Designing Blended University Courses for Transaction from Academic Learning to Professional Competences

In this chapter, we describe a blended university course aimed at supporting transaction from academic learning to the acquisition of professional skills. The design of this course is based on the Blended Collaborative and Constructive Participation (BCCP) model, enriched by the Trialogical Learning Approach (TLA). A detailed description of the architecture of the 13-week course is provided. The course under scrutiny was comprised of two modules. Module 1 was dedicated to methods and theories of educational and e-learning psychology. Module 2 had a professional and practical nature and involved e-learning companies. During this latter module, students collaboratively built objects intended for the e-learning market. In both modules, online and face-to-face activities were integrated, and a range of educational strategies such as Jigsaw and Progressive Inquiry were used. Furthermore, students were asked to create and maintain individual e-portfolios. The role of “friend of zone of proximal development”—clearly inspired by Vygotsky (1978)—was introduced to support peer interaction and encourage professionalization among students. To study the transaction from academic learning to professional skills, we use the concept of positioning and analyze data produced in 17 student e-portfolios. We provide a list of the various forms of positioning that are made visible in the e-portfolios, and consider similarities and differences across the two course modules. Analysis suggests a progressive shift towards the ‘trialogical’ position that has a professional nature and takes into account the objects built during the course.