Blog 4

CSCL2 Ch9
Participatory Simulations: Building Collaborative Understanding Through Immersive Dynamic Modeling – Vanessa Colella- MIT Media Laboratory

Participatory Simulations is an experiential learning environment that "takes the simulation off of the computer screen and brings it into the experiential world of the child." Colella compares it to micro-worlds, a computer-supported learning environment. The authors refer to Dewey's Theory of
Experience and Education (Dewey, 1916, 1988; Montessori, 1912; Papert, 1980; Tanner, 1997) as their framework for study. "Engaging in activities that hold meaning for them, children will build lasting understanding." "When children are engaged in an activity of interest to them that poses difficulties, they look for a method of coping with the difficulties and thus acquire new skills" (Tanner, 1997, p. 44). Vygotsky's (1978), theory was also referenced "tools (like Froebel's gifts) could enrich and broaden both the scope of activity and the scope of thinking of the child."

The Project studies the use of "personal exploration of computer-supported environments in science learning in a three-week-long pilot project conducted in a local high school." Wearable computers were used to allow direct participation in the simulation. Thinking Tags were used to collect information for the students and allow them to determine if someone else was sick with a virus. The authors said considerable learning occurred because the students were analyzing their situation to discover which of their peers was sick with a virus.

I thought at first glance that this was a great project, but then I read the commentary and realized most of the knowledge gained from this endeavor could be duplicated in a non technical environment with little more than water and paper for tools. I do think it's a good idea that has the potential to be developed in a nonreplicable manner, but I'm not sure if it would be cost effective.

CSCL2 Ch 10
Designing a Video-Mediated Collaboration System
MetaphorKato, H., Yamazaki, K., Suzuki, H., Kuzuoka, H., Miki, H., and Yamazaki, A.

Distance education is investigated to determine if gaze, gestures, and other body movements are important in knowledge acquisition and if body movements can be replicated online. Both physical limitations of CSCW systems and intrinsic limitations were looked at. The authors wanted to understand the validity of "redistributing the body images and bodies themselves in a way based on a body metaphor concept."Multiple monitors were used as well as AlgoBlock (Suzuki & Kato, 1995). Learners were required to make a simple program by connecting the blocks together. The mission was to guide a submarine to its destination that appeared on a CRT screen. The face-to-face metaphor and the body metaphor were the two patterns used. Mutual awareness is a problem because gaze awareness is not possible if the camera is off-axis from the monitor.

My thoughts concern the date of the book. The book was written in 2001. I believe today's technology is much more advanced now.

Koschmann, T., Hall, R., & Miyake, N. CSCL2: Carrying forward the conversation. (2001).

The World is Open Ch. 6
Curtis J. Bonk
Opener #5:
Learning Object Repositories and Portals

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), Audubon's Birds of America, The Museum of Online Museums (MoOM0), The National Museum of African American History, The Amistad Digital Resource, Turning the Pages, The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online, ECHO, PLOS, Connexions, MERLOT, etc were described.

Reading these chapters reminded me of Abraham Lincoln's love of books and how difficult it was for him to access even one book as a child. I can imagine his delight and enthusiasm if he had the opportunity to experience the knowledge potential of Web learning.

The World is Open Ch. 7
Curtis J. Bonk
Opener #6:
Making a Contribution

Curtis Bonk visited Wikimedia Foundation with his son, Alex. The chapter discussed Wikimedia's revolutionary idea related to access to information. Posting of content was the original activity in e-learning. We now have E-learning 2.0 where learners can find, design, mix, and remix, repurpose, and select content to share. Chinswing's online audio format was described as a mechanism to bring about social change. In addition to describing Chinswing, dotSUB, YackPack, YouTube, Google Earth, Did You Know?, TeacherTube, etc. were described.

I have both read and listened to Jack Kerouac's On the Road. It was fascinating to think about the thirty-five students traveling across the United States recording sounds and taking pictures in his spirit.

Bonk, C.J. (2009) The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. Jossey-Bass