tools of narration Research on prevention programmes to counter risky analysis (such as those preferred when analysing lite- behaviours (Díaz-Aguado & Falcón, 2006; Hernando- rary texts) in the critical evaluation of the current Gómez, 2009) underlines the efficacy of media docu- media representation of teenage students. ments – when properly selected – as a complement to 3) To propose specific examples of media narra- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 other educational tools: they reinforce the emotional tions to be used in Media Literacy activities. These impact, are remembered longer, favour empathy and examples should support the training of competences are more easily shared by the whole of the class, including students who normally don’t read or follow traditional teaching (Díaz-Aguado, 2003). The three cases may be used as interesting educational UNESCO’s Media and tools oriented to supporting debate and reflection about the Information Literacy Curri cu - lum for Teachers (2011) fundamental tasks to be carried out during this period of life: recommends the use of activities favouring the link between through their shared analysis they may all become aware of media documents and traditio- those features of the characters that teenagers admire as nal teaching strategies and materials (such as text analysis values to be identified with, while other features, in con- in the Literature class, for instance). One of the principal trast, are actually obstacles to preventing such awareness. goals of this program is the These narrations may also represent an excellent resource empowering of young audiences with competences that will for Media Literacy with teenagers due to their connection help them to identify the different codes used by different with the biggest issue that adolescents care about as media media and narrative genres. As users (as consumers of media representations and social educational activities, it recommends comparative analysis webs): their own identity building. between commercial and independent productions and evaluation of the deep impact that new technologies may have not only on the exter- such as: the identification of specific storytelling codes nal dimension of new representations but also on the of different media and genres, the critical evaluation of very core of them. According to these Media Literacy the impact that new technologies may have on the goals and activities, the portrait of teenage characters representations that they make, the detection of and in school contexts becomes one of the most meaning- ulterior comparison between positive references and ful and urgent sorts of representation to be considered. patterns (teenage characters who care about the futu- As a starting point for the elaboration of Media re, knowledge, improvement and self-empower- Literacy materials, the main goal of this research is to ment…) and negative ones. go further in the comprehension of how adolescent students are being represented by different sorts of 2. Materials and methodology media fictional narrations. More specifically, this rese- In view of the goals of this research, three specific arch aims: narrations were selected according to the following 1) To understand how adolescence is represented standards: in different fictional genres (its search for identity, the 1) Their characters and plots should pay special value of knowledge, the relationship with teachers) in attention to the search for self-identity during teenage order to support the contrast analysis between televi- years, specifically in school contexts.

2) They should all have been recent European nage life as the core for its metaphoric proposals. productions, as an expression of a common cultural Chapter by chapter, the saga of the sorcerer’s appren- patrimony to be comprehended by teenagers. tice refers to the challenges and changing processes of 3) Their main characters should share age and adolescents, in a step-by-step journey through all the equivalent school year. years of secondary school. 4) They should support the comparative analysis Thirdly, and as an example of an alternative pro- between genres and storytelling approaches as well as duction especially focused on the educational reality of

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the comparative analysis between different portraits of teenagers, we selected the film «The Class» (Laurent adolescent identity. Cantent, France, 2008); created as an adaptation of the In line with these standards, after considering 50 previous novel «Entre les murs» by François Bégau- European narrations, three examples were selected, deau, this film presents a deep reflection on today’s edu- all of which starred adolescent characters between 16 cational problems, needs and challenges. It is based on and 18 years old and framed their plots within an aca- the professional experience of the writer and secondary demic year. They were all produced and premiered at school teacher François Bégaudeau and is the result of about the same time (between 2007 and 2010) and extensive documentary work, following more than two their characters and treatment were preceded – in the years of discussion sessions with teachers and students three cases – by considerable previous literary and/or (who afterwards took part in the film as the actors of the media development. production, playing their own roles under their real As an example of television storytelling, we chose names, including Bégaudeau himself). «Física o Química» (the literal translation means In their respective contexts, the three narrations «Physics or Chemistry»), a Spanish series of considera- achieved considerable success, a shared factor that ble popularity and commercial success involving allows us to address a matter of great importance for Spanish, French and American teenagers (the season media literacy with teenagers: contrasting and questio- selected was the sixth, broadcast for the first time in ning the extended belief that states that films and pro- 2010 as a continuation of previous seasons starting in grams of high educational value cannot achieve popu- 2008 and created by Carlos Montero for the Spanish larity or commercial and communicative success. TV channel Antena 3 (later also broadcast in France Following the line of authors such as Clarem - on channel NRJ 12 and in several countries on the beaux (2010), this research has adopted a qualitative American continent through Antena 3 International). methodology based on the techniques of film and tex- This case may be considered a representative tual analysis (Bordwell, 1985; Aumont & Michel, example of an abundant source of narrations that 1990; González-Requena, 2006). claim not to be addressed to underage audiences as On a more specific level, it has followed the classic specific targets (while, however, counting on these categories of narration analysis proposed by authors sectors as a very important part of their commercial such as the pioneer Propp (1927) or Greimas and strategies) and that choose secondary school as the Courtés (1982), often used in school subjects such as main stage to place plots and develop storytelling tech- Literature. After a prior general analysis of the contents niques that are directly adopted from fiction for adults. and the formal style of the cases, these categories exa- The sixth season of «Física o Química» was presented mine the narrations by focusing on the following ques- as a consequence of the commercial success that the tions: 1) What is the initial state of the main characters series enjoyed for two years (five narrative seasons) by when the story begins? What are their main motiva- developing its main characters and plots, and it may be tions? What are the main aims and tasks that will considered a commercial sequel to a previous teenage direct their path; 2) What are their main features and daily soap opera, «Al salir de clase», also created by what are these features identified with? Who and Carlos Montero. which factors act in the plot to help these characters to As an example of a commercially successful narra- achieve their goals, or act against them? 3) What are tion specially acclaimed for its educational values, this the changes or discoveries that emerge at the end, research selected the film «Harry Potter and the Order once the adventure is finished? of the Phoenix» (David Yates; United Kingdom, 2007): the fifth chapter of the film adaptation of the literary 3. Results saga written by Joanne K. Rowling, a highly represen- 3.1. General characteristics: formal features and con- tative example of the abundant corpus of contempo- tents rary fantasy sagas that chose the circumstances of tee- The selected season of «Física o Química» pre-

tains the spectacular style of the whole saga, always mixing expressive codes from the fantasy genre with certain realistic features. Monsters, spells and aerial fights are presented with outstanding camera movements and a sophisticated display of post-editing and special effects, but, at the same time, there are also constant signs reminding

us that the issues told by this story bear a close simili- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 tude to the current problems of the audience. This is expressed by the art direction when presenting the house and the neighbourhood where Harry lives with his relatives, or the naturalistic costume design, make- Image 1: Promotional photo for «Física o Química». up and hairstyling of the students and teachers, among whom are characters of special physical beauty but sents the life of students and teachers in a secondary also ones who are less sculptured, who may be dishe- school by focusing almost completely on intrigue plots velled, have teeth imperfections or wear untrendy linked to love stories, sexual attraction and exploration, glasses. According to the original novel (which was the importance of friendship, the searching for self- created by a mother who wrote it at the same time as identity and one’s own limits, rebellious attitudes and educating her own son, a boy of the same age as different tensions that may arise in almost every social Harry Potter and his friends), the main narrative fea- group (such as misunderstandings, rivalry, confronta- ture of this film is the use of the fantasy metaphor as a tions, reconciliations…). tool to represent the challenges, difficulties and pecu- The plot is mainly staged in an educational centre liarities of the teenage years. that verbally claims to host students from a low-income The explicit definitions and explanations of the background, but the gestural language of the actors spells and magic creatures that are part of the plot are and the dynamic and colourful approach of the photo- poetical statements on fundamental issues such as the graphy and art direction departments are influenced by importance of a shared memory, the need for building the visual codes of fashion catalogues and imaginary up one´s own identity through active searching, the pop stars: all members of the cast (both in the roles of importance of invoking humour and warmth and students and teachers) seem to be extraordinarily pho- encouraging emotions in order to fight against fear or togenic, and they become even more so after passing depression… All these are united by a main metaphor, through the wardrobe and make-up departments, in particularly meaningful for this analysis, that seems to accordance with the standards of the fashion trends frame the general definition of this plot and its charac- advertised in each chapter and on the website of the ters: the path these young heroes must go down is full series; the classrooms and the corridors of the school of uncertainties and problems (as the teenage years shine in a bright and colourful way; even the condition are) that impact very strongly on their lives and the and decoration of the students’ and educators’ apart- lives of the people who accompany them; they can ments (including those who are presented by the plot only face these obstacles by empowering knowledge as being in a very difficult economic situation) reproduce high standards of style and exclusivity. The narration is based on a pluralistic approach: the different groups of teenagers (and adults that interact with them) develop a pluralistic web of parallel subplots. The screenplay and the editing organize the storytelling in a constant fragmentation, where each situation is based on quickness, brevity and strategic intrigue pauses placed in order to fit nicely with the commercial interludes without losing the audience. «Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix» may be considered a narration in the classic archetypical mould of the «hero’s journey», by telling the story of a Image 2: Frame of «Harry Potter and the Order of the hero who must perform an important search. It main- Phoenix»

directly linked to the beginning of a new academic year. Beyond the differences of expressive codes, the three present very different ways for their heroes to assume and face this situation. Even through explicit inner monologues, all the main characters of «Física o Química» express major concerns about the future and getting over the difficulties of their present: from

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the very beginning of a new school year, most of the student characters of the series express identification with a defeatist attitude and all of them refer to academic results as transactions to be negotiate in order to Image 3: Frame of «The Class». achieve a new stage of independence and relief, where no more obligations and explanations can be in an active and progressive learning that comes –in demanded by adults; educators are presented in the plot– from books and lessons, from friends (the romantic vaudeville subplots or detective intrigues, and story underlines the importance of friendship and even when some of them show interest in the talent of emotions) and from conversations with teachers and a student, as is the case of the Philosophy teacher in other adult educational figures. the first chapter of this season, the screenplay presents Coming from a very different expressive style, a situation of romantic confusion by exploiting the «The Class» follows a line of aesthetics and depth of embarrassment of the teenage boy being alone with reflection close to «cinéma verité» and the documen- his young and charming female teacher. While no tary genre. The dialogues and the plot line are the character from this narration (whether student or tea- result of the real teaching experience of one of the au- cher) appears to be worried about educational goals, thors and of demanding discussion sessions between we do find explicit concern for such issues in the other teachers and students. The narrative challenge of the two examples. screenplay and the editing was to select meaningful The main characters of «Harry Potter and the excerpts of students during one academic year in a Order of the Phoenix» start the story in a time of dark- class of a high school on the outskirts of Paris, focusing ness and danger, suffering from painful loneliness and on capturing such situations almost in their real-life longing for the only place –the school of magic– where entirety: the scenes avoid summarizing what really they can be together and face the tasks and acquire the happened, including the misunderstandings, confu- knowledge needed to fight against the injustice and sion, dilly-dallying, doubts and noise that so often des- fear that threaten their lives. It is important for the cribe current life in classrooms. analysis that the narration chooses to underline that the The visual approach and sound editing capture villainous characters prefer the young heroes not to the spontaneous movement of attention (as if the gain such knowledge in order to take advantage of cameraman and sound operator are capturing what their vulnerability, while, on the other hand, Dean happens in a real lesson, without a prior film plan). Dumbledore and the good friends of Harry’s dead Both the work with the actors and the art direction parents –the main educational figures for Harry from share this realistic-documentary determination by choo- the very beginning of the saga– fiercely protect him sing natural locations and players who are not actors, from those attempts. Through these characters, the who play themselves (even using their own names in narration provides an in-depth assessment of the role the film) and who stand in front of the camera in their of the teacher and the importance of learning, crucial real appearances and diversity. The plot focuses on issues that are also at the core of the definition of the the education process itself (its difficulties, goals, con- Literature teacher in «The Class»: the narration starts tradictions and achievements) and on the effort that it with a long shot of François, portrayed in a deeply takes to get teenagers to understand the real impor - thoughtful moment just a few minutes before a new tance of education and thought. school year begins. The sequence is followed by a meeting session 3.2 Starting point and identification of the hero’s where he and his colleagues open the school year by goals and tasks sharing their worries about the educational difficulties At the start, the three narrations present their main that they are about to face. Only after this scene do we characters in an explicit situation of uncertainty, get to know his students: a group of varied teenagers,

in some meaningful cases quite rebellious and strong. soon takes a negative twist in the story since she mixes Some of these students go into the classroom with a it with Machiavellian procedures such as blackmail disruptive attitude, only worried about relations with and intimidation. And even when main characters their mates and focusing on taking advantage of every must overcome important challenges connected with opportunity to defy François and all that he represents crucial and current social problems –such as teenage as an adult and teacher. Later on, the film shows how motherhood, homophobia, anorexia or teenage suici- the linguistic skills that François tries to work on with de– these are rarely linked to the need for learning and them in his classes (vocabulary, comprehension skills reflection; as a matter of fact, these problems acquire Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 and language accuracy) are precisely the tools that stu- a certain touch of confusing heroism by always being dents will use in order to get stronger in their confrontation against authority. Media Literacy may help teenagers to understand the fac - 3.3. Main identity features of the characters and identi- tors that determine certain narrative decisions that are taken fication of what and who is involved in the achievement due to expressive or commercial needs even if the portrayal of their goals of certain realities gets distorted. The contrast between By defining the attributes of the main teenage charac- these cases and other solutions that manage to preserve edu - ters, the three selected narrations underline the importance cational goals may strongly support such a process of of friendship, the questioning understanding; this is the case of «The Class» and «Harry of authority and the need to overcome certain tests in order Potter and the Order of the Phoenix», both created by aut - to prove they are not children anymore. However, the three hors with a deep knowledge of adolescents’ educational rea - of them choose to connect the lity and needs, and both oriented to connecting to the expli - teenage characters, the teacher roles and the school’s cit attention given to the importance of learning as a crucial goals in a very different way. In «Física o Química», the tool for the transition towards adult life. teenage characters are defined mainly by their physical beauty and their trendy appearance: if previous seasons presented certain characters with a presented at the core of romantic subplots, as a narra- more natural look, in this one they all conform to tive preparation for emotional rewards according to highly sophisticated standards of advertising beauty (as melodramatic soap opera techniques. in the case of Paula, who appears with an outstan- On the other hand, the other two narrations chose dingly new slim figure and top model hairstyle and to present the way students and teachers face pro- make-up precisely when she has just become a teena- blems (also connected to important social issues) by ge mother). underlining in an explicit way that such problems can Triumph is identified with moments when the only be resolved by the use of their mature thinking characters reinforce their friendship, confront adults or and skills: in both examples, teenagers must use what find situations of special connection with empathic they have learned from their best educators in order to and attractive teachers, mainly in emotional conflicts solve the crucial conflicts in the plot. and intrigue (in previous seasons the series contained Both narrations denounce unfair or arbitrary tea- several subplots of sexual tension or even sexual rela- chers (including episodes of sporadic anger and loss of tions between students and teachers). No important patience) and highlight the figure of the good educator goals associated with learning and intellectual effort as a role that presents the following main features: he are highlighted; despite the character of Alba showing or she brings together empathy and authority, is deeply considerable ambition with regard to her studies, this convinced of the power and values of education as

tools that will help students to have a better life, and interesting educational tools oriented to supporting puts huge effort into the educational task even when debate and reflection about the fundamental tasks to important personal sacrifices (as shown in the cases of be carried out during this period of life: through their François and Dumbledore) may be involved. shared analysis they may all become aware of those features of the characters that teenagers admire as 3.4. Changes or discoveries that come as a result values to be identified with, while other features, in of the adventure contrast, are actually obstacles to preventing such

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 The three narrations choose to close their plots by awareness. These narrations may also represent an maintaining a strong sense of uncertainty about the excellent resource for Media Literacy with teenagers future: three open endings which, once more, high- due to their connection with the biggest issue that ado- light notable differences between each. «Física o Quí - lescents care about as media users (as consumers of mica» chooses to tie together a number of romantic media representations and social webs): their own reconciliations that follow standard recipes of televi- identity building. The use of these analyses and sche- sion melodrama (the attempted suicide of one of the mes that are familiar to them from school work in tra- teenagers gives him a certain heroic dimension, one of ditional subjects such as Literature can support tea- the girls runs away from her family home and that chers in their adaptation of new Literacy activities to helps her to make up with her ex-boyfriend, an impro- their current academic approach and program as sug- vised teen wedding is cancelled at the very last minute gested by UNESCO (2011). when the true love of one of the fiancés bounces into The common features shared by the three narra- the ceremony begging for everything to stop…); the tions add meaningful aspects to the analysis of their dif- last chapter of the season finishes in a roadside bar ferences. When the plot is located in the school centre where the teenagers toast the happy endings and mainly to support intrigue concerning underage cha- explicitly decide to leave «for another moment» any racters or to advertise certain trends oriented to young reflection on the consequences of their behaviour and consumers, the narration is based on stereotyped re - decisions. In «The Class», François closes the school presentations following the previous tendencies of year in a state of restlessness that is very similar to the commercially successful teenage television dramas one he had when the year started, especially because (Gua rinos, 2009), mainly representing a confusing a very respectful and timid student has sadly confessed present focused on consumption and almost never to him that she is leaving school without having lear- concerned about the complex reality of young stu- ned anything at all. On the other hand, the narration dents. The three narrations selected (all of them very also shows a warm feeling of optimism in the last successful in their different contexts) achieve this partly sequence of the football match between the students by the way they portray social issues (like uncertainty and teachers, and a final session where each student about the future, for instance) that the audiences shares with the group the most interesting thing that recognize as their own (Corroy, 2008). But, as the they have learned during the year. From a near-narra- influence of reality on fiction can also happen the tive approach, Harry Potter and his friends get to over- other way, these narrations can also act in the contrary come extremely difficult obstacles in the face of fear sense: they may strongly inspire young audiences by and darkness while still maintaining a strong attitude of moving them to reproduce in their own lives what they watchfulness and determination: they need to keep on have seen on the screen even if reality has been deeply breaking through an increasingly uncertain time distorted for artistic reasons or commercial needs. where every single piece of knowledge and compe- This process of imitation may lead to the identifi- tence learned will be essential in order to survive. cation of features and behaviour that may be presented in fiction as positive but which in real life would be 4. Discussion and conclusions identified as signs of dangerous problems: this is the The classic scheme of narratological analysis used case with an excessive tendency to focus only on the to examine these three examples has helped to reveal present (and reject facing the future), a social issue some meaningful issues on the media representation of detected in teenagers who have problems establishing teenage identity, such as features of personality, the positive links with school and who spend too much questioning of authority, uncertainty about change, time consuming television (Díaz-Aguado & al., 2011; couple and friendship relationships and the difficulties Mar tín-Serrano & Velarde, 2001). As proposed by that are linked to new possibilities of freedom and Cla rembeaux (2010), Media Literacy may help teena- choice. For this reason, the three cases may be used as gers to understand the factors that determine certain

narrative decisions that are taken due to expressive or References commercial needs even if the portrayal of certain rea- AGUADED, J.I. (2012). La competencia mediática, una acción edu- lities gets distorted. The contrast between these cases cativa inaplazable. Comunicar, 39, 7-8. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.- 39 16/C39-2012-01-01). and other solutions that manage to preserve educatio- AUMONT, J. & MICHEL, M. (1990). Análisis del film. Barcelona: nal goals may strongly support such a process of Pai dós. understanding; this is the case of «The Class» and BANDURA, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action. «Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix», both Englewoods Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. BORDWELL, D. (1985). Narration in the Fiction Film. London: Rout - created by authors with a deep knowledge of adoles- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ledge. cents’ educational reality and needs, and both oriented BROWN, J., KELLER, S. & STERN, S. (2009). Sex, Sexuality, Sexting, to connecting to the explicit attention given to the and SexEd: Adolescents and the Media. The Prevention Resear - importance of learning as a crucial tool for the transi- cher, 16, 12-16. tion towards adult life. BUCKINGHAM, D. (1996). Moving Images: Understanding Children’s As proposed by UNESCO (2011), this analysis Emotional Responses to Television. Manchester, UK: Man ches ter University Press. shows the efficacy of educational activities based on a CLAREMBEAUX, M. (2010). Educación en cine: memoria y patrimo- comparison between different sorts of narration, inclu- nio. Comunicar, 35, 25-32. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C35- ding cases of notable success among teenage audien- 2010-02-02). ces (such as the series «Física o Química» or the film CORROY, L. (Ed.) (2008). Les jeunes et les médias. Paris: Ministére «Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix») and also de L’éducation Nationale, Vuibert, INA. DELLE, A. & BASSI, M. (2000). 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(DOI: 10.1080/08838159709364401). HART, A. (Ed) (1998). Teaching the Media: International Pers - giving them the role of experts on media. pectives. Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum. 2) Presenting content and aesthetic approaches by HERNANDO-GÓMEZ, A. (2009). La prevención de la violencia de analyzing contrasting examples. género en adolescentes. Apuntes de Psicología 25, 325-340. 3) Encouraging debate in heterogenic groups (4-6 HUESMANN, L.R. MOISE-TITUS, J., PODOLSKI, D. & ERON, L. students) about how teenagers and schools are repre- (2003). Longitudinal Relations between Children´s Exposure to TV Violence and their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adul- sented in each narration. hood: 1977-1992. Developmental Psychology, 39, 201-221. (DOI: 4) Helping teenagers to create their own media 10.1037/0012-1649.39.2.201). narrations on the role of school in the building of their IMBERT, G. (2002). Cine, representación de la violencia e imagina- own futures. rios sociales. In G. 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Received: 31-05-2013 / Reviewed: 13-07-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l M. Domingo, J.A. Sánchez & J.M. Sancho Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21880 Barcelona (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-15

