Student assistants in Future Classroom Labs moving between figured worlds and becoming a resource for developing professional digital competence in teacher education

Abstract

This article examines student teachers employed as student assistants in initial teacher education (ITE) in Future Classroom Labs (FCL) in Norway, and aims to explore their participation in different figured worlds as students and student assistants respectively, but also what ITE could potentially gain from employing such student assistants. The data gathered are 15 qualitative interviews with student assistants and FCL managers in ITE. The study takes an activity-theoretical and cultural psychological approach to their situated learning, and their navigation through and between the different figured worlds in which they take part. The study shows that student assistants, understandably, enter the job with a student perspective, but that they, over the course of their employment in the FCL, develop a new perspective (a development perspective), giving them a unique, dual perspective as both student and teacher educator. The study suggests that the student assistants can contribute to both overcoming the student-educator dichotomy and bridging elements of the theory-practice gap. The study also highlights how the third space of digital technology and the FCL could potentially blur the same dichotomy. Meanwhile, it shows some potential conflicts related to role confusion, if the responsibilities and expectations of students and educators are not clearly mapped and communicated. Yet overall, the study suggests potential with having student assistants in FCLs in ITE.

Developing professional digital competence in Norwegian teacher education: a scoping review

“…Numerous research investigations stemmed from PLUTO, but a common tendency where that implementation of ICT in teacher education in Norway where challenging. The third project, DigGLU (Digitalization of Primary and Lower Secondary School Teacher Education 2018-2020), included localized projects across five Norwegian teacher education institutions (Arstorp and Røkenes, 2022). A shared attribute of these sub-projects is the gradual transition from a teacher-oriented approach toward one of studentengaged learning, and the exploration of new pedagogical and didactic methods to enhance student learning with digital technologies.…”

“…Currently, no study has explored the existing research literature specifically on the Norwegian term PDC in Norwegian teacher education, what are teacher educators' perceptions on PDC, and how they operationalize and implement PDC in their subject disciplines with student teachers and other relevant contexts. The Norwegian term PDC and the Norwegian teacher education context are interesting to investigate because the entire education sector has undergone large scale investments by the government in digital technology, including the professional development of teachers and teacher educators, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (Amdam et al, 2022;Andreasen et al, 2022;Arstorp and Røkenes, 2022;Aagaard et al, 2022;Røkenes et al, 2022). In addition, with the PDC Framework for Teachers (Kelentrić et al, 2017), PDC is implemented in the national regulations for Norwegian teacher education (Ministry of Education, 2016).…”

“…Bridging the gap: Closing the gap between theory and practice with metacognitive reflection and development, i.e., ethical perspectives, pedagogical use, self-regulatory practices (Bader et al, 2021;Almås et al, 2022;Arstorp, 2022).…”

“…According to Arstorp study (Arstorp, 2022) students in "future classroom labs" (FCL) or "learning labs" start off with a student perspective, but over the course of their employment in the FCL, they develop a new perspective (a development perspective), giving them a unique, dual perspective as both student and teacher educator. This dual perspective allows student assistants to contribute to both overcoming the student-educator dichotomy and bridging elements of the theorypractice gap.…”

“…One initiative mentioned in three articles (Amdam et al, 2022;Andreasen et al, 2022;Arstorp, 2022) is learning labs and student assistants. Both these interventions expose students to a broad range of digital technologies, and to developing new perspectives.…”