Theory And Practice Of Participatory Learning Environment Design

With the rapid increase of graduate student enrollment in China,more and more higher education researchers focus on the quality of graduate education.Great progress has been made through reforms in graduate education.However,many challenges still remain;for example,most courses stress on theory lecturing to develop students,research and practice skills;there is a lack of student-teacher or student-student interactions.Those problems,which are obviously against the cultivation of new generation of educational researchers and practitioners,are also common in graduate courses in Education.Using Design Research methodology,researchers applied established theories to form design foundations and framework of Participatory Learning Environment(PLE)in a bilingual graduate course named Introduction of the Learning Sciences in the Institute of Education,N University.In this study,PLE was defined as the integration of a series of supportive conditions,where students could acquire knowledge,develop skills,and build identity through participating in authentic practical activities,which were closed to their experience.In PLE,students took part in the course not only as learners but also as designers,through close collaboration between teacher-students and student-student.According to Design Research methodology,researchers adopted various methods(such as classroom observation,video analysis,questionnaire survey,and interview,etc.)to record the design process and evolvement of PLE and the developmental trajectories of students in PLE,in order to test the effectiveness of the design of PLE and continually improve PLE based on insights from practice.Results showed that with the progressive improvement of PLE,students9 participation level and enthusiasm gradually increased.Students showed strong participation intention and thought participating in design was a kind of necessary experience to graduate students in Education,though they also had woies and anxieties because of lack of pedagogy and content knowledge,skills,and teaching experience.Through taking part in student-teacher collaborative design activity,and collaborative reading activity,and reflection activity,students filly exercise their rights as co-designers.Students' initiative actions promoted continuous improvement of PLE design.In addition to progress in content knowledge,practical skills,and academic English,the students also reported positive outcomes on their concepts of learning,collaboration competency,communication skills,reflection skills,and general academic skills.Based on the process and results of this study,researcher made the following conclusions:1.The foundations of PLE desigrt were Participatory Design,Activity Theory,Participatory Learning,Participatory Culture,and Information Technology.These foundations kept congruous and consistent to reflect the participatory characteristic of PLE design.2.The key elements in the framework of PLE design were Learners,Community of Learning,Mediations(including Recourses and Tools),and Authentic Leaning Activities.In PLE,learners would construct knowledge,develop skills and build identities in the community of learning by using mediations,through taking part in authentic learning activities.3.PLE provided opportunities for formation of students-teachers partnership.The special experience which students had from participating in design practice also appealed students to take part actively in the learning.Thus,students' participation level in the course was promoted.4.Learners' performance in PLE could be influenced by learners' subject knowledge level,Professional skills level,learning objectives and motivations,time and energy,and previous conceptions about learning and teaching.Good collaboration mechanism could facilitate students groups to take part in activities successfully.Social support and inter-group collaboration would enhance students' participation in PLE.5.Six guiding principles of PLE design were derived from the study:building democratic learning culture to encourage students' participation,designing authentic learning activities which were closed to students' experience,clarifying students'participation scope and responsibilities,emphasizing on students' needs and providing continuous supports,facilitating members' communication and collaboration in the community of learning,and applying various means to evaluate students' learning outcomes.