Learning about LMS - Initial Steps

Step One

• prior knowledge it was hot
• looked at horizon to informed judgement for directions
• who is pushing this one in org?
• 'sniffing the wind'

Step 2

• glanced at the easy guides - in the nut shell in particular - new features - words about non technical - familiar and the novel
• tried for download to experiment - blocked by firewalls
• at same time approached by Orga innovator in web that he had found it.... link up to company. he put our names forward
• next thing - networking skills - access to trial copy using their server for indefinite period of time.
• David - personalised service to ensure access from home without problems

Step 3

• did tutorial demo - dont usually do this stuff- excellent - aussie voice, quick, useful
• scanned around and skim read - like a new text to get the gist of the LMS - broad sweeping overview
• Talked to David - background information on development and countries using it.... future.
• Playing and exploration - series of sessions ' popped in' and rapid fire looking around.
• looking at visual impact and ease of usage.

Step 4 - organisational readiness

• Anand supporting but very political activity
• David supporting and trying to suss out organisation
• Boss supporting but not knowing
• More reading of informational leaflets
• Building knowledge and linking into wider organisational constraints and limitations and advantages.

Social Constructivism

Social construction of technology
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Social construction of technology (also referred to as SCOT) is a theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies (or Technology and society). Advocates of SCOT -- that is, social constructivists -- argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology. They also argue that the ways in which a technology is used cannot be understood without understanding how that technology is embedded in its social context. SCOT is a response to technological determinism and is sometimes known as technological constructivism.
SCOT draws on work done in the constructivist school of the sociology of scientific knowledge, and its subtopics include actor-network theory (a branch of the sociology of science and technology) and historical analysis of sociotechnical systems Thomas P. Hughes. Leading adherents of SCOT include Wiebe Bijker and Trevor Pinch.
SCOT holds that those who seek to understand the reasons for acceptance or rejection of a technology should look to the social world. It is not enough, according to SCOT, to explain a technology's success by saying that it is "the best" -- researchers must look at how the criteria of being "the best" is defined and what groups and stakeholders participate in defining it. In particular, they must ask who defines the technical criteria by which success is measured, why technical criteria are defined in this way, and who is included or excluded.
SCOT is not only a theory, but also a methodology: it formalizes the steps and principles to follow when one wants to analyze the causes of technological failures or successes.

Determinism and Social Constructivism

Technological determinism
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Technological determinism is a reductionist doctrine that a society's technology determines its cultural values, social structure, or history. This is not to be confused with the inevitability thesis (Chandler), which states that once a technology is introduced into a culture that what follows is the inevitable development of that technology.
Technological determinism has been summarized as 'The belief in technology as a key governing force in society ...' (Merritt Roe Smith), '... the belief that social progress is driven by technological innovation, which in turn follows an "inevitable" course.' (Michael L. Smith), 'The idea that technological development determines social change ...' (Bruce Bimber), '... the belief that technical forces determine social and cultural changes.' (Thomas P. Hughes); '... a three-word logical proposition: "Technology determines history"' (Rosalind Williams)
The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), an American sociologist.
Most interpretations of technological determinism share two general ideas:
that the development of technology itself follows a predictable, traceable path largely beyond cultural or political influence, and
that technology in turn has "effects" on societies that are inherent, rather than socially conditioned or that the society organizes itself in such a way to support and further develop a technology once it has been introduced.
Technological determinism stands in opposition to the theory of the social construction of technology, which holds that both the path of innovation and the consequences of technology for humans are strongly if not entirely shaped by society itself, through the influence of culture, politics, economic arrangements, and the like.
Technological determinism has been largely discredited within academia, especially by science and technology studies.[citation needed] However, it remains the dominant view within most news media and popular culture.[citation needed]
Pessimism towards techno-science arose after the mid 20th century for various reasons including the use of nuclear energy towards nuclear weapons, Nazi human experimentation during World War Two, and lack of economic development in the third world (also known as the global south). As a direct consequence, desire for greater control of the course of development of technology gave rise to disenchantment with the model of technological

Mini Reflection - Whats Delicious Got To Do With Toronto?

At the time when I was a new visitor to Toronto I was also learning about delicious and I was struck by the similiarities of the learning experience in which I was engaged. In both situations I used a personalised,creative and multisensory approach to making meaning from these new experiences. Not for me the Delicious tutorial or planned walking tours of the best sites as a highly motivated learner facing really meaningful tasks I was fast out of the blocks.

I was quick to size up the city and delicious, looking for the familiar, making connections with other tools or places, seeking the novelties and differences, and scanning around to get a firm orientation. Next phase was looking at the small contained chunks of information of delicious, pushing the buttons, skimming the information to get the guist of it, at the same time jumping ahead mentally and making judgements as to the usefulness of this tool. I paused longest at the HELP section before deciding to join up.

