Abstract
This paper describes
the perceptions and attitudes of former middle school (now high school)
students and the graduate students they assisted during university multimedia
classes offered over a five-year period. Gen Y focuses on today's youth,
enabling them to become contributing partners and often leaders in bringing
technology into classrooms and communities. This project encouraged
authentic participation of former middle school (Gen Y) students as
collaborative partners with graduate students who were also practicing
teachers. Major objectives of this K-12 university partnership were
to break down traditional educational borders and to provide collaborative
learning experiences between former middle school students and university
graduate students. Since the Gen Y students were more knowledgeable
about the course content than the graduate students, this research focused
on reverse mentoring. Using surveys and focus groups, we discovered
what Gen Y students and the graduate students they mentored thought
about this reverse mentoring model.
Introduction
This paper describes how
former middle school students, who are currently high school students,
served as mentors in a graduate class that focused on integrating multimedia
into teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms. These former middle school
students participated in a multi-year partnership (Christie, et al.,
2004) between their middle school and a large university in the Southwest.
This alliance was based partly on the Gen Y model (Martinez & Harper,
2002) in which K-12 students form partnerships with teachers in a collaborative
effort that provides students with project-based learning and teachers
with sustainable professional development. Students bring technological
expertise to the partnership while teachers bring pedagogical knowledge,
thus infusing technology throughout the school. We use the scaffolding
metaphor (Vygotsky, 1978) to describe the support offered to learners
to help them achieve learning outcomes. The tacit assumption underlying
this study is that students can become independent, self-regulated learners
when the instructor creates a constructivist classroom environment and
when instruction is carefully scaffolded. This study extends both the
Gen Y (reverse mentoring) and scaffolding models, and examines collaborative,
constructivist learning and role reversals that occur when former middle
school students mentor graduate students in the context of a multimedia
graduate course.
Literature Review
Martinez and Harper (2002, paragraph 8) summarize the Gen Y model as follows:
Generation Y is an innovative curriculum and resource solution for grades 3-12 that promotes school wide technology infusion. Gen Y students develop technological fluency while learning how to share their knowledge with others. Each student is paired with a classroom teacher who needs help integrating technology into his or her practice. Each student/teacher team decides on a curriculum component or lesson to enhance with technology. Students learn about pedagogy and lesson plan design while developing their communication, planning and project management skills. The partner teacher receives support for their technology projects when and where they need it - in their classrooms.
The concept of scaffolded instruction has grown out of research on how individuals learn (Vygotsky, 1978). The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is "the distance between the actual developmental level ... and the level of potential development ... under adult guidance or in collaboration with more able peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). Such collaboration or scaffolding enables learners to participate in complex tasks that they cannot perform adequately without assistance (Moll, 1990). Herber and Herber (1993) compare the temporary structures that physically support workers while they complete jobs to instructional strategies that support student learning that would be too difficult for them to complete on their own. Hogan and Pressley (1997) have found that there are five different instructional scaffolding techniques: modeling of desired behaviors; offering explanations; inviting student participation; verifying and clarifying student understandings; and inviting students to contribute clues.
McKenzie (1999) describes eight characteristics of scaffolding. The first six are relevant within the context of the reverse mentoring described in this paper. McKenzie describes scaffolding as:
- Providing clear direction and reducing students’ confusion
- Clarifying purpose
- Keeping students on task by providing structure through scaffolded lessons or projects
- Clarifying expectations and incorporating assessment and feedback
- Directing students to worthy sources to reduce confusion and frustration
- Reducing uncertainty and disappointment
This project assumes that
learning is facilitated by scaffolded instruction, and that scaffolding
and mentoring may be provided by younger - but more knowledgeable -
peers, using a modified version of the Gen Y model.
Finally, constructivism
is a process that occurs among a community of learners that uses authentic
tasks, experiences and assessments, and emphasizes problem solving and
hands-on or real-life experiences (Jonassen, et al., 2003). In such
an environment, learners actively create their own knowledge, piecing
together their prior knowledge with their new understandings to make
sense of the world around them. Such engagement can lead to "deeper
cognitive processing" (Tobias, 1994, p.37) that in turn leads to
new, often creative ways of thinking and problem solving. When constructivist
learning is applied to a multimedia environment, learners are interconnected
in a community of inquiry where learning is relevant, concrete, and
challenging (Goldman-Segall, 1998). In environments where students and
teachers are co-learners, the learning is more personal, connected,
and immediate (Papert, 1996). Such learners actually become part of
the world they study (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1983).
