Representational scaffolding in digital simulations – learning professional practices in higher education
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-06-2022-0076 |
| Published date | 09 November 2022 |
| Date | 09 November 2022 |
| Pages | 645-665 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library & information services |
| Author | Frank Fischer,Elisabeth Bauer,Tina Seidel,Ralf Schmidmaier,Anika Radkowitsch,Birgit J. Neuhaus,Sarah I. Hofer,Daniel Sommerhoff,Stefan Ufer,Jochen Kuhn,Stefan Küchemann,Michael Sailer,Jenna Koenen,Martin Gartmeier,Pascal Berberat,Anne Frenzel,Nicole Heitzmann,Doris Holzberger,Jürgen Pfeffer,Doris Lewalter,Frank Niklas,Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha,Mario Gollwitzer,Andreas Vorholzer,Olga Chernikova,Christian Schons,Amadeus J. Pickal,Maria Bannert,Tilman Michaeli,Matthias Stadler,Martin R. Fischer |
Representational scaffolding in
digital simulations –learning
professional practices
in higher education
Frank Fischer,Elisabeth Bauer,Tina Seidel,Ralf Schmidmaier,
Anika Radkowitsch,Birgit J. Neuhaus,Sarah I. Hofer,
Daniel Sommerhoff,Stefan Ufer,Jochen Kuhn,Stefan Küchemann,
Michael Sailer,Jenna Koenen,Martin Gartmeier,Pascal Berberat,
Anne Frenzel,Nicole Heitzmann,Doris Holzberger,Jürgen Pfeffer,
Doris Lewalter,Frank Niklas,Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha,
Mario Gollwitzer,Andreas Vorholzer,Olga Chernikova,
Christian Schons,Amadeus J. Pickal,Maria Bannert,
Tilman Michaeli,Matthias Stadler and Martin R. Fischer
(Author affiliations can be found at the end of the article)
Abstract
Purpose –To advance the learning of professionalpractices in teacher education and medical education,
this conceptual paper aims to introduce the idea of representational scaffolding for digital simulations in
higher education.
Design/methodology/approach –This study outlinesthe ideas of core practices in two important fields
of higher education, namely, teacher and medical education. To facilitate future professionals’learning of
relevant practices, using digital simulations for the approximation of practice offers multiple options for
selecting and adjustingrepresentations of practice situations. Adjusting thedemands of the learning task in
simulations by selecting and modifyingrepresentations of practice to match relevant learner characteristics
can be characterized as representational scaffolding. Building on researchon problem-solving and scientific
reasoning,this article identifies leverage pointsfor employing representational scaffolding.
Findings –The four suggested sets of representational scaffolds that target relevant features of practice
situations in simulations are:informational complexity, typicality, required agency and situation dynamics.
Representational scaffoldsmight be implemented in a strategy for approximating practice that involves the
media design,sequencing and adaptation of representationalscaffolding.
Originality/value –The outlined conceptualization of representational scaffolding can systematize
the design and adaptation of digital simulations in higher education and might contribute to the
This research was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG FOR 2385.
*Frank Fischer and Elisabeth Bauer contributed equally to this article.
All authors made substantial contributions to developing the framework presented in this paper.
The lead authors Frank Fischer and Elisabeth Bauer drafted, repeatedly revised and finalized the
manuscript. The coauthors Tina Seidel, Ralf Schmidmaier and Anika Radkowitsch provided initial
drafts for subsections of the manuscript. All coauthors reviewed and revised the manuscript critically
for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for
publication.
The authors have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Representational
scaffolding
645
Received13 June 2022
Revised3 August 2022
Accepted2 September 2022
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.123 No. 11/12, 2022
pp. 645-665
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-06-2022-0076
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
advancement of future professionals’learning to further engage in professional practic es. This
conceptual paper offers a necessary foundation and terminology for approaching related future
research.
Keywords Higher education, Teacher education, Medical education, Scaffolding, Simulations,
Professional practices, Representational scaffolding, Core practices of teaching,
Entrustable professional activities, Approximation of practice, Representations of practice,
Decomposition of practice
Paper type Conceptual paper
Learning professional practices in higher education
Professionals in any field conduct their daily activities, tasks and routines based on their
professional knowledge, skills and ideals (Blömeke et al., 2015). The activities as well as
the inherent knowledge, skills and ideals the professionals apply collectively amount to
their professional practices (Gherardi, 2009;Kelly, 2008), which are realized by individual
practitioners (Roth and Lee, 2006). Novice learners entering a profession benefitfrom
engaging in professional practices during their education –for example, as part of a
higher education program –to learn the knowledge, skills and ideals relevant and
necessary to cope with authentic practice situations. To focus professional education on
the most relevant professional practices, two important fields of higher education –
teacher education and medical education –have attempted to identify sets of core
practices that might be addressed in higher education curricula (Grossman, 2021;Ten
Cate and Taylor, 2021).
However, offering students opportunities for engaging in authentic practice situations
involves several constraints: access to real-life practice situations is restricted by ethical
boundaries, as real-life practice situations involve taking over responsibility (e.g. for
students and patients), for which especially novice learners might not yet be sufficiently
qualified (Ziv et al.,2003). In addition, because task difficulty cannot be adapted to suit the
learning goals and the learners’current level of knowledge and skills, real-life practice
situations do not necessarilyserve as ideal learning opportunities or tasks.
An effective instructional approach that eludes these constraints entails the use of
simulation-based learning (Chernikova et al., 2020). Simulations are simplified but valid
representations of natural, social or artificial systems, which include features that learners
can manipulate (e.g. to approximate practice; Heitzmann et al.,2019;Sauv
eet al.,2007).
Using simulation-based learning provides learners with opportunities for engaging
repeatedly in professional practices without facing or generating real-life risks (Heitzmann
et al.,2019). In addition, designing simulations allows instructors to balance the learning
tasks’authenticity and difficulty –for example, by simplifying practice situations and
incorporating additional learner supportto avoid overwhelming novice learners ( Codreanu
et al.,2020).
Existing literature on designing simulations primarily focuses on process models
addressing the steps of designing simulations for specific contexts, for example designing
simulation for research purposes (Fink et al.,2021) or designing simulations as teacher
practice spaces (Reich et al., 2018). Such frameworks typically outline design steps by
referring to specific examples of simulations and often touch on discussing selected
characteristics of simulations, such as authenticity. There is, however, a lack of conceptual
frameworks theoretically deriving leverage points for balancing the learning tasks’
authenticity and difficulty, for example by selecting, adjusting and sequencing
representationsof practice when designing simulations.
ILS
123,11/12
646
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