1. Kumar’s structure and evolution of blogspace(2004)
In this view of the worldwide blogging network, a “community” is a set of blogs linking back and forth to one another’s postings while discussing common topics. It’s interesting to see people work so hard to come up with various definitions about community. Do you agree with this viewpoint? If so, what constitute a community in Wikis?
2. Nardi’s blogging as social activity (2004)
People typically found blogs through other blogs they were reading, through friends or colleagues telling them about their blogs or those of others, or through inclusion of the blog URL in an instant message profile or a homepage.
It reminds me of Watts’ theory about Six Degrees of Separation. Does it apply to blogs or maybe much easier for us to connect to people around the world through blogging?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
2 Qs for collaboration and cooperation
1. Curtis Collaboration
Dillenbourg and Schneider (1995) make a distinction between cooperative and collaborative learning. They indicate that cooperative learning is “… a protocol in which the task is in advance split into subtasks that the partners solve independently”. Collaborative learning describes situations “… in which two or more subjects build synchronously and interactively a joint solution to some problem”. This distinction places greater emphasis on the extent and quality of the exchanges that occur within groups of students in collaborative environments.
Social constructivism extends constructivism into social settings, wherein groups construct knowledge for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings. Therefore, to what extent and in which social organization their concept of this distinction has been accepted?
2. Roger and David’s cooperative learning
“The joint success experienced in working together to get the job done enhances social competencies, self-esteem, and general psychological health.” I like it and believe it too. When I was EDCI 270 teaching assistant last semester, Professor Newby did ask the students’ team work experiences before team project. However, what I witnessed are there were much more students who claimed they did not like team work because of past bad experiences. Are our researchers over optimistic about team work in real school settings? Is “publish or perish” a main factor to result in the isolation of fruitful research and many educators and students’ true perception?
I like the notion that cooperation is for efficiency while collaboration is for effectiveness.
What's the purpose for students to work cooperatively? First, the teacher requires that. Second, workload is so heavy that needs to be split up. Last but not least, teachers get used to work cooperatively. Teachers teach in the way they were taught.
The power of working collaboratively: The ability to work collaboratively is recognized as a core competency of a learning organization.
Establish trust is fundamental to the successful formation and growth of team work. Collaborative learning, as the basis for effective organizational team building, requires a level of personal familiarity, intimacy and trust, allowing team members to listen to one another with respect and understanding (Comstock and Fox, 1995).
Dillenbourg and Schneider (1995) make a distinction between cooperative and collaborative learning. They indicate that cooperative learning is “… a protocol in which the task is in advance split into subtasks that the partners solve independently”. Collaborative learning describes situations “… in which two or more subjects build synchronously and interactively a joint solution to some problem”. This distinction places greater emphasis on the extent and quality of the exchanges that occur within groups of students in collaborative environments.
Social constructivism extends constructivism into social settings, wherein groups construct knowledge for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings. Therefore, to what extent and in which social organization their concept of this distinction has been accepted?
2. Roger and David’s cooperative learning
“The joint success experienced in working together to get the job done enhances social competencies, self-esteem, and general psychological health.” I like it and believe it too. When I was EDCI 270 teaching assistant last semester, Professor Newby did ask the students’ team work experiences before team project. However, what I witnessed are there were much more students who claimed they did not like team work because of past bad experiences. Are our researchers over optimistic about team work in real school settings? Is “publish or perish” a main factor to result in the isolation of fruitful research and many educators and students’ true perception?
I like the notion that cooperation is for efficiency while collaboration is for effectiveness.
What's the purpose for students to work cooperatively? First, the teacher requires that. Second, workload is so heavy that needs to be split up. Last but not least, teachers get used to work cooperatively. Teachers teach in the way they were taught.
The power of working collaboratively: The ability to work collaboratively is recognized as a core competency of a learning organization.
Establish trust is fundamental to the successful formation and growth of team work. Collaborative learning, as the basis for effective organizational team building, requires a level of personal familiarity, intimacy and trust, allowing team members to listen to one another with respect and understanding (Comstock and Fox, 1995).
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Typical Graduate Student
Duncan Watts, the author of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age wrote the following about his graduate study:
"Thinking like a typical graduate student, I assumed that the coupling topology question was an obvious one, and therefore the answer must have been worked out long ago- all I needed to do was look it up. Instead of the answer, however, I only found more questions."
