Identity Artifacts: Resources that facilitate transforming participation in blended learning communities

Abstract

This study builds on views of identity as jointly accomplished stories about people expressed through interpersonal relations as they participate in learning communities. Specifically, we suggest a framework that introduces the notion of identity artifacts – Shared resources in the public sphere about participants' lives. We analyzed a blended, humanistic learning community in a graduate setting that included specially designed person-centered activities to facilitate closer interpersonal relationships. We found 2640 identity artifacts, collected from 14 participants, which were organized into a five-staged framework. We use these to describe the role the artifacts played in the transforming participation of the students in the community. We include an extended example of a student to elucidate how this process occurs. This research advances our understanding of the connection between people's interpersonal relations and their learning practices, and suggests an approach to online pedagogies in higher education that can foster robust learning communities