Researching on and with Young People: Collaborating and Educating Investigar con y sobre los jóvenes colaborando y educando

ABSTRACT This paper reports on collaborative research on and with young people. In this study five groups of students in the final year of their Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) from five different schools developed five ethnographic studies about how they communicate, express themselves and learn inside and outside school, with the support and collaboration of teachers and members of our research group. The paper begins by discussing the dimensions of collaboration in education, taking into account the contribution of collaborative and cooperative learning, and the potential of digital resources, situating earlier influences and characterizing the work realised. Then there is a description of the research carried out on and with the young people we invited to perform as investigators. The results focus on the description and conceptualization of the different types of collaboration that have emerged while carrying out the ethnographic studies in each of the schools using digital technologies. Finally, we discuss the implications and limitations of the work as a contribution to anyone interested in researching on and with young people, collaborating, educating and using digital resources. RESUMEN Este artículo da cuenta de una investigación colaborativa realizada con y sobre los jóvenes. En este trabajo, cinco grupos de estudiantes de cuarto de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO), de otros tantos centros de Cataluña, han realizado cinco estudios etnográficos de forma colaborativa entre ellos, algunos de sus docentes y miembros de nuestro equipo de investigación, con la finalidad de explorar cómo y con qué los jóvenes se comunican, expresan y aprenden dentro y fuera de las instituciones educativas. Comienza discutiendo las dimensiones de la colaboración en la educación, teniendo en cuenta las aportaciones del aprendizaje colaborativo y cooperativo y las potencialida- des de los recursos digitales, y situando los antecedentes y las particularidades del trabajo llevado a cabo. Sigue con la caracterización de cómo y en qué ha consistido la investigación con los jóvenes a los que invitamos a ejercer como investigadores. Los resultados se centran en la descripción y conceptualización de las formas de colaboración a las que ha dado lugar la producción de estos cinco estudios etnográficos en cada uno de los centros utilizando tecno- logías digitales. Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones del trabajo realizado y se señalan sus limitaciones lo que se configura como la principal aportación para quienes se propongan investigar con y sobre los jóvenes colaborando, educando y utilizando recursos digitales. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Digital communication, collaborative learning, training, secondary school, collaboration, cooperation, research, ethnography. Comunicación digital, aprendizaje colaborativo, formación, educación secundaria, colaboración, cooperación, in- vestigación, etnografía.

v Dr. María Domingo-Coscollola is Associate Professor of the Faculty of Education at the International University of Catalonia (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Joan-Anton Sánchez-Valero is Associate Professor of the Department of Didactics and Educational Organisation at the University of Barcelona (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Juana M. Sancho-Gil is Full Professor of the Department of Didactics and Educational Organisation at the University of Barcelona (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 157-164 www.revistacomunicar.com 158 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 hc, ie rus f ia-er oploy Secon Compulsory final-year of groups five which, in project research IN-OUT the of stages the of one question the of State 1. 1.1. Scope of the collaboration the of Scope 1.1. mean. may technologies with and about collaboration This 1999). al. & forms an example of what researching and teaching in (Lehtinen platform specific a of use the beyond technologies digital on based learning sors. Moreover, it extends the concept of collaborative in so do to them collaboration with their teachers and university profes ask to and directly them involves and concerns both that phenomenon a of researchers innovative most methodology used has been to invite The the students to be school. the outside and inside explore to learn and themselves express communicate, they how studies different ethnographic five undertook from schools students (CSE) Education dary lopment and of mediation in order to favour thinking favour to order in mediation of and lopment the comes importance of the notion of the zone of proximal deve this From environment. their and viduals indi between relation dialogical a is there that (1929) Vygotsky of proposal the on and learning collaborative learn. to together come and together learn to strategy broad a as also but practice teaching a as only not collaboration understanding learning, of result the on than process the on more focus School the place to began Progressive the which (Europe), School New the as and States) (United such movements pite in practiced as des occurred This competitiveness. and groups, large individuality encouraged, and all on, based above been has cooperation, and boration colla- on than more years, fifty and hundred one than 2012). (Sennett, base cooperative or the of collaborative ability strong a have progress to species human the involved have that developments technological the all fact, In ends. same the for others to cooperate,worktogetherwithanotherpersonor capacity the or task, a undertaking in other each with duals and people is the capacity to collaborate, to work indivi of development the and species human the to continuity gives that line the the civilisations, over of evolution back look we If humanity. of history the in 2013) or field educational the O’Donnell, in new not is it Nevertheless, & Chan Chinn, Hmelo-Silver, competence-based and technologies curricula (OECD, 2005; European Communities, 2007; digital of rise ning, often used synonymously, has increased with the This article reports on the process and results of results and process the on reports article This The interest in collaborative or cooperative lear cooperative or collaborative in interest The Our research is based on this pedagogical notion of more of existence its in School, the However, ------. to learn, an issue we choose to highlight: to choose we issue an learn, to ration as a strategy to learn together and come together collabo understand case, our in as that, cycles system educational the and institutions between projects ning lear and research collaborative are there lines, these for & Alliance Kellett Along 2011). Research Hernández, 2009; Youth, and Children Ding, Australian Lewis, 2004; Fraser, Robinson, 2004; (Kirby, ple ching on young people to researching with young peo resear of notion the from going processes, research the in people young include to convenience and need study the to Background 1.2. process. learning the and school each of needs the to adapted best 2011). have that resources digital the used have al., & (Sánchez Therefore, we have not chosen a priori a tool and we collaboration improve or facilitate can they as much as in them of appropriation tual collaborative environments as an objective, but the tools. the on depend usually not does this of lure fai or success the and help, can they although tools, of collaboration we do not need either digital or virtual atmosphere an create to fact, In collaboration. or tion are only resources they and do not guarantee either environments, interac virtual all like that, forgetting out an enable asyn They with useful, very is that time and space in chrony 2011). Sancho, & Forés Sánchez, 2007; Pérez-Mateo, & Romeu (Guitert, work rative 2001) collabo- the in organisers as acting Munro, together, work and & Churchill (Snowdon, others with information share can as we where spaces digital characterised online be can settings fundamental These of importance. is exchange and collaboration rage case, the existence of virtual environments that encou- our In 2013). Wang, & Yang 1994; Bereiter, & malia (Scarda knowledge of construction collaborative the and space collaborative the in teachers of intervention the interaction, of role the on focus that technologies digital of potentialities the with learning collaborative 41). 1999: Tudge, & (Hogan ters)» and technologies semiotic tools (for example ball-point pens and compu schools), example (for institutions of types certain of absence or presence «the of tance impor the to according growth social and emotional cognitive, to contribute can adults and people young between Collaboration reasoning. of methods cultural and behaviour of forms cultural habits, also but rience expe cultural of aspects dominate only not individuals development, of process this In order. higher a of skills n eet ie, h agmn hs rsn o the for arisen has argument the times, recent In In our research, we did not consider the use of vir- of notions the combine that studies are There © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 157-164 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: ------159

Collaborative research with teachers and secon- nities of exchange using different literacies. To explore dary school pupils through the «Teaching and this hypothesis and provide alternatives, we considered Learning Research Programme» (TLRP), carrying out studying how young people learn inside and outside eight interdisciplinary projects in which teachers and school. And we decided to do this with them. In this researchers collaborated for four years in distinct edu- way, a fundamental stage of the project was to under- cational institutions. One of the actions was to undertake research in five secondary schools in Catalonia. take research with young people aged between eleven We highlighted the characteristic that the researchers and sixteen starting from relevant questions about their were five groups of students, accompanied by and in Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 lives (Gillen & Barton, 2010). collaboration with the research team as well as at least Participative research-ac tion between secondary one teacher from each participating school. school students and their teachers. From the University of Queensland (Australia), over the last ten years collaborative In this process of development, individuals not only dominate projects with teachers, students and universities have aspects of cultural experience but also habits, cultural forms been encouraged through proof behaviour and cultural methods of reasoning. cesses of Participatory Action Research (PAR) (Bland & Collaboration between young people and adults can contri - Atweh, 2007). Participative research be- bute to cognitive, emotional and social growth according to tween the university and for- the importance of «the presence or absence of certain types mal and informal educational institutions, based on visual of institutions (for example schools), technologies and semio - production. Over recent years, in the South American context, tic tools (for example ball-point pens and computers). from Art Education, research programs with young people have begun to emerge based on the idea of the young person as visual producer (Edarte, 2013). 2. Material and methods When we planned our study, the curriculum for 1.3. In-Out Project final-year Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) in The RDi IN-OUT project: «Living and learning Catalonia included the production of a group research with new literacies inside and outside secondary school: project. This project, on which one hour is spent each contributions to reduce abandonment, exclusion and week, is understood as «a series of activities of disco- school disaffection of young people» starts from the very by the pupils regarding a subject chosen and mar- confirmation that the majority of secondary schools do ked out, partly by themselves, with the guidance of the not seem to be prepared or equipped to face the chan- teaching staff» (Departament d’Educació, 2010: 251). ges in contemporary society. This reality generates Thus we agreed with the five participating schools «alienation, apathy, disaffection, boredom and appre- that the students would do it with us and that, as well hension» (Birbili, 2005: 313). Moreover, the limited as being presented publicly in the University of Bar- impact of digital technologies in these schools (Her - celona (UB), would be evaluated by the school. This nández & Sancho, 2011; Sancho & Alonso, 2012) decision would contribute to give meaning to the pro- increases the difference between the experiences of cess and to the results of the studies, although as we young people inside and outside the institution, shaping see in the results section, it was not thus in the five two cultures with distinct expectations (King & cases. The act of working with and about young peo- O‘Brien, 2002). Thus the initial hypothesis of this pro- ple and doing it in an institutional context turned the ject is that there is a disconnection between what the negotiation with them, their families and the schools secondary school considers as learning (mainly liste- into an essential part of the research in order to satisfy ning, doing exercises and reporting in the exam) and the ethical requisites. how young people learn outside the school in commu- The epistemological and methodological positio-

ning of this research that involves secondary schools and en communication, expression and learning inside and students aged fifteen and sixteen for several months of outside the school. continuous and demanding work led us to speak of an • How to produce the information: writing up the intentional sample (Patton, 2002) characterized by its individual ethnographic stories and the final report quality and not its quantity. The participating entities with the preparation of the public presentation. are representative of the different existing socioecono- The scope of collaboration of the process, the mic groups (table 1). We also particularly emphasised methodologies and digital resources used are detailed

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 that the groups represented the different groups of stu- in table 2. dents: those that respond to the expectations of the The work with the young people was undertaken teachers, those that broadly respond and those that do between October 2012 and April 2013 except in the not respond (at least two in each group). Els Alfacs institute which was extended until May, and In line with the objectives of the project and the in all the cases, with weekly meetings of each team young people’s interest, we developed five collabora- and an exchange of information and communication tive ethnographic studies which, although each group by means of the technological resources chosen by could produce its objectives and questions, were focu- each school. The collaborative research and learning sed on the exploration of these questions: process ended with the public presentation of the five • How and with what do we communicate, ex- projects in the UB, an event attended by colleagues press ourselves and learn inside and outside the school? and families of the students and primary, secondary • What connections, disconnections, comple- and university teachers and professors. mentarities or distances are there between learning inside and outside the school? 3. Analysis and results In relation to the methods of collecting informa- In our research, some of the characteristics of the tion, each school team (made up of secondary school studies reviewed occurred, above all that relating to the leading role of the students, who were placed in the function of researchers and went from reprodu- cing to producing knowledge. The results of this collaborative research and learning process have been multiple and different. Many of them have provided great satisfaction to all those involved, although they are difficult to express in the context of this article. We refer, for example, to the change of attitudes, the increase in involvement, how the students were authorised each day to speak, dis- students, school teachers and university professors) cuss, question and how they improved their forms of decided on and learnt the techniques that would ena- expression and communication. We also refer to the ble them to progress in the ethnographic study. In security and ease with which they all spoke in the brief, these would consist of: observations and self- auditorium of the Fine Art Faculty of the UB. These observations, field logbooks, audio-visual documenta- results go beyond the analogical and digital documents tion (photography, video, music, etc.), interviews and produced and shared in distinct digital platforms group discussion. because they have come to form part of the students’ During the classroom sessions, training in these background. From the perspective of educational re - techniques was combined with research about them, search as a process that educates all the participants, their contexts and resources of communication, ex- for us this constitutes the most important result. pression and learning. Other aspects dealt with were: • How to analyse the information: identify differences and similarities betwe-

The five ethnographic studies undertaken collabo- ged for group work. We were faced with the difficulty ratively by students and school and university teachers of breaking with a traditional work dynamic where the have produced important results regarding the com- adult decides and the young people produce. What prehension of how and with what the students com- enabled a change of course was when, after a few municate, express themselves and learn inside and weeks, the young people stopped asking what we outside school. However, being coherent with the wanted them to do, and began to take hold of the reins subject of the monograph, we focus on the forms of themselves. At this moment each one of them became collaboration that occurred in the five schools and the involved in a different way and intensity, contributing Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 technological resources they were provided with. diverse aspects to the project. For example, when we agreed that they would record a video (speaking about • Virolai case: from strategic to relational collabo- their findings and learning experiences) they thought ration. We met in the Laboratory, where the young up the questions, recorded and edited it in with a people attended with their laptops or tablets, and we sense of authorship considering their singularities. altered the space to favour communication. From the The digital applications we decided to use were a first sessions, we tried to break with the dynamic of the key factor for the collaborative research and learning adult who mainly decides and explains. We thus high- that we gradually constructed. A closed group in a light a step forward when we agreed with the students social network would be used for the internal formal that they interview and film each other explaining their relations that they managed themselves. At the same learning and expressive experiences inside and outside time, a service of online documents would enable the school. In these interviews, the young people gra- them to organise the findings with great flexibility in dually gave themselves different roles and made deci- sharing and creating files according to needs. The sions and assumed their authorship. young people ended up contributing textual, auditory, During the ethnographic research, the most used visual and audiovisual resources, maps and digital pre- digital resources were a website and the documents sentations. They also created another closed group in a shared online. According to the young people, the use social network service to encourage communication of the website enabled them to monitor the evolution and exchange with the groups of the other four schools of the research and do their project since the work ses- involved. sions were ordered chronologically with their corresponding significant information in a single shared • La Mallola case: from occasional to accumula - space. By way of example, when the young people tive collaboration. The work undertaken by the young produced the report of their project they placed, on people did not form part of the final-year Compulsory one of the pages of their website, the titles of the con- Secondary Education (CSE), but had institutional tents linking them to documents shared online. recognition since it was presented in the school with According to them, the shared document facilitated the attendance of a representative of the council. their task of creating knowledge in a group while at the They decided on their participation in the project on a same time, quickly and simply, they always knew voluntary basis, but the fact of not forming part of a where the information was and that it would be upda- regulated school activity, although done during class ted with the latest entry. According to them, during this time, put them off initially. The interest aroused in process of creation and analysis, they had the expe- them by the study topic kept them in the group, despite rience of knowledge as a social and negotiated cons- their ambivalence, but meant, initially, that their colla- truction of collaborative and shared re-elaboration borative research work and learning was focused in where they mainly interacted through dialogue and the classroom sessions. questions. When they finished the project, the young After the first meetings, the need to broaden com- people emphasised that they observed and analysed munication and collaboration beyond the confines of differently and were able to express themselves better the school were considered, in order to share the in writing. material produced. The young people were unaware of the service of online collaborative and shared docu- • Els Alfacs case: towards integrating collabora- ments, although some of them remembered having ting. It was agreed with the school’s management that used one in the school at one time. In the end they the group sessions would be done within the setting of decided to create a closed group in one of the most an extracurricular subject. These were held in the popular social network services, in order to inform us Visual Education classroom with several tables arran- and share material, one of the students creating it in a

moment on their netbook. From this moment on, the after school. We had a sandwich together chatting main use of this social network was to remind them of about different things and later focused on the task at the work they had decided to do, share material (pho- hand. This contributed to increasing the mutual trust tos, videos, presentations...), see interventions and dis- and recognition. All the work sessions were carried cuss strategies to improve their participation. The out on school premises, which facilitated group work majority of interventions were by the two researchers and equipment, except one which was done in a UB from the university and three of the youths. As the pre- space.

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 sentation time approached, the occasional collabora- The process reflected the conditions of the con- tion became accumulative. All the members of the text. One of the students only attended one session. group carried out the assigned tasks (writing texts, pro- He did the work enthusiastically together with his ducing photos, videos, etc.) to create the report and colleagues, but did not return. His presence was very multimedia presentation that represented their work. intermittent in the school too. Another took part spora- dically, but had an important role in the development • El Palau case: collaboration, separation, collabo- of the presentation in the university. These two cases ration. The first stage of the collaboration was focused show that collaborative research and learning are not on interviews and observations. The youths divided an answer in themselves, despite the interest and the into two equal groups with assigned roles. The writ- considerable results recognised by the students. The ten observations were shared among the whole group process of research and learning in collaboration went to analyse them and try to form conclusions. Two through distinct moments and forms: groups were organised from the individual essays and • Directed collaboration. The university and school each one constructed, with our support, a table classi- teachers suggested, and the students did. More present fied by categories. The youths from group A (of curri- in the formation stages. cular diversification) took part less initially, but were • Mixed collaboration. The decisions were taken more involved in individual tasks. As a result of the with the active participation of the students who made collaboration between members of both groups, those them collaboratively. For example, search and proces- in group A ended up taking part more and those from sing of information of concepts involved in the rese- group B undertaking the programmed tasks. In the arch, production of final report or preparation of the second stage, the youths produced the project they public presentation. had to present in the school. On having to do it with • Collaboration between peers. The students pro- the group of their class, they had to be separated. This posed and took decisions that they carried out inside separation did not help either the development or the and outside the school. For example, they decided to production of the report, above all for the youths from make videos about themselves to include in the pre- group A who presented a project that did not reflect sentation of their work. the work done. The third stage consisted of the cons- After analysing different options together, they truction and preparation of the presentation in the UB. agreed on a file storage service in the cloud to facilitate The results were satisfactory for all the youths as a asynchronous collaboration and by e-mail to exchange result of the consensus between them, organised with day-to-day information. Through this service, those of our support again in a single group. us involved were able to accede to the information To share the information collected and make available. In this context, the production of the final collaboration easier, after considering different report involved, as well as the commitment from the options, it was decided to create a closed group in a youths, establishing a turn so that each one could pre- social network service in which only them and us par- sent their contributions. ticipated. This group was basically used as a deposit for what was produced, with occasional interventions 4. Discussion and conclusions from the researchers in the news forum with remin- The results of this stage of the research constitute a ders of the contents of some sessions, documents to series of findings in order to base the importance of include or prepare changes of programme, etc. doing research with young people and not only on young people (Kirby, 2004; Fraser & al., 2004; Aus- • Ribera Baixa case: from sharing to collaborating. tralian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, As the school had not yet decided how to undertake 2009; Hernández, 2011). Researching on and with the final-year Compulsory Secondary Education young people collaborating and educating, as other stu- (CSE) project, we agreed with the youths to meet dies have partly shown (Gillen & Barton, 2010; Bland

