Social Software and more…

Since I recently decided that I would like to refresh my knowlodge on educational psychology, this recommendation on Gabi Reimann’s E-Denkarium came at the right moment.

On the website of David Wong: a number of articles on educational psychology can be found with some links to pdf-versions. Wondering how he cleared the copyright? Oh well… aren’t we all in favor of open access nowadays?

After my conference in England, I went straight to a project meeting of our European Union Project L2C where we are developing simulations to enhance collaborative skills by learning collaboratively. We’re in the middle of designing the prototypes and our website is online now as well. So if you’re interested check it out.

Today, I read an article in Vision - Looking at the future of learning (issue 03_2006) which is a magazine issued by futurelab, a UK institution dealing with the future of education. Most of the articles seem to be online but I cannot find this particular article.

The article describes how people are now constantly connected through communication and online access. With speckled and mote computing and sensors in our environment this might even become more so.

Thus, people are connected "to a powerful and flexible information infrastructure" which is changing the nature of knowledge and also how to aquire it because we are now facing an almost ubiquitous access to information which has changed and will change the way we learn and work, so that

• information literacy (esp. with regarding to its processing) will become more important
• our learning will become more flexible due to the delivery of learning opportunities in a more seamless way
• computers will disappear from our gaze and be hidden in other devices
• there will be connections aong people in different locations
• new learning methods will be created that better suit the so-called digital natives (with different behavior patterns and necessities)
• the way people learn in developing countries

 But above all, what’s necessary is a cultural change in teaching and curriculum developement. However, there are also critical views that technology will not change anything. The belief that computers could be essential one day is called "a cowardly cheat by technocrats counting on technical innovation to shield themselves from hard questions about what schools should be" (Michael Schrange of the MIT was cited in the article, p. 3).

Lastly, he article suggests that educationalists will have to worry less about technology.

Isn’t that what social software is already about? That this is easy to use for everyone facilitating being connected, communicating, interacting and collaborating.

Lately, Norm Friesen tried to elicit a number of E-Learning Myths on his blog Ipseity. Norm is involved in the Canadian project Learning Spaces which aims at a "Phenomenological Comparison of Simulated and Mediated Computer Worlds" as it says on their website. His first two posts on E-Learning Myths were about the net generation and about the connection between technology and educational change. His last piece has just been published and deals with the knowledge economy and the myth of the knowledge worker and how this could change society. It is very well written and I’m glad that Friesen brings up the digital divide again which might even widen due to technology. I don’t quite agree with his position on Scardamalia and Bereiter’s Knowledge Building because I think that their theory might actually help to close the digital divide.

"Assuming that educators are to play a progressive role, their task would be best captured in terms of a game of catch-up in the knowledge age, but in an expression like "stepping into the breach" –to address the widening discrepancy or gap between the "knowledge class" and other classes. This can be done by providing skills and abilities apposite to knowledge work in those cases where it is possible, but not capitulate to and certainly not celebrate an order which has no place for others."

Source (and direct link to the complete article)

– English version below –

Über Andreas Auwärters Blog Podcasting for Learning habe ich von einem neuen Schweizer Blog zum Thema eLearning und Wissensmanagement erfahren, der im Rahmen des gleichnamigen Master-Studiengangs von der NDK eLearning 2006/2007 (diese scheint sich mit der Integration von Blogs und Wikis in den Unterricht zu beschäftigen - sehr spannend) als Gemeinschaftsblog entsteht. Deswegen bloggen dort auch eine ganze Reihe von Teilnehmenden des Studiengangs und kann mich diesem Kommentar von Andreas Auwärter

"Ich wünsche zuerst einmal den Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer an dieser Community viel Spaß an der Arbeit, auch wenn sie mir als fast abgeschlossen erscheint. Was der Blogforschenden und Podcastforschenden und Web2.0 forschenden Blogsphäre, Podcastsphäre dienlich wäre, wäre, wenn Ihr uns erhalten bliebet. Vielleicht innerhalb dieses Blogs, damit es weiterleben würde, oder vielleicht auf einem Eigenen … Wie sind hier die Pläne? Schreibt doch einmal, wie Ihr die Gestaltung des Seminares vorgenommen habt etc."

Auch ich wäre sehr neugierig darauf, wie der Blog im Rahmen dieses Studiengangs eingebunden ist und welche Erfahrungen die Teilnehmenden damit machen - erste Reflexionsansätze sind dort schon zu finden, zum Beispiel in diesem Blogpost, und es bleibt zu hoffen, dass wir die Entwicklung weiterhin live mitverfolgen können.

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Oops, I just realized that I wrote this post in German - I guess this can happen when you’re reading in other German blogs. Anyway, here’s a short English version:

Via Andreas Auwärter’s Blog Podcasting for Learning I heard about another Swiss Community Blog which deals with eLearning and Knowledge Management and is developed during a study programme on the same topic. It seems that the blogging takes place during a course on how to use blogs and wikis in the classroom and along with Andreas Auwärter, I would hope that this group of people continues blogging after their course has ended. By the way, the blog is written in German.

The University of Zurich offers a number of lectures on Educational Engineering this winter term. They take place every Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. More information about the lectures can be found here and the program is available as pdf-file.

I missed the first couple of lectures but fortunately, there are blogging colleagues writing about the event. Here’s what Mandy Schiefner wrote about Peter Baumgartner’s lecture (only in German; English summary below):

“Einen interessanten Punkt fand ich die Autonomie, die nach Baumgartner den Lernenden zugsprochen werden sollte. Die Lernenden sollten nach und nach in die Autonomie entlassen werden.
Zum Beispiel dahingehend, dass Studierende die eigenen Lernumgebung mit aufbauen. Der Dozierende gibt ein grobes Gerüst vor, und Studierende können den Teil integrieren, der ihnen wichtig erscheint. Dazu müssen sie dann meines Erachtens nach auch in einem ersten Schritt wissen, was sie mit der jeweiligen Funktion anstellen wollen: brauchen Sie zusätzliche Diskussionformen, können sie ein Forum integrieren, wollen sie zusammen an einem Lernstoff arbeiten, können sie ein Wiki integrieren. Diese Begründungen müssten sie vorher darlegen. Zu überprüfen wäre dann die Hypothese, dass Studierende diese Formen auch mehr und effektiver nutzen als in einer „vorgegebenen“ Lernumgebung.

Wichtige Erkenntnis von Baumgartner: Neben dem Content sind beim E-Learning immer mehr auch Kommunikations- und Interaktionsstrukturen wichtig und müssen gelernt werden.”

Baumgartner obviously pointed out that the students’ autonomy is crucial and that you should actually be able to participate in developing their own learning environment. This reminds me of the concept of the personal learning environment (PLE) which I mentioned in an earlier post this week. And in fact, the concept of autonomy for learners was already part of Gilly Salmon’s Five-Step-Model of Moderation where the moderator was supposed to take him- or herself back in the more advanced steps of knowledge construction and development.

And, Baumgartner’s other “important insight” (word-by-word translation from German) is that communication and interaction are becoming more important than content in e-learning. This is another point which, in my opinion, has been around for quite a while as well. For example, Baumgartner himself already did a whole presentation on this 1.5 years ago in Brussels. It is, of course, a good point to make anyway.

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