{"id":1992,"date":"2024-08-28T17:44:54","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T16:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2024-10-02T15:49:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T14:49:27","slug":"scaffolding-learning-what-does-it-mean-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=1992","title":{"rendered":"Scaffolding learning: What does it mean for students?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clare Hill and Paul Astles \u00a0~ Learning Designers<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you scaffold your learning materials, you build students\u2019 understanding and ability gradually and in a planned way by adjusting the amount of support offered. Researchers have described scaffolding as \u2018support from experts enabling learners to accomplish what is beyond their current ability\u2019 (Wood et al. in Doo, Bonk and Heo, 2020) – a simple description that sums up an essential element of educational professionals\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

From a practical perspective, scaffolding is the planned use and adjustment of guidance and support to enable students to build knowledge, skills, and independence gradually. A common analogy is that of teaching a child to ride a bike: initially you could give them stabilisers while they learn to pedal and steer; then you could remove the stabilisers but hold the handlebars; and finally, you let them ride a short distance on their own. The same principles can be applied in higher education and developed and implemented through the learning design.<\/p>\n

Why scaffolding is essential in online learning<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Scaffolding is particularly important in online learning because of its role in supporting distance learners \u2013 especially those from a diverse range of prior education levels. Without carefully planned support, students may feel isolated and out of their depth, especially if, like many of our students, they\u2019re studying modules concurrently or juggling other commitments such as employment or childcare, are new to this level of study, or have little support outside of The Open University.<\/p>\n

Research by Doo, Bonk and Heo (2020) explores this in more detail. They conducted a meta-analysis of 64 studies carried out between 2010 and 2019, concluding that \u2018scaffolding in an online learning environment has a large and statistically significant effect on learning outcomes. The research suggested that scaffolding not only improved students\u2019 awareness of how they learn but could also increase their feelings of satisfaction and positive engagement with their learning.<\/p>\n

What does scaffolding look like?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Hannafin, Land and Oliver (in Doo et al., 2020) note four types of scaffolding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Scaffolding category<\/strong><\/td>\nExplanation<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Procedural<\/td>\nGuidance that helps students use tools and resources that are part of their learning experience.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Conceptual<\/td>\nGuidance that helps students spot essential themes within their learning.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Strategic<\/td>\nPrompts for students to approach tasks or activities in different ways.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Metacognitive<\/td>\nGuidance on the learning process itself, prompting reflection on progress and understanding.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

How these types of scaffolding are employed will vary depending on your context. Below are some next steps to consider when scaffolding learning in the course you\u2019re involved with.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Next steps <\/strong><\/h5>\n
    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. \n
        \n
      1. Identify concepts, skills, tools, and tasks that students may not initially be familiar with. Using our activity planner<\/a> and\/or use of student profiles<\/a> to reflect on students\u2019 needs may be helpful here.<\/li>\n
      2. Think about how students will be assessed<\/a> on the identified concepts and skills.<\/li>\n
      3. Explore threshold concepts and other barriers to learning.<\/li>\n
      4. Investigate the level of understanding students who will be taking your course may already have.<\/li>\n
      5. Consider what support students may need to learn the identified concepts and skills, complete tasks or use tools from step 1.<\/li>\n
      6. Design activities<\/a> with the ICEBERG principle in mind<\/a>, i.e., gradually reduced support and gradually increased complexity of tasks.<\/li>\n
      7. Test your scaffolding approaches with students. At The Open University we have an award-winning approach<\/a> to engaging students in the design process called the Curriculum Design Student Panel<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
        \u00a0F<\/strong>urther reading<\/strong><\/h5>\n

        Tricky topics online course<\/a>, OpenLearn<\/p>\n

        Scaffolding learning in the online classroom, Wiley Education Services<\/p>\n

        \n
        References<\/strong><\/h5>\n

        Doo, M. Y., Bonk, C. J. and Heo, H. (2020) \u2018A Meta-Analysis of Scaffolding Effects in Online Learning in Higher Education\u2019, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 21(3). Available at: http:\/\/www.irrodl.org\/index.php\/irrodl\/article\/view\/4638\/5343<\/a> (Accessed: 4 May 2021).<\/p>\n

        \n

        Banner image:\u00a0 via rihaij \/ Canva \/ Pixabay\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Clare Hill and Paul Astles \u00a0~ Learning Designers   When you scaffold your learning materials, you build students\u2019 understanding and ability gradually and in a planned way by adjusting the amount of support offered. Researchers have described scaffolding as \u2018support from experts enabling learners to accomplish what is beyond their current ability\u2019 (Wood et al. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":1997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,1,226,35,348,47,6],"tags":[342,151,65,338,346,339,344,105,167,341,336,340,343,337,345],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-distance-learning","category-learning-design","category-methodology","category-ld-under-the-hood","category-remote-learning","category-resources","category-student-centred-learning","tag-conceptual","tag-curriculum-design-student-panel","tag-distance-learning","tag-guidance","tag-iceberg","tag-knowledge-building","tag-metacognitive","tag-online-learning","tag-openlearn","tag-procedural","tag-scaffolding","tag-skills-building","tag-strategic","tag-support","tag-threshold-concepts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1992"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2059,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992\/revisions\/2059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}