Examining Instructors’ Roles in Facilitating Students’ Learning Process in Pedagogical Information and Communication Technology Massive Open Online Course

Abstract

This study examines how course instructors facilitate students’ learning in the Pedagogical Information and Communication Technology (ICTPED) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aiming to develop professional digital competence in pre-service and in-service teachers in Norway. It also provides an insight into how students’ agentic engagement in learning may affect the course instructors’ guidance. Students’ online meetings with the course instructors and students were observed and recorded. The meetings aimed to develop students’ understanding of the examination assignment. The data (4.5 hours video recordings) analyzed by the method of interaction analysis revealed that the instructors performed four pedagogical functions: (1) setting up the learning process, (2) reifying students’ ideas;(3) assisting students in developing their conceptual understanding; and (4) summarizing and structuring students’ understanding about target concepts. These pedagogical functions evolved out of mutual collaboration of the instructors and students. The students’ agentic engagement in learning was visible when they took the initiative to explicitly share their ideas related to their examination assignment. Instructors’ agency in guiding came into play when addressing students’ ideas and questions emerged during the interaction process. Students’ agentic engagement in learning shaped the course instructors’ pedagogical functions and enhanced their agency. In doing so, the dialectical interplay between the students’ and course instructors’ agency comes to the fore as an essential aspect of learning and teaching in online environments.