Enactment

**Enactment** According to Dabbagh and Ritland (2005:134), this phase involves working out instructional strategies that are in congruence with theories of learning and the instructional or training contexts. Its these strategies that are then enacted or acted out through available technological features, in the most engaging way possible in order to learning to start happening. The information gathered during the exploration phase highly helps to choose the pedagogical strategies based on the theories of learning. As reflected in the title of this e-portfolio, I found socio constructivism as an appropriate learning theory for this online learning activity. This theory later informed my choice of the dialogic learning as pedagogical a pedagogical strategy. These two, namely the learning theory and pedagogical strategy largely informed the choice of the technology tool and the actual learning activity that I later present in this portfolio. In the proceeding paragraphs, I will give a brief view on both the learning theory and learning strategies.

** Learning Theory: Social Constructivism **  Vygotsky is the father of social constructivism and the general foundation for constructivism. By the time of his writing, Russia was still a closed community and his books were burned from the public by the dictator Joseph Stalin for political reasons. This explains why Vygotsky's work reached the West, more slowly as compared to the works of Piaget's(1896-1980). Vygotsky died of Tuberculosis at an early age of 37, leaving the theory incomplete. Fortunately, his works were continued his students; Alexander Luria and Alexei Leontiev, who worked together to create the body of work known as the Vygotskian Social Constructivist approach.

 Social constructivism as a learning theory focuses on the connections between people and the social cultural context in which they act and interact in shared experiences (Crawford,1996). The key principle of Socio-constructivist Learning Theory emphasizes Learning as impacting on development. A ccording to Vygotsky, the learners can do more in collaboration than they can do independently (Vygotsky 1987:168). This theory also looks at learning as occuring in a meaningful and accessible contexts. Briefly and concisely, Vygotsky stated that learning is a tool mediated process. A more knowledgeable adult (the teachers) as seen as a guide to his or her students. This theory looks at the interdependence of social and individual processes in the co-construction of knowledge. Therefore, according to this theory, learning cannot be separated from social cultural context and that the development of the child's higher mental processes depends on the presence of mediating agents in the child's interaction. Vygotsky’s mediation is understood as the guidance of a more expert peer/teacher to a novice, the central premise being; - student accomplish more with assistance than on their own. Hence, according to this theory of learning, meaning is not something that resides in objects, rather it is something that we derive through interaction with others.

In this learning intervention, I also view learning as a social process which is inherent ly enabled through tool mediation.This is to explicitly say that; found Vygotsky’s theory very appropriate for my learning context, as gave a language with which to explain how my distance education learners can socially interact using Dropbox on their remote desktop computers and mobile phones. By using dropbox, we could focus their learning on the process of their collaborative and situated interactions, thereby only looking at the role of this technology as mediating such processes.

Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland also believed that collaboration is fundamental to achieving and sustaining learning. According to her, physical distance is blurred or unimportant in the presence of technology. This is because with technology, teaching and learning events are distributed across time and place, thus occurring synchronously and asynchronously through various media. This enables learners to collaboratively engage in multiple forms of interactions namely: learner-learner, learner-group, learner-content, and learner- instructor (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005). In the proceeding section, I will now talk about the collaboration and social negotiation as a dialogic learning strategy.

**Collaboration as a Dialogic Learning Strategy**



**Fig 4: A digram showing multiple learning strategies. Source: Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005**.

The diagram above shows that there are multiple learning strategies which are aimed at improving learning. Such strategies include exploratory-type strategies, dialogical-type strategies and supportive-type strategies. Dialogic learning strategies are those strategies that emphasize learning through negotiation of meaning. Such strategies include: articulation, reflection , collaboration and multiple perspectives.

According to Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, collaboration enables knowledge construction and taking on or negotiation of new meanings relative to the activity in which it is being explored. In this way, knowledge becomes situated and socially mediated, and culturally surrounded. Like Duffy and Cunningham (1996), Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland also believed that collaboration as a learning strategy places knowledge in social contexts such that it does not belong to an individual, rather, it becomes an open network that is distributed. (Dabbagh & Bannan-Ritland, 2005).

**Information and Communication Technology Tools adapted** The proceeding section of this portfolio explains the reasons that underpinned the choice of Dropbox in the design and development of this on-going small-scale online learning intervention. In this section, I have carefully reflected on the affordances of each of these tools in supporting a dialogic strategy for the benefit of my distance learners who offer both segmental and supra-segmental. The knowledge foundation of the affordance analysis done as presented in the proceeding paragraphs, is heavily borrowed from the works by Bower (2008).

The term affordance refers to the "perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those from the mental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used" (Norman 1988:9)."The //affordances// of the environment are what it //offers// the animal, what it //provides// or //furnishes//, either for good or ill. //It// refers both the environment and the animal in a way that no existing term does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment" (Gibson, 1979:127, italics in original as cited in Bower, 2008:5)

