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This study examines how videos may support participants’ learning in the Information and Communication Technology Massive Open Online Course (ICTMOOC) aimed to develop digital skills with pre- and in-service teachers in Norway and provides an insight into how teachers’ interactions with videos may contribute to enhancing their agentic capacity to learn and transformative digital agency. Analyses of participants’ interactions with the videos are located in the cultural-historical theory and draw on Galperin’s conceptualisation of learning processes. The data consisted of 501 participants’ responses to the questionnaire administered to all pre- and in-service teachers engaged in the ICTMOOC in 2014–2018. Mixed methods were applied to analyse the data by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence about the processes of video use. Findings reveal the patterns of participants’ interactions with videos: (a) seeking explicit information about how to engage in learning; (b) seeking assistance while engaged with the assigned tasks; (c) support to compare learning outcomes with the requirements outlined in the videos. In doing so, the videos provided orienting, executive and controlling support and might have contributed to enhancing participants’ capacity to learn in digital environments and their transformative digital agency. The majority of participants used videos for executive support and the learners preferred videos in the range of 5–10 min. By providing these types of support by the videos, a learning activity carries a new function as a tool for studying the essence of learning in digital environments. These findings have implications for the design of videos in online courses. They also emphasise the crucial importance of awareness about the type of support videos provide to enhance participants’ learning in digital environments.

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She has written about and her research interests include:  Technology and English Language Learning: The role of digital and other mediational tools in English language learning, educational technology; computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL);  Assessment for Learning: development of writing skills in English, writing process, formative assessment, feedback  Learning and Development: Cultural-historical theory, agency of students and teachers, learning to learn approach AcknowledgementsThis study was funded by the Abstract The study provides an insight into how technology may affect teachers' facilitating of the writing process which was examined and compared when Norwegian Upper Secondary School students wrote essays about English as a Global Language through multiple drafts with feedback received from the computer-based essay critiquing system (EssayCritic) (target class) and from collaborating peers (comparison class). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the teachers' assistance draw on Galperin's conceptualisation of learning. Findings reveal patterns in the teachers' guidance in both conditions and outline the differences arising from the use of EssayCritic: by interacting with EssayCritic the teacher assisted the learners in completing the specific task, although little attention was paid to the development of their assessment for learning (AfL) skills. However, in the comparison class the teacher paid attention to the development of students' AfL skills by emphasising the general approach to the analysis and the essential requirements of the essays. The study, therefore, raises questions about the need for practitioners' awareness of whether the technology supports the development of, for example, AfL skills required in English writing classes.

The relationship between the different mediational means for supporting students' learning with digital tools in science group work in a Norwegian lower-secondary school is examined. Analyses of teacher-student and student-student interactions are located in cultural-historical theory and draw on Galperin's conceptualisation of learning processes. Findings show that digital tools, task design, peer collaboration, and teacher's interventions dialectically interplay to shape how learners use mediational means: (1) digital tools are the resources that enable students to explicate their (mis)understandings; (2) compare-and-contrast tasks promote analytical thinking; (3) peers present themselves as resources who promote development of conceptual understanding; (4) the teacher guides learners' attention towards the potential of the mediational resources, elicits, organises, and structures students' knowledge. The dialectical interplay of these mediational means creates a system that supports and guides students' learning. ARTICLE HISTORY