Dialogic intervisualizing: Re-conceptualising the role of digital texts in collaborative multimodal inquiry

Abstract

The notion of ‘intervisuality’ originally arose in medieval art history research to examine the relationship between visual objects as depicted within and across works of art (Burke, 2007). In the field of social semiotics, Kress’ (2010) work on multimodality helped identify how intervisual links provider readers with connections within and across texts. In parallel, Wegerif’s (2007) framing of dialogic education and technology as expanding the ‘space’ of learning encouraged a closer examination of dialogic approaches in computer supported collaborative learning environments. However, the co-construction of visual texts within digital information flows in inquiry-based learning designs has been underrepresented in this field. In this presentation, I draw upon over a decade of video-based ethnographic research examining small group, inquiry-based learning in technology-rich environments with a particular focus on problem-based learning (PBL) in the health professions education (see Bridges & Imafuku, 2020; Bridges et al, 2012, 2016). This agenda has sought to not only embrace but also to build upon these rich concepts and to examine how they may support our understanding of emerging technology-rich learning designs in higher education (Hmelo-Silver, Bridges & McKeown, 2019). In an inquiry-based, collaborative learning environment such as PBL, we have identified emerging practices and processes where multimodal texts are not only synchronously and asynchronously accessed and retrieved for curation and appropriation but are central to the student group’s developing causal chain of dialogic reasoning. In this presentation, I will share illustrative case studies of ‘dialogic intervisualizing’ in practice to identify the multifaceted dimensions of this new concept. References : Bridges, S.M. & Imafuku, R. (Eds). (2020). Interactional research into problem-based learning. Purdue University Press: Indiana. Bridges, S. M., Botelho, M. G. Green, J., & Chau, A. C. (2012). Multimodality in PBL: An interactional ethnography. In S. Bridges, C. McGrath & T. Whitehill (Eds.), Problem-based learning in clinical education: The next generation. Netherlands: Springer. Bridges, S. M., Jin, J., & Botelho, M. G. (2016). Technology and group processes in PBL tutorials: An ethnographic study. In S. Bridges, L.K. Chan & C. Hmelo-Silver. (Eds). Educational technologies in medical and health sciences education. Netherlands: Springer. Burke, P. (2007). Eyewitnessing: The uses of images as historical evidence (Picturing history). London: Reaktion Books. Hmelo-Silver, C*. Bridges, S.M., & McKeown, J. Facilitating Problem-based Learning. In W. Hung, N. Dabbagh, & M. Moallem (Eds). Wiley handbook of problem-based learning. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London and New York: Routledge.