EDUCAUSE | pedagogy

3D Visualization of Learning Theory Space

HiredEd — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:02:00 -0500

As part of a discussion on learning theories at the University of Waterloo, I prepared an analysis of all of the learning theories from the venerable Theory Into Practice (TIP) Database of learning theories online. I defined a three dimensional space, and situated various learning theories in that space. The dimensions of the space are contextual distance, conceptual distance and transactional distance (Moore).

Contextual distance refers to how remote the learning is from the lived experience of students. Action learning would have low contextual distance, pure math would have high contextual distance.

Conceptual distance refers to how new or how remote the learning point is from what the learners already know. The concept of scaffolding involves the provision of intermediary structures of learning in order to close conceptual distance between the learner's knowledge base and the target knowledge.

Transactional distance is a distance learning concept devised by Michael G. Moore. I drew three axes from low to high distance for each of these kinds of distance, and plotted where different learning theories fall within that cubic space. It's a good piece of work without a current home, so I am uploading it here for anyone who is interested in it.

Tune In October 2: Web 2.0 for the 21st-Century Learner

pkurkowski — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:59:23 -0500

Are Web 2.0 technologies growing in popularity among your students and faculty members? Are you wondering how to integrate them into teaching and learning in a meaningful way, while supporting them across your institution?

In this free October 2 EDUCAUSE Live! Web Seminar, Web 2.0 for the 21st-Century Learner, presenters Veronica Diaz, PhD, and Rochelle (Shelley) Rodrigo will explore four critical issues about incorporating Web 2.0 into higher education: Web 2.0 and the 21st-century learner, pedagogy and support tools, faculty development possibilities, and institutional support.

Those unable to attend may wish to visit the archives after the event or browse related EDUCAUSE resources on IT Integration, Net Generation Faculty, Net Generation Learner, and Web 2.0.

E07 Podcast: Effective Pedagogical Strategies for Social Bookmarking

gbayne — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:45:04 -0500

This forty-five minute podcast features a session from the EDUCAUSE 2007 Annual Conference entitled,
"From Information Literacy to Scholarly Identity: Effective Pedagogical Strategies for Social
Bookmarking." PowerPoint slides from this presentation are also available.

Collaborative research teaches students critical knowledge management skills, whether they are undergraduates learning the basics of Web research or advanced scholars defining their own knowledge domains. Faculty need practical examples and strategies to initiate social bookmarking activities. Case studies demonstrate how this has been accomplished in undergraduate and graduate courses.

This session is presented by:

Deborah Everhart, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Georgetown Univ., & Principal Architect, Blackboard, Georgetown University
Eric J. Kunnen, Coordinator of Instructional Technologies, Grand Rapids Community College
Kaye Shelton, Dean of Online Education; Asst Prof, Adult Education, Dallas Baptist University
Session convener: Doug Williams, Associate VP of Information Technology, Dallas Baptist University

ELI In Conversation: Web 2.0 Learning Tools- What are they? What is their role in higher education?

gbayne — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:12:04 -0600

In this podcast we feature a conversation with Barbara Sawhill, Director of the Cooper International Learning Center at Oberlin College, and Jude Higdon, Instructional Technology Support Team Coordinator at the University of Minnesota. This discussion was recorded at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Some technology experts question whether we can use the term "Web 2.0" in a meaningful way since many of the components have existed since the early days of the web. There are many definitions floating around for the term. What is meant by "Web 2.0", specifically from a pedagogical standpoint? And how can these tools be used to enhance learning?

Barbara Sawhill co-presented the session "Who's Afraid of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and the Big Bad CMS? A Digi-Drama About Fear 2.0"at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting.

Jude Higdon co-presented the session "Comparative Political Media 2.0: Blogs, Wikis, Podcasting, YouTube, and More" at the ELI 2008 Annual Meeting.

Show notes:

There are a few books and articles referenced in this conversation:

"Death to the Syllabus!", from Liberal Education, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities
"Teaching For Understanding", a project by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero.
"Teaching One Moment At A Time: Disruption And Repair In The Classroom", by Dawn Skorczewski

ELI Annual Video: Connectivism

gbayne — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:33:13 -0600

Video and slides for this presentation can be found here. The speech is by George Siemens, Associate Director of the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. This plenary session is entitled, "Connectivism".

The waves of technological and social change have eroded the effectiveness of traditional views regarding what, how, and why to educate. To effectively educate learners, fundamental assertions need to be rethought: the design of schools and curriculum, the nature of knowledge in a connected world, the relationship between educator and learner, the means and methods of authenticating information and knowledge, and, perhaps most significantly, what it means “to know” in complex, rapidly developing, and chaotic environments. This session will present connectivism as a theory of learning that can bridge the rift between traditional and new educational approaches to prepare learners for the tomorrow they will inherit.

