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Charmian LORD

Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? | Kop | The Interna... - 1 views

www.irrodl.org/...1103%2522

connectivism learning theory review

shared by Charmian LORD on 17 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • To what extent do existing learning theories meet the needs of today’s learners, and anticipate the needs of learners of the future?
  • If older theories are to be replaced by connectivism, then what are the grounds for this measure?
  • If connectivism is to build on older theories, how is the integration of the old and new theories to be conducted?
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • The wide range of approaches and learning paths that are available to redesign curricula cause friction for educators and instructional designers who are required to deliver course materials in accordance with learning outcomes prescribed and mandated by educational institutions.
  • Connectivism stresses that two important skills that contribute to learning are the ability to seek out current information, and the ability to filter secondary and extraneous information.  Simply put, “The capacity to know is more critical than what is actually known” (Siemens, 2008, para. 6)
  • The developmental implications of Downes’ definitions of learning and knowledge are far-reaching.  If learning transpires via connections to nodes on the network, then it follows that the maximization of learning can best be achieved through identifying the properties of effective networks, which is precisely what Downes sets out to achieve in Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge.
  • Siemens (2006b) highlights other factors that may inform the development of a new learning theory, namely “how we teach, how we design curriculum, the spaces and structures of learning, and the manner in which we foster and direct critical and creative thought in our redesign of education” (p. 6).
  • roponents of connectivism are “exploring a model of learning that reflects the network-like structure evident in online interactions,” (p. 12) but is this enough to constitute its formulation as a new learning theory, and does connectivism have anything new to offer?
  • the way in which global networks and communities of interest are currently being formed through emerging technologies is encouraging young people, in particular, to develop new, creative, and different forms of communication and knowledge creation outside formal education
    • Charmian LORD
      Charmian LORD on 17 Aug 15
       
      do I classify as young? :)
  • his will undoubtedly cause friction in institutions and class rooms, particularly as (adult) educators themselves do not always feel comfortable with the new developments because they have not been shown adequately, or explored for themselves, how the new and emerging technologies could enhance their working practice.
    • Charmian LORD
      Charmian LORD on 17 Aug 15
       
      This is the issue I am facing.  People need time to work it out, good questions about the use of technology and information about how it will not increase their workload or decrease it (leading to a lack of work).  Is this possible?  How possible?
  • A paradigm shift, indeed, may be occurring in educational theory, and a new epistemology may be emerging, but it does not seem that connectivism’s contributions to the new paradigm warrant it being treated as a separate learning theory in and of its own right.  Connectivism, however, continues to play an important role in the development and emergence of new pedagogies, where control is shifting from the tutor to an increasingly more autonomous learner.
djplaner

Education in the information age: is technology making us stupid? - 2 views

theconversation.com/hnology-making-us-stupid-10844

issues dumbingeffect stupid

shared by djplaner on 30 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • A recent study suggests that our modern lifestyles are making us “less intelligent” than our ancestors, at least at a genetic level.
  • When it takes a mere few seconds to find information about almost any topic, the value of knowledge and expertise is being devalued as information becomes cheaper and more accessible.
  • Our relationship with and understanding of knowledge and expertise has struggled to keep pace with the rapid democratisation of information.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Although there is little conclusive evidence to support some of the more outrageous claims being made, there is at least a distinct possibility that while information is everywhere, knowledge is declining and technology is to blame.
  • So perhaps what is more important is not whether technology is making us stupid but if educational systems need to shift from teaching us what to think, to showing us how to think
  • In terms of what this means for education, psychologist Robert Bjork and his team at UCLA have been investigating what they call “desirable difficulties”. A desirable difficulty is a feature of a learning situation that is deliberately made more challenging to enhance learning.
  • Kahneman’s research on dual process theory suggests we mostly rely on what he calls “system one” thinking. That is thinking that is fast, efficient, mostly automated, and very good at detecting patterns, relying on short cuts or heuristics wherever possible. “System two”, on the other hand, requires slow, deliberate thought and is much more taxing of cognitive resources. System two is where the heavy lifting is done.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 30 Aug 14
       
      Dual process theory...interesting way of viewing thinking processes.
djplaner

What is Open Pedagogy? | Teaching and Learning Innovations at CI - 1 views

tlinnovations.cikeys.com/...what-is-open-pedagogy

openpedagogy netgl asteacher

shared by djplaner on 27 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • Agency, risk, creativity, unpredictability, empowerment — these are characteristics of open pedagogy that are much tougher to cultivate in an LMS.
  • djplaner on 27 Aug 15
     