Isn’t it interesting? First I read this, I could not help laughing. I also have this tendency to think that my research question is trivial or has been answered. After diving, you will find something unique you can contribute. Critical thinking is a vital ability to be developed and encouraged during graduate study. It does not come from the wind. It comes from extensive reading and writing practice, intentionally and continually challenging my mind, and sometimes focusing on one spot longer.
What is six degrees of separation? Everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people theoretically. One significant factor is the difference between being connected to someone with a short route and being able to actually find that route. Meanwhile, the distance of foreign settings makes the potential for connection irrelevant. That’s why goal sharing could make community thrive.
"Thinking like a typical graduate student, I assumed that the coupling topology question was an obvious one, and therefore the answer must have been worked out long ago- all I needed to do was look it up. Instead of the answer, however, I only found more questions."
Isn’t it interesting? First I read this, I could not help laughing. I also have this tendency to think that my research question is trivial or has been answered. After diving, you will find something unique you can contribute. Critical thinking is a vital ability to be developed and encouraged during graduate study. It does not come from the wind. It comes from extensive reading and writing practice, intentionally and continually challenging my mind, and sometimes focusing on one spot longer.
What is six degrees of separation? Everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people theoretically. One significant factor is the difference between being connected to someone with a short route and being able to actually find that route. Meanwhile, the distance of foreign settings makes the potential for connection irrelevant. That’s why goal sharing could make community thrive.
Monday, February 2, 2009
2 Qs
1. Individual and social aspects of learning
Social mediation (the cognitive, acquisition-oriented) enhances the individual’s learning as individual, striving to improve his or her mastery of knowledge and skill. The more radical (the situative, participation-oriented) sees the individual and the social agents as a unified learning system the learning outcomes of which are both situated in the particular interactive context and distributed among the participants. As for the first one, evaluation could be fulfilled by performance test. How to implement evaluation based on the second viewpoint?
2. Weight watchers program
This example is used in two papers. One paper is the 1987 Presidential Address. The other one is an ecological psychology of instructional design. The first paper used this example to distinguish between symbol manipulation in school and contextualized reasoning outside school. The second one used it to exemplify the perceiving-acting cycle. I think it could serve as a good example of information interpretation. In which way information interpretation could facilitate (or hinder) community knowledge construction?
Three categories of learning theories are always addressed in EDCI courses. The systematic structure of the course requires instructors to overview learning theories at first. Generative principles are concluded:
Behaviorism
• Empty mind
• Stimulus/ response
• Feedback/ response
• Law of effective
• conditioning
Cognitivism
• Information processes
• Prior knowledge
• Memory
Constructivism
• Authentic tasks
• Problem solving
• Participation
• Collaboration
• Experience
• Meaning making
Nice things about this part is to apply learning theories into different contexts such as instructional design, science education, and adult learning. The unique cue this time is to highlight the agent. Condition, teacher, and mind serve as agents for each learning theory. Before that,I usually distinugish them in terms of the view about knowledge and the role of the student in learning.
Social mediation (the cognitive, acquisition-oriented) enhances the individual’s learning as individual, striving to improve his or her mastery of knowledge and skill. The more radical (the situative, participation-oriented) sees the individual and the social agents as a unified learning system the learning outcomes of which are both situated in the particular interactive context and distributed among the participants. As for the first one, evaluation could be fulfilled by performance test. How to implement evaluation based on the second viewpoint?
2. Weight watchers program
This example is used in two papers. One paper is the 1987 Presidential Address. The other one is an ecological psychology of instructional design. The first paper used this example to distinguish between symbol manipulation in school and contextualized reasoning outside school. The second one used it to exemplify the perceiving-acting cycle. I think it could serve as a good example of information interpretation. In which way information interpretation could facilitate (or hinder) community knowledge construction?
Three categories of learning theories are always addressed in EDCI courses. The systematic structure of the course requires instructors to overview learning theories at first. Generative principles are concluded:
Behaviorism
• Empty mind
• Stimulus/ response
• Feedback/ response
• Law of effective
• conditioning
Cognitivism
• Information processes
• Prior knowledge
• Memory
Constructivism
• Authentic tasks
• Problem solving
• Participation
• Collaboration
• Experience
• Meaning making
Nice things about this part is to apply learning theories into different contexts such as instructional design, science education, and adult learning. The unique cue this time is to highlight the agent. Condition, teacher, and mind serve as agents for each learning theory. Before that,I usually distinugish them in terms of the view about knowledge and the role of the student in learning.
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