Dynamic Concept Maps and remediation processes in on-line learning environments

Abstract

The scientific debate related to the introduction of information and communication technologies in the training processes is still based on empirical research to evaluate its effectiveness in terms of its own process and learning outcomes. The e-Learning environments available on Internet, in particular,
are a resource and an opportunity to enrich and integrate learning contexts. In this perspective, this empirical study has been launched. Its objective is answering the question: Can a networked learning environment specifically designed to stimulate students in processes of reciprocal “remediation”
among digital and analogue artefacts foster the development of meaningful learning, in interaction and hybridization with each other?
The empirical survey, carried out in the academic year 2016/2017, involved students enrolled in the bachelor’s degree in Primary Education Sciences at the University of Salerno attending the course “School experimentation and educational design”. The data were collected by working out and using
two information retrieval questionnaires and four tests for learning outcomes. The “virtual” interaction space was e-LENA, the Learning Management System of the RIMEDI@ research lab.
Although the exploratory character of the survey, the results that emerged are encouraging and confirm our hypothesis. The intentionally structured environment in e-LENA has provided effective support for students. It represents a mean with regulatory values that has played a meaningful role in
encouraging the processes of “remediation” between digital and analogue artefacts and in promoting, in this synergic interaction, the development and consolidation of learning.