What is the difference between mediated and situated culture

They had to assess themselves according to five criteria: i the effectiveness of the tasks, including the use of technology in achieving the learning objectives; ii the quality of the teaching and learning taking place in the online workshop; iii the pedagogical choices made and how these impacted on learning; iv the challenges and limitations of facilitating a workshop in the online distance learning environment; v the implications for future practice.

The second source consisted of the semi-structured interviews conducted with five of the UK-based participants. The interviews were conducted at the end of the course and were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. The participants who were interviewed were reassured that their responses to the questions would not affect their final grades.

Some example interview questions were:. The actual tasks which the student teachers produced helped to show us how they developed language learning materials. The questionnaire was written in both languages and the responses were gained from 35 Lyon students via five open-ended questions see Appendix below. In addition, all of the data from the recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed for themes. The themes from the evaluations and interview transcriptions were combined and connections were drawn between them to create three overarching themes in relation to teacher-learner autonomy.

Each of these will be discussed in turn. The experience of authentic online teaching gave some of the participants a sense of freedom for them to experiment with different technology in order to foster language learning.

There were creative uses of YouTube, for example, in the workshops that gave the participants the inspiration to experiment and to develop tasks which they had never done beforehand in an online environment. Here we can see that the more self-directed novice teachers embrace technology because it offers a way for them to express their creativity and that they are not daunted by their lack of experience.

Task design: freedom and boredom. Along with the perceived creativity came the idea of freedom to make their own choices based, partly, on a needs analysis which they were encouraged to produce and send to their students in Lyon. So I think it pushed me as a teacher and there was pressure but I feel like it helped me develop as a teacher. Participant This participant is starting to think about materials development and how this process makes her reflect more deeply on pedagogy.

Materials design for this participant could be the springboard to schematise her own pedagogy. Before, I used to plan lessons and it was like you know… but now you need to consider so many things, especially because you introduced the concept of needs analysis. But this really made it personal. And it really made you think critically about the way you plan lessons and staging everything. This participant starts to be more analytical. Moreover, she is starting to understand the greater responsibilities placed upon her as she can no longer expect to be given a syllabus as part of a language learning programme.

She also expressed the need for more technological variety in order to encourage her learners to return to the tasks each week. However, as I was new to adapting materials on a digital platform, I designed tasks that may not have been appropriate in terms of linguistics and usability. However, such practice exposed me to the idea that there is always a possibility that educators will encounter all sorts of difficulties and that they should be ready to find alternative solutions.

While I was introduced to the exciting possibilities of online teaching, I also became all too familiar with the challenges both teachers and students face in a digital age. Participant 2. This participant sees the challenges of materials design and their suitability.

For example, in the feedback from one of his students, the tasks were perceived as being the same as pen and paper exercises. This negative feedback highlights how for one of the novice teachers he did not experiment with different ways of using online technology and did not design meaningful tasks.

Learner and teacher autonomy. Two of the participants interviewed expressed the idea that online learning encourages learner autonomy. It makes it easier for the learner because there is a bit more autonomy for them because they can kind of go at their own pace or they can get in contact with you when they want to without being pushed like they are in a classroom.

Participant 7. Likewise, participant 12 puts forward the idea that learner autonomy could feed into teacher autonomy. It definitely encourages learning autonomy. Just my time management, in terms of sending out emails, communicating with my students Little things like peer support; you know getting my friends to help me do something or figuring it out.

I found that I actually prefer to figure things out myself to understand it. So I felt that had an effect on the learners as well. They were doing the same thing. This teacher starts to reject peer support in favour of relying on her own ways of dealing with students and starts to become more self-sufficient and understand that learning starts from the self.

However, participant 12 who had taught English in Saudi Arabia could draw upon her own experience in solving problems which were usually technical in nature; e. Lyon students not being able to log on to the VLE.

Lack of experience. One participant was particularly at a disadvantage as she lacked experience preparing language courses. This course had a negative impact on her as she felt that she was under-prepared to take on the role of an online language learning facilitator. Given this experience is the first lesson I have created as a teacher, by doing this workshop it really challenged my job as a teacher in the future and hinted the areas I need to immensely improve for my career as a successful teacher in the future.

This task was a big eye-opener for me and taught me a completely different aspect of a role of a teacher I never have been exposed to back home. Participant 5. Her thoughts highlight the need for language teacher educators to take into account the individual support that some participants may need compared to others. Clearly if novice teachers do not feel as though they have enough experience to cope with a situated learning environment then this approach can have negative consequences.

