12 years ago
The Internet’s Door to Learning: Opening it wider for our youth within the context of formal education
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
When searching for a journal article to blog about, I was keen to locate one that explored the pedagogical implications of young learners’ engagement with Web 2.0. While there was a proliferation that investigated learner-generated knowledge using Web 2.0 tools in a tertiary setting, few dealt with the concept of youth as producers or creators of knowledge online in a primary or secondary schooling context.
The journal article Teaching and Learning in the Web 2.0 Era: Empowering Students through Learner-Generated Content (Lee & McLoughlin, 2007) describes a gradual transformation of curriculum and instruction in a higher education context in response to the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies and social networking tools. This transformation has lead to a higher prevalence of user-led content and knowledge production, which the authors suggest necessitates changes in pedagogy to cater for the shift to greater learner control, agency and engagement in content creation.
Lee & McLoughlin (2007) detail three metaphors of learning: the acquisition metaphor and participation metaphor (Sfard (1998) cited in Lee & McLoughlin, 2007), and the more contemporary knowledge creation metaphor of learning (Paavlova & Hakkarainen (2005) cited in Lee & McLoughlin, 2007). They then go on to provide exemplars of learner content creation in higher education, and suggest potential challenges that tools such as web logs (blogs), media sharing applications, wikis and social networking sites may present educators. In this blog posting I will outline those learning metaphors, which in my opinion make a relevant framework for reviewing contemporary pedagogy. I will then respond to the metaphors with respect to modern learning theorists, relating them to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay & Negus, 1997) with respect to the Internet. I will also explore my experience with these learning metaphors in my own primary school teaching and learning context.
Acquisition Metaphor of Learning:
Learning is receptive, a process of acquiring chunks of information, typically delivered by the teacher (Lee & McLoughlin, 2007). With respect to the Internet, the learner would then become the consumer of resources accessed online.
With respect to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) and the Internet, there is an extremely heavy emphasis on learners as consumers of information that is available to them, but little else in the way of the other elements of the circuit, or the interplay between the elements.
Graphic of acquisition metaphor (Sfard, 1998), with respect to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) Bronwyn White, 2011.
In my primary school context, much of the use of the Internet is typified by the teachers delivering Internet resources such as YouTube clips, informative podcasts or simply by sharing websites with the students via a data projector and Interactive Whiteboard as a provocation to classroom discussions. Pedagogically, teachers are using “new ways to do old stuff” (Prensky, 2001).
Participation Metaphor of Learning:
Learning is a process of participating in various cultural practices and shared learning activities. The focus is on the process, i.e. the learning to learn, rather than on outcomes or products (Lee & McLoughlin, 2007). This metaphor places an emphasis on the social process of knowledge construction espoused by socio-cultural theorists such as Vygotsky (1978), and Lave & Wenger (1991).
Again referring to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) and the Internet, there is much more of a balance as learners, albeit with regulated access in some education systems, are able to adopt an online identity when participating and communicating with peers to access the information that is available to them via the Web. (Note the exclusion of production from this model as the emphasis is on the process of learning.)
Graphic of participation metaphor (Sfard,1998), with respect to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) Bronwyn White, 2011.
My teaching colleagues who have been incorporating digital pedagogies into their practice have instigated their students’ participation in online events such as the annual Online Literature Festival, which involves their students taking part in synchronous activities such as author chats and asynchronous activities such as book raps, where students respond to questions about a shared text, and can view other’s responses to the same questions, enabling a deeper interpretation and understanding of the set text. The activities that students undertake are designed by teachers, and the learning outcomes, although varied, are typically those that are anticipated in the planning stages of constructing the event activities. Nonetheless, students have the opportunity to share their ideas with others beyond their immediate classroom environment, and they are learning a new way of forming information by accepting/rejecting ideas and comments from other learners in the process. These are typical examples of how the learning theory of connectivism (Siemens, 2004) might be enacted in a primary (or secondary school) education setting.
Knowledge Creation Metaphor of Learning:
Learning means becoming part of a community, through creation and contribution of learning resources. Students become “prosumers” (both producers and consumers) of knowledge, ideas and artifacts (Lee & McLoughlin, 2007). In this type of learning community, the members are the managers of the information and artifacts, and move beyond mere participation to be active creators of ideas, resources and knowledge.