& Atweh, 2007; Edarte, 2013) in our study has invol- based on neuroscience (Fischer, 2009), Vygotskian ved: social constructivism and the articulation of the curri- • Converting the educational activity into perso- culum though projects (Hernández, 2010); but also nally significant and authentic experiences by underta- rhizomatic learning (Lind, 2005) and connectivism king research on them and about subjects that concern since in the different work sessions the youths learn and interest them. This leads to contextualised and with and from their colleagues using digital technolo- problematized learning (Cobb & Bowers, 1999), since gies. the attainment of new knowledge is not independent The clearest limits of our research, as is generally Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 from the context of young people and requires ques- the case in all learning framed in an institution, even tions in order to move forward. though we surpass them, is found in the shortage of • Taking on intellectual risks that go along unfami- time for learning (Stoll, Fink & Earl, 2004). The frag- liar paths undertaking activities of description, analysis mentations of the timetable, exams based on questions and creation using different digital devices. This gave that already have an answer are educational aspects rise to diverging and open understandings, not orien- that are an obstacle to collaboration. In our cases, we ted to repetition where the interactive working met- had to unlearn and rethink the question of time, hods were based on the setting of questions and dialo- because research time is not the same as that of tea- gue which contributed to giving meaning to their pro- ching and they had to pass several weeks before sha- cess of inquiry (Hernández, 2007; Entwistle, 2009). ping a shared objective that led to the youths becoming • Favouring the production of knowledge and involved as researchers and the learning process attai- learning not included in the curriculum. Young people ned. as researchers produce, design, analyse and synthesise Finally, when working collaboratively, we cannot their research work based on an ethnographic study expect young people to have the same involvement all about their own reality. Learning experiences that help the time or contribute the same. This type of relation- them connect and give meaning to the information ship brings out the potentialities of each one, making (Burke & Jackson, 2007). their contribution to the process a key aspect. In order • Encouraging a vision of education that goes do research and learn collaborating it is necessary to beyond attaining fragmented information or specific accept that each young person is distinct and that they skills, offering opportunities for the creation of a pro- will make different contributions. From this perspecti- duct: the final-year secondary education (ESO) rese- ve digital technologies can facilitate collaboration arch project. Knowledge here is understood not as improving group work, dialogue and learning from something set and immutable, but as a social and nego- others and with others. tiated construction between the members of the each group, with collaborative and shared re-elaborations, Support and acknowledgements in line with belonging to a culture of liquid information With the collaboration of the Ministry of Economy and Compe- (Area & Pessoa, 2012). titiveness. National Programme of Fundamental Research Projects, in the framework of the VI National Plan of Scientific Research, • Overcoming the physical and organisational Development and Technological Innovation 2008-2011, and with limits of the classroom, making the utmost use of diffe- the Office of Pedagogical Research and Training of the Teaching rent digital resources and tools of collaboration and Staff of the UB. 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Received: 25-06-2013 / Reviewed: 08-07-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Julio Cabero & Verónica Marín Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 22249 Sevilla / Córdoba (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-16 Educational Possibilities of Social Networks and Group Work. University Students’ Perceptions Posibilidades educativas de las redes sociales y el trabajo en grupo. Percepciones de los alumnos universitarios

ABSTRACT The change in classroom methodologies has in many cases come with the emergence of the Internet and 2.0 tools (mainly social networks). The development of a constructivist approach focused on group work means that students’ training can be improved by this type of resources as they foster important aspects such as socialization, information searching and the achievement of a common goal, etc. This work aims to analyze the information and communication technology (ICT) university learning processes and student preferences for working either inside or outside the classroom at the universities of Córdoba, Sevilla, Huelva and the Basque Country. Our objectives are focused on knowing: the students’ feelings on social software and its influence on collaborative and group work;) the social network tools they use and, if there are any differences between these universities in terms of collaborative work perceptions. The instrument for data gathering was a four-dimensional questionnaire. The main results are: students are interested in group work as a type of classroom methodology; students have little knowledge of technology tools (except for social networks). These results provide a reliable diagnostic instrument for the variables that comprise this tool. RESUMEN El cambio en las metodologías de aula viene de la mano, en muchos casos, de Internet y de las herramientas de la Web 2.0. Por otra parte, el desarrollo de una perspectiva de corte constructivista apoyado en el trabajo en grupo, suponen que la formación de los estudiantes puede ser alimentada a través de este tipo de recursos, dado que poten- cia, entre otros aspectos la socialización, la búsqueda de información, el logro de una meta común, etc. La investi- gación que aquí se presenta versa sobre la realidad de los procesos de aprendizaje universitario con TIC y las pre- ferencias para trabajar dentro y fuera del aula de los estudiantes de las universidades de Córdoba, Huelva, Sevilla y País Vasco. Los objetivos se centran en conocer las percepciones que los alumnos tienen sobre el software social y el trabajo en grupo y colaborativo, cuáles son las herramientas de software social que emplean y si hay diferencias en función de la universidad de procedencia. Se empleó como instrumento de recogida de datos un cuestionario conformado por cuatro dimensiones. Se concluye que el alumnado está interesado en el empleo del trabajo en grupo como metodología de aula, así como su escaso conocimiento de las herramientas tecnológicas, salvo de las redes sociales. Al mismo tiempo, estos resultados aportan un instrumento fiable para el diagnóstico de las variables que lo conforman. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Social networks, Internet use, social relationship, research, student, learning, interactive youth, digital media. Redes sociales, uso de Internet, relaciones sociales, investigación, alumno, aprendizaje, jóvenes interactivos, medios digitales.

v Dr. Julio Cabero-Almenara is Full Professor of Educational Technology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Sevilla, Spain ([email protected]). v Dr. Verónica Marín-Díaz is Associate Professor in Media Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Córdoba, Spain ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 165-172 www.revistacomunicar.com 166

1. Theoretical approach work conditioned the way such work developed; and Recent times have seen universities transformed by this is related to their attitude towards teamwork and events ranging from joining the European Higher social presence, showing subjects in mediated commu- Education Area (EHEA), the extension of methodolo- nication environments (Kim, 2011). One cannot forget gies and collaborative work or case studies, and the that students’ negative attitude towards technology or incorporation of Information and Communication mode of use impacts on the type of interactions esta- Technologies (ICT) in general, and the Internet and blished and the goals achieved by means of the same

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Web 2.0, in particular. (Hung & Cheng, 2013), and that not all students have As noted by Shang et al. (2011), the arrival of a positive attitude towards the use of social networks Web 2.0 in education means that the learning proces- in their academic training (Irwin, Ball & al., 2012). ses developed by students are now of a more social, The research we have developed deals with student dynamic and personal nature whereby explicit know- perceptions on working in groups and collaborative ledge is produced and interacting with others is an and social networking. Technologies, collaborative ongoing process. Thus, education is more creative, environments and social media will, according to seve- participatory and socializing. We share Túñez and ral Horizon reports, figure prominently in training cen- Sixto’s opinion (2012: 78-79) that «Web 2.0 is not a ters (García, Peña-López & al., 2010; Durall, Gros & technological change occurring in isolation, but falls al., 2012). within a model that understands learning as the result of the interaction and collaboration of people and pla- 2. Method ces, with the student at the center of the process; so, it 2.1. Starting objectives has to be understood as an instrument that facilitates This research is part of a more extensive investiga- model change in the learning process». tion being carried out internationally. Among the Web 2.0 tools, «social media» and The results obtained are taken from a Faculty of social networks in the university context have the Education Sciences study at the universities of Córdo- potential to increase student participation, enhance ba, Huelva, Sevilla and the Basque Country among their creativity and add a new perspective to the pro- Primary Education undergraduates. These universities cess of socialization. As Imbernón, Silva and Guzman were selected as a result of the positive response and (2011) state, they tend to provide a space for more willingness to collaborate among professors at these interactive and dynamic learning. institutions, hence the choice of this study population. As several studies (Marquis, 2011; Callaghan & The objectives were: Bower, 2012; De-Gouveia, 2012; Barajas & Fabiola, • To know students’ perceptions of social softwa- 2013, Alvarez & Lopez, 2013; Bernal & Angulo, re and collaborative group work versus individual 2013) have pointed out, these possibilities have led to work. social networks increasingly embedding themselves in • To know whether there are differences be - student learning processes, with particular reference to tween each university regarding perceptions of group cooperative and collaborative work. and individual work. With respect to collaborative work, different stu- • To know which social software tools students dies (Cabero, 2003; Gros, 2008, Martin, Dominguez prefer to use. & Parallel, 2011) have shown that social media yield a number of advantages such as: improving social rela- 2.2. Research methodology tionships, increasing tolerance within the group, The type of sample used is non-probability inci- enhancing student participation, developing intrinsic dental, meaning the researcher selects the sample motivation and self-esteem, advancing social skills and directly and intentionally, because it is easily accessible supporting group integration and cohesion, as well as and is representative of the population (Sabariego, fomenting democratic participation and the acquisition 2004). The sample consisted of 525 subjects from an of leadership skills. . initial population of 728 at the four universities. However, the use of social networks for collabo- The methodological approach is quantitative, with rative work depends on whether the student has a a non-experimental and non-correlational descriptive positive attitude towards this phenomenon, or ade - design. To gather the information, a questionnaire quate levels of interpersonal intelligence (Gardner, designed by Anderson, Poellhuber & McKerlich 2001). As indicated by Shen, Cho and others (2013), (2010) called Social Software survey with unpaced students’ perceived self-efficacy with regard to group undergrad was adapted to consist of 91 items distribu-

ted across the following dimensions: identification, technological skills»: 0.902; Cronbach’s alpha ‘social learning preference, technical and technological skills, software experience’: 0.818; Cronbach’s alpha experience in social software, social software for lear- dimension ‘social software for learning’»: 0.835. ning, confidence in the ability to perform distance lear- According to Mateo (2004), these scores can be ning and conclusion. considered high and show that the instrument is relia- The adaptation of the instrument involved the ble. We also performed the item-total correlation (the incorporation of an identification variable, university of results are not published here to avoid making the rea- origin, and the deletion of the last two dimensions of ding of this paper tedious), but the values obtained Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 the original questionnaire, because they did not con- clearly indicated that eliminating any of the instru- form to the objectives we pursued. The final instrument’s items would not increase its reliability. ment was composed of 67 items, divided into: General (college, gender...) (6 items), preference for working 3. Results of the study in groups or individually (27 items), technical and tech- 3.1. Dimension 1: Descriptive data nological skills (15 items), experience with Web 2.0 The first thing we highlight is that the vast majority tools (10 items) and use of different social software of students who filled in the questionnaire were women tools in distance learning (9 items). (76.76%, versus 23.24% who were men); the propor- The questionnaire was distributed via the Internet, tion was almost identical for the four universities. and is available on: www.sav.us.es/surveys/redsocial/- In regard to age, the majority was aged between index.htm. It offers a Likert-type construction with five 17 and 20 (58.90%), followed by 21- to 24-year-olds response options (SD=strongly disagree, D=disagree, (26.33%). These data are not uniform at the four uni- N=neither agree nor disagree, A=agree, SA= versities since the survey majority at the Basque strongly agree). Country university was aged 21 to 24 (36.09%). In order to determine the internal consistency of When asked about whether they had received trai- the instrument, Cronbach’s alpha reliability test was ning on the Internet the figures were fairly similar at applied both to the questionnaire as a whole and to the four universities, with 54.21% stating they had and each of its dimensions. The following values were 45.79% stating they had not. obtained: total Cronbach’s alpha instrument: 0.860; Significantly, the vast majority of students indicated Cronbach’s alpha dimension «learning preference»: that they regularly accessed the Internet for educatio- 0.800; Cronbach’s alpha dimension «technical and nal purposes (93.54%), a figure that was similar in samples from the four universities. This confirms that the usage of the Internet as an educational tool is now common in higher education institutions. We also point out that most students are well- equipped, with 41.63% owning an integrated headset and 88.99% a webcam. This equipment facilitates their use of ICT tools in training programs, which incorporate remote videoconferencing.

3.2. Dimension 2: Learning preferences fact that the sum of the negative ratings did not exceed The second part of the questionnaire was de- 3%. These data were similar at the four universities signed to understand the students’ learning preferen- and globally the positive ratings are above 52%. The ces (table 1). last question in this part of the questionnaire was It is evident that although the vast majority of stu- designed to determine whether the students were inte- dents surveyed know how to work individually, 92.2% rested in collaborating with other students. In this case, stated that they «strongly agree» or «disagree» with the 63.17% said they were very interested, followed by

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 statement: «I do not know how to work on my own». 23.09% who indicated being interested. There are no The study clearly indicates that students prefer to major differences in regard to students from the four work in groups, since the percentage of «agree» and universities in the sample. «strongly agree» clearly exceeds the other options: • Working in groups is useful for gathering ever- 3.3. Dimension 3: Technical and technological skills yone’s ideas and taking decisions (88.9%). The third part of the questionnaire is aimed at ga - • I like to be able to use someone else’s ideas thering information about the level of technical skills together with my own (88.4%). needed to manage the various technologies the stu- • Projects are done faster if we all collaborate dents have at their disposal (table 3). (85.9%). As we can see, the perceptions that students have • Working with other students helps me to learn of ICT are very positive. In some cases, the sum of the (97.1%). choices «agree» and «completely agree» equals 80% of This is also evident in the items which were for- the distribution, as in the following cases: mulated in a negative way, where the options with • I like to use computers for research and educa- higher percentages were those labeled as «totally tion (87.1%). agree» or «totally disagree»: • I like to communicate with other people by • Working in a group means getting lower marks (71.4%). • I am afraid of working in a group (86.5%). • I don’t like to work on my own (47.6%). • In a group debate, important decisions are never reached (70.2%). • I like to work on my own without paying any attention to my partners (80.6%). • I do not like to work with other partners (82.7%). It seems significant that when presented with the means of computer-assisted technologies (i.e. email, option «I prefer to work individually in order to move text messages) as an aid to my learning process on quickly», the preferred choice of answer (with (83.2%). 42.8%) was «neither agree nor disagree», so the • I feel comfortable working with computers options that referred to favorable and unfavorable atti- (79.2%). tudes were on a par. It is also revealing that students At the same time, students reveal that they felt qua- perceived that the role teachers played in order to set lified to perform different tasks: groups in motion was very important, as the high num- • I know how to send and receive messages and ber of positive answers denote (81.3%). The answers attached files through different communication tools also help us to infer that students perceive that one of (email, instant messaging…) (95.6%). the most important elements when learning in the 21st • I am good at finding what I am searching for century will be collaborative work. One of the items when using Internet search engines (Google, Yahoo… was meant to ascertain the preferences that students ) (73.3%). had for working with other students in a distance edu- • I am able to use Word processors to write docu- cation environment; the results are presented in table 2. ments (i.e. using underlying, bold characters, creating When asked how they would classify their expe- tables, etc.) (92.3%). rience of working in groups, a large percentage of the • I am good at using presentation software (i.e. students (60.38%) considered it to be positive, follo- PowerPoint) (70.6%). wed by the neutral option (24.23%). We highlight the It is worth noting that the students who acknow-

ledged that «I spend a lot of time on the Net» is evident if we add the «agree» and «totally agree» answers to reach a total of 60.2% of the distribution. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014

3.4. The social software experience dimension In regard to the experience that students have regarding social software (table 4) we find three levels of training. First ly, those technologies in which students state they have the university. In particular, students at the universities an «advanced-(A)» level of training: social networks of Huelva and the Basque Country prefer to use Face - (49.3%), uploading photographs (45.8%) and video book, approximately 74% each, and students at Sevilla sharing (31, 4%); and secondly, the technology level of and Córdoba opt for Twitter, with 70.1% and 53.1% training in which the majority is «no-(N)» or «begin- respectively. ner-(B)»: wikis (34.1%, «beginner»), social bookmarking (71.8 %, «N»), podcasting (69.8%, «n») and 3D 3.5. The social software for learning purposes immersive experience software (84.1%, «no»). Finally, dimension we found some cases where the beginner and advan- The last part of the questionnaire was designed to ced options have very similar rates: blog (34.1% and determine the extent to which the students were inte- 28.8%) and video conferencing via the web (34.7% rested in using social software in their classes. Table 5 and 20.7%). We must emphasize the case of social shows the results. networks because this is the only one in this part of The results are somewhat contradictory since the questionnaire where the sum of the options «advan- «interested» option was chosen in all the cases but, ced» and «expert-(E) » reach 50%. nevertheless, to two of the question, («How interested In terms of the social networks, one of the survey are you in using the social markers used on the courses questions focused on collecting information on the you are taking? (i.e.: De.licio.us, Diigo)» and «How most actively used social networks, offering four options: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Hi5. These data showed that 54.1% chose Twitter and 45.3% Facebook, while the other two options, LinkedIn and Hi5, obtained a response rate of less than 1%. However, these results varied depending on

an alpha margin of error of 0.05. In the case of rejection, we would accept H1, referring to the existence of differences. In order to find out

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 which universities presented differences after rejec- ting H0, we applied the Kruskal-Wallis statistical multiple comparison test, specifically the Dunn test (1964). The results ob - tained are in table 7. As we can see, the only significant differences appeared between the students of the University interested are you in having access to the podcasting of Sevilla and the Basque tools used on the courses you are taking?»), the res- Country, with the latter showing a greater preference ponse rates for «not very interested» were somewhat for work group (average = 3.5646). In the case of higher: 32.4% and 28.1%, respectively, although the social software for learning purposes, the results are percentage for «do not know» was 17.0% and 19.7% presented in Table 8. respectively. This shows for the fact that there is a cer- In this case, the differences were established be- tain lack of interest in these technologies. tween the students of the University of the Basque One of the goals of our study was to find if there Country with those of Córdoba and Sevilla. The hi gh - were any statistically significant differences between the est scores occurred in the Basque Country (average = university students comprising our sample. In order to 3.1011), compared to those of Córdoba (average = achieve this objective we considered the four main di- 3.0666) and Sevilla (average = 2.8672). mensions that constitute the questionnaire: «learning preference», «technical and technological skills», «social 4. Conclusions software experience» and «social software for learning The study shows that students, regardless of their purposes». In all cases the hypotheses we formulated university of origin, show considerable interest in wor- were: king together and collaboratively. This is of utmost • H0 (null hypothesis): there are no significant dif- importance since we are constantly talking about the ferences between the students from the different uni- potential of networked collaborative work and net- versities, with an alpha risk of 0.005. worked collaborative virtual training. But this would • H1 (alternative hypothesis): there are significant not be possible if students held negative attitudes differences between students from the different uni- toward teamwork and collaborative work, as our re- versities, with an alpha risk equal or less than 0.05. search shows. The statistic used for this was the Kruskal-Wallis As noted by various studies (Holcomb & Beal, test (Gibbons & Chakraborti, 2003) for independent 2010; Rollet, Lux & al., 2011), this paper shows that samples, carried out using the SPSS program, version students are not as competent in handling technologies 18. Table 6 presents the results. as certain sectors have been saying, and that they show The results allow us to reject H0 formulated for notable shortcomings with regard to digital competen- the «technical and technological skills» and «social software experience» dimensions, and also for «learning preference» and «social software for learning», with

rativo a través de la computadora. Edutec, 43. (http://edutec.rediris. - es/Revelec2/Revelec43/analisis_face- book_ambito_universitario_aprendiza- je_colaborativo.html) (12-05-2013). ANDERSON, T., POELLHUBER, B. & MCKERLICH, R. (2010). Social Soft - ware Survey Used with Unpaced Undergrad. (http://auspa ce.atha ba sc - Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 au.ca/handle/2149/2771?mode=full) ces for the educational management of Web 2.0 tools. (21-12-2012). This leads us to affirm that those teachers who want to BARAJAS, F. & ÁLVAREZ, C. (2013). Uso de Facebook como herra- apply these technologies to their classes must first set up mienta de enseñanza del área de naturales en el grado undécimo de educación media vocacional. Píxel-Bit, 42, 143-156. training for students to achieve at least an adequate BERNAL, C. & ANGULO, F. (2013). Interacciones de los jóvenes an- technological-instrumental level of competence in the daluces en las redes sociales. Comunicar, 40, 25-30. (DOI: http:// - use of these tools. The teachers would be justified in dx.doi.org/10.3916/C40-2013-02-02). their decision since the data found in this study indicate CABERO, J. (2003). Principios pedagógicos, psicológicos y sociológi- that students are certainly interested in learning how to cos del trabajo colaborativo: su proyección en la teleenseñanza. In handle and use ‘social media’ and they are willing to F. MARTÍNEZ (Ed.), Redes de comunicación en la enseñanza. (pp.129-56). Barcelona: Paidós. incorporate them into their educational practice. CALLAGHAN, N. & BOWER, M. (2012). Learning Through Social The stated objectives were to know whether Networking Sites. The Critical Role of the Teacher. Educational there were significant differences among Primary Media International, 49, (1), 1-17. (DOI:10.1080/09523987.2012.- Education undergraduates in terms of their university 662621). of origin. In this regard it can be concluded that the DE-GOUVEIA, L. (2012). Comunidades virtuales y el aprendizaje es- tratégico de cálculo en ingeniería. Píxel-Bit, 40, 101-113. data found, except for certain nuances, are similar in DURALL, E., GROS, B. & AL. (2012). Perspectivas tecnológicas: edu- the four universities both in terms of significant insights cación superior en Iberoamérica 2012-17. Austin, Texas (USA): into teamwork their mastery of Web 2.0. The New Media Consortium. On the other hand, this work validates the expe- GARCÍA, I., PEÑA-LÓPEZ, I. & AL. (2010). Informe Horizon: Edición riences being carried out in order to incorporate the Ibe roamericana, 2010. Austin, Texas (USA): The New Media Con sortium. Facebook and Twitter social networks into university GARDNER, H. (2001). La inteligencia reformulada. Las inteligen- education since these are the networks students most cias múltiples en el siglo XXI. Barcelona: Paidós. commonly use, as is also shown in other studies (Holcomb & Beal, 2010). The preponde- rance of one network over the other depends on the universities where the students study, possibly as a consequence of their own experiences with the individual network. At the same time we find that the experiences that students have of social networks is far greater than their knowledge of profes- GROS, B. (2008). Aprendizajes, conexiones y artefactos. Barcelona: sional networks, which is virtually non-existent. In that Gedisa. HOLCOMB, L.B. & BEAL, C.M. (2010). Capitalizing on Web 2.0 in case, teachers should make an effort to familiarize stu- the Social Studies Context. TechTrends, 54, (4), 28-32. (DOI: 10.- dents with them. 10 07/s11528-010-0417-0). We believe that this work provides a useful tool HUNG, S-H. & CHENG, M.J. (2013). Are you Ready for Know- for the diagnosis of students’ perceptions of teamwork, ledge Sharing? An Empirical Study of Virtual Communities. Com - puters & Education, 62, 8-17. (DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.10 16/j.- collaborative work and the skills that need to be incor- compedu.2012.09.017). porated into Web 2.0 teaching tools. IMBERNÓN, F., SILVA, P. & GUZMÁN, C. (2011). Competencias en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje virtual y semipresencial. Comuni - References car, 36, 107-114. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C36-20 11-03-01). ÁLVAREZ, G. & LÓPEZ, M. (2013). Análisis del uso de Facebook en IRWIN, CH., BALL, L. & AL. (2012). Students’ Perceptions of Using el ámbito universitario desde la perspectiva del aprendizaje colabo- Fa ce book as an Interactive Learning Resource at University. Aus -