If, however, novice teachers perceive themselves as having the capabilities to learn in this type of environment then this type of experience will help them to flourish. The pedagogy of online language teaching highlighted the amount of time the online workshops took to prepare. Time-management was highlighted by two participants 13 and 18 as an important skill to develop. Coupled with the fact that these participants did not have experience of online teaching, meant that they did not have a repertoire of tasks to draw upon.

The time-consuming nature of task preparation made them realise that they needed to schedule in more time for task preparation than perhaps anticipated. I was a motivator also in that I encouraged the participants to regard the workshop as a platform for improving their L2 proficiency and not to prove this.

Assurance was a necessary psychological calming tool in assisting her to produce language. Participant 3. This novice teacher starts to take on the role of calming the student; to think of the tasks as improving rather than perfecting language. Throughout the online workshops, novice teachers had the freedom to self-direct their own teaching. This was seen by most of the participants as positive in that teacher action was not constrained by a pre-set syllabus and that novice teachers could develop their own teaching practice.

However, there was another side to this freedom in that it was seen by one participant as indicating lack of direction. And I think that got a tiny bit frustrating because obviously there was times when tutor 1 and tutor 2 were not in the same room at the same time so she [tutor 1] would say something and you [tutor 2] would say something different and we were like which one shall we do, which direction shall we go in?

Those that have a teaching background know how to pick up on these problems. They were completely puzzled at some point. This participant seems to expect to be told what to do when a problem arises in a situated learning experience, which she felt to be frustrating. Some of the novice teachers may have wanted definite answers to their problems when faced with online teaching. This particular participant did not appreciate the different perspectives of her tutors, which she thought would confuse students with little or no experience.

There was also confusion in terms of expectations from the students in Lyon as some of them were not apparently aware of the goals of the online workshops.

I think a lack of knowing the situation in terms of we were told that the students had to do this course but after speaking to the students I felt like they were as confused as we were in terms of how important this English course actually was.

So I felt that maybe there was a miscommunication between the significance of this course for them. And that had an effect on us giving them these lessons. Clearly, miscommunication was perceived regarding why the online course was taking place and the teacher felt that it was not her role to explain the rationale for the course to her students.

She thought that her role was simply to design tasks and facilitate online language learning. In a situated learning environment novice teachers may not comprehend the complexities involved until the course is running. If they do not get a straightforward answer to a complex problem then they may criticise the pedagogical approach and misunderstand the greater demands placed on them in terms of responsibilities.

Several themes have emerged from this study which can inform teacher educators. The study revealed that when given responsibility, novice teachers react in different ways. Teachers with less experience sometimes tend to feel at a loss. This reaction is in line with Guichon , p. Those with more experience were able to reflect on their practice and offer insights into how they would change as a result of that experience. Therefore, although situated learning may present opportunities for critical reflection, teacher educators need to balance situated learning with the backgrounds of the trainees and provide more scaffolding for reflection to those with little or no experience.

The price paid for the partnership between the two institutions translated into greater complexity in terms of there being more responsibility for the novice teachers and their learners.

This complexity tended to be more acutely felt by the facilitators who had relatively little teaching experience. Some of the novice teachers were not comfortable having to solve problems by themselves. When they asked their tutors for help and advice on how to deal with lack of cooperation from their online students, they were perplexed when they did not get straightforward answers to their problems.

However, complexity also initiated peer-supported learning outside of class. The London-based teachers described themselves as having a greater degree of autonomy than they had perhaps previously experienced on other courses. After time, however, the teacher may remove the scaffold so that learners must rely on knowledge and each other as they lean on skills they have developed together. The amount of scaffolding that teachers should provide is a fine balance between teachers over-guiding on the one hand and on the other letting learners falter in a way that is not productive CTGV, There are a variety of ways in which technology can support the use of social learning theories in the classroom.

Through current and emerging online collaborative spaces, such as Google, Skype, wikis, and more, as well as hands-on collaborative technology in the classroom, such as SMART Tables and iPads, students have robust opportunities to experience meaningful collaborative learning in both physical and virtual settings that embody the tenets of sociocultural learning.

Embracing the use of technology within collaborative learning can also foster a more equal distribution of voices as compared to in-person groupings Deal, , potentially providing greater opportunity to ensure active participation among all students.

Through using technology to support the implementation of social learning theories in the classroom, students experience collaboration while refining 21st century skills.