My learning seemed to be moving through an action cycle in which I was both implicitly and explicitly planning , taking action to unpack the site and learn essential skills, reflecting on my journey to that point, evaluating the efficiency of the tool and then returning to another moment of planning as I reached deeper within the tools capabilities.

Delicious is a great tool to share with our adult literacy learners and I would begin with posing a question ' Any ideas how we can keep track of those great sites you keep finding?' Mindmapping is a useful approach for capturing the multiple responses and follow this up with knowledge building strategies to develop a conceptual map of delicious. Using delicious as a collaborative knowledge management tool engage and delight learners who are always looking for time saving methods.

Where I am learning a new technology or being a first time international visitor the learning experience is personal, creative, and enjoyable.

Mini Reflection

Picking up the guide book - 12 things to see in your visit, to explore Toronto I pondered how like learning a new technology was being in a new city.... Very personalised, creative and multisensory process in which guide book, rather like structured training options, exploring delicious-
trying to make sense of something - make meaning

The Nurnberg Funnel -cont

How do people begin to learn new technologies?

'having goals and coordinating prior knowledge with new experience is needed for meaningful learning.

motivation to interact meaningfully

From start - driven by own agendas for action ' jumping the gun; skipping, looping an dfailiry to coordinate multiple sources of information.

Whats wrong with systems approach to training?

1. based on literal material imparted
2. learner is penalised for making inferences
3. innate need to make sense- make meaning but penalised for exploration

' use reason and experimentation with cause and effect relationships... noticing discoveries, gaining insights. '

Paradox - need to make meaning but cant make meaning until follow steps?

Characteristics of Technologies Learnings

1. minimalise instructions- smallest obstacles, less overt training structures, accommodates learners meaning making.

2. Training on real tasks - 'people personalise own knowledge and skill through activities, ' make familiar an instance of more general case and produce awareness. '

'identifying with activities - motivation, tasks is learners tasks, under learners conditions, already meaningful since belong to the learner.

how goals and meaningful activities faciliate learning?? ' meaningful tasks linked to meaningful goals remembered' concrete, accurately and more effectively and more durably.' ( Wertsch)

3. Getting started FAST - people learn from induction from concrete experiences...

4. Reasoning and improvising - no one best way, learners need to pose questions to themselves and investigate things to interest them,

learners are CREATING their own materials to learning that can enhance their cognitive processes. NOT JUST CONSUME instructions

focus needs to be on learning by doing..... not doing by reading>>

5. Reading in any order - exploration - small self contained 'units' chunks each make sense independently and dependently of the whole... can miss some units according to interest, needs, etc

6. Coordinating systems training. - flexible, robusts

7. Supporting error recognition and recovery - error is important - recovery from error productive

8. Exploiting prior knowledge- NOVICES? adult learners are never novices.. need to build on prior knowledge to highlight novelty by contrasting with familiarities.

9. Using the situation - the situation provides the curriculum the situation is NOT replaced by the curriculum. Find ways to exploit the DETAILS of the situation eg catering to individual preferences, needs and interests.

10 Developing Optimal Training Designs - What are keys ways to ensure that instructional learning materials enhance rather than obstruct learning?

• synthesis of design elements
• tasks learners want to do
• more ideas and approaches - diversity - creativity

11. Limits of learning -

12. Experienced Users - more deliberate and metacognitve management of own interactions

' experienced learners - may employ functions already know regardless of efficiency

exploit the sense making capabilities and propensities people bring to any learning situation- in order to produce more efficient learning.

The Nurnberg Funnel - reading

The paradox of sense making.'

People are too busy learning to make sense of instruction.

People are highly motivated to do something that is meaningful and they apply what they already know to appropriate goals and strategies.

The Nurnberg Funnel- overview

The Nurnberg FunnelDesigning Minimalist Instruction for Practical Computer SkillJohn M. CarrollHow do people acquire beginning competence at using new technology? The legendary Funnel of Nurnberg was said to make people wise very quickly when the right knowledge was poured in; it is an approach that designers continue to apply in trying to make instruction more efficient.
This book describes a quite different instructional paradigm that uses what learners do spontaneously to find meaning in the activities of learning. It presents the "minimalist" approach to instructional design - its origins in the study of people's learning problems with computer systems, its foundations in the psychology of learning and problem solving, and its application in a variety of case studies. Carroll demonstrates that the minimalist approach outperforms the standard "systems approach" in every relevant way - the learner, not the system determines the model and the methods of instruction. It supports the rapid achievement of realistic projects right from the start of training, instead of relying on drill and practice techniques, and designing for error recognition and recovery as basic instructional events, instead of seeing error as failure. The book's many examples - including a brief discussion of recent commercial applications - will help researchers and practitioners apply and develop this new instructional technology.