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Received: 31-05-2013 / Reviewed: 02-07-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Leopoldo Abad Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21892 Madrid (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-17 Media Literacy for Older People facing the Digital Divide: The e-Inclusion Programmes Design Diseño de programas de e-inclusión para al fa betización mediática de personas mayores

ABSTRACT This article is based on the fact that the Spanish population is aging, and is second only to Japan in its total number of senior citizens. Given this situation and the omnipresence of new technologies in everyday life, the use of Internet and ICT for older people is essential. The latest report by IMSERSO shows that only 15.6% of people aged between 65 and 74 connected to the Internet in the 3-month period measured. The data seem to show that there is a generational digital divide to be overcome. The studies that have addressed this issue have focused more on regional and specific aspects of the relationship between age and Internet use intensity, and these studies use age ranges as criteria. Other studies have introduced variables such as seniors’ economic situation or educational level. With this in mind, public policies have sought to reduce this generational digital divide through a number of media literacy and e-learning projects but without success due to their poor methodological approach. This paper proposes a number of new methodological approaches to tackle the design of digital literacy programs for older people based on criteria such as degree of autonomy and the possibilities for enjoying everyday life, proposing the development of programs based on contextualism, incrementalism, motivation and absorption processes. RESUMEN Tras la japonesa, la población española es la segunda población que más envejece. Ante esta situación y la omni- presencia de las nuevas tecnologías, el uso de Internet y las TIC en la vida cotidiana se hace imprescindible para las personas mayores. El último informe del IMSERSO establecía que solo se habían conectado a Internet en los últimos tres meses un 15,6% de las personas entre 65 y 74 años. Estos datos muestran la existencia de una brecha digital de carácter generacional que debe ser superada. Los estudios que han abordado esta problemática se han centrado más en aspectos regionales, y los específicos sobre la relación entre edad e Internet han abordado solo la intensidad de uso vinculada a intervalos de edades. Otros estudios han introducido variables como el nivel económico o educativo. Frente a esta realidad, las políticas públicas han pretendido disminuir esta brecha digital generacional mediante diferentes proyectos de alfabetización mediática y e-learning, sin lograr su objetivo por el deficiente planteamiento meto- dológico de los cursos. Este artículo propone una serie de nuevas perspectivas metodológicas a la hora de abordar el diseño de programas de alfabetización digital de las personas mayores basadas en criterios tales como el grado de autonomía o falta de la misma para la vida cotidiana así como el desarrollo de programas basados en el contextua- lismo, incrementalismo, motivación y proceso de absorción. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Media Literacy, older people, e-inclusion, digital divide, public policies, Internet, ageing, media competence. Alfabetización mediática, personas mayores, e-inclusión, brecha digital, políticas públicas, Internet, envejecimiento, competencia mediática.

v Dr. Leopoldo Abad Alcalá is Professor in the School of Humanities and Communication at the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 173-180 www.revistacomunicar.com 174

1. Introduction and state of the art group, based more on socio-cultural criteria than on The demographic change that we have expe - age groups, which has been the majority approach so rienced in Spain has been rapid, progressive and pro- far. This would allow the design of training programs found. In the near future nearly a third of the popula- that are more efficient and suitable for bridging the tion will be elderly. This increase is primarily due to generational digital divide and thus enabling the e- increased life expectancy coupled with a decline in inclusion of elderly people, concentrating more on birth rates. After Japan, the projections for 2050 place operating skills than on mere usability and access.

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 our country among the highest in the world in terms of longevity. 2. Older people and the use of new technologies Proof of this is that if we compare the numbers of If we analyse the data that refer to the use of new older people in the early twentieth century with the technologies, and specifically the Internet, among older general population figure for Spain in 2007, which people, we can clearly distinguish between access and reached 45,200,737, the population by this date had usage. We must orientate ourselves towards the need already risen 2.4 times (Barrio & al., 2009). Mean - to promote the beneficial use of ICT, valuing not only while, in 2008 the number of older people had in - quantitative aspects on usage linked to Internet access creased 8 times with respect to 1900, going from 5.2% and use of office tools. of the total population in the early twentieth century to The «Elderly people in Spain» report published by triple that number for this date (16.7%). IMSERSO in 2008, in which Chapter 6 referred to The latest census of 2011 confirms this trend. The «Daily life, attitudes, values and emotions in old age» total number of people over 65 years of age amounted (Barrio & al., 2009), established a series of very illustra- to 7,914,359, of whom 3,372,808 are men and tive parameters on the use of ICT by the elderly, high- 4,541,549 women (INE, 2012). Due to the ageing of lighting with respect to Internet access that only 50.5% the population pyramid, long-term projections of the of people between 65 and 74 connected to a computer INE for 2009-2049 indicate that the population over daily, 31.5% weekly, 8.3% monthly and 9.8% not every 64 will double in 40 years and will represent 31.9% of month. The Internet services used are principally the total, with negative natural population growth «information searches» (79.9%), «receiving or sending from 2020. Thus, «in Spain for every 10 people of e-mail» (78.7%) and «other» (62.7%). Very much working age, in 2049 there will be nearly nine poten- below this are functions that could be considered use- tially inactive persons (under 16 or over 64). That is, ful for this social group such as «Finding information the dependency ratio would rise to 89.6% from 47.8% about health issues» (37.9%), «Obtaining information at present» (INE, 2011: 3). The forecast is for a popu- from websites on the authorities» (30.1%), «Purchasing lation in 2060 of 15,679,878 people aged 65 years goods and services» (20.2%) or «Downloading official and over, and for each child there will be 2.3 elderly forms» (16.8%). If we focus on the methods of acqui- people. ring computer skills, we found that 75.5% were self- From a continental perspective, the European taught, 60.6% had learned through people in their Union in its «Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint social environment and 30.9% in adult education lear- Programme» indicates that life expectancy in Europe ning centre courses. However, according to data has increased from 55 in 1920 to 80 today. In 2020 published recently by IMSERSO and CSIC in the about a quarter of Europe’s population will be over 65 report entitled «A profile of elderly people in Spain, and the number of people aged between 65 and 80 2012. Basic statistical indicators» (Abellán & Ayala, will grow to nearly 40% of the European population 2012), the proportion of people aged 65 to 74 who between 2010 and 2030. An aging population means had used the Internet in the last three months had fallen a change in the economic, social (IMSERSO, 2009) to 15.6%. This factor of exclusion of elderly people and technological structures for a country. Older peo- from Internet access is also evident in the «The Net- ple are compelled by circumstances to develop skills in worked Society 2010» annual report of the National the use of new Information and Communication Observatory of Telecommuni cations and the Infor- Technologies (ITC) and thus lessen the digital divide mation Society referring to 2010 (Urueña & al, 2011), between those who are connected (young people and which states that if we focus the analysis on the age adults) and those who are not connected (the elderly). variable, we observe how the use of the Web is clearly The purpose of this paper is to propose new pers- differentiated, as the younger the person, the more use pectives to address the media literacy of older people of the Internet, and conversely, the older the age, the underpinned by qualitative studies on this population lower percentage of Internet users.

At the European level, the data referred to the though the level of studies does influence Internet use Indicators of the Digital Agenda 2011, in which Pillar for information purpose and marital status determines 6 was dedicated to digital competence. This showed the use of ICT for communicative purposes, highligh- that while 90% of those between 16 and 24 are regu- ting single older women (Agudo, Pascual & Fombona, lar Internet users, only 46% of people between 55 and 2012). 64 are, this proportion decreasing to 25% among peo- In the field of literature on the relationship be - ple between 65 and 74. This segment is as low as tween Internet use and age, there are noteworthy

20% when it comes to people between 55 and 74 works that deal not only with quantitative data on the Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 with low levels of education. use of the Internet but also with aspects related to the Based on these data, we can see that there is a scope and intensity of Internet use by older people generational digital divide, defined as differences in (Loges & Jung, 2001); others which address the diffe- access and use of ICT in different social environ- rences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan ments. Linked to the Internet, Castells (2011: 311) defined it as «the disparity between the Internet haves and have-nots». One of the objectives for digital literacy of older people and For its part, the Organization for Economic Cooperation their inclusion in the information society should be to and Development (OECD) achieve a sufficient quality of life in old age, which may conceptualized the digital di - vide as «the gap or divide be - allow older persons to lead a fuller and more participatory tween individuals, households economic and geographic life and can serve as essential instruments in promoting areas with different socio-eco- their civic participation. nomic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technology, and the use of the Internet for a wide areas (Mills & Whitacre, 2003); where it is seen that variety of activities» (OECD, 2011: 5). the difference between Internet users and non-users is In the field of studies on Internet use a significant linked to age and income, but not to gender or race number of works have focused mainly on aspects rela- (Rice & Katz, 2003); there is an examination of the ted to regional variables and how economic and socio- patterns and determinants of the use of information demographic variables and different service prices by technology in five countries: the United States, region influence the decision to install Internet in house- Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, establis- holds (Chaudhuri & al., 2005); or in which in 14 hing differences in access to ICTs by gender, age, European countries the determinants of individual education and income (Ono & Zavodny, 2007); or Internet use and its intensity of use are analysed based that evaluate differences in Internet use among people on individual variables (Demoussis & Giannakopoulos, with high incomes and high educational levels compa- 2006) or similar work applied to 15 European coun- red to people with low income and low educational tries (Vicente & Lopez, 2006). In the Spanish case the levels (Goldfarb & Prince, 2008). One of the impor- primary literature on the subject is linked to studies tant aspects related to the use of the Internet by older examining geographical differences in Internet use people may reflect a combination of different factors (Carmona & García, 2007; Jordana & al., 2005). A such as Internet usage skills, lower in the elderly more complete study includes socio-demographic fac- (Demunter, 2005; Hargittai, 2003); the perceived tors and concludes that as age increases, the probabi- needs and benefits of use, also lower among older lity of Internet use decreases by 1.47% (Lera-Lopez, people (OECD, 2007); as well as attitudes and lifesty- Gil & Billón, 2009). Another significant piece of rese- les associated with different age groups (Chaudhuri & arch in this area has been conducted by Agudo, al., 2005). Other studies link age with gender, conclu- Pascual and Fombona restricted to Asturias, which ding that belonging to a particular generation is neither establishes that values such as age, gender, living the only nor the most important predictor of gender arrangements or place of residence are not determi- differences in Internet use. The life stage (measured as nant variables of ICT use for leisure purposes, al - level of employment and marital status) influences the

differences between men and women or had an inde- ple and ICT in the Seventh Framework Programme pendent effect for most of the activities studied, affec- for Research of the European Commission related to ting aspects that we will deal with below (Helsper, the promotion of independent living and inclusion. 2010). One of the most ambitious studies on the issue is that called the «Social Impact of ICT» conducted 3. Analysis and results under the auspices of the Directorate General for the 3.1. Public initiatives for e-inclusion of older people Information Society of the European Commission,

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 The concern about the need to include older peo- which has involved several European universities ple in ICT has been taken up by various public autho- (European Commission, 2010). One of the main rities and international organizations leading to a signi- recommendations arising from this study is precisely ficant number of media literacy initiatives for this sector that the e- Inclusion should not focus on access to ICT, but especially on operational skills and more advanced forms of digital literacy, offe- The key to bridging the digital divide for older people is not ring support to those groups at risk being marginalized in this asking what is the best way to bring ICT to this population process, especially the elderly. In Spain, public policy group, but rather what is the optimal way for older people measures in relation to e- inclusion have been based on the to benefit from ICT to enhance their personal and access to web infrastructure, social situation. one of the main programs in this regard being the installa- tion of public telecentre networks which according to Red.es are aimed at «facilita- of the population. Among some of the interesting pro- ting and streamlining citizens´ Internet access in rural jects we should mention the European Commission- and disadvantaged urban areas with difficult access to funded intergenerational project called «Grandparents ICTs through telecentres and networked libraries». In and grandsons» that is aimed at people over 55. It pro- Spain, the promotion of ICT has been pursued in vides for the involvement of young students from voca- three successive stages: infrastructure, promoting and tional colleges and secondary schools with the role of boosting of the use of ICT and services. «digital facilitators» who individually assist older peo- The first phase would be to facilitate citizens’ ple, guiding them in the use of Internet and e-mail1. access to the technological equipment and devices Also noteworthy in the European Community necessary for their inclusion with regard to internet frame work is the creation of a specific work area wit- under the best technical terms available by means of hin the Digital Agenda adopted by the European the state promoting the purchase of equipment and the Commission in May 2010 in Pillar 6 (Enhancing digital hiring of Internet connection services with private ope- literacy, skills and inclusion). The Commission propo- rators. ses a series of measures to promote access to digital Once this is completed, the second would be to technologies by the potentially disadvantaged, inclu- seek to encourage the effective use of the same, ding among these older people (European through the training of potential users in the skills rele- Commission, 2011). As part of the e- Inclusion policies vant to the handling of ICT and its possible uses. This and specifically the «European i2010 initiative on e- would be a condition precedent to the third stage in inclusion», the Commission has set up a group of mea- this strategy, the development and promotion of pro- sures to improve e-Accessibility for older people. This ducts and services based on the Internet, from trade to proposal complements the initiative taken in 2007 electronic administration, via e -learning or other appli- called the «Ageing Well in the Information Society cations for social life (leisure, work, the economy, per- Action Plan». Particularly significant is the AAL sonal relationships, etc.). Program to stimulate and develop technologies to help Regarding the relationship of older people with people to continue living in their home (allocated 600 ICT in these three phases, it is appropriate to empha- million euros) or the funding of projects on older peo- size the need to assess how far public policies have

focused on the first of these, to some extent on the Theoretically there are three levels in the develop- second without the expected results, which has pre- ment of digital literacy: 1) digital competence, 2) digital vented access to the third. However, there are initiati- use, and 3) digital transformation. Digital competence ves such as the «i-Mayores» («i-Age») Program of the involves finding information on the Web, document Government of La Rioja, the Digital Volunteer preparation and processing, electronic communica- Program of the Xunta de Galicia or Seniors in the tion, creation and manipulation of digital images, using Web of the Zaragoza Town Council2, to name a spreadsheets, creating presentations, web publishing, few, which are a good example of public authorities’ creating and using databases, digital and interactive Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 real intention to work on digital literacy. games, production of multimedia objects and the dominion of digital learning environments. Digital use 3.2. Methodological proposals for the design of e- involves the successful use of digital skills in life situa- inclusion programs for the elderly tions, the proper application of digital competence in All the studies cited above show the difficulty of the specific profession or in specific contexts, giving integrating older people into active, advantageous and rise to a corpus of specific digital uses for an individual, productive use of ICT. In this regard, the need to brid- group or organization. Digital transformation is to be ge the so-called digital divide for this population group able to make those digital applications that have been without skills and abilities for the efficient use of ICT developed permit and enable innovation and creativity is essential, leading to the concept of e- inclusion, and encourage significant changes within the profes- understood as the ability to access regularly and easily sional or knowledge areas, or in the personal or social the various services and programs both ‘online’ and context. ‘off-line’ and to be able to use their skills linked to the In this way one must understand the current inte- specific needs of each user. The importance of digital rest in the usability of the technologies or in the inclusion has been put on record by the various docu- Community initiative of «media literacy», which is not ments of the World Summit on the Information limited to the instrumental learning of the technologies, Society held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005 but rather would cover some of the powers ascribed sponsored by the International Telecommunication to what is called «informational capital», which signi- Union, a UN agency, which defined inclusion as the fies the intellectual ability to filter and evaluate infor- «set of public policies related to the construction, mation, but also the motivation to actively search for it administration, expansion, offering of content and and the ability to apply it to social practices (Hamelink, local capacity building in the wired and wireless public 2000). digital networks in each country and in the entire To address the media literacy of older people it is region»3. necessary to start from the basis of the complexity in As a step towards digital inclusion, digital literacy, dealing with aging as evidenced by several gerontolo- defined as «the ability to understand and use informa- gists (Binstock, Fishman & Johnson, 2006; Settersten, tion in multiple formats from a wide range of sources 2006) and the need to take into account the different when presented via computers, is essential. The con- aging characteristics. The traditional categories of age cept of literacy goes beyond the simple ability to read; groups (50-64, 65-74 and 75 +) used for statistics and it has always meant the ability to read with meaning quantitative approaches are inadequate and according and understanding» (Gilster, 1997: 1). Critical thinking to these authors, it is necessary to employ the following rather than technical competence is identified as the groups when addressing an investigation of this matter: central element of digital literacy, and the critical eva- 1) an age more or less close to retirement age (early luation of what is found on the web is emphasized, retirement period); 2) autonomous age as a pensioner rather than the technical skills required to access it. (independent life period); 3) age with increasing han- Martin (2006: 19), meanwhile, defines digital literacy dicaps (beginning of the period of dependent life); 4) as «the awareness, attitude and ability of individuals to age of dependent older people (dependent life period make an appropriate use of digital tools and the facili- until the end of life). ties to identify, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, Most of the projects on the digital divide, aging and analyse and synthesize digital resources, construct new e- inclusion have been linked to E -learning and few knowledge, express it through various media and to studies have focused on the needs of older people communicate with others, in the context of specific life regarding new technologies and specifically on the situations, in order to enable constructive social action; usefulness of the Internet. One of the most compre- and reflect it through this process». hensive studies in this regard is that developed by a

team led by Ala - Mutka regarding the potential of ICT ties, personal interests or living environment. It seems in learning by older people to enable them to have an clear that «different groups need different forms and active life. Using this multipolar perspective, they levels of support if they want to use the Internet to advocate developing improved research tools to pre- learn» (Eynon & Helsper, 2010: 548). dict the future needs of those who are not yet elderly. The third methodological proposal states that the These start from the need to redesign the content of design of training programs should start with the selec- training courses on the use of ICT to promote media tion of members of this social group organized accor-