    Academic talks about adopting open pedagogy. An approach that has a lot of resonance with netgl
rebeccalwhite

Technology and education - why it's crucial to be critical | Neil Selwyn - Academia.edu - 1 views

www.academia.edu/...why_its_crucial_to_be_critical

technology education future critical theory

shared by rebeccalwhite on 05 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • not assume the future to be any less problematic than the present).
  • Instead, take this as a challenge to talk through some alternate ways of approaching our field and our work … these are discussions that certainly need to ‘cont’.
  • For instance, technology and education remains an area of academic study, policymaking, commercial activity and   popular debate where promises of what might/could/should happen far outstrip the realities of what actually happens.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • This marginal standing is reflected in the tendency for educational technology academics to be located often within ‘support’ units and divisions, such as cross-faculty ‘Teaching & Learning Divisions’ or departmental ‘E-Learning Units’. Physically as well as intellectually, then, the field of technology and education is often found to be operating on the peripheries of academe
  • In short, we need to accept that academic work in the area of technology and education is currently falling short of what should now be a significant and substantial area of contemporary education scholarship.
  • Instead, the academic study of technology and education should be developing as much along the lines of critical social science as it does in the guise of a cognitive learning science.
  • attempting to move “outside the assumptions and practices of the existing order and struggling to make categories, assumptions and practices of everyday life problematic”.
  • As Sonia Livingstone (2012) puts it, this problematizing of technology and education usually pursues three basic lines of inquiry: What is really going on? How can this be explained? How could things be otherwise? As these questions imply, a critical approach also involves speaking up for, and on behalf of, those voices usually marginalized in discussions of what technology and education ‘is’ and ‘sh
  • What to do about digital technology?’ remains a high-profile
  • As Alison Hearn has argued, contemporary higher education is now predicated around ambitions to produce human capital rather than critical thinkers; and to foster creativity, innovation and knowledge rather than critical thinking.
  • This stems, at least in part, from the fundamental desire amongst most educational technologists to improve education through the implementation of digital technology. For many academics, then, technology and education is approached as an inherently ‘positive project’. Indeed, I suspect that most people working in this area are driven to some degree by an underlying belief that digital technologies are capable of improving learning and/or education in some way
  • to ‘harness the power’ of technology.
  • I would argue that any academic who is working in the area of technology and education should feel obliged to be critical, or at least justify why they have chosen not to be critical
thaleia66

The Role of the Educator | Stephen Downes - 1 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...-of-the-educator_b_790937.html

shared by thaleia66 on 11 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • The problem with focusing on the role of the teacher, from my perspective, is that it misses the point.
  • We continue to expect educators to play an active role in learning, but it has become more difficult to characterize exactly what that role may be.
  • students need prototypes on which to model their own work
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  • We begin by copying successful practice, and then begin to modify that practice to satisfy our own particular circumstances and needs
  • In addition to being expert in the discipline of teaching and pedagogy, the educator is now expected to have up-to-date and relevant knowledge and experience in it. Even a teacher of basic disciplines such as science, history or mathematics must remain grounded, as no discipline has remained stable for very long, and all disciplines require a deeper insight in order to be taught effectively.
  • What's significant about these examples is not so much the new opportunities they offer students, though there is that. It's that all of them redefine the educator's role in some significant way. They create entirely new categories of educator, such as "online lecturer" or "scientist studying polar bears". Entire disciplines, far removed from traditional "instructional design", are being created and populated by people who direct online videos, design learning communities, program massive games like Evoke. And they create new categories of roles and responsibilities for in-person educators.
  • Historically, it has been impractical to break up the roles of the teacher. You need a certain scale even to have a separate person assigned as a librarian or an audio-visual coordinator. You need a much greater scale, not to mention much better coordination, to have separate people assigned as lecturers, coaches, theorizers and evaluators. Yet relatively few of these roles need to be performed in person, and most of them scale pretty well.
  • what I find as I offer more and more types and instances of learning, both online and in person, is that we can achieve much more efficient, effective and rewarding learning by organizing the educational system according to the sorts of educational services people might want and need, rather than by predefined collections of students assigned, almost randomly, to individual teachers
  • one thing I have been observing is that educators have been gravitating toward one or another of these 23 roles. Some of them, presumably the more extroverted, have taken on the role of lecturer or demonstrator. Others, who were perhaps more technically inclined, have become programmers or bureaucrats. Still others, those perhaps work best with presence or human contact, prefer to function as coaches or mentors. Not everybody can perform every role; not everybody wants to perform every role.
  • it is frustrating when people identify the role of the teacher as the central factor influencing the success or failure of a student's education. Leaving aside any influence of external factors, such a statement begs us to question what aspect of the educator's role it is that is so vitally important. And while the likely answer may be that they all are, or that it depends on the individual student, it seems clear that continuing to treat them as a single role, to be performed by a single person, increasingly defies the reality that is today's educational system
  • Though there may still be thousands of people employed today with the job title of "teacher" or "educator", it is misleading to suggests that all, or even most, aspects of providing an education should, or could, be placed into the hands of these individuals.
  • not every student wants or needs the services of every role
djplaner

