XplanaZine

Session 1
Thursday 4:00 - 5:15
Session — Emerging Technologies Track - An Organic Learning Object Cycle: A Communication-Centric Model for Knowledge-Building Using Collaborative Tools
Presenters — Ulrich Rauch, University of British Columbia (ulrich.rauch@ubc.ca); Warren Scott (warren.scott@ubc.ca), University of British Columbia
- presentation focuses on development of learning objects (LO) - going beyond the Lego metaphor to object-oriented collaborative interactions, that will eventually become part of the content: interaction becomes a resources as well - pushing the boundries of the definition of learning objects
- a model of LO beyond Legos - the integration of content, interactions - to a unified model
- traditionally, LO = reusable chunks of content (reusability paradox: the more expensive tend to get used less)
- need a recognition that content and the manipulation of that content can connect stakeholders to shape the LO through the unique experience brought by unique interaction
- with this model, e-learning benefits from “collaborative knowledge building”
- content mastery doesn’t necessary equal learning; how can we map object-oriented design to learning?
- past discussions stymied by too much debate about the definition of learning objects, so we’re not going to get into a definition here
- “organic” learning objects = emphasis on just-in-time, flexible, adaptable, “grass-roots” approach to aggregating and disaggregating content: a learning object needs to be dynamic, have the opportunity to reflect the user’s knowledge
- 3 aggregation types or metaphors: Lego metaphor to the chemistry metaphor to the organic metaphor; organic is less systematic, has a social dynamic
- Bloom levels and collaboration: as you move upward in Bloom levels (knowledge, application, comprehension, analysis, synthesis, evaluation), you have to move into the domain of interaction - for example, synthesis isn’t really possible without interaction- in terms of visualizing the collaboration of content and interaction, start with rich content, a “primordial stew” ; next, content in context (aggregated content within the context of a course) = knowledge level; move to student interaction with the course content (on a low level of interactivity; i.e the student can’t manipulate the content other than watching, listening, reading, etc.); next, student-student interaction, student-teacher, etc. - discussions in context = analysis, synthesis; move to participants contributing new knowledge objects to elaborate on issues raised in the discussion; participants link to new knowledge objects to contribute new ideas - teaching and learning driven by social interaction;re-incorporation of knowledge into the existing knowledge base (blogs, wikis, RSS - allow people to disaggregate and re-aggregate knowledge as a community); and all of this is NOT a cycle, but a helix

- collaborative activities: self-organized meta-tagging of knowledge objects (Fle3, from U. Helsinki); threaded discussions (a heavily-used discussion over a semester is a trove of knowledge, can be considered a learning object in itself: re-use it in next year’s class!)
- interaction itself can become content - Silicon Chalk, a program that allows a wireless laptop to communicate: share content, collaborative authoring of content, re-aggregation of recorded materials
- the past is a good indicator of where we’re going: we’ve been here before in terms of tools and ways of communication (think newsgroups), but we’re using them in more sophisticated and useful ways
- learning is a social activity, and collaboration requires being part of a community; how to define community, particularly in terms of self-identification? Technical networks must emulate the collective intelligence of human interaction, relationships. “the strength of weak ties” - those at the fringes of the community have more to contribute to a community of like-minded people; what is it that people are doing together that serves to pull them into a community? Often related to a problem or a practice: communities of practice
- also look at collaborative building of learning objects: teachers using a wiki to collaboratively author a course
- wikipedia: an example of an organic online learning object; self-organizing system prevents people from talking about things they don’t know about (because it will just get deleted)
- where are we moving to next? Trends: increasing ability to dis-aggregation interaction and content from the context; increasing ability to navigate diverse histories of ideas (”threadspace”) - reconstruction of how ideas were developed, the analysis of which can lead to a greater understanding of why people travel particular paths, perhaps can strengthen and enrich a community
- Audience Comment: the need for visualization of all this textual content - some visual map of a way to examine some of the questions about how communities are developed
- Audience Comment: social networks behave in a non-egalitarian way; if these media work in scale-free ways, perhaps the task of a teacher or learning institution is to alter that curve, increase participation, be democratic?