From Wiki images
It has been quite fun to use and be involved in the
mobile phone wiki. It is very simple to use and a wonderful way to share a
groups opinions. I particularly enjoyed the use of De Bono's
hats in a discussion format. Being asked to, and finding myself capable of,
deliberately shifting thinking style was fun, and at times challenging. It is a
wonderful format for a discussion wiki and I will definitely use the
technique in the future. I think it would be appropriate to further the project
by forming groups and applying evaluation, critical thinking and analysis in
the form of Bloom's taxonomy of questions to tease out and refine the collected
information of the group. There is an almost limitless amount of information in
the web, our students need to develop critical thinking around all information
and its quality and authenticity. The NMC
report (2011) states; "sense-making and the ability to assess the credibility of information
are paramount. Mentoring and preparing students for the world in which
they will live is again at the forefront".
Is this forum reflective of certain learning
styles?
I feel that in some ways all of the learning styles
are being represented here and that this is of no surprise as they are a bit
like Russian dolls, one contained within the other, behaviourism leading to
thought to that created recognition of cognitivism and so on and all having a
perspective of the learning process.
Beginning from the outside:
Connectivism:
These principles are definitely represented here,
although debated as a learning style it is still valuable to reflect on it
here. In blue are comments on the points of connectivism related to our
exercise.
●
Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
Obvious in the group task
setting.
●
Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information
sources.
Information
was brought from many diverse, topic specific sources and shared
●
Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
The collective knowledge is
held in the wiki.
●
Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
This is in
the creativity of the exercise, bring in known information, but be inspired to
think, create and learn more.
●
Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual
learning.
Returning to
the wiki to follow ideas and discussing with peers vital to this process.
●
Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core
skill.
especially
within the de bono process.
●
Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist
learning activities.
My intent was
not to refer to texts or older learning It was to find
information, articles and opinion, almost exclusively web based, that is
current now.
●
Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the
meaning of incoming information
Searching for
your own information to contribute and help form your opinions. What is
worthwhile to contribute and why. What have others offered and is it relevant
to the topic and to me.
taken and adapted from elearnspace
Constructivism:
This is a huge part of what we are doing
here, the core of the exercise.
"learners construct their own reality or at
least interpret it based upon their perceptions of experiences, so an
individual's knowledge is a function of one's prior experiences, mental
structures, and beliefs that are used to interpret objects and
events." (Jonasson,1991, cited Mergel 1998) from week one learning
materials.
We are asked to offer our opinions here and to
build and expand on those opinions as we read and take on that which we
feel is important to us.
"Important in the learning process is the
support of the teacher (or more knowledgeable others who may be other learners)
by modeling and scaffolding. These include explicit modeling by the teacher, a
shared understanding of what is to be learned by teacher and learner, the use
of a suitable tool (cultural, physical or virtual), collaboration and
'bouncing' ideas off others, and finally internalisation of new
knowledge." ( week 1 notes). CLE states, "Teachers are
now challenged to adapt and change instructional design strategies to
actively engage learners in meaningful projects and activities that promote
exploration, experimentation, construction, collaboration, and reflection of
what these learners are studying".
Well that's it in a nutshell really. We are still
in the guidance and scaffolding of the teacher and indeed the wiki as the
teacher has set the boundaries of the topic and the questions and direction for
the discussion and also the structure by placing it within the wiki, which has
its own rules. We are learning through free exploration of information through
scaffolded questions that initiate social engagement and collaboratively
working to a solution.
Cognitivism:
More of an internalisation of the learning process,
what is going on in the mind of the learner. In this instance the exercise is
asking us to rework knowledge we have already used. This discussion being a
part of the task asks us to remember and rework knowledge in our minds again,
thus in all probability allowing better recall at a later time.
Behaviourism:
Perhaps within this all, behaviourism is still
there, deep down. In the simplistic effort of working our way into and out of
the wiki, blogs and web sites we are doing repetitive tasks with minor
rewards at each step. This allows us in the future, almost reflexively, to use
the technologies and software in the process of learning.
Benefits,
The obvious benefits of working in a wiki like this, is to have a group work collaboratively to gather information and opinion,
influencing each other as they do so. The wiki allows all to have an equal
voice and a chance to contribute, this does not always occur in class, more
reticent, reflective learners may not contribute as easily. To then have the ability to collect this information, even in a scattered group such as ours, and to have that
information permanently recorded is of a great benefit to learning. This is especially relevant in the collection
of answers and web information that can be collected and refined into further
wiki efforts on the subject. Proper instruction would include Bloom's ideas of
further / higher analytical thinking. An important point here would be
a further wiki perhaps on listing and organising things that have been
learnt, or ideas that have changed, or assessing the quality of the information
collected. For the teacher there is opportunity to ask, was the pedagogy
effective in its outcomes? What did my students learn? the teacher can look at
individual authorship to evaluate individual students. It is vitally important
to assess the effectiveness of the strategy. Quizzes on final learning in another
aspect of the wiki would be useful here.
Issues, drawbacks.
A drawback of this particular system is the time
frame over which we all will be contributing, theoretically that could be
weeks, by which time others have moved on and do not benefit from later
thinking of others who have the difficulty and gift of reading the work and
ideas of others. Scaffolding needed to bring early authors back to the
conversation? It is also difficult not to see that most of what is presented in
this example was opinion. A necessary thing in that we have not had much time
to become informed and to do deeper research for ourselves. The scaffolding
certainly contained this and ensured deeper thinking but opinion was still
evident. Were our opinions and evaluations valid? A chance for another type of
examination?
The idea of deeper learning to me is also an idea
of quality of knowledge. No point deeply knowing / debating
something if it is based in poor information. inspired by (NMC, 2011. p.4).
Another problem with this exercise was the lack of
skills of the students with wiki operation. This led to overwriting issues,
formatting issues and a lot of frustration. This exercise would have been
better served by ensuring all students had effective wiki navigation skills
prior to commencement.
How will this affect teaching wiki style elements
in school?
I have no doubt that I will use wiki style learning
in my class environments. I have never participated in this before and I
think they are a fabulous tool and there are so many exciting applications.
Including,
• group
project building,
• discussion
forums,
• collaborative
learning
• class
planning and more.
In a learning sense it is very interesting because
how will students draw meaning from a project like this. It is like reading a
book written by 30 people all at once, that evolves quite literally as you read
it! I think these are new skills to be developed. To find meaning and relevancy
quickly. I want to explore this more, and to have a better understanding of the
uses and pitfalls of this technology, but overall I'm really excited about the
potential uses. TPACK here I come.
It is
highly recommended you visit my later analysis of WIKI's
Some more information regarding Wiki can be found
on course
wikispaces
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