AJET 26(3) Drexler (2010) - The networked student model for construction of personal le... - 7 views

www.ascilite.org.au/...drexler.html

ltngl

shared by djplaner on 24 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Students engaging in networked learning research must be more self-directed
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Raises the question - what about those students who do not possess these skills?
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I agree, if they do not possess these skills then what?  And is that necessarily a bad thing?  How do we support those with the skills at the same time as those without the skills?
  • balance between structure and learner autonomy
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Recognises that particular skills are require and may need to explicitly taught.
  • take an active role in the learning process by making decisions
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Active participation = decision making
  • ...39 more annotations...
  • If the learner has primary control, the teacher must consider alternative assessments (Pedersen & Liu, 2003)
  • The role of a teacher within a student-centered approach to instruction is that of a facilitator or coach (Wang, 2006)
  • The students in this study are in effect, networked learners in training.
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Love this view of students working to acquire NGL skills - "networked learners in training"
  • A teacher is better equipped to facilitate networked learning if he or she has experienced the construction of such a model first hand
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Just as well we are all taking this course! :)
  • Figure 2: The Networked Student
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      A model of the networked student.  Like how it incorporates all aspects of a students life, not just online!
  • He or she constructs knowledge based on experiences and social interactions (Jonassen et al., 2003)
  • He asserts that learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions, and learning is a process of connecting nodes or information sources (Siemens, 2004).
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Constructivism influences.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      This is a really nice line.  I like the idea that through collaboration we can leverage off diversity.  
  • Technology supports this appropriation as a collection of tools that promote knowledge construction, an information vehicle for exploring knowledge, an active learning tool, a social medium to promote conversing, and an intellectual partner to facilitate reflection (Jonassen et al., 2003). Each of these components is present in the
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Technology SUPPORTS the learning.
  • The networked student constructs a personal learning environment one node at a time. Once these connections are formed, they must be revisited and built upon to facilitate further learning. The personal learning environment lives beyond time spent in a classroom, especially if the learner chooses to activate it. Yet even in the situation where one learner abandons the personal learning environment, if created as an open resource, it becomes a strong node from which others can learn.
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      A nice example of how constructivism works in students construction of knowledge both inside and outside the confines of the classroom.
  • The teacher is necessary to help the students navigate the breadth of content, apply the tools properly, and offer support in the form of digital literacy skills and subject matter expertise.
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      To achieve depth of understanding, students still require teacher assistance and guidance. 
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I guess this links in nicely with assignment 1 and our posts on how NGL can inform our roles as teachers.
  • Teacher beliefs about the value of technology as a teaching tool may determine effective integration more than traditional forms of professional development (Mueller et al., 2008).
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Teacher beliefs about the value of technology = successful integration.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I agree.  The teacher plays such an important role in all of this.
  • Table 1: Patterns for networked learning (Goodyear, 2005, p. 1
  • The personal learning environment can take the place of a traditional textbook
    • Anne Trethewey
      Anne Trethewey on 24 Aug 14
       