Description of the Study
This reverse mentoring project
took place during five consecutive summer sessions between 2001 and
2005. It facilitated learning for graduate students (who were also practicing
teachers) enrolled in a graduate program at a metropolitan university
in the Southwest. The course goals included learning to effectively
use a number of multimedia tools in K-12 classrooms. The final project
was the creation of an electronic portfolio that showcased graduate
students’ skills and abilities to integrate multimedia into the
teaching and learning that occurred in their classrooms. Since the enrollment
was high, the university professor enlisted the help of graduate student
interns who had completed the course earlier in their M. Ed. programs.
She also enlisted the help of former middle school students who had
extensive multimedia skills and had participated in multi-year (1999-2001)
partnership (Christie, et al., 2004) between their middle school and
a large university in the Southwest. Using a variation of Dennis Harper's
Gen Y Model, the university professor harnessed former middle school
students’ multimedia expertise to assist graduate students during
their intensive and demanding course on using multimedia to enhance
teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms.
The former middle school students, referred to as Gen Y students throughout this paper, needed training in two key areas before they were comfortable serving as mentors to practicing teachers. First, they needed training and extensive and varied experiences using technology and multimedia tools. This technology training included both formal instruction and time to experiment with the tools, use the tools to complete assignments, to make mistakes, and to solve problems.
The middle school students
also needed training in ways to mentor and scaffold learning for graduate
students. Gen Y students received their technology training through
a multi-year K-12 and university partnership in which students spent
one day per month at a university computer lab as part of their language
arts curriculum. During the first year, they learned to create web pages,
and during the second year they learned to use a number of multimedia
tools, including iMovie™, to create monthly newsmagazines,
and short digital essays that fulfilled their eighth grade language
arts requirements (Christie, et al., 2004). The university professor
invited approximately eight of these middle school students to assist
her in her multimedia course for graduate students. Four chose to become
part of the project; they have participated for the last five summers
and are co-authors of this paper. These four students received their
mentoring training through informal workshops with their language arts
teacher (the second author of this paper) and the university professor
(the first author of this paper). Equipped with the multimedia skills
learned and honed during their seventh and eighth grade language arts
classes, these Gen Y students became mentors to graduate students learning
to use multimedia in their teaching and learning.
Graduate classes were held in a computer lab for four hours per day for twelve days during the summer session. In addition to large enrollment, the skill and confidence levels of graduate students varied considerably. Therefore, the university professor wished to facilitate teaching and learning at a variety of levels and for a variety of learning styles. Having a number of interns available to graduate students made this goal attainable.
Methodology
This five-year qualitative study used observations, surveys (Appendix A), and focus groups (Appendices B and C) to get at perceptions and attitudes of both groups of participants: Gen Y students and graduate students. It also examined the documented changes in these areas over time. Focus groups took place at the conclusion of the first year (2001) of the project. Surveys were administered after the second through fifth years (2002 – 2005) of the project. A total of 135 graduate students and four Gen Y students participated in focus groups or completed surveys. During the focus groups, we asked specific questions on the use of the modified Gen Y Model in a graduate course. Gen Y students formed the first focus group and graduate students the second. Both sessions were audio- and video-taped, and then transcribed. Graduate students also responded to a survey on the ways Gen Y students facilitated their learning and the likelihood of them using a similar model in their K-12 classrooms. A social-constructivist stance formed the theoretical framework for this study.
Using the constant comparative method of Glaser and Strauss (1967), all data were analyzed by recursively comparing incidents applicable to each emerging category. Analysis continued, expanding or collapsing categories, until all data were accounted for. This analysis enabled us to propose ten themed assertions that we discuss below. Each assertion in based on data gathered through observation, focus groups or surveys. The primary data source(s) is identified in parentheses with each assertion.