While the array of technology available to support social learning is beneficial, the volume of resources available for online and in-person technology-based collaboration may be overwhelming to some groups of students. Considering the amount of scaffolding needed based on individual class needs may be appropriate to ensure technology is being used most productively. By providing students with useful resources in an online environment or being explicit about technology use within a physical classroom, students may be able to better focus on the actual problem-solving task rather than filtering through different platforms.

Additionally, keeping in mind the purpose of sociocultural learning within technological contexts is important to the task of promoting online collaborative learning. Through use of online environments and organized activities, students could also have greater access to problem-based learning that reflects situated cognition, opportunities for cognitive apprenticeships, participation in flipped classrooms, and a range of experiences that promote the robust and diverse communication critical to Vygotskian theory.

Careful consideration of appropriate guidance within the use of technology-based collaborative learning can enable the thoughtful design of learning that maximizes benefits promised by sociocultural learning theories. Antil, L. Cooperative learning: Prevalence, conceptualizations, and the relation between research and practice. American Educational Research Journal, 35 3 , Bonk, C. Searching for learner-centered, constructivist, and sociocultural components of collaborative educational learning tools.

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West Ed. Foundations of learning and instructional design technology. The Elu Loda community was relatively homogenous in its religious practice, with the Protestant church as its central institution. As part of its religious rituals, for example, during their Easter and Christmas services, they produced short dramas based on relevant pericopes from the Bible. The workshop participants expressed their enjoyment in playing roles in these dramas but also their struggles to memorise the dialogue.

The same cultural narrative was also developed by Salam Rejo community, in the form of the local history book that was mentioned earlier, and which was about their origins, their places of collective memory, and the founding members of their community. The book became a foundation for their successive cultural celebrations and efforts to promote inclusivity, such as the National Festival of Local Wisdom and annual village day.

However, in both films this potential remained untapped. While the book-writing workshop was successful in enabling the participants to move forward with a more inclusive agenda, their rich stories and characters were not incorporated in the film. If they would have been used and adapted in the film, the community could then have used their film workshop experience to further develop their religious drama.

This would be a more realistic alternative, instead of making more films of their own, which would be very difficult for them, considering their lack of technical and economic resources.

Their new institutional environment required nor supported their former practice. It has enabled them and, at the same time, structured their choices into what is culturally acceptable and how to do it. Oftentimes, this puts individuals into the defensive position of trying to mitigate the damage that social storytelling has done to their reputation. However, the survey and observations revealed that these technologies were only minimally used to address public issues.

In addition to the lack of attention as an explanation for this, one participant offered another — quite revealing — reason. The former leader of the youth organisation in Salam Rejo said that he dared not raise attention to social issues for fear of inciting negative comments from other people. Because of this finding, the authors then shifted their attention to the related question of how participants made themselves visible to the public, inside and outside of the film workshop.

This question is relevant for two reasons. One is that publicness requires visibility of the agents Sorlin quoted in Dayan, , p. However, generally, the disabled community members had previously been relatively invisible, except for two siblings who were albinos. They were easily noticed in public and felt no inhibition about participating in public activities, only hindered by their hypersensitivity of direct sunlight, which was aplenty in Sumba. Furthermore, somehow these siblings had developed a different and more fashionable style of dress as compared to the community standards.

We would argue that it was not their physical appearance per se that made them noticeable, but their difference from the others, which was largely a cultural construction. Theoretically speaking, the same condition, in a different context, would have yielded different outcomes. Because this particular film told stories of disabled people, the siblings were, more than others, asymmetrically positioned to participate.

Based on the combination of their skin condition and skilled practice of dressing they were almost impossible not to include. The casting of the Salam Rejo film happened at the same time as the director was weaving together the story threads. As the director elaborated the story details, developing more characters and scenes, the cast grew. The casting principle was either to mould the film characters to fit the person, or to look for a person with similar characteristics to the character.

Usually the film crew went down the first route, since all of the actors and actresses were amateurs. However, for the Salam Rejo film, the crew wished to include a fictional character, someone who looked good on camera and would provide the film with a modern and fresh appearance so that the issue of traditional religion would not be negatively associated with backwardness and primitivism.

They initially selected one young woman to play the character, but the way she presented herself was considered not modern and fresh enough. They then invited workshop participants to nominate their friends and acquaintances. In response, the participants browsed their picture folders and social media accounts on their smartphones and put forward what they thought to be suitable candidates. This process of browsing through the photographs, finding the ones that were considered to match the criteria good-looking and outgoing , and then proposing and discussing the candidates again, show how visibility and values of good-lookingness work together in order to open the door for participation.