      Interesting concept given Brendon's current textbook debate!
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I like the idea of empowering networked students and by enabling them to transcend the traditional concept of the classroom by user friendly web applications.  What about the implications for the work environment?  As David talked about earlier in once of his posts about his experience and finding, I think it was, USQs tools not as useful as the ones outside of work.  How do we empower ourselves in a limited environment?
  • Traditional, lecture-based classrooms are designed as passive learning environments in which the teacher conveys knowledge and the student responds (Chen, 2009).
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I liked this line - for me it really sums up my work environment at present. It's a passive, top down culture where you are lucky if you are the recipient of knowledge rather than a partaker in the journey.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I think that using Diigo for me is a great example of were learning moves beyond the passive to an integrated environment.  
  • "He or she supports the students in their search and supply of relevant material, coordinates the students' presentations of individual milestones of their projects, moderates discussions, consults in all kinds of problem-solving and seeking for solutions, lectures on topics that are selected in plenary discussions with the students and conforms to the curriculum" (Motschnig-Pitrik & Holzinger, 2002, p. 166).
  • scaffold the learning process
  • Examples of emerging web applications for each of these categories are highlighted. The Networked Student Model establishes a baseline that begins to address what level of structure is needed to facilitate networked learning while providing a foundation for greater student control over the personal learning environment.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      scaffold the learning process... what level of structure is needed to facilitate networked learning while providing a foundation of learner control. For me this is the reality at the moment with NGL. What structure do I need to support my knowledge development? It's about my PKM as well and already that has changed since my initial blog.
  • Networked learning, constructivism, and principles of connectivism inform the instructional design and provide a foundation on which future studies can explore the impact of networked learning on K-12 students and teachers.
  • It is the combination of these connections, especially in concert with human to human contact, that provide the most powerful learning potential (Goodyear, 2005).
  • The significant connections in Couros' view of the network include colleagues, popular media, print and digital resources, the local community, blogs, wikis, video conferencing, chat/IRC, social networking services, online communities, social bookmarking, digital photo sharing, and content development communities (Couros, 2008).
  • The networked student follows a constructivist approach to learning.
  • The Networked Student Model of constructing personal learning environments is reflected in many connectivist principles.
  • Conversely, in the networked learning environment, blogging is a key component of the personal learning environment through which students respond to and collect the opinions of others. Students identify blogs that target a specific unit of study, and they have the option to respond with opinions of their own. They are taught to discern between fact and opinion and appreciate the value of both.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I think the key here is being able to discern between fact and opinion.  How is this taught to kids today?  I am not a teacher, on the ground with students so any thoughts on this would be great. 
  • The networked student constructs knowledge that can be built upon in other contexts. That knowledge resides within the network to be activated by the learner at any time in the future. There is always the capacity to add nodes to the network (Siemens, 2009).
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      I think this links in nicely with Communities of Practice the construction of knowledge.  The knowledge is held within the community and it is by participation that one moves towards mastery (Wenger, 1988).
  • Ultimately, meaningful learning occurs with knowledge construction, not reproduction; conversation, not reception; articulation, not repetition; collaboration, not competition; and reflection, not prescription (Jonassen et al., 2003).
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      So meaningful learning comes through knowledge construction.  Not cutting and pasting.  It's about getting out there and into the real world and feeling the experience.
  • Learning potential exists in what the student does with the compilation of content and how it is synthesised.
  • exploring problems, asking questions, making discoveries, achieving new understanding and fulfilling personal curiosity" (National Science Foundation, as quoted by Chang & Wang, 2009, p. 169)
  • The networked student test case follows a single iteration, design based research process (Ma & Harmon, 2009) for analysing a problem, developing a solution, testing a prototype, and reflecting on the results.
  • The students had never participated in networked learning, so a significant amount of time was allotted at the beginning of the project to address digital literacy as well as task and organisational skills that would be required in the online environment.
  • The process and tools are overwhelming to students if presented all at once.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      Here here!
  • Achieving the delicate balance between teacher control and student autonomy is an ongoing challenge when facilitating student use of new technologies for self-regulated learning
  • While the Networked Student Model affords the learner more control and responsibility, the teacher must continually balance this freedom with enough structure to keep students on task and engaged in the learning process.
  • Adopting a networked learning approach would require considerable teacher professional development and a philosophy different from that of most current educators. The implications of the latter on the potential of networked learning are far reaching. They extend to school policy, hiring practice, and pre-service teacher education.
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 27 Aug 14
       