ICT Pedagogy and the curriculum - Loveless

Are there characteristics of ICTs which make a unique contribution to different ways of learning and gaining knowledge?

They ICTs catalysts for different ways of knowing in the world.?

Variety of definitions of pedagogy

What can be the impact of ICT on different elements of models

• approaches to teaching
• beliefs about subject matter
• subject knowledge
• pedagogical knowlede
• Craft skills in organisaiton
• personal characteristics and perceptions of current contexts
• teaching behaviours
• teaching contexts

Teachers use a rich variety of roles

'by knowing when and how to intervene to encourage student autonomy and contributions ......

teachers are using 'intelligent action' and altering ways work with ICT and approaches and roles..

'this requires careful thought, sensitivity and willingness to let go of confidence and competence whilst becoming familiar with new resources and working styles' ...... ( p69)

teachers are part of networked communities and need to draw upon the expertise, experience and enthusiasm of others to develop and share pedagogical practices.

Are ICT resources just BOLT ONS?

Do they offer challenge and opportunity not just to ASSIMILATE technologies into existing practices but to explore and evaluate different structures and models of access to learning experiences?

KNOWLEDGE AS REVISIONARY, CREATIVE, PERSONAL AND MULTISENSORY.

Epistemology of knowledge- not static, and not changing it is

pluralistic, changing, creative, personal and multisensory

Whose knowledge an exploding base of accessible information, which can be revised, personalised, multimedia- ized..... creativity.

Issues of

authority, ownership, validity,sharing and the collective development of knowledge.

new definitions of pedagogy

' teacherfs and learners are co = constuctors of knowledge. Pedagogy is an conscious activity

by one person designed to enhance learning in another person.

Knowledge Building = A definition

Knowledge building refers to the process of creating new cognitive artifacts as a result of common goals, group discussions, and synthesis of ideas. These pursuits should advance the current understanding of individuals within a group, at a level beyond their initial level of knowledge, and should be directed towards advancing the understanding of what is known about that topic or idea.

Synthesising the ideas generated to make NEW ideas and new Knowledge

Knowledge building, can be considered as deep Constructivism (learning theory) (Scardamalia, 2002) that involves making a collective inquiry into a specific topic and coming to a deeper understanding through interactive questioning, dialogue and continuous improvement of ideas.

we are continuously striving to improve our teaching\learning'\assessment -
new activities
new approaches
different technologies
different delivery modes eg blended, online
different combinations of approaches
learner centred
collaborative



Ideas are thus the medium of operation in knowledge building environments. The teacher becomes a guide rather than a director and allows students to take over a significant portion of the responsibility for their own learning including planning, execution and evaluation (Scardamalia, 2002).

Situtated learning - informal learning?

distributed cognition = thinking that happens within the group CoP

high level, expertise can be developed in situated learning
learning is a social process
domain specific knowledge is needed for situated learning
knowledge is embedded in practice

link between situated and informal learning

CoP not specific contexts
implicit learning interests
relationships
conversations


learning is a process that happens all the time, education is intentional and needs commitment.


Conclusions

tacit learning

supporting self education

strenghtening association life

developing informal education

Learning a new technology is it informal learning and why? is it self education? is it situated learning in that there is a CoP- partnership,

I am gaining tacit knowledge from this process of informal learning.
Is it informal learning/formal learning?
Is it intentional and requires commitment

What is the pedagogy I am using? What are the pedagogical tools/approaches/strategies I am using to learn this technology?
tacit and explicit learning....

Am i using a knowledge building approach to this task ??

Informal learning paper for QUT

informal learning

• valued for its intrinsic worth not because it is a precusor to something formal
• creates an ability and yearning to learn
• fundamental and necessary to life and growth

Definitions of informal learning

McGivney

outside formal learning context, non course based activity eg talks, planned and structured.

• this features are tied to CONTEXT

PEople saying that informal education is unsystematic, unorganised and unintentional

NEED TO LOOK BEYOND CONTEXT to PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES

ie what is happening in the learning

ERAUT continuum of non formal learning

• implicit - acquisition of knowledge independently of conscious attempts to learn
• reactive - explicit takes place spontaneously with no time set aside ???
• deliberative - time set aside for learning

TACIT KNOWLEDGE

making explicit knowledge tacit - when we learn and develop routines and habits

Is informal learning an expression of SITUATED LEARNING?