Lärande genom möten : En studie av kommunikation mellan lärare och studerande i klassrumsmiljö och datorbaserad nätverksmiljö

Sammanfattning: The aim of this dissertation is to study the social interaction of teachers and students, and their reflections on this interaction. This is done in order to illuminate opportunities and constraints of communication and learning in two different environments within distance education – in the classroom and in a computer-based network environment.The empirical data were collected in a distance learning course in a Swedish upper secondary school for adults. The research process was influenced by ethnography in the sense that data were obtained by field observation, video recordings, informal and formal individual interviews and observation of written computer communication. The recorded audio and visual data were transcribed. The data were analysed by the application of concepts such as: activities, conversational topics, primary speaker/ writer, secondary speaker/writer, hearer/reader, intersubjectivity, alterity, symmetry and asymmetry. The data were interpreted through the sociocultural framework drawn from Vygotskian and Neo-Vygotskian theories.The results from the study in the classroom show the creation of a number of different activities, which reflected patterns of participation. Many of the conversational topics in the classroom environment later appeared in different activities in the computer-based network environment. However, the topics from the computerized communication seldom resurfaced in the classroom environment. The results also show a relatively homogenous pattern of communication in the computer-based network environment. The majority of the contributions were related to tasks and assessment issues. The students often contributed with subjective texts, which were individual presentations of their experiences. Many contributions failed to involve different levels of alterity, and few questions were asked for the genuine purpose of seeking the other person’s opinion. The results show that the majority of the participants were satisfied with the distance learning course. However, the students found more opportunities for learning in the activities where they were able to collaborate and interact with each other. A regular interplay of levels of engagement, intersubjectivity, alterity, symmetric and asymmetric discourse, seem to be crucial for real opportunities for learning.