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 literacy, and the need for financing R & D projects to ding to the criteria specified above and a qualitative develop new educational tools aimed at this group, approach should be performed in relation to them, involving the members of such group in their design which would allow for the establishing of degrees of (Ala-Mutka & al., 2008). consensus of the group with respect to what should All this leads us to the proposal of a series of me- be, critical to the analysis because these become dis- thodological approaches that should be considered course scenarios regarding which the social and politi- when designing media literacy programs. The first of cal institutions will take future operational decisions them involves moving away from the inconsistency of (Callejo, 2002). the existence of training programs for older people on Internet and ICT use without an analysis of the perso- 4. Discussion and conclusions nal and social circumstances of each of them. As The study of the digital divide cannot be limited to Ferrés and Piscitelli indicate, «the in-depth study of a the analysis of Internet access (first digital divide), but product is of little use if it is not accompanied or pre- must go a step further and become involved in the ceded by an in-depth study of the reactions of the per- analysis and determination of the uses and intensity of son who interacts with this product. There is little Internet use (second digital divide), where concepts point in analysing the meaning of a message if it is not such as digital literacy, digital skills and digital inclusion accompanied by the analysis of the effect it has on the acquire a greater impact. person facing it. And the in-depth study of what the The so-called information society measures should person thinks about a product is of little use if it is not be applied, meaning as systems of indicators that allow accompanied by an in-depth study of what he/she one to analyse development and obtain an adequate feels facing it» (Ferres & Piscitelli, 2012: 79). view of the situation, at a particular time and in a spe- Especially significant is the proposal for dimensions cific social environment. We must define new metrics and indicators of these authors, where they include - directed not at studying the types of Internet use in as an essential element to evaluate in media competen- older people, but the aspects that affect these uses. ce - transformations derived from neuroscience. In this connection, a prior qualitative approach is Applying this new variable to the process of media lite- necessary for a better definition of ICT training pro- racy in the elderly, we consider that there is a need for grams for older people, because this approach «seeks a new approach with specific indicators for this sector to understand the meaning or nature of the experience of the population in accordance with the views of people when exploring substantive areas about expressed in this article. which they know little or much, but seeking to obtain The second methodological proposal involves the a new procedure. It explores the life of the people, the desirability of both public and private policies of media experiences lived, their behaviours, emotions and fee- literacy allowing for a smooth transit between compe- lings, as well as organizational functioning, social tence and digital use, but developing in particular the movements, cultural phenomena» (Strauss & Corbin, second of these, which involves use of the technologi- 2002: 12). The focus group, understood as a discus- cal tools associated with an increased quality of life for sion carefully designed to obtain perceptions on a spe- older people. This is ultimately to enhance the so- cific area of interest allowing discursive reconstruction called critical knowledge, which includes the unders- of the social group to which the participants belong tanding of media content and function, knowledge of which in turn distances them from other social groups. the media and their regulation and the use made of it This is a group that is constructed and discursively by users (Celot & Pérez - Tornero, 2009), for which remade in relation to its significant ideas. From these it is necessary to know the specifics of this population we obtain what must be, i.e. the norm of what is con- group. Given this, we believe it necessary to address sidered is the phenomenon of study to investigate them, based on the significant differences between (Callejo, 2002). older people regarding their economic situation, social Therefore, a preliminary qualitative approach can

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Received: 12-03-2013 / Reviewed: 26-03-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l María Luisa Humanes & Sergio Roses Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 20852 Madrid / Málaga (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-18

College Students’ Views about Journalism Education in Spain Valoración de los estudiantes sobre la enseñanza del Periodismo en España

ABSTRACT The paper presents the results of a survey of 1,552 journalism students from five public universities in Spain during academic year 2011-12. The research addresses two objectives: how students evaluate journalism as a degree subject and whether they believe they need this qualification to be a journalist. The results indicate that most students believe the journalism courses are adequate, but almost 25% consider them unnecessary. Students acknowledge the quality of the training received at the specialist faculties but the percentage in Spain is lower than in other countries in the study. A multiple linear regression was used to discover the variables that explain this evaluation. The most influential variable is the course enrolled on, followed by the functions the respondents assign to the faculty. The paper has used data from the largest sample on this subject taken so far, which also includes all courses and data on graduates completing their first university course in journalism as part of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This study can be a valuable starting point for further research to inform decision-making on the subject. This research is part of the «Journalism Students Project» with participants from seven countries: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and the United States. RESUMEN El artículo presenta los resultados de una encuesta realizada a una muestra de 1.552 estudiantes de Periodismo de cinco universidades públicas durante el curso 2011-12. La investigación aborda dos objetivos: conocer la valoración de los estudiantes respecto a la titulación y averiguar si consideran necesarios los estudios de Periodismo para ejercer la profesión. Los resultados indican que los estudiantes creen apropiados los estudios de Periodismo, pero casi una cuarta parte los considera innecesarios. Los estudiantes valoran la calidad de la formación recibida en las facultades con un aprobado, por debajo de la opinión de la mayoría de los estudiantes de los otros países del estudio. Se ha realizado una regresión lineal múltiple para encontrar qué variables explican dicha valoración; la más influyente es el curso matriculado, seguida de las funciones que los encuestados otorgan a las facultades. El trabajo presenta la virtud de haber contado con datos a partir de la mayor muestra utilizada hasta el momento, que además incluye todos los cursos y datos para las primeras promociones de alumnos de Grado según el Espacio Europeo de En- señanza Superior (EEES). Puede ser un punto de partida valioso para posteriores estudios que permitan tomar decisiones a los responsables académicos. El estudio forma parte del «Journalism Students Proyect» con estudiantes de Periodismo de Australia, Brasil, Chile, México, España, Suiza y Estados Unidos. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Students, training, journalism, curriculum, teaching, higher education, evaluation, survey. Estudiantes, formación, periodismo, plan de estudios, docencia, educación superior, evaluación, encuesta.

v Dr. María Luisa Humanes is Associate Professor and Member of the Advanced Studies in Communication Group (GEAC) at the Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain) ([email protected]). v Dr. Sergio Roses is Interim Professor in the Department of Journalism of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Málaga (Spain ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 181-188 www.revistacomunicar.com 182 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 academic entry requirements are high. are requirements entry academic the and undergraduates the among courses of popular one most still is it 2009), Roses, & (Farias demand of the terms in Although excessive deemed is 2013). graduates of (INE, number 2011 and 1976 tween be graduated had who 74,923 the joining graduates new 2,640 with students, Journalism 19,000 around were there 2011, In 2013). (ANECA, subject degree a as Journalism teaching 37 were private) 2013, (44% faculties By more. 16 brought millennium new the centers opened, 12 faculties were set up in the 90s and more seven 1980s, the In professional. of type new a required now which Journalism for framework ferent dif a of creation the saw 1970s late the in democracy in faculties and of Madrid and Barcelona were established. The return of recognized, University formally the was of Navarra faculty Sciences Information The course. degree university a as incorporated be to research. this in studied is latter The university. and interventionism totalitarian company-school, nal, traditio- models: four identified have (2011) Ponti Del and Rodríguez Pestano, Spain, In 22). 2006: (Deuze, university and unions trade and institutions training media other and courses, in-house schools, fessional pro universities, and schools professional of mixture a has generated five different training options: university, response The corporations. press by and academics by proposed training of type the between journalism Spain in universities at Journalism 1.1. sities. univer- public five from (n>1,500) students of sample a of perceptions and attitudes the on based faculties, the in teaching of quality the and Spain in Journalism for model course current the of suitability the of ment This study aims to provide empirical research. data for an empirical assess- of lack the to due (EHEA), Area cially those linked to the European Higher European the to linked those cially espe decade, past the over measures such of success needs in general. However, it is difficult to evaluate the society and associations professional demands, market to respond to updated gradually have end Courses the result. and programs the study last, of should quality and course direction the long how usage, its and Yet there is still controversy over the educational model Spain have a qualification in the subject (Farias, 2011). the since in journalists working Spain of 80% some present, At 1940s. in education higher of part integral question the of state and Introduction 1. A ministerial decree in 1971 authorized Journalism facing dilemma the on consensus overall is There nvriy ore i Junls hv be an been have Journalism in courses University Education - - - - aifcin mn junlss eadn te training the regarding journalists among satisfaction professionals and students of view of point The 1.3. of lack the to point investment. government and 2011) (Aunión, such reforms of evolution the question universities then and now every Yet, 2009). García, & García 2010; brera, Ca & Lazo (Vadillo, society of needs the to more tailored are and methodologies, and content on effect subsequent the with training, practical enhance plans Sciences with a practical orientation. So, current study Communication in training theoretical combining ties facul with model mixed a became which plans, study of of development the influenced combination necessities two The these well-informed. being citizens and interpret analyze social and political events report, to contribute to to journalist a enable that thought of calls, Reese what «habits of mind» (1999: 75), knowledge and the logics and, formats; and genres nalistic jour- different in information of transmission and ting selec compiling, for competences professional tives: objec- important two out set (2005) Communication» knowledge. 2005), accumulating of instead skills practical learning on and (Real, academics many by demanded as les, profi professional of recognition the on based blished esta- was framework A EHEA. the with accordance in out carried reforms the with improved partially only context This 2000). Humanes, & (Ortega desired be ment and the use of didactic methods that left much to invest low halls, lecture overcrowded with cope to been had also transition also This 2007). has (Lamuedra, analysed which development a corporations, experience press and universities work between agreements on practical based included which 2010), (López-García, journalism professional of reality the education». of ception con bureaucratic positivist a by generated nonsenses «educational the mentions 11) (1992: Galdón demics. aca- other from criticism of result a as partly modified were plans study these faculties, new of emergence the with 90s, the In content. practical over theoretical prioritized plans study early Sciences, Political the and Philology Sociology, as such areas from came teachers of majority the Since countries. Anglo-Saxon in occurs as experience, practical on based approach fessional teaching model (Cantarero, 2002) rather than the pro model teaching the of Evolution 1.2. hr hs en oe eerh n h lvl of level the on research some been has There in Degrees University on Book White «The to closer was that content acquired courses Later, humanistic a adopted initially Spain in Faculties © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 181-188 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: ------anr wie h seils kolde n formal be to deemed and was faculties the by provided education knowledge specialist the while manner, social easy an with and audacious information, of ces journalist as a person with experience, with good sour a of profile ideal their defined (n=137) students that showed study later A 162). (2000: journalist be a to come training possible best the with them provided faculties their that stated (n=189) students of 39.2% only that found Humanes and Ortega by study 1999 A generalize. to us allow not do that studies case cular parti out carried or samples small taken only have they so, do to ventured have they when but course. research, cal the during empiri- of area this ignore to tend students Spain in Academics Journalism by made lists. journa- younger among course degree the in work cal practi to given time of proportion diminished the over concerns reduce did it but training on outlook general the improve not did 90s the in plans study of reform the so, colleagues; older than their training practical their of critical less were journalists younger the However, 1976. in university left who those as measure equal in classified courses their 2011 in graduates training acrossthegenerations; assess their in journalists’ of ment tendencies similar found cre». Gómez and Roses (2013) «medio- as subject the in ching tea faculty classified 2011) 200 (Farias, polls subsequent in surveyed journalists of 40% About trend. this corroborated samples bigger on based dies stu- later small, were samples the Although 2000. in course duates at the UAB were gra- moderately satisfied with their Journalism of 64.7% whereas «good», as it fied classi- 40% although «mediocre» been had their education that stated 2002 to 1995 from polled USC the at graduates the of Half (UAB). Barcelona of University University the at Autonomous the and out (USC) Compostela de Santiago carried studies two from tive. The White Book (ANECA, 2005) compiled data duates of the quality of the teaching was far from posi- gra among perception the yet subject, the in degree a get to important was it believed journalists of 60.3% Spain. in faculties Canel, Sánchez and Rodríguez (2000: 2) reported that communication at received they © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 181-188 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: te suis ae xmnd h assessments the examined have studies Other 8- - critical of standards at the faculties. the at standards of critical most the were experience work previous had had who Students poorly. education their rated important was settings journalistic real within performed work practical whom for those whereas training, their with happy were they stated theory of importance the emphasized who and thought critical of development the to importance greater attached who students the that showed analysis regression The - - - - - tdns assmns w as ne t cnie the question: research following consider to need also we assessments, students’ favourably. faculty the at received teaching the rate to trend the theses: hypo following the out set we 2011), Farias, 2000; and working journalists (Canel, Sánchez & Rodríguez, (ANECA, students of 2005; Sierra, 2010; Sierra, Sotelo & Cabezuelo, 2010) samples local small on based hypotheses and questions Research 1.4. teaching. of quality the of evaluation the and nalist, jour a as work to order in Journalism in course duate gra a take to necessary two is it to whether questions: back basic refers nor article sufficient this data, provide empirical recent neither studies previous that Given 2011). Mathieu, & Santín (Gómez-Escalonilla, «positive» as experience educational their rated 65% (URJC), University students Carlos Juan Rey Journalism the at (n=121) undergraduate on-line of CEU case Herrera Cardenal the University in Valencia (n=40) which scored 7.4. In the at & 2010) Sotelo (Sierra, Cabezuelo, study another to similar 10, of out 6.9 was (n=40) CEU Pablo San of University the at Journalism in undergraduates final-year among course their with satisfaction that found (2010) Sierra 118). (n=51) 2005: (ANECA, beliefs student size of generalization a as sample the results the of but validity the negates 29) 2005: (ANECA, students of survey a secondary. The White Book (ANECA, 2005) includes As a strategy to better interpret the results of the of results the interpret better to strategy a As continue will Spain in students Journalism H1: • studies previous in out mapped trends with line In - - - 183 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 184

• RQ1: Compared to other countries, do students number of Journalism students, are not represented rate the university education in Journalism received in here. Nevertheless, this is the biggest and most hetero- Spain better than their foreign counterparts? geneous sample used for empirical studies on this topic • H2: Journalism students will express their need comparing Spain to other countries (Spli chal & Sparks, to study Journalism in order to work as journalists. 1994; San ders & al., 2008). We also analyzed student evaluation of teaching In order to get the biggest sample possible, we based on a search for statistical relations with a set of polled students in each year of the Journalism courses,

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 individual variables. No previous study in this area and the field work was carried out in the early weeks identified the possible individual factors that enable us of the first semester in 2011-12. Students were given to predict a positive or negative assessment of the tea- a printed copy of the questionnaire during a timetabled ching received at the faculty. So, we need to ask: class. Students who did not complete the questionnai- RQ2: What are the individual variables that pre- re were either not interested in taking part or were dict a negative evaluation of the training imparted at absent on the day the survey was presented. The Spanish universities? We wish to clarify if the type of number of completed questionnaires was 1,552. profession chosen, the acquisition of practical work Table 1 shows the basic characteristics of the sample. experience and the importance given to theoretical We used descriptive statistical techniques to verify and practical training are factors that predict the outco- or refute H1 and H2. The dependent variable – me of the students’ assessment of the training received Evaluation of teaching received– was activated from a at Journalism faculties. five-point variable (1=Very bad. 5=Very good). RQ1 The identification of individual predictors is useful was resolved via the application of the ANOVA2 tech- in that they enable us to locate the groups that are most nique to a factor for the comparison of the dependent critical, and to explain the motives for such concern variable averages. Finally, we used multiple linear about the teaching of Journalism at universities. regression to answer RQ2. The possible predictors were added to the model in two blocks via the «In - 2. Material and method troduce» technique. This work is part of an investigation that compares • Variables included in the first block: Journalism students’ opinions in seven countries: Faculty. Since it was the teaching at each of these Australia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland universities that was the reference point of the attitu- and the USA (Mellado & al., 2012). It is a cross-sec- des we studied, it was convenient to control the effect tional survey, and the questionnaire includes the of this variable on the model to be able to examine the dependent variable «the evaluation of the teaching effect of the individual factors in an independent way. received at the faculty», as well as demographic infor- The original categorical variable came into operation mation and other indicators which this study analyzes in five dummy3 variables. SPSS automatically extracted as independent variables. one of the faculties from the equation to avoid colline- The study population consisted of Journalism stu- arity problems. dents in Spain who, in 2012 when the field work was • Variables included in the second block: carried out, numbered some 19,000. For convenien- Gender. Dummy variable (1=Man). ce, based on our network of academic collaborators Year. This indicates if the participant is studying4 around the country, we selected the following five at the (1) Start, (2) Half-way point or (3) End of the public universities for the survey: the Complutense course at the time of the survey. Of those surveyed, University of Madrid (UCM), the Rey Juan Carlos 28.1% were at the beginning of the course, 52.5% University (URJC), the University of Sevilla1, the half-way through and 19.4% were in the final or University of Málaga and the Jaume I of Castellón penultimate year of their studies. University. The characteristics of the survey mean that Previous Studies. This dummy variable indicates the results cannot be totally generalized since private universities or universities in other regions of Spain, such as Catalonia with a considerable

whether the student had already studied for another consider this to be very important (M=4.43. SD= qualification (1=Student has already got another qua- 0.850). lification). Only 9.2% had studied for another qualifi- Importance attached to work practice on the cour- cation. se. Three variables were used to refer to teaching Professional experience. The dummy variable functions at the communication faculty (Mellado & indicates those students who have already done paid Subervi. 2012). The first showed how important it work as journalists during their course (1=Professional was (1=Not important. 5=Very important) for the experience). 10.2% had already acquired professional student that the faculty prioritized practical work expe- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 experience. rience as a fundamental tool for training them as jour- Reasons for studying Journalism. This categorical nalists. The students considered this to be very impor- variable has 13 response options (1=I could not com- tant (M=4.33. SD=0.892). The second variable refe- plete my studies in another subject. 2=I could not get rred to the importance attributed to the fact that the on the degree course I wanted. 3=It is an easy degree. faculty develops practical journalistic tasks in real set- 4=I have journalistic talent / I like to write. 5=I like tings (M=4.29. SD=0.861). The third variable indi- Journalism as a profession. 6=To change society. cates the importance the faculty gives to perfecting 7=For the money I can earn as a journalist. 8=The professional techniques during the course, which the opportunity to cover scandals. 9=To be famous. students considered to be very important (M=4.03. 10=Because I like to travel. 11=To meet interesting SD=0.918). people. 12=Other. 99=No answer given). This was transformed into 11 dummy variables which included 3. Results only those variables that represented at least 4% of The students do not have a high opinion of the cases, in order to avoid collinearity problems. A total of Journalism courses they are studying. The notion that 49.6% decided to study Journalism because they liked their training is «Mediocre» is widespread in the survey it as a profession; 24.1% took it up because they belie- (M=3.23. SD=0.855). And although the number of ved they had a talent for reporting or because they like students who have a positive opinion of their training to write, and 7.1% said they studied Journalism as a was almost double those who were highly critical means to change society. The remaining options sco- (Table 2), the evaluation was less positive than that in red under 5%. previous studies (Sierra. Sotelo & Cabezuelo. 2010). Career paths. This categorical variable has five On the other hand, the evaluation in our study is on a options: 1) News media; 2) Entertainment news: 3) similar level, although somewhat more benevolent, to Teaching and Research; 4) Public relations/Corporate that made by graduates in the previous decade (M= communication; 5) No response. This was transfor- 3.21. SD=0.927. n=221), according to a study by med into five dummy variables, with 69.9% of students Gómez and Roses (2013). In line with the data collec- stating they would like to work in news media; 16.9% ted, we can say that H1, which established that the preferred entertainment news, 7.2% corporate com- students would tend to evaluate teaching at the faculty munication and 6% teaching or scientific research. positively, is proven. The variable «I would like to work in news media» This assessment by Spanish students of Journalism was extracted from the equation after it was found to can be better interpreted when compared to the eva- cause collinearity problems. luations of other Journalism students in foreign coun- Importance attached to theory in the course. Two tries regarding their training to enter the profession. In variables were used from a set of 20 factors that refer response to RQ1, which asked if Journalism training in to teaching functions in the communication faculty Spain was rated better or worse than in other countries (Mellado & Subervi. 2012). The first uses a five-point in the study5, the ANOVA test revealed some signifi- scale (1=Not important. 5=Very important) to indica- cant differences, Welch’s F [F(5. 1244.074)= 83.29. te how important it is for the student that the faculty prioritizes theoretical training. The mathematical average (M) of the scores shows that students consider theory as no more than quite important (M=3.25. Standard Deviation [SD]=1.054). The second variable demonstrates the importance it has for the student that the faculty helps them to develop critical thought and reflection. The average score reveals that students

