Avatar Manager and Student Reflective Conversations as the Base for Describing Meta-Communication Model

Abstract

This chapter describes the meta-communication model and illustrates its applicability. The model integrates previous discursive approaches to reflective practice and extends them with additional relevant concepts. The meta-communication model concepts are mainly based on Avatar Manager and Student Reflective Conversations pedagogical theory. By means of the case examples, this chapter also illustrates how the model can be used for making meaning in experiential and theoretical based online educational courses and collective sense-making, i.e. the articulation and contesting the meaning and relevance of ideas. This chapter argues that the model provides a way for systematically and meaningfully structuring and organizing meta-level conversations in virtual classroom. The use of reflective pedagogies has long been considered as critical to facilitating meaningful learning through experientially based curricula; however, the use of such methods has not been extensively explored as implemented in virtual environments. The study reviewed utilizes a combination of survey research and individual interviews to examine the student perceptions of the meaningful learning which occurred as a result of their participation in two Web-based courses which are utilized reflective pedagogies. One course focuses on topics related to the service-learning and the second on the placement-based internships. All of them were instructed using online coursework based in reflective pedagogies to the compliment on-site placements within local communities. Thus, created software of Meta-Communication Model applicable for using in virtual education process and in virtual research collaboration works at the Astrakhan State University (Russian Federation) and at All Armenian Internet University (Australian Federation and the Republic of Armenia) for the development of avatars has significant potential to enhance realism, automation capability, and effectiveness across the training environments variety.

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