Teachers' instructional scaffolding in an innovative information and communication technology-based history learning environment

Abstract

The nature of the role assumed by the teacher is crucial in the promotion of successful learning and collaboration in Information and Communication Technologybased (ICT-based) environments. The aim of this study was to examine how teachers with different conceptions of their teacher roles use different types of instructional scaffolding while working in an innovative learning environment. Our further aim was finding out how instructional scaffolding is related to learning activities of different kinds. The study was carried out at two secondary schools with a shared network-based learning environment. The results showed that teachers with different conceptions of the teacher's role demonstrated clear differences in the nature of their instructional activities. The article describes how the different instructional scaffolding interacts with the students’ learning activities and what this implies for the development of ICT as a teacher's tool for monitoring students’ learning processes.