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 181-188 186 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 lop a career in entertainment news reporting, both of both reporting, news entertainment in career a lop into teaching or research, and those who want to deve go to want who students those to refers This training. certain the of evaluation negative a generated also path a career for preference a expressed students which in variable the that was aspect Another rating. lower a it gave scandals cover to order in degree this do to ded deci had who those However, received. instruction of quality the to rating higher a give profession the by attracted are they because Journalism study to decided training the to regard received. The analysis with also showed that those who had outlook positive more a showing that the students at the start of the course have specifically analysis course, the is predictor important most the that proved regression The studied. was c the on influence greater a had model final the in ded trolled, it was shown that the individual variables inclu versities in the study. With the organizational level con opinion of their course than those at the other four uni favourable more a had University I Jaume the at Students received. training the of assessment the influences studies student the where faculty cant (see table 3). The analysis clarified that the signifi statistically is tested predictors of set the tion between the evaluation of the teaching and 1450)= [F(21. rela the that reveals which p<0.001], 20.898. statistic F ANOVA the with line in significant statistically is model variance. final The the of 22.1% than more no explain could included predictors the predictive since modest capability a only had model the that indicated analysis Regression Spain. in faculties at received they Jour training the by of students nalism given rating the predict would that journalist. a as work to Journalism in qualification a needed they believed they that stated polled students of and (3.29). Brazil (M=3.23) Spain then (M=3.18), Chile in students by given was assessment worst the while (M=3.52), Mexico and (M=3.78) USA evaluation highest The came from Australia (M= 3.93) followed by test. the T3 Dunnet the from obtained data Australia to according USA, Mexico, the and in that than (p<0.001) of ve evaluation the negati more significantly was students that Spanish confirmed tests hoc post- addition, In groups. different statistically between variances the representing p<0.001] riterion variable than the faculty where Journalism where faculty the than variable riterion Q akd bu te niiul variables individual the about asked RQ2 H2 is proved by a large margin, since 81.9% ------who have a degree in the subject. the in degree a have who nions of a large number of working journalists in Spain opi the with consistent to are results a These unnecessary as journalist. work start it to order in consider course the finish quarter actually a almost that note we profession, the in working for preparation of quality of their Journalism courses is adequate in terms conclusions: clear some with us provided have Conclusions 4. faculties. the at standards of critical most the were ce poorly. Students who had had previous work experien education their rated important was settings journalistic real within performed work practical whereas whom for training, those their with happy were they critical stated of development the thought and who emphasized the importance of theory to importance greater attached who students the that showed analysis sion whom were unimpressed by their training. The regres • Although the majority of students state that the that state students of majority the Although • data study the of analysis and examination The © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 181-188 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: - - - can be classified as a «pass», it is hardly a ringing en ringing a hardly is it «pass», a as classified be can very small margin. So, although the average evaluation a by but faculties, Journalism at received training the Higher Education Area (EHEA). So, this could be a be could this European So, (EHEA). new Area Education Higher the within Journalism in graduates first the for data uses and course the of year each in students straddles also which far, so taken sample vey path. er the expectations of those who wish to follow this care- match not do survey the in faculties the of plans study the Perhaps received. instruction negative of quality also the about are research do or teaching into go to 2013). al., & Vlad 2008; Nolan. 2003; Burgh. De- 2001; practical Compton. & more Gasher (Skinner, a orientation of models other with in similarities contexts also other in those models that resemble to the Spanish model, and there are similar are Spain for results The faculty. the at receive they education the of evaluation the affects which considerable, still is journalism professional of realities the and university at training the between difference the that see dents stu these So, positive. so not are professional journalists of profile current the of needs the to adapt plans study their that demand who others functions, these to theory and academic input look more favourably on faculty. For although those who give more importance the of functions teaching the to attached importance course. the during up builds that disappointment of feeling a that students tend to finish their academic training with seems it as environment, working the in gained ence experi to referring when variable the this of was collinearity significant Equally (-.385). coefficient vant longer they study the course, which had the most rele- the students by given assessment negative increasingly they programs follow. Significant study among the individual variables is the the of evaluation students’ of the nature generalized the underlines which studied, student the where center the of capacity explanatory methods. teaching and grams pro study improve to made be could that changes the encourage should only debate in which Spain as to why this evaluation countries, is so low and Chile, seven than the better slightly of lowest second rated are faculties Spanish survey. the in countries other six the in Journalism of students of assessments the with compared when significant more is This dorsement. © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 181-188 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: Saih tdns cnwegd h qaiy of quality the acknowledged students Spanish • • Regarding research reach, this is the biggest sur- biggest the is this reach, research Regarding • want who students those that significant also is It the covering data the have we vein, similar a In scant the revealed analysis regression The • - - - - students in Spain. in students was added later to the database for use in this analysis of Journalism it but (2013) colloborators and Mellado of data working the of pus nalism as an Academic Discipline. Academic an as nalism Notes analysis. regression multiple the of capacity tory explana- the improve to variables new of construction ple design, so that data is more representative, and the sam the research: future for account into taken be to sion-makers in the academic setting. Two factors need deci help to studies future for point starting valuable and fourth year as «Half-way point» and the fifth year as «End». as year fifth the and point» «Half-way as year fourth and third the «Start», as classified were years two first the courses, year five- the In «End». course as year fourth the and point» «Half-way as four-year year third the «Start», the as coded were years In two first the courses, recoded. was variable course the so five, others C Sociológicas. Investigaciones de Centro drid: profesionalesallos de informacióndescubierto.Retrato la de A (10-03-2013). srv.aneca.es/ListadoTitulos/busqueda-titulaciones) of an independent variable with more than two categories. two than more with variable independent an of basis the on formed groups the of variable dependent the in scores average the in differences are there if contrasting, for analysis tistical C 0853602_850215.html). (http://elpais.com/diario/2011/07/17/ sociedad/131 17-07-2011). 3 2 1 DITACIÓN DITACIÓN A References study. this for vital was which data the ring Moreira, Gabriel Corral and David González for their help in gathe Sonia Ferreira, Kenia Sousa, Janara Oliveira, Dione North, Lousie Meadows, Michael Josephi, Beate Cullen, Trevor Bowman, Leo Bowd, Kathryn Ramo, del López Joaquín Saperas, Enric Casero, Andreu Vera, Estefanía García, Noelia Araya, Álvarez, José Farias, Rodrigo Pedro Valle, Hughes, Del Carlos Sallie Salinas, Byerly, Paulina Carolyn Lagos, Claudia Kodrick, Kris thank to wish We Acknowledgements 5 4 evalation of the quality of the teaching received. teaching the of quality the of evalation zas. Modelos curriculares, ostracismo académico, rutas sociales y esperan 10.1177/1464884903004001484). o mlil rgeso aayi we te rgnl aibe s not is variable original dichotomic. the when analysis regression multiple for useful are They quality. a of presence the represents 1 which in 1, A (10-03-2013). broblanco_comunicacion_def.pdf) nicación. D (10-03-20 publicaciones/latina/20025209CANTAREROxi.htm) 13). UNIÓN GENCIA GENCIA The ANOVA variance analysis of a factor is a type of bivariate sta E The sample from the University of Sevilla was not used in the cor Some universities in the sample offered four-year degree courses, degree four-year offered sample the in universities Some ANTARERO ANEL Dummy variables with dichotomic variables with values of 0 and 0 of values with variables dichotomic with variables Dummy The students in Switzerland did not answer the question on the on question the answer not did Switzerland in students The -B URGH eit Ltn d Cmnccó Sca, 52. Social, Comunicación de Latina Revista , M.J., S M.J., , , J.E. (2011). Recortes y burocracia lastran Bolonia. N N (2013). Qué estudiar y dónde. Madrid: ANECA. (http:// (2005). ard AEA (www.aneca.es/var/media/150336/ ANECA. li Madrid: , ACIONAL ACIONAL , H. (2003). Skills are not Enough. The Case for Jour for Case The Enough. not are Skills (2003). H. .. 20) Frain e ouiaoe sociales. comunicadores de Formación (2002). M.A. ÁNCHEZ Libro Blanco de los Títulos de Grado de Comu de Grado de los Títulos de Blanco Libro DE DE , J.J. & R & J.J. , LA LA E E VALUACIÓN VALUACIÓN ODRÍGUEZ Journalism,4(1), DE DE , LA LA R. (2000). R. C C ALIDAD ALIDAD 95-112. (DOI: 95-112. (www.ull.es/ Periodistas Y Y LA LA El País, A A . Ma . CRE CRE ------187 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 188

DEUZE, M. (2006). Global Journalism Education: A Conceptual Sus motivaciones y expectativas profesionales. CIC, 5, 153-170. Approach. Journalism Studies, 7 (1), 19-34. (DOI: 10.1080/14616- ORTEGA, F. & HUMANES, M.L. (2000). Algo más que periodistas. 700500450293). Sociología de una profesión. Barcelona: Ariel. FARIAS, P. (Dir.) (2011). Informe anual de la profesión periodística, PESTANO, J.M., RODRÍGUEZ, C. & DEL-PONTI, P. (2011). Transfor - 2008-11. Madrid: Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid. maciones en los modelos de formación de periodistas en España. El FARIAS, P. & ROSES, S. (2009). La crisis acelera el cambio del nego- reto europeo. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 17 (2), 401-415. cio informativo. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 15, 15-32. REAL, E. (2005). Algunos interrogantes en torno a los estudios de GALDÓN, G. (1992). Cualidades y formación del periodista. Comu - Periodismo ante el nuevo Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. nicación y Sociedad, 5 (1). (www.unav.es/fcom/comunicacionyso- Cuadernos de Información y Comunicación, 10, 267-284. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 ciedad/es/articulo.php?art_id=269#C02) (10-03-2013). REESE, S. (1999). The Progressive Potential of Journalism Educa- GARCÍA-AVILÉS, J.A. & GARCÍA-JIMÉNEZ, L. (2009). La enseñanza tion: Recasting the Academic versus Professional Debate. The Har - de Teorías de la Comunicación en España: análisis y reflexión ante vard International Journal of Press/Politics, 4 (4), 70-94. (DOI: la Convergencia de Bolonia. Zer, 14 (27), 271-293. 10.1177/1081180X9900400405). GÓMEZ, B. & ROSES, S. (2013). Valoración de los profesionales so- SANDERS, K., HANNA, M., BERGANZA, M.R. & ARANDA, J.J. (2008). bre la enseñanza del Periodismo en España. Un Análisis intergene- Becoming Journalists A Comparison of the Professional Attitudes racional. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 19, 1. and Values of British and Spanish Journalism Students. European GÓMEZ-ESCALONILLA, G., SANTÍN, M. & MATHIEU, G. (2011). La Journal of Communication, 23 (2), 133-152. (DOI: 10.1177/026 - educación universitaria on-line en el Periodismo desde la visión del 7323108089219). estudiante. Comunicar, 37 (19), 73-80. SIERRA, J. (2010). Competencias profesionales y empleo en el futu- INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ESTADÍSTICA (2013). Base estadística de ro periodista. El caso de los estudiantes de Periodismo de la Univer - enseñanza universitaria. Madrid: INE. (www.ine.es/jaxi/menu- sidad San Pablo CEU. Icono14, 8 (2), 156-175. .do? type=pcaxis&path=/t13/p405&file=inebase) (09-012013). SIERRA, J., SOTELO, J. & CABEZUELO, F. (2010). Competencias pro- JONES, D.E. (1998). Investigación sobre comunicación en España: fesionales y empleo del futuro periodista: el caso de los estudiantes evolución y perspectivas. Zer, 3, 13-51. de Periodismo de la UCH-CEU. @tic, Julio-Diciembre (5), 8-19. LAMUEDRA, M. (2007). Estudiantes de Periodismo y prácticas profe- SKINNER, D., GASHER, M.J. & COMPTON, J. (2008). Putting Theory sionales: el reto del aprendizaje. Comunicar, 28, 203-211. to Practice A Critical Approach to Journalism. Journalism, 9 (6), LÓPEZ-GARCÍA, X. (2010). La formación de los periodistas en el siglo 733-746. (DOI: 10.1177/1464884908096243) XXI en Brasil, España, Portugal y Puerto Rico. Revista Latina de SPLICHAL, S. & SPARKS, C. (1994). Journalists for the 21st Century: Comunicación Social, 65, 231-243. (DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-65-20- Tendencies of Professionalization among First-year Students in 22 10-896-231-243). Countries. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Studies. MELLADO, C. & SUBERVI, F. (2012). Mapping Educational Role Di- Journalism, 2(3), 341-360. mensions among Chilean Journalism and Mass Communication VADILLO, N., LAZO, C.M. & CABRERA, D. (2010). Proceso de adap- Educators. Journalism Practice, iFirst Article, 1-17. (DOI: http:// - tación de los estudios de Comunicación al EEES. El caso de Ara - dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2012.718584). gón, una comunidad pionera. Revista Latina de Comunicación So - MELLADO, C., HANUSCH, F., HUMANES, M.L. & AL. (2012). The cial, 65, 187-203. (DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-65-2010-892-187-203). Pre-Socialization of Future Journalists. Journalism Studies, iFirst VLAD, T., BECKER, L.B., SIMPSON, H. & KALPEN, K. (2013). 2012 Annual Article, 1-18. (DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2012.746006). Survey of Journalism and Mass Communication Enrollments. James NOLAN, D. (2008). Journalism, Education and the Formation of M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Public Subjects. Journalism, 9 (6), 733-749. (DOI: 10.1177/1464- Research Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, Uni- 884908096243). versity of Georgia. (www.grady.uga.edu/ann ualsurveys/En rollment_ - ORTEGA, F. & HUMANES, M.L. (1999). Periodistas del siglo XXI. Survey/Enrollment_2012/Enroll12Merged.pdf) (22-08-2013).

Received: 15-03-2013 / Reviewed: 01-05-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / / Preprint: 15-11-2013 l Susana de Andrés & Rosa L. Maestro Published: 02-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 20892

Segovia (Spain) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-19 Critical Analysis of Government vs. Commercial Advertising Discourse on Older Persons in Spain Análisis crítico del discurso publicitario institucional/comercial sobre las personas mayores en España

ABSTRACT The elderly population has increased considerably in recent years and it is estimated that by 2050 32% of the Spanish population will be old people. This group is underrepresented in the media and does not attract much research interest. To put this right, we present an analysis of the representation of older persons in advertisements appearing in magazines aimed directly or indirectly at seniors in Spain. A content analysis estimated the frequency of appearance of the images and words that represent the elderly, and a discourse analysis enabled this study to investigate the presence of stereotypes and discourse relations between advertising and theories of ageing. The results show that the older people who appear in the ads are mostly men portrayed as consumers of entertainment products who are at the beginning of their period of old age. A marked gender stereotype is observed. The differentiation between the institutional and commercial advertising discourse is also clear. The study analyses such advertising over three decades, covering the period in which the age distribution of the population has been inverted in Spain. Throughout this period, the frequency of ap - pearance has been very low. Old people are clearly an invisible collective in magazine advertising. RESUMEN La población de personas mayores se ha multiplicado en los últimos años. Se estima que en el año 2050, el 32% de la población española estará constituido por personas mayores. Mientras tanto, es fácil observar la infrarrepresenta- ción de este colectivo en los medios de comunicación, pero la cuestión apenas recibe interés investigador. Se presenta aquí un análisis de la representación de las personas mayores en la publicidad de dominicales y revistas dirigi- das directa o indirectamente a las personas mayores en España. A través de un análisis de contenido se calcula la frecuencia con que se recurre a la imagen de los y las mayores en la publicidad. Mediante un análisis del discurso se indaga también en la presencia de estereotipos y en las relaciones discursivas entre los mensajes publicitarios y las teorías de la vejez. Los resultados muestran que las personas mayores que aparecen en los anuncios son mayorita- riamente varones, que inician su periodo de vejez y consumidores de productos de ocio. Se encuentra un marcado estereotipo de género y una clara diferenciación discursiva entre los mensajes comerciales y los institucionales. El estudio analiza tres décadas, abarcando el periodo en el que se ha producido la inversión poblacional en la distribu- ción por edades en España. En todo este periodo la frecuencia de aparición ha sido muy baja. Se trata de un colectivo de patente invisibilidad en los anuncios publicitarios. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Older persons, social images, advertising, discourse, gender stereotypes, representations, social change. Mayores, imágenes sociales, publicidad, discurso, estereotipos de género, modos de representación, cambio.

v Dr. Susana de Andrés is member of the Chair in Gender Studies at the University of Valladolid (Spain) and Associate Professor of the College of Legal, Social and Communication Sciences at the (Campus María Zambrano, Segovia) (University of Valladolid) ([email protected]). v Rosa de Lima Maestro is a PhD candidate in the «Analysis of Advertising Communication in the Information and Knowledge Society» program of the University of Valladolid. Campus María Zambrano, Segovia (Spain) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 189-196 www.revistacomunicar.com 190 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 1. Introduction. Old age will define the 21st centu 21st the define will age Old Introduction. 1. old persons (Barrio & Abellán, 2009). Abellán, & (Barrio persons old of number the in Japan to only second be will Spain that projects Nations United the date, that By 2050. by population the of third a least at form will persons older that estimates Spain’s (INE) Institute and Statistics National 2011) (UNDP, 2011. in 81 than more birth has grown progressively from 75 years in 1980 to at expectancy life Spain, In the age. old of terms in in world population largest the have soon will Europe 30). 2004: (Giró, these grow to continue and will percentages countries, developing in than developed underway. be to 2050 by quadruple appears transition to demographic global A 2009). (UN, 80 over those and triple, to expected is over and 60 aged population The 2007). (UN, woman per children 2.6 to dropped has fertility while age, of years 69.8 to increased life has expectancy Global ageing. population progressive is context communication?) of form its (and ry 03 I) Ti Uie Ntos taey ald for called strategy governments and civil society to reshape Nations the way older United This IV). 2003: had changed so much that it was unrecognizable (UN, world the 1982, in Assembly previous the since that, said Annan Kofi head UN then the 2002, in Madrid 2006; (Polo, interest 2011). Becerril, particular attracted has press the recently, and 133) analysis of older persons’ representation in the Spanish 2001: Fernández, construction social & this (Kehl in media the of importance 2004). (Santamarina, media the 1995) and, more specifically, the images transmitted by Wernick, & (Featherstone meanings and images its of analysis the been has age old of construction social the about study of field specific A 77). 2004: (Iruzubieta, attitudes and images of matter a 20), 1989: (Beauvoir, fact cultural a 2001), Fernández, & (Kehl construction tural construction» (Giró, 2004: 19). Old age is a social and cultural; that is to say, old age, its meaning, is a cul stric ventions: «We know that the problem of old age is not only goes to show that old age is defined by social con which changes, social and economic health biological, criteria other arbitrary; is (Giró, 2004: 24) put it at 50 or 55, taking into account begins age old when But segments. age the up divide to criteria labor and mic rement age - 65. Thus, statistical indicators use econo These statistics assume that old age begins at reti at begins age old that assume statistics These in larger times three is population elderly The our describes best that changes social the of One At the Second World Assembly on Ageing held in held Ageing on Assembly World Second the At the out pointed have publications of number A tly a biological, medical or physical issue but social but issue physical or medical biological, a tly - - - - - to establish a link between plural emitters representing emitters plural between link a establish to «others». about or «them» about act speech not older persons, so probably the advertisements’ discourse is a are makers decision and creators their that clear and is it analyzed, emitter advertisements the In between audiences. communication in distance the reveals also It inequality. social promote that acts inequality». social against resistance the to way effective more a in contribute to expecting sides, takes explicitly tigation, context. political and Critical discourse analysis, with such social a particular inves the in speech and texts by combated occasionally and reproduced practiced, the which are inequality and domination in power, social of way abuse the studies primarily that course dis- «Critical course analysis is a kind 22): of analytic investigation on dis (1999: Van-Dijk by definition the considering (CDA), analysis discourse critical and sis representations and discourses we used content analy by done text. and images of analysis was an of means This advertising. in treatment otyped considered, anticipating a possible gender-based stere rences in the representation of men and women is also diffe- main the of analysis An advertising. institutional and commercial between difference discursive sible ments to test the hypothesis and then investigate a pos- advertise in visibility/invisibility this quantify to is aim one of the most numerous social groups in Spain. The advertising, in persons older of invisibility remarkable institutional and advertising. discursive commercial of between study the divergences and advertising, in persons the are objectives analysis of The the visual and verbal representation of older decades. recent in persons content older of role social or image the shaped and has strategies, structures particular its with discourse, approach Research 2. advertisements. in underrepresentation and connotations negative with often picture, otypical stere a show analyses different The 1987). Greco, & Swayne 1976; (Smith, 70s the since USA the in ched in study specific of resear- been has it though literature, scientific Spanish object an not still is advertising makers. environment as 6) 17: (article media the including expressly perceived, are persons Mass media, including advertising, make it possible communication reveals analysis discourse Critical of set this analyze to guide methodological a As the considers study this hypothesis, working a As The present study aims to analyse how advertising in representation persons’ older of analysis The © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: ------sector (Acófar). All the advertisements that visually or visually that advertisements the All (Acófar). sector pharmaceutical the from magazine a and Semanal») f nentoa development international of history recent the in analysis diachronic of period a as and 2011) (Sanchís-Marco, study economic of stage a 2012), (Timoteo, history communication in stage a considered be can which (1980-2010) time extended of period an covers analysis this historical, becomes course design Sample 2.1. gerontology. social of theories the of work frame the in level, macro the to at them relate to level, analyzed micro are messages advertising study this In sons. per older of status social sent discursive production that asserts the pre present the to study framework theoretical a in provides discourse advertising observation This tures. struc social find with relationships to us enable which ries catego analysis of usefulness the Hence structures. context (Van-Dijk, to» refer they 165). 2003: models facts or mental events users’ the about the to relationship coherent be will to modeling. mixed this of application the refer from extracted they age old of models the and between ters relationships as emit- well public and private of argumentation advertising’s as data Numerical self-concepts. and concepts daily social validate who and build audience the and agents) economic and corporations state, (the powers economic and social et sc a «lno Negro» y «Blanco as such supple (Sunday ments persons older of readership Júbilo», a larger with supports con general as well («Vivir as más») y selected «Sesenta been have persons older at aimed supports Specific Spain. in press daily 6). 2012: Ayala, & (Abellán centage. per- population child the exceeded has 65 over lation popu- the of percentage the then, Since Spain. of tory life year 2001 was a turning point in the demographic his- highest the in increase expectancy rates in history and population ageing. progressive The a to ponds © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: osdrn we a dis- a when Considering to related are structures discourse that known is It a with elements as interpreted are «Discourses hs td aaye avrieet i te non- the in advertisements analyzes study This - - - - - 1 Ti pro corres period This . 2 «P: l País El «EPS: , in this century of the old age person. age old the of century this in built be to needs that culture new the of bases the weaken to serves only age old of images stereotyping and Hiding appreciated. be can that citizenship senior of experience an impart to possible be it will positive and diverse plural, is that age old of idea attractive more a of construction the through Only progress. commercially also but culturally be only not would growth personal and development for possibilities in rich age old an of expectation The - - n h 6h eot f h Cmite o Institutional for Committee 2011. in Communication and Advertising the of report 6th the in out pointed as advertising, institutional for focus a also is and media press general of consumer big a is ment seg- This (2011). magazines of readership total the of 25% and supplements of readership the of 33.2% tute the Investigation of the Media), people over 55 consti 1,691. was analyzed advertisements of number klies, one copy per month has been selected. The total wee of case monthly the In of analyzed. been case have the magazines, in editions, all in period the stated within appearing advertisements Non-repeated collected. been have persons older represent verbally tising’s construction of messages, correspondence has correspondence messages, of construction tising’s adver- of terms In society. our in persons older of role relevant for advertising discourse analysis regarding the as identified been elements have aspects three These and selected. propositions topics, the identifies that 149) 2003: Dijk, (Van analysis content a requires This analyzed. be must meaning of forms the groups, social the role of discourse in the reproduction of ideas about model Analysis 2.2. images. mental our reshape can and imagery social to back revert representations These conventions. nal converter of these ideas into images and representatio constructions. It could be said that advertising acts as a these of viewer and projector both as analysis for rial Advertising images and texts provide useful mate useful provide texts and images Advertising for Association (Spanish AIMC the to According When the study interest focuses on the analysis of - - - - 191 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 192