ELI Podcast: Connectivism

gbayne — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:39:13 -0600

In this 58 minute podcast, we feature a session by George Siemens, Associate Director for the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba, entitled, "Connectivism". This speech was recorded at the ELI 2008 Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Improving Distributed Education Through Research: Three Studies of E-Pedagogy

drupal — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:04:17 -0600

The demand for quality, effective online teaching environments is growing. Using three research studies (on social presence in distance learning, threaded discussion, and student technology usage), Academic Outreach proposed synchronous and asynchronous educational strategies to faculty and students in distributed/blended learning environments. Don't miss this opportunity to hear our results.

EDUCAUSE2006 Podcast: Putting Pedagogy First

Carie417 — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 13:33:19 -0500

In this 50-minute recording from the 2006 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, we'll hear from Edward Chapel and Richard Wolfson in a session entitled Putting the Pedagogy First: The Classroom 2008 Project. They explain the project, which explores how technology can be infused into the pedagogical practices of faculty as opposed to having faculty adapt to new technologies as they appear in teaching spaces.

SL/RL meetup at Spring ELI conference

joeclark — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:37:48 -0500

A number of SL users will be attending the Spring ELI focus session on Virtual Learning Environments, and there will probably be back-channel interactions going on in SL during the conf. Nick Noakes has created a wikipage where you can connect with other SLers who will be there in one avatar or another.

Rethinking Educational Dynamics in the Digital Age: Engaging with Todd Richmond

catherine — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:34:51 -0600

Via Axel Bruns, via Howard Rheingold, comes this post from DIY Media Weblog, which reports on a recent attempt by Todd Richmond to model the changing roles of producer-consumer and teacher-student in the digital economy.

Richmond is Adjunct Professor in the Interactive Media Division of the USC School of Cinema-Television, and a Fellow at USC's Annenberg Center and its Center for Creative Technologies. The DIY Media post highlighted a recent presentation of his on October 19, at an Annenberg seminar.

Richmond's presentation highlighted the phenomenon of convergence, and its implications for the future of education, comparing "the future technology-triggered transformation of educational institutions" to "the 'perfect storm' that hit the music industry when several different factors intersected to disrupt the existing institutions for making, distributing, and monetizing music". It's a familiar argument -- and, to a degree, a self-interested one. After all, we're all in the business these days of promoting our own "disruptiveness".

Ah well, he evidently hit a nerve with one reader:

You have done a fabulous job of describing the inevitable. After the storm, out of choas a new order can be expected, where the cognitive structure of knowledge itself determines the patterns of learning resources. Just like the best Mentos video, the best osmosis tutorial will go viral.

Perhaps Merlot and Jorum are already opening the champagne...? If only! I've argued consistently in this blog that the very idea of learning objects is virtually worthless, without a conception of the meaning and value of educational context. Context is all in teaching and learning, context precisely defines what is understood and valued as "knowledge" by educational participants (or to use an uglier term, the "stakeholders"). It is always going to be easier to transfer learning designs than learning objects (however "granular") within and across different educational contexts. The idea of the "killer osmosis tutorial" is a phantom, although recent UK work on threshold concepts in education holds promise.

I was more interested in the pictorial models Richmond produced to convey his sense of the changing roles of educator and student. Yet, to me, these too seemed lacking in certain key respects. Prima facie, I dispute the pedagogical analogy that his proferred models appear to draw between educator/producer, and student/consumer. Students are "knowledge producers", too -- and were such long before the digital revolution. The educational dynamic in the Western tradition has never been a simplistic process of one-way transmission (what of Socratic dialogue?). And what of the context (social, geographical, cultural, economic) in which the interaction takes place?

I don't subscribe to a purely utopian vision of disruptive technologies, that is, Richmond's "perfect storm." Arguably, it is the digital age itself, with its associated "knowledge management systems", "digital repositories", "virtual learning environments" et. al. that commodifes and objectifies knowledge like never before, and which continually creates new skills barriers and monetary barriers to educational participation.

To me at least, the notion of interacting phenomena implies complexity. It implies unexpected consequences arising from a set of interacting variables, unfolding over time. Time is a crucial element for the development of an educational dynamic -- a dynamic that is not static, but which necessarily contains the potential for flux and change. A dynamic that contains the potential for development -- the teacher's development, as well as the learners'. I'd have liked to see this aspect acknowledged and developed.

An approach more deeply informed by educational theory and the dynamics of knowledge construction in organisations, such as Activity Theory, would have the capability to deliver far more powerful descriptive and predictive educational models for the digital age.