C HARACTER EDUCATION

I don´t use a lot of creativity because I need more time to do a perfect video.  so if I could get more time next project, I will do this better. (Student 1)

We had one idea but we dident´t get to do that because the time so insted I  feel we did it very boring. (Student 5)

We didn´t get that far. (Student 6)

Experience and reflection around learning processes could lead to better project management skills; which can, in turn, allow learners to develop other skills being used, such as creativity in this case. In a later project these students might remember not having enough time making the video and thus try to be more effective in the data searching process. It is also important for teachers to be aware of this challenge so that they can encourage students to balance time between the different phases of the project work.

4.5 Character education

Fullan and Langworthy (2014) describe honesty, hard work, perseverance, empathy for contributing to the safety and benefit of others, self-confidence, personal health and well being, career and life skills and self-regulation all as different personal attributes belonging to what they have seen as the key future skill of character education. In this section, I will explore the opportunities and challenges around interpersonal skills and self-regulation, as these were the attributes that were most reported on and evident in the data sets.

In the questionnaire (Appendix 6) the students were asked to answer how often they felt they were given the opportunity to develop skills pertaining to character education such as honesty, work ethics, caring for others and empathy. The majority of the students reported that they were able to use these skills in many or all of the lessons:

Figure  10:  Student  response  to  frequency  of  using    character  education  skills

4.5.1 Opportunities

In their written reflections, both in the weekly logs and in the summative texts, the students often commented on how they used their interpersonal skills to ensure collaborative learning.

In regards to being honest, many mentioned being honest in the respect that they felt they had to say their opinion about each other's ideas:

We had to be honest about what we thought about each other´s  ideas and we all wanted the video to be as good as possible. We all wanted everyone to succeed.

(Student 3, Appendix 5)

This student expressed that honesty was needed to ensure a favorable outcome as to the groups´ video. The student also showed empathy in contributing to the benefit of others as she described how the whole group wanted everyone to do well on the project. This, again showed that interpersonal skills were integral in promoting collaborative dialogue, as discussed in section 2.2, as individuals are working together where “meaning and action are collaboratively constructed and negotiated” (John-Steiner & Mahn 1996, p. 197).

Other students also reported that they had shown or had been shown empathy by their fellow students. In some of the cases this was explained by others having to do extra work because of student absences due to sickness:

I experienced that the other on my group cared for me. They did  the work when I was sick, and i appreciate that. So I know that if one of my  teammates can´t do their work because of real reasons, then I can do it for them. (Student 11, Appendix 5)

Another student showed empathy while taking the time to do extra translating from Norwegian to English throughout the project. Even though the student expressed that this was at times trying and difficult, she continued to show empathy for the benefit of the student who needed extra help as well as the group and the final product. Empathy in this situation played a role in promoting a positive sociocultural learning environment where this student acted as the “expert” and scaffolded the other student´s learning (John-Steiner, 2007).

In addition to be able to use their interpersonal skills to promote a positive learning environment many of the students also showed the ability to regulate their own learning. The concept of self-regulation is discussed in section 2.1.4. It is defined by Zimmerman (2002) as the ability to set goals and choose strategies when faced with a learning task. It is also the ability to evaluate oneself both during a learning assignment and to be able to make necessary adjustments, as well as after. I also explained how self-regulation is closely linked to learner autonomy (Fenner, 2018) and metacognition (Williamson, 2015). Sawyer (2008) specifies that the ability to reflect on and understand one's own learning is a requirement of deep learning. And in PBL projects, self-assessment is one of the criteria for a high quality project (Mergendoller, 2018). Haukås (2014) argues that allowing EFL students time to reflect on their own learning has a positive effect on their language learning process.

The students all showed metacognition as they reflected on their learning processes through reflective logs both during and after the learning project. One example is Student 15 who made a visual plan which was a shared digital document with her group (see Table 5). The plan shows her ability to set goals, both for herself and the rest of the group. She also shows the ability to choose learning strategies, although somewhat vague: “find all the information, sort it, and find out what you think is the most important thing to bring to the video”

(Appendix 3).

                                                                                                     Table  5:  Planning  scheme  made  by  Student  15  

The following examples illustrate what Zimmerman (2002) describes as self-regulation being the ability to set one´s own goals and the ability to make adjustments in the learning process to stay on task. These two students showed reflection on strategies that could be used in reaching their goals:

We need to make a system on how we show the information we have found.

(Student 12, Appendix 3)

My group and I have a special way of planning and what we have done is done a list over the things we want to include and talk about it in the presentation. (Student 2, Appendix 3)

This student described their group's ability to take corrective action and adjust their strategies underway in the project:

We had to adjust a couple of times in the process and everything went as planned. We were, even though, good and flexible and could adjust the plan according to need.

(Student 3, Appendix 5)

Two of the students also showed how experiences from this learning project could be used in future learning activities, also showing a degree of self-assessment that can lead to a developed self-regulation:

I think I´ve gotten a bit better at the planning part, because I haven't thought about planning it so detailed. I think that in the future I would be more prepared for tasks, because I know what to plan. (Student 10, Appendix 5)

I´ve gotten better at planning what to do instead of just doing it on the go. I think it's good I got better at that because it can make my presentations much better if I have a plan of what to do. (Student 16, Appendix 5)

4.5.2 Challenges

There were, however, issues in regards to both interpersonal skills and self-regulation.

Frustration was expressed, especially from two of the students, over fellow students who did not contribute to the project. This was reflected in the students ́ texts:

...it´s not easy to show empathy for others, when you have to do all the work. (Student 6, Appendix 4)

I think that people who work much, should work together, and opposite.  People who usually don´t work, need to work then. (Student 15, Appendix 5)

In the end, the videos of these two students´ groups were not turned in. Although there were issues due to student absence, the process and collaboration in these groups was not optimal.

The data also indicates that in a group project it is not sufficient that only one group member works with a degree of self-regulation, whereas others do not. And while the planning scheme shown above in table 5 was positive for that particular student it also shows the challenge when one student delegates tasks. The others were not regulating their own learning; they were only “following orders.” The reflections from both the groups who reported positively and those who reported negatively to working with others indicate that the fact that they collaborated on a joint product played a role in promoting skills such as honesty, work ethics and empathy. Where students had positive experiences, they acknowledged that these factors played a role in the learning process. Where the students had negative experiences, they did not.