      Makes you think about the future of NGL and implications.
  • cognitive apprenticeship model
  • The Networked Student Model is a work in progress. As web technologies evolve and personal learning management becomes easier, students will gain even greater access to knowledge and more learning control. The construction of personal learning environments has potential; however, extensive research is needed to document best practices, explore the changing role of teacher and student, apply evolving innovations, refine instructional design, and consider pedagogical implications. Social networking and sharing of personal learning environments between students holds further promise as more students participate in networked learning and post their results in an open forum.
  • djplaner on 28 Aug 14
     
    Journal paper from author also involved in the "networked student" video that appears in this list. "Principles of networked learning, constructivism, and connectivism inform the design of a test case through which secondary students construct personal learning environments for the purpose of independent inquiry. Emerging web applications and open educational resources are integrated to support a Networked Student Model that promotes inquiry-based learning and digital literacy, empowers the learner, and offers flexibility as new technologies emerge. The Networked Student Model and a test case are described in detail along with implications and considerations for additional research. The article is meant to facilitate further discussion about K-12 student construction of personal learning environments and offer the practitioner a foundation on which to facilitate a networked learning experience. It seeks to determine how a teacher can scaffold a networked learning approach while providing a foundation on which students take more control of the learning process. "
ozangel4

The Pomodoro Technique® - Time Management Skills From MindTools.com - 1 views

www.mindtools.com/...pomodoro-technique.htm

shared by ozangel4 on 10 Aug 15 - No Cached
Charmian LORD liked it
    • ozangel4
      ozangel4 on 10 Aug 15
       
      A very interesting technique picked up in my MOOC -Learning how to learn. Hopefully it may help us to learn and to understand as we teach our participants
djplaner

Emergent learning and learning ecologies in Web 2.0 | Williams | The International Revi... - 0 views

www.irrodl.org/...1686

ltngl learning

shared by djplaner on 23 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • The paper argues that although social networking media increase the potential range and scope for emergent learning exponentially, considerable effort is required to ensure an effective balance between openness and constraint.
  • “the main challenge lies in the real transition to a less tutor-led approach to learning...content will not be delivered to learners but co-constructed with them
  • However, their practice is still substantially shaped by traditional teaching modes, prescriptive learning outcomes, normative expectations, and conventional hierarchies
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Both these examples illustrate how students are taking control of their learning with the result that many currently perceived novices are actually becoming silent experts in how, where, and by whom they want to be educated (Alexander, 2003; Schmidt et al., 2009, on the emergence of peer-to-peer interaction)
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 23 Aug 14
       
      I'm personally not sure how widespread this practice is? There is a significant rise in student created Facebook groups around courses.
  • djplaner on 23 Aug 14
     
    A reading I might set for week 6 - but perhaps only for a skim. Might be worth a skim anyway. But you do need to make your own call on this.
djplaner

A hard drive of ones own « Lisa's (Online) Teaching & History Blog - 0 views

lisahistory.net/...a-hard-drive-of-ones-own

walledgardens lms

shared by djplaner on 10 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • djplaner on 10 Sep 14
     
    A response to the "Beyond the LMS" post from someone who's more of a practitioner and has had experience of both open and walled gardens
Anne Trethewey

9/15-9/28 Unit 1: Why We Need a Why | Connected Courses - 1 views

connectedcourses.net/...why-we-need-a-why

shared by Anne Trethewey on 09 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • the “whats” to be learned
  • We usually start by addressing the “What” question first
  • If we have time, we address the “How” question by considering how we can best teach the material
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • we rush into the semester, rarely asking, “Why?”
  • Starting with “Why” changes everything.
  • As Neil Postman has noted, you can try to engineer the learning of what-bits (The End of Higher Education, Postman), but “to become a different person because of something you have learned — to appropriate an insight, a concept, a vision, so that your world is altered — is a different matter. For that to happen, you need a reason.”
  • So what is the real “why” of your course? Why should students take it? How will they be changed by it? What is your discipline’s real “why”? Why does it matter that students take __________ courses or become _________ists? How can digital and networked technologies effectively support the real why of your course?
  • djplaner on 09 Sep 14
     
    Intro page to week one of Connected Courses. The connection here to what we're doing in NGL is the text from Mike Wesch - "Why we need a why" It connects with course design - not a big leap from there to what you're doing "as teacher" in NGL - and talks about the importance of why
Anne Trethewey

