Quaco Cloutterbuck's List: Technology and Education

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    As a consequence, the dominant learning technology employed today is a type of system that organizes and delivers online courses—the learning management system (LMS). This piece of software has become almost ubiquitous in the learning environment; companies such as WebCT, Blackboard, and Desire2Learn have installed products at thousands of universities and colleges and are used by tens of thousands of instructors and students.
• They absorb information quickly, in images and video as well as text, from multiple sources simultaneously. They operate at "twitch speed," expecting instant responses and feedback. They prefer random "on-demand" access to media, expect to be in constant communication with their friends (who may be next door or around the world), and they are as likely to create their own media (or download someone else's) as to purchase a book or a CD [
• n learning, these trends are manifest in what is sometimes called "learner-centered" or "student-centered" design. This is more than just adapting for different learning styles or allowing the user to change the font size and background color; it is the placing of the control of learning itself into the hands of the learner
• In short, the structures and organization that characterized life prior to the Internet are breaking down. Where intermediaries, such as public relations staff, journalists or professors, are not needed, they are disregarded. Consumers are talking directly to producers, and more often than not, demanding and getting new standards of accountability and transparency. Often, they inform the productive process itself, and in many cases, replace it altogether. Passive has become active. Disinterested has become engaged. The new Internet user may not vote, but that is only because the vote is irrelevant when you govern yourself
• "Enter Web 2.0, a vision of the Web in which information is broken up into "microcontent" units that can be distributed over dozens of domains. The Web of documents has morphed into a Web of data. We are no longer just looking to the same old sources for information. Now we're looking to a new set of tools to aggregate and remix microcontent in new and useful ways
• • Tools as things that break up data to share or store
• In a nutshell, what was happening was that the Web was shifting from being a medium, in which information was transmitted and consumed, into being a platform, in which content was created, shared, remixed, repurposed, and passed along.
• But it wasn't just blogging. Creating an online community became a snap with tools such as Plone and Drupal. Moreover, using a collaborative writing tool called the wiki Jimmy Wales and a few thousand of his friends created a site called Wikipedia, rendering Encyclopedia Britannica obsolete in the process. Others, using the free audio-recording tool Audacity, began recording their own talk and music; this, when combined with RSS, became podcasting, a rapidly rising phenomena that is transforming what we think about radio.
• n the world of e-learning, the closest thing to a social network is a community of practice, articulated and promoted by people such as Etienne Wenger in the 1990s. According to Wenger, a community of practice is characterized by "a shared domain of interest" where "members interact and learn together" and "develop a shared repertoire of resources.
• community" in online learning were artificial and often contrived "discussions" supported by learning management systems
• Educators began to notice something different happening when they began to use tools like wikis and blogs in the classroom a couple of years ago. All of a sudden, instead of discussing pre-assigned topics with their classmates, students found themselves discussing a wide range of topics with peers worldwide. Imagine the astonishment, for example, when, after writing a review of a circus she had viewed, a Grade 5 student received a response from one of the performers [16]. In a very short time, blogs were used for a wide variety of purposes in education; an educational bloggers' network formed and by this year thousands of teachers were encouraging their students to blog.
• What happens when online learning ceases to be like a medium, and becomes more like a platform? What happens when online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption tool, where learning is "delivered," and becomes more like a content-authoring tool, where learning is created? The model of e-learning as being a type of content, produced by publishers, organized and structured into courses, and consumed by students, is turned on its head. Insofar as there is content, it is used rather than read— and is, in any case, more likely to be produced by students than courseware authors. And insofar as there is structure, it is more likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or a manual.
• It also begins to look like a personal portfolio tool [18]. The idea here is that students will have their own personal place to create and showcase their own work. Some e-portfolio applications, such as ELGG, have already been created. IMS Global as put together an e-portfolio specification [19]. "The portfolio can provide an opportunity to demonstrate one's ability to collect, organize, interpret and reflect on documents and sources of information. It is also a tool for continuing professional development, encouraging individuals to take responsibility for and demonstrate the results of their own learning"
• Papert writes, "The most important learning skills that I see children getting from games are those that support the empowering sense of taking charge of their own learning. And the learner taking charge of learning is antithetical to the dominant ideology of curriculum design" [21]. This is most evidenced when learners engage not only in playing, but in the design, of games. In the gaming world this practice is widely recognized and encouraged—game "modding" allows players to make the game their own
• A similar motivation underlies the rapidly rising domain of mobile learning [24]—for after all, were the context in which learning occurs not important, it would not be useful or necessary to make learning mobile. Mobile learning offers not only new opportunities to create but also to connect. As Ellen Wagner and Bryan Alexander note, mobile learning "define(s) new relationships and behaviors among learners, information, personal computing devices, and the world at large" [