Access to the Internet and a raft of Web 2.0 tools enables learners to bridge geographic and age and cultural gaps to share ideas and resources on a scale that has never before been possible. “Wisdom of crowds” (Suroweicki, 2004) has become more of a reality through the use of tools such as wikis and more possible through cloud computing applications such as Google docs, and social networking sites such as Facebook and Nings.
This reference to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) and the Internet includes the element missing from the previous learning metaphor: production. When learners actively create knowledge utilising the Internet as a form of Media, every element of the Circuit is in play, and interrelates with every other element on some level.
Graphic of knowledge creation metaphor (Paavlova & Hakkarainen (2005), with respect to the Circuit of Culture (du Gay et al, 1997) Bronwyn White, 2011.
Although regulation by my employer determines that social networking sites such as Facebook and Nings and cloud computing activities that require individual logons such as Google docs are filtered and therefore not available to my students, we have been provided with a secure online environment called the Learning Place. Within this eLearning environment my students CAN become active creators of knowledge and collaborate and communicate with their peers 24/7 utilising wikis, blogs, chatrooms and virtual classrooms. Those teachers who are transforming their pedagogies in an effort to prepare their students for participation in 21st Century society are enabling their students to share multimodal creations, seek and receive feedback, blog their learning reflections, collaborate with peers to produce joint texts, design online digital portfolios, “favourite” commonly accessed resources, “like” blog postings and resources, and generate their own online identity by creating a profile and avatar to represent themselves within this learning community.
Lee & McLoughlin (2007) conclude their article by identifying potential challenges to academe in incorporating the production and adoption of learner-generated content in higher education, with suggestions of possible ways to meet those challenges. Concerns identified include copyright, ownership and intellectual property implications in this era of "mix, rip and burn". In addition to this they identify the learner's challenge of judging the quality and validity of information sources they come across, as well as the need for essential generic skills such as communication, presentation and digital literacy skills. They make the final point that current pedagogical practices need to be extended and transformed, whilst keeping the learners and their learning needs at the forefront in a bid to afford students the capacity to create and disseminate ideas and knowledge.
This final point is very much in line with the strategic direction of my employer, to the extent that I can draw distinct parallels between the three metaphors of learning that Lee & McLoughlin (2007) believe conceptualise the dynamics of student learning, and the Smart Classrooms Professional Development Framework:
- Acquisition metaphor pedagogies - ICT Certificate level of teacher accreditation
- Participation metaphor pedagogies - Digital Pedagogy Licence teacher accreditation
- Knowledge Creation metaphor pedagogies - Digital Pedagogy Licence Advanced, which acknowledges teachers who employ transformative practices
Detailed discussion of these parallels would however be a topic for an entirely new blog posting!
If you were inspired by this blog you can access the original article online here or you might also like to read further publications by the authors such as the journal article below on the subject of pedagogy for a contemporary online society:
McLoughlin, C. & Lee, M. (2008), The Three P’s of Pedagogy for the Networked Society: Personalization, Participation, and Productivity. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 20:1, 10-27
(Further exploration of pedagogical implications of learner-generated content)
Or
Luckin, R., Clark, W., Graber, R., Logan, K., Mee, A. & Oliver, M. (2009), Do Web 2.0 tools really open the door to learning? Practices, perceptions and profiles of 11–16-year-old students. Learning, Media and Technology, 34:2, 87-104
(A study of student engagement online with students from 27 UK schools... findings that with this age group the Internet was used largely for communication rather than collaboration or creation!)
This blog entry was posted by Bronwyn White
References:
Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Mackay, H. & Negus, K. (1997). Doing cultural studies: the story of the sony walkman. London: Sage/The Open University.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Lee, M. & McLoughlin, C., Teaching and Learning in the Web 2.0 Era: Empowering Students through Learner-Generated Content. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. 4:10, 21-33
Paavola, S. & Hakkarainen, K. (2005). The knowledge creation metaphor – An emergent epistemological approach to learning. Science and Education, 14(6), 535-557.
Prensky, M., (2001), Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9:5, 1-6
Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4-13.
Siemens, G., (2004), Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
Retrieved from:
22nd October, 2011
Surowiecki, J. (2004). The wisdom of crowds. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Vygotsky, L., (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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