Social Media and the 'Spiral of Silence' | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Li... - 2 views

www.pewinternet.org/...edia-and-the-spiral-of-silence

shared by Anne Trethewey on 04 Sep 14 - No Cached
laurac75 liked it
  • A major insight into human behavior from pre-internet era studies of communication is the tendency of people not to speak up about policy issues in public—or among their family, friends, and work colleagues—when they believe their own point of view is not widely shared. This tendency is called the “spiral of silence.
  • Not only were social media sites not an alternative forum for discussion, social media users were less willing to share their opinions in face-to-face settings.
  • The traditional view of the spiral of silence is that people choose not to speak out for fear of isolation
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • People also say they would speak up, or stay silent, under specific conditions.
  • Their confidence in how much they know.
  • The intensity of their opinions.
  • Their level of interest.
  • djplaner on 04 Sep 14
     
    Social media (network learning) doesn't always change everything. Again perhaps the fear of being "wrong" in public is factor? Being different is hard
  • laurac75 on 06 Sep 14
     
    I found this article really interesting - particularly the hierarchy of relationships in which people were comfortable sharing their views - family, then friends, then colleagues and then facebook or twitter. To me, this suggests that discussions are most likely to occur in situations where people are confident of being accepted regardless of their views on an individual topic. This has interesting implications for teaching - and links in with some of the literature on creating "safe" learning environments. However, I wonder whether we need more of an emphasis on building/strengthening relationships between students - and what implications this has for group sizes, and how we manage learners.
paul_size

May « 2014 « Too Big to Know - 0 views

www.toobigtoknow.com/05

shared by paul_size on 07 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • And one thing I’ve learned is that everything is interesting if looked at at the appropriate level of detail. Now, it used to be that you’d have to seek out places to plunge in over your head. But now, in the age of the Internets, all we have to do is stand still and the flood waters rise over our heads. We usually call this “information overload,” and we’re told to fear it. But I think that’s based on an old idea we need to get rid of. Here’s what I mean. So, you know Flickr, the photo sharing site? If you go there and search for photos tagged “vista,” you’ll get two million photos, more vistas than you could look at if you made it your full time job. If you go to Google and search for apple pie recipes, you’ll get over 1.3 million of them. Want to try them all out to find the best one. Not gonna happen. If you go to Google Images and search for “cute cats,” you’ll get over seven million photos of the most adorable kittens ever, as well as some ads and porn, of course, because Internet. So that’s two million vista photos. 1.3 million apple pie recipes. 7.6 million cute cat photos. We’re constantly warned about information overload, yet we never hear one word single word about the dangers of Vista Overload, Apple Pie Overload, or Cute Kitten overload. How have the media missed these overloads! It’s a scandal!
    • paul_size
      paul_size on 07 Sep 14
       
      How's this for information overload.
  • For example, in the old days if you watched the daily half hour broadcast news or spent twenty minutes with a newspaper, you had done your civic duty: you had kept up with The News. Now we can see before our eyes what an illusion that sense of mastery was. There’s too much happening on our diverse and too-interesting planet to master it, and we can see it all happening within our browsers
  • t Wikipedia, the articles are often relatively short, but they typically have dozens or even hundreds of links. So rather than trying to get everything about, say, Shakespeare into a couple of thousand words, Wikipedia lets you click on links to other articles about what it mention — to Stratford-on-Avon, or iambic pentameter, or about the history of women in the theater.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • And it’s not just the quantity of information that makes true mastery impossible in the Age of the I
  • And just one more thing about these messy webs. They’re full of disagreement, contradiction, argument, differences in perspective. Just a few minutes on the Web reveals a fundamental truth: We don’t agree about anything. And we never will. My proof of that broad statement is all of human history. How do you master a field, even if you could define its edges, when the field doesn’t agree with itself?
    • traceymcgrath
      traceymcgrath on 08 Sep 14
       
      Maybe this means we need to be teaching totally different things - critical thinking, flexibility, the ability to evaluate and tolerate different ideas and influencing skills.
thaleia66

Learning by Design: TPACK in Action - EdITLib Digital Library - 0 views

www.editlib.org/37022

shared by thaleia66 on 03 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • To help teachers develop TPACK, Learning by Design (LBD) is one promising instructional model for creating such a learning environment, addressing the situated nature and complex interplay of technology, pedagogy and content.
  • thaleia66 on 03 Nov 15
     