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• Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three   broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional   environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning   was not impacted through technology.
• of underlying social environments
• • Valid sources of knowledge - Do we gain knowledge through experiences?   Is it innate (present at birth)? Do we acquire it through thinking and   reasoning?
   
  • Content of knowledge – Is knowledge actually knowable? Is it   directly knowable through human experience?
   
  • The final consideration focuses on three epistemological traditions   in relation to learning: Objectivism, Pragmatism, and Interpretivism  
     
    • Objectivism (similar to behaviorism) states that reality is external   and is objective, and knowledge is gained through experiences.
     
    • Pragmatism (similar to cognitivism) states that reality is interpreted,   and knowledge is negotiated through experience and thinking.
     
    • Interpretivism (similar to constructivism) states that reality   is internal, and knowledge is constructed.
• s an objective   (or a state) that is attainable (if not already innate) through either   reasoning or experiences. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism   (built on the epistemological traditions) attempt to address how it is   that a person learns.
• Behaviorism states that learning is largely unknowable, that is, we   can’t possibly understand what goes on inside a person (the “black   box theory”).
• • Observable behaviour is more important than understanding internal   activities
   
  • Behaviour should be focused on simple elements: specific stimuli   and responses
   
  • Learning is about behaviour change
• Cognitivism often takes a computer information processing model. Learning   is viewed as a process of inputs, managed in short term memory, and coded   for long-term recall.
• Constructivism suggests that learners create knowledge as they attempt   to understand their experiences (Driscoll, 2000, p. 376). Behaviorism   and cognitivism view knowledge as external to the learner and the learning   process as the act of internalizing knowledge. Constructivism assumes   that learners are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge. Instead,   learners are actively attempting to create meaning. Learners often select   and pursue their own learning. Constructivist principles acknowledge that   real-life learning is messy and comple
• The need   to evaluate the worthiness of learning something is a meta-skill that   is applied before learning itself begins. When knowledge is subject to   paucity, the process of assessing worthiness is assumed to be intrinsic   to learning. When knowledge is abundant, the rapid evaluation of knowledge   is important.

• Some questions to explore in relation to learning theories and the impact   of technology and new sciences (chaos and networks) on learning:

   
   

• cluding technology and connection making as learning activities begins   to move learning theories into a digital age. We can no longer personally   experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence   from forming connections. Karen Stephenson states:

   

   

  “Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge.   Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences,   and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I   store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge   through collecting people (undated)
• Unlike constructivism, which states that learners   attempt to foster understanding by meaning making tasks, chaos states   that the meaning exists – the learner's challenge is to recognize   the patterns which appear to be hidden
• Jacobs argues that   communities self-organize is a manner similar to social insects: instead   of thousands of ants crossing each other’s pheromone trails and   changing their behavior accordingly, thousands of humans pass each other   on the sidewalk and change their behavior accordingly.”. Self-organization   on a personal level is a micro-process of the larger self-organizing knowledge   constructs created within corporate or institutional environments
• Albert-László Barabási states that “nodes   always compete for connections because links represent survival in an   interconnected world” (2002, p.106). This competition is largely   dulled within a personal learning network, but the placing of value on   certain nodes over others is a reality. Nodes that successfully acquire   greater profile will be more successful at acquiring additional connections.
• Social network analysis is an additional element in understanding learning   models in a digital era. Art Kleiner (2002) explores Karen Stephenson’s   “quantum theory of trust” which “explains not just how   to recognize the collective cognitive capability of an organization, but   how to cultivate and increase it”
• Personal knowledge   is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions,   which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide   learning to individual.
• Media, news, information. This trend is well under way. Mainstream   media organizations are being challenged by the open, real-time, two-way   information flow of blogging.

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