RESEARCH ARTICLE USE OF SCAFFOLDING PRINCIPLES IN ONLINE TEACHING: A CASE OF E – TEACHING 1 COURSE OFFERED BY UNIVERSITY OF AGDER TO PROSPECTIVE ONLINE TUTORS *Alfred Buluma, Julius Shopi Mbulankende, John Kalule and Rogers Kategaya Department of Foundations and Curriculum Studies, School of Education, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT This article analyses the use of Scaffolding Principles in Online Teaching based on the E –Teaching 1 Course offered by the University of Agder that between September to December, 2017 to prospective online tutors. The major purpose of this article was to analyze how the pedagogical principles of Scaffolding were used to enhance the teaching of this particular course to its participants. Throughout the article, one major thread cuts through and this is the understanding of scaffolding as the temporary support given to a learner to enable him/her become an independent learner and a master of the skill or knowledge being used or advocated for by a certain community of practice. Within the article, it is pointed out that Gilly Salmon’s 5 Stage Model demonstrates the practical implementation of scaffolding in an online environment. Thus, it is clear that the various activities in the E –Teaching1 Course were in conformity with the Scaffolding principles as suggested by Gilly Salmon especially with the view that, there was access and motivation to this course by the participants, participantsbuiltupteamsintheformofgroupslikeCondors,sharedinformationthrough discussion among themselves and with their peers, constructed knowledge as evidenced from various documents weaved and course work assignment submitted for assessment and finally each participant got an opportunity tore view his or her learning through developing a learning portfolio to demonstrate their met a cognition. Inevitably, the article recommends that to a large extent it is important for higher studies to embrace scaffolding such that professionals graduating from higher education institutions have to be scaffolded with the necessary skills and knowledge needed in their communities of practice or occupations. Copyright © 2018, Alfred Buluma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricte d use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION With specific reference to the Quiz in Module four of the E – Teaching 1 course, Scaffolding can be defined as the temporary support offered to students in accomplishing new tasks and concepts they might not achieve on their own and this support and guidance is withdrawn as long as a learner can accomplish or do a task by him/herself. This definition is in agreement with Lajoie (2005) who considers it a temporary entity that is used to reach one’s potential in demonstrating competence, and articulation of their knowledge without assistance. Scaffolding therefore requires the teacher’s intervention in children's learning through providing young learners with cultural tools to enable them become independent learners (Verenikina, 2008). Some of these tools can include; compelling tasks, templates, learning resources like articles, and more experienced peers as well as teachers or More Knowledgeable others (E – Teaching 1 Course Module 4 quiz). *Corresponding author: Alfred Buluma, Department of Foundations and Curriculum Studies, School of Education, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, according to Lipscomb, Swanson and West (2004), MKOs are expected to establish the amount of instructional support for successful teaching and learning encounter. Pedagogical Principles of Scaffolding: There are basically six principles of scaffolding that were presented by Bruner and his colleagues as quoted by Roggof (1990). These principles are; 1. Recruiting the child's interest in the task as it is defined by the tutor. 2. Reducing the number of steps required to solve a problem by simplifying the task, so that the learner can manage components of the process and recognize when a fit with task requirements is achieved. 3. Maintaining the pursuit of the goal, through motivation of the child and direction of the activity. 4. Marking critical features of discrepancies between what a child has produced and the ideal solution. 5. Controlling frustration and risk in problem solving. 6. Demonstrating an idealized version of the act to be performed Theoretical Background of Scaffolding: Scaffolding has its origin rooted in the constructivist and social constructivist International Journal of Information Research and Review Vol. 05, Issue, 09, pp.5681-5684, September, 2018 Article History: Received 22 nd June, 2018 Received in revised form 27 th July, 2018 Accepted 10 th August, 2018 Published online 30 th September, 2018 International Journal of Information Research and Review, September, 2018 Keywords: Scaffolding, Online pedagogy, E – Teaching, Higher Education.