Trialogical learning

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Trialogical approach to learning
• Collaborative learning where activities are organized for
developing shared objects (documents, models, project
plans, ways of working) for some subsequent use
• Difference to monological view of learning (individual’s
solo performance) but also to dialogical and
participatory approaches
• Trialogues: social interaction focused on jointly
developed and versioned concrete products and ways of
working
• Developed in the Knowledge Practices Laboratory
(KP-Lab), a large EU-funded project (2006-2011) for
higher education and workplace learning

(Paavola & Hakkarainen 2009; Moen et al. 2012)

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• A large multinational team of experts in pedagogy,
knowledge management and software development
which included both researchers and technologists
tested and applied trialogical learning in various settings
including universities, workplaces and informal learning
contexts in order to carry out research into new forms of
collaboration and knowledge advancement.
• An important goal of this initiative was to provide
models that can serve as useful tools for
teachers/educators, empowering them as professionals
in the development of learning environments.
• These models were intended to support the work of
teachers and trainers when guiding their students in rich
technological learning environments.

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 Metaphors of learning and
the Trialogical approach - a framework for developing
secondary and university education
Emphasis on sustained
(Paavola et al. 2004; co-development of
Hakkarainen et al. 2004; Learning as shared object and
Tynjälä & Häkkinen 2005; knowledge creation practices
cf. Sfard 1998)
”Trialogical” for some relevant
purpose
Developing shared objects
and practices

Emphasis on
Emphasis on
Learning as cultural
Learning as
individuals and knowledge practices
participation
conceptual acquisition as well as
”Dialogical” material
knowledge ”Monological”
interaction, situated and social
processes within
cognition interaction
mind

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 TRIALOGICAL
LEARNING APPROACH

Inquiry-based learning Project-based learning

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Inquiry-based learning is
learning that is organised
around questions, finding
explanations, theories, and
scientific information in the
cycle of deepening inquiry,
discussion, and reflection
• Project-based learning (PBL) is learning that takes place
when learners work on a complex real-world authentic
question or problem and try to come up with answers and
solutions in a collaborative process of investigation over
an extended period of time.
• This kind of learning also requires inquiry but furthermore
something new is created.
• One form of PBL is Design-based learning, where students
learn about content while designing an object or
prototype, and this form has the potential to dramatically
increase student learning by incorporating design
experiences into the study of science.
• Typical steps involve: describing the current situation,
identifying needs, developing criteria, generating
alternatives and making choices, creating a prototype and
evaluating/reflecting on the results.
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 Trialogical learning – design principles
rather than a pedagogical model
• Not a pedagogical model but rather general guidelines for
emphasizing object-oriented collaboration (to organize
work around shared object, support personal and
collective agency, foster long term work, promote
cross-fertilization, etc.)
• Gives means and inspiration for reflecting and
transforming ways of organizing courses and pedagogical
settings
• A continuum of object-oriented collaboration: giving
focused comments to a document <--> versioning and
modifying a document together

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Learning is trialogical if:
• it is learner-centred
• it involves a community of learners
• it is long-term work on open-ended “real-life" tasks
• it is centered around the creation of artefacts,
which are changed and developed in an iterative
process by the group members
• the produced artefacts enhance the knowledge of
the whole group
• the outcomes of the activities are reusable
• the process of collaborative knowledge-creation is
made explicit in the group
• it is supported by technology, which provides new
means of working with externalised, concrete
artefacts, which have different kinds of dynamics
than dialogues
 References
• Moen A., Morch, A., & Paavola S. (Eds.) (2012) Collaborative Knowledge
Creation: Practices, Tools, Concepts. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Paavola, S. & Hakkarainen, K. (2009). From meaning making to joint construction
of knowledge practices and artefacts – A trialogical approach to CSCL. In C.
O'Malley, D. Suthers, P. Reimann, & A. Dimitracopoulou (Eds.), Computer
supported collaborative learning Practices: CSCL2009 conference Proceedings
(pp. 83–92). Rhodes, Creek: International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS).
• Paavola, S., Lakkala, M., Muukkonen, H., Kosonen, K., & Kalgren, K. (2011). The
roles and uses of design principles in a project on trialogical learning. Research in
Learning Technology, 19(3), 233-246.
• Sfard, A. (1998) On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just
one. Educational Researcher 27: 4–13.
• Tynjälä, P. & Häkkinen, P. (2005) E-learning at work: theoretical underpinnings
and pedagogical challenges. The Journal of Workplace Learning 17(5/6), 318-336

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