**The Affordance analysis of** **Dropbox** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Dropbox is a free source technology that can enable an educator to upload his or documents in the cloud, regardless of the media format. Any file you save to your Dropbox is also automatically synchronized to all your local computers, mobile phones, and even a mobile Dropbox website (Dropbox, 2001). This means that an educator can start working on his or her computer at school or in an office, and later finish his or her work on a different computer or mobile phone at home, in a workshop, in a taxi and or everywhere they can go.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">So far as explored, one does not need to physically transfer any files by using a traditional method of storage devices such as flash disks or bothering to email oneself any documents while using Dropbox. Any files you work on within your Dropbox just ‘magically’ synchronizes with other fixed and mobile devises for as long as you have as well installed Dropbox on them.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">You do not have to first install Dropbox on any of your devices in order to become a Dropbox user. If you are reading this e-portfolio, then that means you had no trouble accessing my Dropbox folders! I have seen a Dropbox folder work just like any other folders on a normal computer or a smart phone, but the additional value with a Dropbox folder is that it allows its user to freely invite both a non Dropbox and a Dropbox user to share and work collaboratively on given folder contents and files. Installation of Dropbox could take less than a few seconds. As I have highlighted, this is a free cloud computing application to everybody. You could install or create your mobile Dropbox account from __[|here]__.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">**Dropbox and Mobile Learning Affordances** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Although this Dropbox technology was primarily authored as a file syncing tool and not a learning application, it can be adapted to serve as an online learning design tool in so many ways.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**Figure 1: A screen shot showing a Dropbox interface customized for learning purposes**

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">**The Affordance Analysis** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">As explicitly captured in the interface above, Dropbox can allow educators to upload (see file tab above) and to share different multimedia files and folders with learners in a mobile manner. The file and folder sharing option tab above can enable someone to accomplish this task at just a go. In the learning activity being developed, I have deliberately dropped two audio lectures, one word document and one PowerPoint file to illustrate the multimedia capability and handling affordance of this tool as presented in the screen shot of figure 1 above.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Using the file sharing option, the educator can instantly share different multimedia files and folders with a lot of rich media content with their learners anytime anywhere. Once an educator has invited learners to a common shared folder, every time he or she drops a file in that shared folder, this file is automatically synced and dropped in learners’ mobile devices wherever they are. This also means that learners can also work in pairs and dialog over particular content even if they are physically in different locations. This learning dialogic learning strategy is possible via the upload, new folder, and the shared folder options as presented in the interface above.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Across remote computers, computers or mobile phones, learners can complete given course assignments and project work jointly. This can be possible by inviting different groups of learners to accomplish a project task residing in a particular folder. I am deliberately designing the on-going learning activity in this manner such that different groups of learners can work on specific learning tasks jointly. The above screen shot of also indicates that group and joint project mobile learning is affordable via Dropbox.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Furthermore, Dropbox allows an educator to keep track of the learner progress over particular activities. Clicking on and adjusting the settings in the events tab above will help an educator to work with RSS feeds and its time line social presence indicators thereby adapting this tool for this learning purpose. You can then keep track of what and how much changes and updates were made by which particular learner, and at what particular time of the day. Below is a screen shot of the on-going learning activity design illustrating this affordance via the events tab and the corresponding RSS feed tool at the lower end of the interface.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">**Figure 2: A screen shot of a Dropbox interface with social presence markers**

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;"> ofThe importance of the events tab and the RSS feeds above would also be to give an educator or a learner a chance to view the previous versions any records or changes made to any files or documents that are stored in a folder. A user can choose to go back to an earlier version of a file if they choose to. Another important perceived affordance of this tool in learning is that, it also allows an educator to author and distribute open education content. Uploading and storing any education content in a Dropbox public folder allows even non Dropbox users to have access to this content. This activity can be accomplished by uploading any file, copying its link and distributing this link to any target audiences. I have taken the liberty to freely distribute the Luganda Phonology course modular content in this online learning activity project from __[|here]__. I used chapter 18 (Intonation in Luganda) (Essuula 18: Endeega Y'amaloboozi mu Luganda) of this [|Phonology course modular pamphlet], to design an alternative online learning activity which is accessibile anytime from anywhere while using Dropbox as a mediating technology tool.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">**The Actual On-line Learning Activity (OLA)** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Placed in the clouds, I designed an online learning activity which helps my distance education students who offer the Prosodic Phonology of Luganda to work collaboratively and negotiate meaning on selected learning tasks. Cognizant of fact that not all my distance learners have access to networked computers, but a great majority of them have fairly a good access to mid-end and high-end smart mobile phones, I designed the following learning intervention in a manner that it is compatible on mobiles phones. The logic of the task was to enable my distance education students who do not have access to networked computers to have open access this audio-video instruction via their mobile phones. I invited mu learners to join the learning activities which were placed within a dropbox folder via their e-mails. The main learning objectives of this intervention were that by the end of it, learners should be able to;


 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Use intonation to negotiate the meaning of words which have same grammatical structures in Luganda.
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Post and collaboratively invite colleagues to share their own audio explanations of how intonation impacts on semantics in Luganda.
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Explain what seem to be the underlying phonological rules regarding the use of intonation markers on syllables in Luganda words.
 * 4) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Establish the extent to Dropbox has enhanced their learning interactions.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">This learning activity is also accessible on a networked computer. If you are reading this e-portfolio, by implication, you can access this intervention right here. To be able to access this on-line learning task on either your mobile phone or networked computer, you will need to follow these three steps;


 * 1) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Login to http://www.dropbox.com
 * 2) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Click login and use __lle2201@gmail.com__ as your e-mail address.
 * 3) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Type in **__EDN5101__** as your password.
 * 4) <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">You can now, click here to begin.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**References:** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Bower, M. (2008). Affordance Analysis-Matching Learning tasks with Learning technologies. Educational Media International: Volume. 45, no.1, p.3-15. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Crawford, K. (1996). Vygotsikoan approavhes in human development in the information era. Educational Studies in Mathematics Vol 31: 43-62. From [|http://www.springerlink]. com <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Norman, D.A. (1988). The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Vygotsky, L.S.,(1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, M.A.Havard University Press.


 * <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**Home Page** || <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">**About the Author** || <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Exploration || <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Enactment || <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Evaluation || <span style="background-color: #fbfb93; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">** Reflection ** ||