Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: A Constructivist Perspective

1. Learning to Solve Problems with Technology:A Constructivist Perspective Chapter 4 Building Technology-Supported Learning Communities on the Internet

2. Forming Communities -Technologies of various kinds can serve as bridges between schools and students’ outside experiences. -Technologies can support learning communities by providing communication vehicles to all learners. -Learning and knowledge-building communities depend heavily on both student and teacher buy-in,responsibility, and continuing motivation, as well as a rich collection of information and learning resources to support them.

3. Forming Communities -Discourse Communities -People are social creatures who like to talk with each other. -Computer networks have evolved to support discourse communities through different forms of computer conference.(bulletin boards, Usenet, Netnews service,chat rooms) -These communities can now stay in constant contact about their interests.

4. Forming Communities- Communities of Practice -A community of practice is a group of people who share a common interest in a topic or area, a particular way of talking collaborative knowledge with a sense of common collective tasks. -Learning results naturally from becoming a participating member of community of practice. -Learning, thinking, and knowing are relations among people engaged in activity.

5. Forming Communities -Knowledge-Building Communities -The goal of knowledge- building communities is to support students to “actively and strategically pursue learning as a goal ”—that is, intentional learning (Scardamalia, Bereiter, & Lamon, 1994). -Technology plays a key role in knowledge-building communities by providing a medium for storing, organizing, and reformulating the ideas that are contributed by each community member. -Students produce their own knowledge database in their own knowledge-building community.

6. Forming Communities -Learning Communities -Are classrooms and schools communities? -A community is a social organization of people who share knowledge, value, and goals. -Learning communities emerge when students share common interests. -Learning communities emerge when learners work together toward their common goals.

7. Supportive Technologies • Learning communities are united by a common cause of mutual support and by shared values and experiences. • Learning communities existed long before networking technologies came into being, but the potential scale of adoption expands with the technologies available.

8. Supportive Technologies (Count.) The Peabody Perspective on Learning Communities( Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt , 1994) -- the Table4.1 1.Curriculum and Instruction • Emphasizes active, problem_ focused teaching and learning • Integrate subject areas • Emphasizes varied instructional strategies, depending on student needs • Relies on heterogeneous, collaborative student groups/teams • Focuses on project- based activities, while also giving attention to the development of key concepts and skills

9. Supportive Technologies (Count.) 2. Assessment • Focuses on thinking and communicating as well as on concepts and skills • Is authentic • Informs instruction • Gives schools the flexibility to respond to the uniqueness of the population they serve, while still being held accountable to state and national goals and standard

10. Supportive Technologies (Count.) 3.Professional Development and School Organization • Provides meaningful opportunities for education to learn and improve • Redefines “professional as isolated experts” to “professional as collaborators and facilitators of learning” • Keeps decision making open and responsive to parent, student, and community input

11. Supportive Technologies (Count.) 4.Community Connections • Keeps parents involved in their children’s education • Creates shared responsibility for children and cooperative efforts to provide resources and support for learning • Ensures adequate and coordinated health and social services for children • Fosters a concern for the common good

12. Supportive Technologies (Count.) 5.Technology • Support all areas of the learning community- learning, assignment, management, professional development, and community connectedness

13. Supportive Technologies -Online Communication(Telecommunications) • Table 4.2 Learning Activities Facilitated by Different Levels of Computer Networking Technologies (Adapted form Paulson, 1996)

14. Supportive Technologies (Count.) -Form of Online Communication • Electronic mail. • Listservs. • Electronic bulletin boards. • Chats. • Groupware supports. -Today’s asynchronous collaborations are better.

15. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities • Interpersonal Exchange • These activities give students an opportunity to interact with others from a distance. Students have opportunities to reinforce literacy skills through extended reading and writing activities. • Information Collections and Analysis • The focus of these activities is on collaborative, distributed collection, analysis, organization, and presentation of information. These activities can help internalize scientific methods, and also strengthen students’ information literacy skills.

16. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities (Count.) •Problem-Solving Projects • These projects focus on individual, small-group, or multigroup problems. Students have opportunities to learn task-management skills in addition to content objectives. • They often require higher levels of collaboration and organization between sites.

17. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities(Count.) Specific Activity Structures Categorized by Genre and Learning ProcessesInterpersonal Exchanges

18. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities(Count.) Specific Activity Structures Categorized by Genre and Learning ProcessesInformation Collections and Analyses

19. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities(Count.) Specific Activity Structures Categorized by Genre and Learning ProcessesProblem-Solving Projects

20. Using Telecommunications To Foster Learning Communities(Count.) Specific Activity Structures Categorized by Genre and Learning ProcessesProblem-Solving Projects

21. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences -Students have rarely been asked to contribute their opinions about topics. -Students have been too busy memorizing what the teachers tell them. -A number of online communication environments have been designed to support students’ discourse skills.

22. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences •Knowledge Forum (formerly CSILE) -Developed by Marlene Scardamalia And Carl Bereiter of the Ontario Institute. -The primary purpose of the current version is to teach students to be knowledge producers. -Knowledge Forum is a collaborative database that supports a shared process of knowledge building by defining problems, hypothesizing, researching, collecting information, collaborating, and analyzing.

23. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences (Cont.) The Knowledge Forum system has two important features: (1)A special computer program for developing a common information base, installed on a local-area network (LAN) of on a remote server accessible through the Internet. (2)A systematic model of inquiry based on the scientific method and informed by current research in cognitive psychology.

24. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences (Cont.) -The Knowledge Forum system has two important features: (1)A special computer program for developing a common information base, installed on a local-area network (LAN) of on a remote server accessible through the Internet. (2)A systematic model of inquiry based on the scientific method and informed by current research in cognitive psychology. -Knowledge Forum Web site ----- http://www.knowledgeforum.com

25. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences (Cont.) • CaMILE and Swiki • CaMILE is a collaborative NoteBase where students post notes associated with group discussions. • CaMILE provides space for making suggestion (upper right) based on the Comment note. • Swiki are a development in anchored collaborative learning environments that evolved from the use of CaMILE. • Swiki can be a useful tool for collaborative writing. • (http://pbl.cc.gatech.edu:8080/myswiki.1)

26. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences (Cont.) • Shadow netWorkspace • Developed at the University of Missouri’s Center for Technology. • Shadow netWorkspace provides schools with access to open-source licensed software for implementing learning communities and advanced network services. • (http://sns.internetschools.org) • Learning Process • Problem-Solving Processes • Teacher Roles • Assessing Learning

27. Scaffolding Conversations In Structured Computer Conferences (Cont.) • Learning Circles • Developed by Margaret Riel and a team of collaborators, Learning Circles employ a “task force structure” (Riel, 1991). • Learning Circles are often organized in support of a specific project or online activity. • The specific task may be any of a number of different activities, such as research, information sharing, compilation of a database, or publishing on a common subject • Learning Process • Problem-Solving Processes • Teacher Roles • Assessing Learning

28. Professional Development • The current structure of our school system makes itdifficult for in-depth interaction and collaborationto occur among teachers • The Internet, while posing new challenges for teachers, may also be seen as asolution • Web sites supporting professional development : • Global Schoolhouse (http://www.gsn.org) • Classroom Connect’s Quest Teacher Community (http://classroomconnect.com)

29. Professional Development (Cont.) • Experts moderate professional discussion groups -http://teacher.scholastic.com • Mighty Mentors and TeacherTalk -http://teaching.com • Math and Science Teaching(SCIMAST) -http://www.sedl.org/scimast/archives/ • U.S.Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology -http://www.teachertrain.net

30. Supporting Global Discourse Through Telecommunities • KIDLINK • KIDLINK is a grassroots project that is intended to interconnect as many kids as possible to participate in a global dialogue. • http://www.kidlink.org • The Global Schoolhouse • Building understanding, promoting peace • Friendship (http://www.friendshipthrougheducation.org/) -Kids Share Hope (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KidsShareHope/) -Feeding Minds Feeding Hunger` (http://www.feedingminds.org/) -Laws of Life Project (http://www.iearn.org/projects/laws.html)

31. Supporting Global Discourse Through Telecommunities (Cont.) • MUDs and MOOs • MUDs and MOOs are engaging learners in high-level conversations that support personal reflection • MUD users group (http://webnet.mednet.gu.se/computer/internet-services.txt) -MOOSE(Moose Crossing enables students to not only participate in learning communities, but to be involved in the actual constructions of those communities (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/moose-crossing/)

32. Supporting Social Co-Construction Of Knowledge Through Collaborative Communication • Learning Activities • The mural project (http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/spa/community/mural/) • Resolving complex social problems Information Please(http://infoplease.lycos.com/) Ask Jeeves(http://www.askjeeves.com/index.asp) HowStuffWorks(http://www.howstuffworks.com/) • Collaborative authorship • Learning Processes • Social co-construction of meaning through conversation is primarily constructive and cooperative.

33. Cybermentoring:Communicating Through The Internet • E-mail Mentoring Programming :Creating Electronic Advocates for students at Risk • The program’s goal is broader than just correcting unacceptable behavior. • They understand that the special circumstances of the detention center magnifies the need to engage students in meaningful learning, and they find that technology can help them meet this challenge. • The internet to bring the world into the classroom, accommodate varied learning styles and paces of learning within on classroom, encourage students to become lifelong learners

34. Cybermentoring:Communicating Through The Internet • Learning Processes • The most distinctive characteristics of learning are authentic and cooperative. • Teacher Rols • Teacher’s most important goal is establish and maintain the student’s trust.

35. Fostering Community • Learning communities can be fostered through communication, attention to difference, shared culture, adaptation, dialogue, and access to information resources. • Communication • Attention to Differences • Shared Culture • Adaptation • Dialogue • Access to information • Membership • Motivation

36. Fostering Community (Cont.) • Advice to Teacher • Remember, the concept of leaning communities is an ideal. • Technology, resources, and models can help. • It’s not all or nothing. • Respect your own knowledge and situation • The examples of online project opportunities across the curriculum (http://www.ed.gov/Tecnology/guide/international/index.html)

37. Conclusions • Computer conferencing can support discussions, debates, and collaborative efforts among groups of people who are collocated or at a distance. • Computer enables learners to reflection their ideas or responses before making them. • Different kinds of thinking can be scaffoldedin computer conferences. • Computer conferencing can support learners in unique ways as they engage in reasoned dialogue, collaborate with remote and diverse audiences, and learn to express themselves in writing.