been established that includes topics or fields related to («oldest old», in UN terms). This age range has seen information or consumption, thematic proposals, and the biggest increase in population terms in Spain. words or phrases related to old age. Such elements People over 80 represented 29% of the population have been filtered in categories for an interpretative over 65 in 2009, and it is estimated that they will soon analysis of the observed content. Furthermore, images be 36.8% of the total elderly population (Imserso, in which older persons are represented have been 2010: 32). In contrast, only 4% of the older persons analyzed, taking into consideration the gender, age represented in advertisements belonged to the group

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 segment and appearance, either alone or living with of the «oldest old». Most images represented the other people. The type of emitter has also been ana- young old (60%), from 60 to 75 years of age approxi- lysed in order to make a comparative study between mately. In their study, Bradley and Longino (2001) institutional and commercial advertising. related this stereotype of young old to the so-called age mask hypothesis, according to which older persons see 3. Results and analysis them selves as younger than they in fact are. This fin- The following data have been drawn from the ding reflects the projective intention of advertising’s application of the content analysis model designed to images and messages, and is a starting point for the facilitate a discourse analysis. These results are then debate on cognitive and biological age. Stephens related to the theories of ageing drawn from social (1991) talked about the usefulness and potential of the gerontology studies, taking into account the remarkably cognitive age concept for the creation of advertising interpretative character of the discourse analysis pro- targets. cesses. (Íñiguez, 2006: 121). Several aspects of the Functionalist theories of old age sociology explain context pointed out by Van-Dijk (1996: 30) have been that age classification is a structural element to which integrated in the analysis model, such as subperiods of several functions are assigned. Advertising takes age, gender, lexicalization, descriptions of activity, pro- account of this logic in the framework of the age stra- position and topics (this last aspect has been incorpo- tification theory, according to which self-esteem at rated into the present study and applied to advertising each stage is conditioned by the roles it plays (Belando, as a thematic proposal of the advertisement and area 2007). The thematic proposal of advertising messages of consumption). is fun, relaxation or hope in the case of the young old, and becomes a proposal for assistance in the oldest age 3.1. Invisibilities range. Self-esteem and autonomy are persuasive argu- A key research finding is the patent invisibility of ments aimed mainly at the young old. older persons in advertising, especially if we bear in The invisibility of persons in the «oldest old» range mind that the supports analyzed are aimed at an in commercial advertising as well as its relation to the elderly audience, in a specific or general way. After idea of dependency is a characteristic of «ageism» reviewing at least 35,000 advertisements, only 1,691 (Fer nández-Ballesteros, 2011: 138), or discrimination included any representation of older persons. towards that social group. Invisibility is perhaps the most common exercise of symbolic violence in communication when talking 3.2. Lexical study. Old age: an advertising taboo about disadvantaged groups. This is the case with Invisibility is also apparent in advertising texts. The older persons, which is even more unusual if we bear work of the copy writer seems to be to avoid mentio- in mind that they are not a minority. In Spain the popu- ning old age explicitly. As a consequence, older per- lation pyramid is clearly inverted. sons are not mentioned in advertising, and 56.6% of Only 4.8% of the advertisements studied represen- advertisements whose subject is older persons avoid ted older persons3. It is also significant that in magazi- mentioning any words that identify them as such. nes exclusively aimed at older persons («Vivir con In the cases in which it is lexicalized, they use the Júbilo», «Sesenta y Más») this percentage only reaches word «mayores» (seniors), in 8.9% of cases, or the 27 and 40%, respectively. description of the age: elderly, golden age, a man who But we have to take into consideration that so- has aged well, etc. (3.7%). Neither the words «old called old age covers a wide age range. It seems to age» nor words in the same lexical family appear, not include at least two or three intermediate age groups. even in advertisements aimed at that age group. In Some studies make a distinction between old age and contrast, it is easy to check how the words «old age» very old age (Sánchez Vera, 1996) or between «young and others related to an elderly physical appearance old» and older old, an age that would begin at 80 such as wrinkles, white hairs and flaccidity are com-

© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 eiiain f the of the feminization about expectancy brings life in increase the that persons older of representation the in stereotypes Gender 3.4. people. old very exclude to tend and broadcast mainly in the form of commercial advertising are occurrences Such dependency. to age old relates that stereotype a the from people, removed independent far representation old», «young couple. a the in are or They alone person older an represented 65% that revealed advertisers commercial and private anomaly). of kind a is it that sense the of the one (in dependency is persons older to assigned perspective, labels that From theory. labeling of name the by goes and interactionism symbolic from arises gerontology of sociology the of theories the of One advertising. institutional of discourse the behind a aray en discussed been already has age old in dependency of creation social the of issue The alone. person older the showed 30% only while analyzed, advertisements institutional the of 49% with older person in the company of others, as was the case independence / dependency their of representation the and persons Older 3.3. youth. denoting images to next appears age» «old word the rather, them, the identifies of that term use the to linked not is advertising in persons older of images of representation the that shows dox sumerism in the context of fear of ageing of fear of context the in sumerism has age con- of model advertising Old the in used cosmetics. term a become female for adverts in mon © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: Despite the fact the Despite In contrast, the analysis of advertisements made by ntttoa avriig ed t rpeet the represent to tends advertising Institutional 5 ad hs s h idea the is this and , 4 . This para This . - et fr sitne n hat products health and assistance for ments advertise- in presence greater a have women terms, relative In woman. a have products beauty and health all the drinks advertisements feature a man, while most older persons is highly differentiated by gender. Almost man. a than rather woman a featured 26 appeared, person old very a which in ned exami- advertisements 28 the Of advertising. in nized femi also is person elderly the of profile The services. assistance health of need in alone, often is woman the whereas company in activities leisure enjoying ap pears man the analyzed, advertising the In age. old of images in persist to seems that order social a ageing, in advertising. institutional in 20.8% with (23.7%) character main the as women of cial advertising, the latter featuring a higher percentage representations we have analyzed tend to generalize to tend analyzed have we representations The terms. vague in only described are persons older adverts). commercial in 28% to compared together, woman a and man a representing advertisements nal institutio- of 43% with terms quantitative in advertising gender. by the mented of context the seg- generally in is which consumerism of model current explained easily be can ding fin This accessories. and clothes for even and culture oe rmnn i avriig o liue products leisure for advertising in prominent more The range of products and services in adverts for adverts in services and products of range The In 1979, Susan Sontag discussed double standards As typically happens in discourses about otherness, institutional in equality more is there However, nal institutio in milar si is percentage This protagonist. with a man as the compared to 44% character, the main as a woman have ments advertise the of 23.6% only tion, e dry popula lderly and commer- and 6 Mn are Men . 7 ------, 193 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 194 Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 and few of them present the individuality or persona or individuality the present them of few and Assembly, Madrid, 2003: IV), 2003: Madrid, Assembly, World Ageing, on Action of them» Plan assist International (UN and them with interact aged, the ceive rested parties to redirect the way in which citizens per inte- other and NGOs governments, on calls and tion formula - policy for benchmark the constitutes It ment. environ suitable a of creation the and age old in fare wel - and health of promotion development, and aged age: old on cies poli- public the in welfare of idea represents the and «environment» that assistance social of economy an of the right to work», and it is also believed to promote ment is considered to be «a social death, like the denial retire- as implications, economic has This thesis). ker’s Wal (Alan the age old promotes in dependency of that creation social perspective discursive the to ted ting old age with retirement or lack of activity. It is rela- associa when nature in economic is that idea tionalist func a reflects others, of help the of need in or pany com in represented and activity recognized no with persons, old very of image The oldest. the of visibility structures». political and economic social, the on exclusively depends actually to which solution problems a their population elderly the hands it as view, is idealistic ways some activity in and optimistic of very a theory on based «the leisure: creative by marked stage a the as retirement to considers that theory linked functionalist be can It etc.). technologies, new learn to programs cards, club trips, (IMSERSO persons older for suitable activities of program «official» the presents dis institutional The 20). 2004: (Giró, ageing» to course adjustment individual the on emphasis the processes, ges in the family and industrialization and urbanization problem social a chan structural retirement, is mandatory from «resulting age old of image the paradigm, this In age. old of sociology the of paradigm tionalist func the and advertising institutional of discourse the age old of models theoretical and discourse advertising between relations the on Discussion Intertextuality. 3.5. men. are ted stolen, and the vast majority of the celebrities represen been not have personality and identity persons’ older which in case only the is celebrities of representation The person. older of type Western the define coldly that pictures file often are images Descriptive women. of case the in so less even and person, old the of lity h «cin ln i bsd n he plas the pillars: three on based is Plan» «Action The the raised has advertising administration Public between link a reveal study this of findings The ------leisure and relaxation. and leisure (increasing autonomy of to age this associates that other the and dependencies) loss that with one age age: old old equates of constructions ideological as summarized two be can This (29%). proposal xation proposal the vast majority analyzed, of advertisements include a functional categories five the Of messages. the products/services of sal leisure and propo- thematic the with happens same The (12.2%). (17.7%) services widely publicized: assistance and help products and/or most the as appear categories two advertised, services assigned. institutionally is that place a to contrary the consumption, through of aged construction cultural a of idea the to closer is approach This 23). 2004: (Giró, consumption on but productivity on based not the are that lifestyles of creation and ageing of perspective postmodern the mote n osmto nt rdciiy Gr, 04 23). empo 2004: of possibility the promotes strongly theory This (Giró, productivity not consumption on based lifestyles and age old of limits the blur that ories the postmodernity to linked be can which consumer, old young a shows part, proposal advertising’s its commercial For theory. «disengagement» the to close is especially in the case of institutional advertising, which clear, is paradigm functionalist the and persons older ap age old (1979). Sontag by out pointed proach the following advertising, The commercial consumption. and in gap gender the deepens age age old of idea advertising old of concept tional with rela- a raises advertising Commercial men. with ciated associated asso- are drinks alcoholic are and culture while beauty women, and health Hygiene, persons. older at aimed advertising in rooted deeply is challenges and Conclusions 4. idealistic an in sense makes discourse. advertising which one but theoretical the level, on rejected quickly was that idea an as 147), 2001: retirement Fernández, & (Kehl desirable defines something that theory «disengagement» the institutional message would connect with the so-called Therefore, cases). of (36% advertisements their of many in proposal thematic a as relaxation and fun objects that provide this. Public administrations choose and support functional practical, needs that range age mercial, actively promotes the idea of assistance for an For its part, commercial advertising seems to pro to seems advertising commercial part, its For detsn dsore b i isiuinl r com or institutional it be discourse, Advertising fe aayig lvn aeois f rdcs or products of categories eleven analysing After The relation between the advertising discourse on The tradition of consumption associated to gender 8 such as assistance (29.5%) or a fun or rela- or fun a or (29.5%) assistance as such © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: - - - - - n te ae o wdwod ae infcnl de significantly have widowhood of rates the married and are persons older to of majority According the data, contextual. INE clearly is result The ples. cou in people old represents increasingly advertising and clearly depends on the type of emitter. Institutional people». aged and mature of hands the in rest will power political and social that predicting of point the to ages, of value social the in changes perspective and structural with deal to have to going is persons, aged of number the in increase unstoppable the with future, immediate role: «The social re futu their of tion anticipa in sons wering older per- cntutv dsore ht rgesvl prepares people in progressively each of life’s stages for the arrival and accep that discourse constructive a the discourse of fear, of loss of autonomy and embrace discard to dare it will important, more And minority? a as persons older of machine image an advertising publicize to the continue will is: findings arises these that questions from the of one But age. that at tion be consump- will media greater also terms is There ever persons. quantitative older in gets market top big the the wider, while diminishing progressively is base whose pyramid population inverted an With marketing. and communication advertising for tunity social of representations. terms the over control by defined broad is the sense, in persuasion, that out Van-Dijk point does 166) (2003: nothing for Not role. social persons’ old the to related meanings transfer to ability its shows persons. older at aimed advertising cial and autonomy. This is the implicit message of commer capacity losing of fear the on but ageing, of fear the on its discourse. Discursive strategy is now no longer based of autonomy, a fact that has been used by advertising in states that old age is characterized, above all, 268) by the loss (2003: Camps autonomy. of age loss old as understood of definition subjective a on based probably is consumption of model This capacity. physical of loss which offers all kinds emitter, of functional products to commercial make up for the the by proposed one the is discourse widespread most the However, creased. © ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293 • Pages 189-196 Pages • 1988-3293 e-ISSN: • 1134-3478 ISSN: h od g dsore n detsn i a duality a is advertising in discourse age old The It can be safely said that old age is the great oppor discourse, persuasive as defined Advertising, ------90 o 79 i 21. aa rm N (h Saih National Spanish (the INE from Institute). Statistics Data 2010. in 17.9% to 1980 Development or the CEPAL report. CEPAL the or Development Human on report UNDP the as such period, this in development 8 7 6 22). (2004: Giró by ted Dependency in Old Age. Journal of Social Policy, 9 (1), 49-75, quo- 5 4 3 2 1 ae te olwn poie «obt 0 in o ageing» of (18-02-2013). signs facial/revitalift/revitalift-total-repair-10.aspx) 10 «Combat promise: (www.loreal-paris.es/cuidados-de-la-piel/cuidado- following the makes woman as the main character. main the as woman In the case of advertisements of cultural products there was only one respectively. 1984 and 1981 in editions, first their since analyzed been have más» y «Sesenta and «EPS» 2001. December in edition the main character. main the as man a with advertisements the of 19.5% to compared products, assistance promoted character main the as woman a with tisements the of 5.4% to advertisements with a man as the main character. 31% compared of the adver- products, health advertised character Notes materialize. to failed has tion sociological and market and economic its various contexts, but this the rational predic- » to belong power media silver the «the by spread myths by the since 73), 1999: replaced (Martínez-Pais, advertising be by soon disseminated would widely youth of myth person. age old the of century this in built be to needs that culture new the of bases the weaken to serves only age old of images stereotyping and Hiding appreciated. be can that citizenship senior of experience and an impart diverse to possible be plural, it will is positive that age old more of a idea of attractive construction the through commercially Only also progress. but culturally be only not would growth personal and development for possibilities in rich age old an of expectation The age? old of tance The Blanco y Negro supplement has been analyzed up to its final its to up analyzed been has supplement Negro y Blanco The There are several reports on socio-economic analysis, trends and trends analysis, socio-economic on reports several are There 11% of the advertisements that represented a woman as the main the as woman a represented that advertisements the of 11% 91.4% of the advertisements of leisure products presented a man. a presented products leisure of advertisements the of 91.4% Hearing aids, residential centres, telecare services, etc. services, telecare centres, residential aids, Hearing In Spain, the percentage of older persons ranged from 11.2% in 11.2% from ranged persons older of percentage the Spain, In o isac, detsn fr h pout eiait y L’Oréal by Revitalift product the for advertising instance, For akr A (90: h Sca Ceto o Pvry and Poverty of Creation Social The (1980): A. 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Received: 17-04-2013 / Reviewed: 21-05-2013 Accepted: 02-08-2013 / Preprint: 15-11-2013 Published: 01-01-2014 / RECYT Code: 21191 l M. Isabel Punín, Alison Martínez & Nathaly Rencoret Loja (Ecuador) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3916/C42-2014-20 Digital Media in Ecuador – Future Perspectives Medios digitales en Ecuador: perspectivas de futuro

ABSTRACT The advances in technology, especially in the field of communication, cause mass media to constantly evolve- and thus not to perish. Indeed, this occurs in situations that are marked by a series of media transformations and changes that have affected journalism as a profession and mass media as a process. The studies that have resulted from these changes have been positive and negative. This paper analyses the digital media panorama in Ecuador, the characteristics of journalism culture and the specific usage of web content. It describes the trends of the main digital media in the country, which have been selected for a case study. The article takes as a core reference ‘ten digital trends in media communication’ proposed by Cerezo-Gilarranz – a specialist in digital strategies. We then focus on the deficiencies of Ecuadorian mass media, which is mainly due to a lack of control over technological environments and the scarcity of links between business and journalism projects that have technological and innovative support, such as the usage of social networks and others. The final result is a detailed guide to the weaknesses and strengths of each digital medium that has been studied. Furthermore, this work highlights reliable trends so that the selected media can orientate towards digital environments. This is achieved by making use of technological tools for creating business and service opportunities. RESUMEN El avance de la tecnología, en especial, en el ámbito de la comunicación, obliga a los medios a evolucionar constan- temente para no morir en un escenario marcado por una serie de transformaciones y cambios mediáticos que han afectado al periodismo como profesión y a los medios de comunicación, proceso que ha generado estudios de todo orden. Este trabajo analiza el panorama mediático digital en Ecuador, las características de cultura periodística y el consumo de contenidos en la Red. Describe las tendencias de los principales medios digitales en el país, selecciona- dos para realizar un estudio de caso. El artículo toma como referencia central el estudio de las diez tendencias digitales en medios de comunicación de Cerezo-Gilarranz, especialista en estrategias digitales. Posteriormente se iden- tifican las deficiencias que tienen los medios en Ecuador; principalmente por la falta de domino de los entornos tec- nológicos y la escasa vinculación del proyecto empresarial y periodístico con soportes tecnológicos e innovadores, como el uso de redes sociales... El resultado final es una guía detallada de las debilidades y las fortalezas de cada medio digital en estudio. Asimismo, este trabajo propone tendencias fiables para que los medios estudiados puedan encaminarse firmes en entornos digitales, asumiendo a las herramientas tecnológicas como oportunidad de negocio y de servicio. KEYWORDS / DESCRIPTORES Communication, digital media, digital trend, development, access, Internet, journalism. Comunicación, medios digitales, tendencias digitales, acceso, Internet, periodismo.

v Dr. Maria Isabel Punín is Full-Time Professor in the Department of Communication Science at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador) ([email protected]). v Alison Martinez is Research Intern in the Department of Communication Science at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador) ([email protected]) v Nathaly Rencoret is Research Intern in the Department of Communication Science at the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Ecuador) ([email protected]).

