The media environment has radically changed over the past few decades. Transition and transformation of media platforms has enabled algorithms and automation to take over media processes such as production, content generation, curation, delivery, recommendation, and filtering of information. It has also enabled tracking of users' actions, data mining, profiling, and the use of computational and machine learning techniques for purposes like behavior engineering, targeted advertisement, spread of mis-and disinformation, swaying political moods, and many others. In the field of media literacy education, the need to understand algorithm-driven media requires educators to rethink the connections between media literacy education and computing education. This article provides an overview of some computational mechanisms of today's media, and it provides new perspectives for media literacy education. The article suggests ways of intertwining media literacy education with computing education in order to improve students' readiness to cope with modern media and to become critical and skilled actors to navigate in the today's media landscape.

The aim of this study is to outline the development and changes in pre‐service teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) assessments during the first 3 years in teacher education. Specifically, research was conducted at three measurement points over a 3‐year teacher education period. The target group consisted of pre‐service teachers (N = 148) from three Finnish universities. Results indicate a growth in confidence related to all TPACK areas during the research period. The strongest gains were in pedagogical content knowledge. In addition, the gains were larger in other areas related to pedagogical knowledge than areas related to technology or content knowledge. In areas without pedagogical knowledge, the changes were more moderate. In the discussion section, recommendations are provided on the potential of longitudinal use of the TPACK model to study and improve the development of pre‐service teachers' TPACK.

Previous studies suggest that before the participants in Web-based conferencing can reach deeper level interaction and learning, they have to gain an adequate level of common ground in terms of shared mutual understanding, knowledge, beliefs, assumptions, and presuppositions (Clark & Schaefer, 1989;Dillenbourg, 1999). In this paper, the main purpose is to explore how participants establish and maintain common ground in order to reach deeper level interaction in case-based Web-discussions. The subjects in this study consisted of 68 pre-service teachers and 7 mentors from three universities, who participated in the Web-based conferencing course for eight weeks. The written discussion data were analyzed by means of a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The results suggest that in order to establish common ground it is essential that the participants, especially as fellow students, not only show evidence of their understandings through written feedback, but also provide support to their peers in their replies. Presenting questions also signals the participant's willingness to continue the discussion, which is essential for maintaining common ground.

Using online learning environments in higher education offers innovative possibilities to support collaborative learning. However, online learning creates new kinds of problems for participants who have not previously worked with each other. One of these problems is uncertainty which occurs when participants do not know each other. According to the uncertainty reduction theory, low uncertainty level increases the amount of discourse and decreases the amount of information seeking. Therefore, uncertainty may influence online discourse and learning. This study investigates the effects of an epistemic cooperation script with respect to the amount of discourse, information seeking and learning outcomes in collaborative learning as compared to unscripted collaborative learning. The aim was also to explore how and what kind of information learners seek and receive and how learning partners react to such information exchange. The participants were 48 students who were randomly assigned to groups of three in two conditions, one with and one without an epistemic script. The results indicate that the epistemic script increased the amount of discourse and decreased the amount of information seeking activities. Without an epistemic script, however, learners achieved better learning outcomes. The results of two qualitative case-based analyses on information seeking will also be discussed.Keywords: collaborative learning, online learning environment, uncertainty reduction theory, cooperation script, amount of discourse, information seeking Epistemic cooperation scripts 4 Epistemic Cooperation Scripts in Online Learning Environments: Fostering Learning byReducing Uncertainty in Discourse?Online learning environments can, for example, enhance collaborative learning in higher education by providing shared workspaces in which learners can work together on authentic problem cases (e.g., Strijbos, Kirschner, & Martens, 2004). However, online learning environments do not guarantee that learners will interact with each other (Kreijns, Kirschner, & Jochems, 2003). People participating in online learning courses often do not know each other and are unsure how to act in these learning environments. In initial interaction situations there is some degree of uncertainty (Berger & Bradac, 1985;Berger & Calabrese, 1975), and online, often physically distanced learning environments lack immediate feedback and non-verbal cues, which might further increase uncertainty (e.g., Järvelä & Häkkinen, 2002;Roschelle & Pea, 1999).Uncertainty can appear at two different levels: at the socio-emotional level and at the epistemic level (Mäkitalo, Pöysä, & Häkkinen, 2003). At the socio-emotional level uncertainty can occur, for example, when participants do not get immediate feedback on how others are reacting to their messages, whether they agree or disagree with one's suggestions and how they will organize their joint work. At the epistemic level, participants may be uncertain about the content-wise quality of their contributions: Are their contri...

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In addition to gaming, there are many other activities around digital games. These metagame activities have so far been studied from the perspective of single metagame phenomena and rarely from the perspective of the children who play digital games. This exploratory, qualitative study provides an overview of children’s metagame activities. A total of 142 children’s essays and lists of their metagame activities were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The children’s metagame activities included game-enabling activities, strategizing activities, discussing activities, information-seeking activities, creating and sharing activities, and consuming activities. The results contribute to the body of literature on metagaming and provide an overview of children’s metagame activities around digital games, as well as new perspectives on digital games and learning.

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Interests in Maker Education have been increasing among K-12 educators. In this study, we focused on one of the contexts of Maker Education, digital fabrication activities, at a makerspace in Finland. We aimed to explore: (1) the potentials and the factors to develop twenty-first century skills and computational thinking practices through digital fabrication activities, and (2) challenges of utilizing digital fabrication in K-12 Maker Education. We examined perspectives of teachers and facilitators who have roles to support pupils in Maker Education. We presented three cases of school visits (3-5 days), where the pupils (7-9th grades) created tangible artifacts with digital fabrication facilities at the makerspace. We collected data through participants' observation, informal interviews and focus group interviews with teachers and facilitators. For data analysis, we employed theory-driven and data-driven approaches. The results showed that digital fabrication activities can provide learning opportunities for twenty-first century skills and computational thinking practices. The teachers and the facilitators discussed the six factors of digital fabrication activities which influenced pupils' learning. However, the result also indicated the possibility that the teachers and the facilitators might not be familiar with the concepts of computational thinking. Also, different perspectives between the teachers and the facilitators toward the structure of the current activities surfaced. By identifying potentials and challenges of the current practices, the study has implications to advance Maker Education to be better integrated into K-12 school contexts.