Assessing the development of shared epistemic agency by students in higher education: an explorative case study

In order to prepare students for productive participation in knowledge society, higher education is presented with the challenge to create authentic contexts in which students learn to become active and responsible actors in the learning process (Hakkarainen, 2006). Paavola and Hakkarainen (2005) maintain that settings which allow students to focus on producing knowledge objects representing the outcome of collaborative work provide the appropriate environment to develop such characteristics. In this type of educational settings students have to share responsibility for the advancement of this knowledge object; students are required to develop towards being epistemic agents. Epistemic agency is considered a type of human agency that is concerned with the complex combination of qualities that permit students to deal with knowledge creation and knowledge advancement (Hakkarainen, 2006). However, epistemic agency does not arise within individuals’ mind, but emerges through participation in collective activities (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner and Cain, 1998). In the current study, epistemic agency is considered in terms of intentional collaborative activities for producing shared knowledge objects, during long-term collaborative learning projects. This study attempts to identify features of this shared epistemic agency by students in higher education and to develop a preliminary framework to assess its development. An in-vivo multi-case study approach was chosen as the most appropriate research method, given the need to reveal what was happening in authentic educational contexts. During an Educational and Instructional Design course, students worked on a collaborative design tasks, in a project-based set-up. They were to form groups, find a client, and together with the client agree upon a design task. These tasks were authentic projects and were relevant from the perspective of both course goals and the clients’ interests. Due to the explorative character of this study we have chosen for a qualitative and interpretative analysis approach of the data. An in-depth analysis is being conducted at the moment, using data (group discussions, interview protocols, and written documents) gathered from two groups of students. Content analysis methods, such as the analysis of protocol episodes, are applied, in order to capture students’ intentions to contribute to the knowledge advancement around the shared object and how these intentions are translated into purposeful collaborative acts that serve the progress of this object. A preliminary analysis indicated elements that resemble agentic functioning, such as joint plans of action around the shared object, intentional acts for reaching shared understanding of the task, responsibility for group’s knowledge on the shared object, coordinated actions for creating and integrating knowledge to advance the shared object, or mutual monitoring of the activities around the shared object. References Hakkarainen, K. (2006). Scientific challenges of Knowledge-Practices Laboratory (Working paper P-Lab project). Retrieved May 5, 2006, from http://www.kp- lab.org Holland, D., Lachicotte, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Paavola, S. & Hakkarainen, K. (2005). The Knowledge Creation Metaphor – An Emergent Epistemological Approach to Learning. Science & Education, 14, 535-557.