    "One criticism of skill-focused technology training, a common practice in teacher preparation, is that these experiences develop teachers' technological knowledge and skills, but fail to challenge their underlying beliefs about teaching and learning, which are more fundamental barriers to technology integration (Ertmer 1999). This criticism stems from the argument that technology knowledge and skills alone are insufficient for teachers to utilize technology and initiate educational change."
djplaner

The reusability paradox - WTF? | Damo's World - 4 views

damos.world/...the-reusability-paradox-wtf

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shared by djplaner on 17 Aug 16 - No Cached
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  • Learners construct new knowledge, upon their own existing knowledge.  This is very individualised, and based on each learner’s past experiences, and ways of thinking.
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      From a NGL perspective, I'd say that what people know is a network of connections - both internally in their brain and with the tools and artifacts they use. To learn is to make a new connection with that existing network. It's easier to make that connection when what you are learning is closer to where you are. The more it has in common with you.
  • Learning designers have some tricks to help deal with such diversity, such as researching your cohort, conducting a needs analysis, and ultimately categorising learners and focusing on the majority.
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      A major flaw in this approach is that it assumes that people fall into these categories. You are this type of person, you have this learning style which ignores the true variety of people. By spending a lot of time categorising you feel like you're trying to understand complexity, but never do. The book "The End of Average" touches on some of the problems with this. This type of approach doesn't work if you see the world as "complex, dynamic, and consists of interdependent assemblages of diverse actors (human and not) connected via complex networks"
  • three approaches
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      Damien misses two additional possibilities here - Personalised learning - the use of Artifical Intelligence so that the unit of study is smart enough to respond to the individual student. But the problem with this approach is that it can generally only do this within a pre-defined body of knowledge. It doesn't work well with motivation and other forms of context - Personal learning - you put the agency back into the learner and allow them to be in charge of their progress through. The issue with this is that it assumes that the learner has the skill, knowlege and motivation to do this. It is also not a model that fits well with standard educational institutions. This links to the dual-layer pathways design aproach - http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2016/06/14/evolution-of-the-dual-layercustomizable-pathways-design/ And perhaps choral explanations and federation.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • meaningful for everyone
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      Or another option, help each learner make it individual to them.
  • These technologies become so complicated to use, that people simply don’t use them.
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      While I agree with this trend, I wonder whether there is anything that can be done about it. e.g. I think part of the problem here is the opaque nature of digital technology - https://davidtjones.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/the-nature-of-digital-technology-part-2/ Perhaps the problem with the workshop activity is that it's model is not readily apparent to the people who use it. The abstraction that has been made isn't communicated to the people using it, so they have to go through trial and error and generally fail. -- The Ben-Ari and Yeshno (2006) quote on the above link is good for this.
  • “the system does this, but I want to do that.”
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      I really like Kay & Goldberg's (1977) - that's right 1977 - 40 years - quote any attempt to specifically anticipate their needs in the design of the Dynabook would end in a disastrous feature-laden hodgepodge which would not be really suitable for anyone Reference on this page https://davidtjones.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/what-if-our-digital-technologies-were-protean-implications-for-computational-thinking-learning-and-teaching/
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      Perhaps that quote explains what students see when they see a course that relies on material that's been shared amongst various different STEM contexts When you can't connect something directly into your understanding and context, it becomes a feature-laden hodge podge that you just can't figure out how to connect to your practice and understanding.
  • What if a technology is so specific, it’s designed for just one person – yourself?
    • djplaner
      djplaner on 17 Aug 16
       
      Which comes back to the option of providing the individual with the agency to make the learning personal to them. Giving them the agency to make connections into their networks. Of course, this approach isn't just some pancea. It has it's own challenges (especially when trying to concieve of it within existing mindsets/institutions) and also it's own weaknesses. The question is how to overcome those weaknesses and challenges in meaningful ways that addresses the resuability paradox.
  • djplaner on 17 Aug 16
     
    Damien is a ed developer at CQU. In this post he struggles with some of the common problems faced by that type of position and tries to understand them in the context of the reusability paradox. Some of this is inspired by my own thinking, hence it resonates with me. It also resonates with me because I see the possibility of a network perspective offering a useful way to look at these problems. I'm hoping to illustrate some of this via annotations. Whether this will be useful to you is another matter entirely. A lot of this is thinking out loud by both Damien and myself.
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