Comunicar, n. 42, v. XXI, 2014, Media Education Research Journal; ISSN: 1134-3478; pages 199-207 www.revistacomunicar.com 200

1. Introduction narration, which create and exchange contents in digi- 1.1. Public and private media tal platforms.» The use of the Internet within the The panorama of ownership in mass media in industry of Ecuadorian communication has not been Ecuador is marked by two genres of media control: the fully explored. As we will explain later, the web does first, which has been recently consolidated, is public not form part of business strategies. What is more, media with the support of a national bureaucratic access to the Internet is no longer a limitation and digi- apparatus. On the other hand, private media has been tal divides are being reduced worldwide. The digital

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 weakened by a series of legal reforms and discretional scenario offers a gamut of possibilities for interaction – management of the governmental publicity quota. The commencing with images, sound and text (Dezuanni digital media in this latter group are analyzed in this & Monroy, 2011). paper. In Ecuador, until July 2012, the number of Internet Public media, which is controlled by an executive users was established at 7,320,206, which is 50.5% of central function, amount to 21 groupings – among the population, according to the statistics of the which are those «confiscated by the state», those National Corporation of Telecommunications (CNT). recently created and private media, a total of 1,355 Our neighboring country, Colombia, has 4,046,997 entities (among which are communication companies, subscribers to the Internet – of which 37% corresponds publicity companies, public relations firms, cinema and to wireless Internet via mobile phone devices and 63% television producers, subscription-based television pro- with a fixed Internet service (data from the Ministry of viders, journals, newspapers and digital media) Information and Communications [2010]). Conver - (Banegas, 2012). sely, in 2010, Peru’s Internet access was calculated at According to the «UNESCO media analysis 42.8% in urban areas – with a total of 12,412,001 (2011)» report, the public media are comprised of: users, according to the National Institute of Statistics Ecuador TV (ECTV), the Public Radio of Ecuador and Information (INEI). (RPE), two newspapers, El Telégrafo and the government-run El Ciudadano, and the Public News Agency 1.3. Digital Journalism in Ecuador: the enchantment of Ecuador and South America (ANDES). The popu- of the «digital» and the demise of «trans-media» lar daily «PP El Veradero» also entered into circulation Negroponte (1995) affirms that «computing» is not as a tabloid paper in 2010. Later, the other mass about «computers»; it is about «life». We are therefore media, which have less coverage, were added as a talking about a fundamental cultural change. The ‘digital result of state confiscations by the Deposit and Gua- person’ is not merely about being a «luminary», or a per- rantee Agency of Ecuador (AGD). This government son that navigates the Internet, or a child who is gifted agency was created by the state after the economic cri- at math. It is really about a way of living, which is going sis and the financial crash of 1999. to affect absolutely everything we do: the way in which The private media outlets that have national scope we work; the way in which we study; and the way in in Ecuador are managed by eight groups that are cha- which we communicate with friends and with children, racteristically «monopolistic» and «family-run». etc. This is the reality in Ecuador: access to the Internet According to the Commission for the Auditing of Radio is positive and generates an obligation for mass media to and Television Frequencies (UNESCO, 20111), act within the context of a web platform. these private media group owners are: Grupo Eljuri, It has been observed that the rate of Internet subs- Grupo Martínez, Grupo Vivanco, Grupo Egas, Grupo cription (obtaining an Internet connection) and the Alvarado, Grupo Mantilla, Grupo Pérez and Grupo rate of permanence (keeping an Internet connection) is Isaías (Martínez, 2009). The structure and business actually unequal –thus questioning journalism itself. administration of Ecuadorian media is diverse and also Igarza (2010), for example, affirms that many cities are faces the ineluctable fact of the transformation of jour- now suffering from an excess of micro-waves that are nalism, namely the Internet has become a paradigm of constantly overlapping. In this regard, citizens can «total» communication (López, 2001). remain connected 24-7 –and stay connected on the electronic superhighway, and be simultaneously con- 1.2. Internet and Mass Media nected to various networks. Hotspots and WiFi net- As Serrano (2011), the Colombian Editor of Inter- works thus offer connectivity to the Internet in nume- active Media, stated: «Today, the media eco-system is rous public and private places. a complex scenario comprised of professionals, users According to the web portal Perint (2011) (Jour- and machines with different languages and forms of nalism, Research and New Technologies/Funda -

medios), digital media in Ecuador amounted to a total 2.1. Methodology and sampling of eight providers, including the Bureau of Analysis The methodology used is observation and takes and b10- the latter has not been updated since April into account the ten trends proposed by Pepe Crezo 2012. (2012), the Director of Analysis and Research at Prisa As far as the context of the first digital media is Digital. The updating of the digital media was mea- concerned, we can also mention: Ecuador Inmediato sured daily during the 56 days of the study. A compa- and Ciudadanía Informada, both of which commen- rative analysis was carried out that used as a reference ced in 2004, according to Rivera-Costales (2007) from the extensive work on digital media carried out by The Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 CIESPAL. The media in Ecuador do not compete with Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk), USA Today each other in terms of production, i.e. with international (www. usatoday.com/), the New York Times (www.- media channels. This is not because of an inability to do so, but because the local production is rarely taken into conside- Digital media should be aware of the fact that they are essen- ration. One cannot therefore talk about media production tially a company dealing with a product, which is informa- per se with an international tion. They should use marketing and advertising strategies – focus except for cinema, which is backed by a law approved in focusing on and analyzing their public-oriented objectives. 2006. What is more, film production has now been incorpo- The trends presented here are set within a framework of an rated into Ibero-American and international film festivals (Mo - international study, and it is necessary to highlight the impor- ra, 2010). tance of all these factors –since they can be useful tools for The Ecuadorian media generally prefer to copy pro- improving any digital media– both in the journalistic sense gram formats produced abroad rather than create original pro- and also in advertising or publicity. duct. According to two local journalists, Fernando Astudillo and Rubén Buitrón, «One of the greatest drawbacks of Ecua dorian society is the nytimes.com) and the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/ mundo), huge inferiority complex we have about developing which are journalism references within their native and discovering a clear identity; we have to admit that (English-speaking) digital media scenarios. For this the persistent view that all national journalism as study, there was a follow-up of six digital media na- mediocre is true» (Astudillo & Buitrón, 2005). The tives, which were selected based on the methodology journalistic culture in Ecuador can generally be sum- of the case study. With this homogenous sample, a med up by three characteristics (Abad, 2011: 136): comparative analysis was performed of the ten cited 1) A way of doing and producing (ownership trends, which are related to the implementation of rights and control norms). technology that offers digital resources, i.e. whose 2) A way of thinking and acting (the conditions objective is to maintain and to diversify the audiences. under which journalists work and also the demands of the profession). 2.2. Periods and variables of our study 3) A way of saying and narrating things (discourses Our study and observations were made between and informative priorities). October 11th and 6th December, 2012. The quality parameters that were taken into account for the digital 2. Materials and methods media in Ecuador are principally based on the study of For this article, we have considered digital media the ten previously mentioned trends. The web portals as media used as a technological platform (from the of these digital media provide a different view in com- Internet). This process is about generating new forms parison with the online media in Ecuador. For exam- of consumer behavior and news production (Fidler, ple, multi-media usage, hypertext usage, the usage of 1998: Diaz-Noci, 2010). social networks, interaction with users and web appli-

cations are all present in the digital media discussed in 110,467 Internet navigators follow the most important this paper. In addition, they provide solid evidence of digital media in the country. If we consider, for exam- the development of digital journalism. This article con- ple, the fact that Ecuador has 7,320,206 people with cludes with a series of recommendations so that access to the Internet, only 1.51% use digital media via Ecuadorian media may quickly and efficiently form these two important social networks. The reason for part of the enormous and changing digital scenario. this is the means of communication used. Technology offers us the tools, but it is necessary for digital media

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 3. Results to fulfill the three functions proposed by Orihuela. 3.1. Presence in social networks The Internet is thus becoming more and more preva- According to Rivera (2010) at the International lent in modern society. Within this framework, it is Centre of Higher Studies in Communication for Latin necessary to create quality content that enhances America (CIESPAL), there are eight media outlets in humanity. According to the Spanish researcher, Ecuador that use the Internet to reach their readers Orihuela, «It is the moral responsibility of communica- under the name of «digital newspapers». The media tors nowadays to be informed about its complex natu- websites with the greatest number of visitors, follo- re, as well as the conversion of information into know- wers and fans on the social networks to November ledge, the management of knowledge and to respond 2012 were: «Ecuador Inmediato.com», «La Repú - in a more effective manner to the public. This public, blica.ec», «Ecuador en vivo.com», «Confirma do.net», which has almost been submerged in a sea of chaos, «Ciudadanía Informada.com», «Infórmate and punto.- has learnt that we can help them stay afloat by naviga- com». The table below shows the analysis of their ting in a sea of information» (Orihuela, 2002). presence on the social networks: Although it may be certain that there exist various Digital media are currently of great interest to us as trends in digital journalism in Ecuador, we cannot yet scholars. However, taking on this new initiative often talk about a prosumer. According to Sanzo (2010) in depends on what action needs to be taken. Moreover, the digital journal Economic Self-Sufficiency, the word thanks to their presence on the web, they can fulfill the prosumer was coined by Toffler (1980) in his book functions of the three Cs, namely: communication «Third Wave». The term Prosumer refers to a synthe- (core principle); community (communities that are cre- sis of the words producer and consumer. In barter net- ated), and cooperation networks (networks are esta- works, prosumers are those who are producers of blished by working together) (Orihuela, 2008). With goods, products or services. The prosumer that we Web 1.0, for instance, there was no real interaction, currently have is the Average Joe, who contributes as nor were there Internet platforms. Then, we transitio- a creator of active information – helping with the cre- ned to Web 2.0, which facilitated interaction betwe- ation of new content in a disinterested manner. It is a en the communication medium and the receiver. process, which, in our case, is contributing to the de- Today, we are presented with Web 3.0, which offers professionalization of journalism in general. unlimited space for the common man. In the words of Dan-Gillmor (2003), «technology has provided us with communication tools that can enable anyone to become a journalist at a low cost – with an impact on universal theory». However, as one can see from table 1, only 101,518 people follow digital media via Twitter, and only 8,949 follow them on Facebook. That is to say, in these two important social networks, only

An acceptable hypothesis to justify the low number of followers of the digital media on the social networks could be that we do not take into consideration that Internet navigators of both Twitter and Facebook are «prosu- Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 mers» not consumers of information. Another hypothesis is to analyze the journalistic practices of «Ecuador Inmediato» – as it is the digital media with most influence on the social networks.

3.2. Digital media in Ecuador: a defenceless child? Digital media in Ecuador still offer few applications for mobile phones and other types of portable technological devices. It is here where one should promote, for example, trans-media projects, portable applications for technological devices- with the aim of creating multimedia and facilitating communication via various platforms. We understand this trans-media phenomenon as the usage of multimedia platforms that enable the user to Table 2: Digital trends in mass media. (www.rocasalvatella.com/blog/2012/10/tendencias-en-medios). play an active part in history – using their mobile telephone devices. For example, this could be via games, where the reader is more and more demanding. More over, multimedia is the combination of two or more media the types of errors that appear in Ecuadorian digital within the same platform, i.e. a text and video in a media can be verified by their presence in social net- blog. According to Balestrini (2009), «Apps have crea- works but this culture simply does not exist. On the ted a culture and for this reason play an important role other hand, there is no active or constant participation. in contemporary life». What’s more, in Ecuador they What is more, there is no feedback – as we will ex - have yet to be explored fully. plain later on. The current reality of digital media exists because In addition, there are no specific studies published of trends in the business world. It is vital that the media that examine the causes of this slow growth. The be seen as a business that requires investment. The analyses related to the academic training of social com- applications and content that can be implemented are munications in Ecuador reveal scarce and almost negli- infinite. Notwithstanding, the need has not been crea- gible training in digital media (Punín, 2011). Theref o r e , ted to acquire these trends in media. They are uni- if universities do not instruct journalism students on quely comprised of the function of informing. Howe - digital media, these initiatives will probably not be at ver, they do not take into consideration the fact that the core of journalism companies.

The demands of the journalism business are not covered in the curricula of the schools or faculties of communication, despite the fact that both sectors agree on the fact that everything

Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 related to digital journalism is no longer considered a trend and thus will not be - come a major training requirement. According to Cerezo, director of Analysis and Research from «Digital Prisa», there are ten trends that should define the management of digital media. Among them, we highlight the importance of interactions between the medium and the audience, as well as the implementation of technological and multimedia applications in the media. The following chart presents the ten trends that have been studied here. (This information has been taken from. In a similar vein, we have analyzed each of the trends – with the aim of understanding importance and usage with regards to Ecuadorian digital media. trend, «Digital First», is based on the results found The following table specifically explains the function during the follow-up and critical observation». It is of each trend: logical to assume, then, that they (digital natives) achie- On the other hand, Ecuador is becoming a digital ve this ‘trend’. country. The rise of the web is something that is seen In graphic 1, there are three categories of evalua- as very positive. We are now all digital consumers, tion: from 0-5 hours; from 5-10 hours, and 10+ hours even though the creation of one’s own content is of updating news- i.e. as a valid means to calculate the occurring at a slow pace within Ecuadorian media. In level and speed of content and services on the web. the world context, «The Guardian News and Media» Constant updating is a characteristic of digital journa- is an example of how to prioritize what is considered lism in Ecuador, especially in focusing journalism work «digital». In fact, in this case it is achieved by using a on daily events which can then be converted into futu- market study that analyzes potential digital consumers re news items. and determines the group objective in this technologi- The table reflects the average daily updates made cal environment (LNR, 2012). In this sense, it is essen- by the digital media studied. As can be seen, they all tial to take the initiative. Indeed, we could add that no register updating levels that surpass 40 per day, which one is born with this pre-knowledge. «Digital natives indicates an average of two updates per hour. In the are not born previously literate in digital culture» case of the second trend, which is related to the gro- (Orihuela, 2012). With respect to the focus of the first wing influence of tablets and smart phones, all the

quiátrica, Schullo and San Martín-Verdesoto Aboga- dos Asociados, among others. The rest of the publicity is state advertising, which are mainly digital media owned by the government. Although this is based on trends in advertising, it can be interpreted in many different ways. For example, «The New York Times» uses annual payment

models. In addition, there is a «pay-per-click» option. Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 Therefore, any of these payment models can be con- Graphic 1: Digital Trends: Digital First. sidered a strategy to finance the media used, which, interestingly, has not been fully explored in Ecuador. As seen here, the type of media with the most digital media have an Internet configuration for their advertising space and, consequently, the one with the web pages, which enables users to access their web best chance of survival, is «Ecuador en Vivo», despite portals via any mobile device. Within this trend, one the fact it is not related to the number of followers on may refer to a «media-shift», which is the way in the social networks («Ecuador Inmediato» has almost which one manages information via different devices twice as many followers on Twitter). Nor is it related and platforms. In the case of Ecuadorian media, their to the frequency the portal is updated. In this case, web pages can be visited using mobile devices that «Ecuador Inmediato» has higher figures. This yields have access to the Internet. However, they should another hypothesis: that advertisers have not found an promote the «media-shift» which, apart from being efficient way to measure audiences and the level of dynamic, provides certain mobility within the content- digital media updating. a characteristic that most digital media have. 3.4. Other trends in our digital media 3.3. Intelligent devices vs. the Media and Sloppy In as far as the fourth trend is concerned, the Advertisers HTML5 application (Hyper Text Markup Language, A vast number of people have access to the In- version 5) has an important function in digital media as ternet via a mobile device, tablet or PC. In data ob- it can be used to develop web pages. HTML5 is a tained from the Superintendence of Telecommuni- web application that is totally free. Nowadays, howe- cations (Supertel) from January to June 2011, web ver, it is better to go for web applications that contain access figures reached 1.3 million users in Ecuador – a simple method of executing applications that are apt that is to say, 17.76% of Ecuadorian web surfers navi- for various platforms. In this case, the communication gate from their mobile devices. The following graph is media in this article may opt for the usage of this tool. related to publicity: models of hybrid businesses. The We should remember, however, that the aesthetics of third trend analyses the financing of the media used. a web page is one way to innovate and contribute to Graphic 2 shows the number of adverstising spa- its overall look. For this reason, digital media should ces in the portals studied. As a result of the observation not be strictly considered «linear». process, we find a very limited number of independent Intelligent multipliers, which is the fifth trend analy- and famous brands: Nestlé Ecuador, Claro, Movistar, zed, explain the importance of promoting the journalis- Produbanco, Toyota, Master Card, Noos Clínica Psi - tic content of their platforms, for example, via the usage of applications such as Flipboard, Livestand, Pulse or Zite. All these applications form the basis of a digital repository using a digital magazine style consisting of articles, reportage, photographs, videos and audio. Moreover, this repository receives additional information. It is a service that is similar to RSS, which could also include «Ecuador en Vivo», «Confirmado.net», «Ciudadanía Informada» and «Infórmate y Punto». The sixth trend, which is data journalism, is the correct classification of information within digital Graphic 5: Digital Trends: The influence of digital devices and media. This facilitates the search for specific themes. hybrid businesses. This phenomenon is gaining ground as it has led to

studied in this paper. Finally, the tenth trend is «Connected TVs». Here, there is a conversion of information into services which financially support the media, for example, advertising. This HTML application made specifically for TVs, referred to as Smart TVs are mostly made by Samsung (Panoramaaudio- visual.com, 2011). Comunicar, 42, XXI, 2014 4. Final analysis 4.1. Trends that impact on the route of digital journalism in Ecuador Graphic 3: Digital Trends: the Video Option. «Ecuador Inmediato, «Ecuador en Vivo», «La Re - pública», «Ciudadanía informada» and «Infórmate y more job hires for people who classify information. As punto» are the digital media best placed to succeed in it is optional for the digital media studied here, one Ecuador. However, their progress has been slow des- cannot quantify it or put it into graphs. In the case of pite the fact that they are adapting to these digital well-established media in Ecuador such as «Ecuador trends. The previously mentioned forms of mass Inmediato», which has existed since 2004, it would be media have the following characteristics: Digital First: useful to help to organize and facilitate the search for the growing influence of tablets; smart phones; data information. journalism; the video option and social-local-mobile. The video option is the seventh trend. Videos are The photo press only grows when their off-line and a necessary resource for digital media; their usage on-line versions are added (Segado, 2011). What is generates variety to meet audience demand. The more, the key evening news programs compete with following table focuses on the quantity of videos (per new online media – all of which are multimedia front page of digital media). Of the six forms of media (Igarza, 2008). Among the gaps revealed by the case analyzed, only three publish their own videos via You studies, we can see that «Confirmado.net», «Buró de Tube, «La República» – with 528 videos. It is the análisis» and «b10» are digital media that have «neglec- medium that most uses this multimedia resource, follo- ted» their technological platforms. In the case of wed by «Ecuador en Vivo» – with 16 videos and «Confirmado.net», no applications for intelligent mobi- «Ecuador Inmediato», with only 3 audio-visual pro- le phones have been developed yet. Neither has there ducts. The rest of the portals share and link videos been a multimedia initiative. Furthermore, the structu- from other web pages. re of this digital media is very «flat». The eighth trend is Second Screen Apps. It con- It seems that all the digital meaning in Ecuador cerns the ‘consumption’ of television via new techno- have deficiencies in bi-directional communication. logical devices. There are applications for mobile pho- There is no interaction between the media and the nes that are fused with television. Without doubt, they audience. Could this be a reason, as we mentioned can be converted in a profitable business for any digital earlier, for the low number of followers on the social media. They are software applications that enable networks – compared to the number of people who users to interact with content such as films, music or have access to the Internet? videos. However, none of the media analyzed convin- cingly follow this ‘trend’. This can be easily proved by 4.2. Recommendations: keys for making dynamic visualizing their technological environments. progress The ninth trend is Social-Local-Mobile. As One form of mass media that regularly updates its Orihuela (2012) has pointed out, social media are not digital platform and is apt to offer a product that meets bothersome, but a cultural habitat for students. This the needs of the public could be reflected in a sustai- expresses the importance of social networks and of nable business model. The scarce presence of media creating loyal consumers that help to maximize the on the social networks discussed in this article reveals potential of digital media and their usage. With respect the need for a more detailed study of the levels of inter - to this trend, it is convenient to highlight how social action between the media and the audience. This networks are managed. This is shown in more detail study shows that only 17.76% of Ecuadorian Internet in table 1, which shows how social networks indicate users navigate from mobile devices. the number of ‘fans’ and ‘followers’ of the media types Digital media should be aware of the fact that they

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