In the casting, the selected candidate proved to be adept at presenting herself before the camera, as indicated by her various items of clothing that could be mixed and matched, to create differences in her appearance.

Again, the point here is not about her intrinsic qualities, but about her relative difference from the others, and how this was perceived and appreciated, that made her impossible to overlook.

Workshop participants did not relinquish their social standing upon entering the workshop; on the contrary, once inside, they reproduced and continued to draw on their social standing.

The Elu Loda community had, to some degree, solved their problem with the social inclusion of disabled people, at least to the point where they had appointed a person with a disability as leader of the neighbourhood association, and disabled people were represented in the consultations on development planning, from the village to the regency level.

For example, acting without beforehand memorising the dialogues left quite an impression on many participants, due to their experience with acting for drama. On the other hand, the Salam Rejo community had only started to work on equal opportunities during the past two years, after their successful collaboration with the village administration to publish the local history book.

The community of penghayat was also starting to be invited into the development plan meetings, again from the village up to the regency level. However, underlying this promising turn of events was a lack of cooperation between the adherents of the official religion and the believers of the traditional religion. Whereas the process of story development in Elu Loda went smoothly, it was more protracted in the Salam Rejo workshop, with more intense discussions, formal and informal, between the sponsor, the community, and the film professionals.

The point of disagreement was mostly centred around the question whether love stories in the film would end in break-ups, or in the submission of one belief to another. A liberal solution of leaving the matter to the individuals was just not an option. This was because break-ups would be interpreted as promoting exclusivity, rather than inclusivity, whereas submission would be interpreted as inequality amongst beliefs.

At the end, an agreement was reached to end the movie without full resolution, so that the audience would take the question home rather than responding to it with agreement or disagreement. We agree with Menchik that different religious communities are essentially tied together in an agonistic relationship, at least in terms of their truth claims, but in reality the believers want their social life to be in harmony.

For example, the penghayat did not find problems in mixing their rituals with those of the Protestants. They tend to prefer not to have their belief stated on their ID, although the law now allows them to do that. Why is it important to discuss this in relation to the issue of participatory film making?

Because this was exactly what the Salam Rejo community members communicated during the workshop as an important issue. It goes beyond the technicalities of film-making and how much they are allowed to participate in the production; it has to do with their core identity and their core relationship with their community. In other words, the question of participation in participatory film involves not only how groups, positioned in differential power relations, work together on a collective project, but also how the relationships with other, more antagonistic, groups will work beyond the workshop.

After all, the aspiration of the participants was to communicate a positive image of the penghayat , rather than disrupting the harmony in the communities where they live. In these capacities and roles, they already knew how to navigate, negotiate, and accommodate different interests in various settings, such as in consultative meetings on development planning, in organising festivals, administering public services in the village, and organising protests. It is in these various regards that the importance of participation — we would like to argue — can be appropriately evaluated.

And, we should add, the equalisation of power is not a purely formal measure where everyone is allocated a vote , or considered culture-free. Our two case studies explored the cultural practices that connected individuals with the public world, and there are three key findings that came out of our analysis. The first finding concerns how personal stories circulated in these communal groups and how some individuals used the films as a channel to distribute their perspectives.

The communal ways of storytelling, that were used in the village before drama and local history writing gained little from the workshops, as the films did not sufficiently use and integrate them, thereby disconnecting the films from the already existing communicative practices. In other words, there was community life before and after the films.

Marginalised communities and facilitators need to engage with these three practices, on their own or in collaboration with others, in order to maximize the benefits gained from their involvement in participatory processes. On the basis of our two case studies, we argue for situating participation within wider and long-term community practices, to avoid that participation becomes seen as an end in itself, instead as a practical framework to achieve individual, communal, and common goals.

First, their participation provides the external world with an opportunity to listen to their voices, which otherwise would not have been as authentic or as precise if they were spoken on behalf of them. Second, participants are able to learn new skills, that they can use, later on, to negotiate their relations with dominant groups.

Finally, research on participation and participatory research are also relevant for the academic community itself, as these types of research keep the study of media, communication, and culture grounded in the perspective, and in the interests, of those who participate.

It forces us to remember what our research is all about. Arnstein, S. A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Planning Association , 35, Carpentier, N. Media and participation: a site of ideological-democratic struggle. The concept of participation: if they have access and interact, do they really participate?

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