Thursday, 4 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Assessment as Dialog
I am now following a module on Online Assessment and still the term 'dialog' pursues me!
David Nichol from Strathclyde University has been a visiting 'speaker' on our discussion boards for the past few weeks and engaging with us on all things assessment but particularly around the topic of increasing self regulation in first year students. David sees feedback as a dialogic process and we have been discussing this and the cross over between both his work in this area and Diana Laurillards conversational framework.
David has written a paper called 'monologue to dialogue' and says
To link this a little further I recently found the following slides from Diana Laurillard - just need a little more time to peruse and pull some thought together now!
David Nichol from Strathclyde University has been a visiting 'speaker' on our discussion boards for the past few weeks and engaging with us on all things assessment but particularly around the topic of increasing self regulation in first year students. David sees feedback as a dialogic process and we have been discussing this and the cross over between both his work in this area and Diana Laurillards conversational framework.
David has written a paper called 'monologue to dialogue' and says
"its argument is that feedback as an imput message cannot improve learning on its own (just transmission) and that it must be conceptualised as an interactive dialogue with students actively contributing. Laurillards conversational framework is really a feedback as dialogue framework so I tried to show the value of her four characteristics of dialogue, slightly simplified for analytical purposes - adaptive, discursive, interactive and reflective."I am very much looking forward to reading this paper to learn more and will post my thoughts on it here when I do!
To link this a little further I recently found the following slides from Diana Laurillard - just need a little more time to peruse and pull some thought together now!
Thursday, 2 July 2009
The Heineken Approach to Discussion - reaching the parts others can not reach.....
An interesting approach for encouraging participation and engagement with a subject whilst harnessing the wisdom of the crowds do you think?
Such an approach was demonstrated in the politics field this week when Obama posted a video to ask for questions on health care reform. Hundreds of submissions were posted over a few days and yesterday he answered some of the best submissions.
Could this be replicated in educational arenas? It certainly supports a conversational approach to learning.
Those who did not post questions could watch a live streamed video of the president's response but also take part in the conversation by
Such an approach was demonstrated in the politics field this week when Obama posted a video to ask for questions on health care reform. Hundreds of submissions were posted over a few days and yesterday he answered some of the best submissions.
Could this be replicated in educational arenas? It certainly supports a conversational approach to learning.
Those who did not post questions could watch a live streamed video of the president's response but also take part in the conversation by
- Joining the conversation through Facebook
- Joining the conversation through Twitter and by using hastag #WHHCQ
- Watching and providing feedback at WhiteHouse.gov/live
The White House staff indicated that they would monitor all of these conversations closely during the event and attempt to look for ways to incorporate the feedback supplied into the conversation.
The conversation didn't end there either with the White House staff declaring that they would be following up after the event in the coming days by trying to get to as many un-addressed questions as possible and by addressing follow-up questions to his answers in these conversational spaces.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Communities of Practice - a model of social learning
Communities of practice or learning have been a focus of mine for some time as a means of social learning and as a pedagogical model which underpins a role for conversation in education.
I note that Dr Etienne Wenger is due to present at Coventry University in September at the iPED Conference and I particularly like two quotes - pulled out from his profile - which illustrate this point rather nicely!
"Curriculum is...... a constellation of communities...... contributing to the consitution of a field of inquiry"
"Communities of Practice..... a social disciplin of learning"
I am keen to understand more about the natural ways people learn and how we can capitalise on the current advances in technology to support this.
As Wenger seems to infer.... the imposed models of education we as a society have constructed to faciltiate the process of information transference - otherwise known as teaching - are based on the assumptions that a body of knowledge is a curriculum, that learning depends on teaching and that the classroom is the locus of learning and the rest of life its application.......
and this no-longer seems so appropriate?
Communities of practice offer a potential opportunity to open up previously imposed boundaries and dividers. However I am left wondering where the barriers to communication will lie now?
Is it right to assume that barriers to communication will centre on the fact that we are NOT all multilingual?
or
will the real difficulties (with readily accessible translators and text based communication channels) manifest themselves in disciplinary differences and lie in our inability to understand each other across our various disciplins or subject areas?
How crucial will being able 'to talk the same language' be in facilitating understanding and the joining forces to make effective progress?
I note that Dr Etienne Wenger is due to present at Coventry University in September at the iPED Conference and I particularly like two quotes - pulled out from his profile - which illustrate this point rather nicely!
"Curriculum is...... a constellation of communities...... contributing to the consitution of a field of inquiry"
"Communities of Practice..... a social disciplin of learning"
I am keen to understand more about the natural ways people learn and how we can capitalise on the current advances in technology to support this.
As Wenger seems to infer.... the imposed models of education we as a society have constructed to faciltiate the process of information transference - otherwise known as teaching - are based on the assumptions that a body of knowledge is a curriculum, that learning depends on teaching and that the classroom is the locus of learning and the rest of life its application.......
and this no-longer seems so appropriate?
Communities of practice offer a potential opportunity to open up previously imposed boundaries and dividers. However I am left wondering where the barriers to communication will lie now?
Is it right to assume that barriers to communication will centre on the fact that we are NOT all multilingual?
or
will the real difficulties (with readily accessible translators and text based communication channels) manifest themselves in disciplinary differences and lie in our inability to understand each other across our various disciplins or subject areas?
How crucial will being able 'to talk the same language' be in facilitating understanding and the joining forces to make effective progress?
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Is Reading a conversation?
When talking over my 'conversation' interests with fellow students a few months back and the many forms 'conversation' can take, one queried whether reading was a form of conversation. Several of us considered it a form of interaction between the author and reader all be it one way. However one flagged the fact that this was evolving with authors now becoming readily available online, via blogs or online forums to engage in conversation regarding their work with their readers.
So - I was interested to note a session to be run at 12am tonight in Elluminate at: http://tinyurl.com/futureofed on this very topic. The changing role of author and reader in a social media age 'where everyone can join the conversation' is up for discussion, as well as the dramatic changes now ocurring with the whole 'reading experience'. With pre publication wikified collaboration and increased author-reader and reader-reader conversations reading is becoming, it seems, less of a private conversation and more of a 360 degree one!
I doubt I will be awake that late unfortunately so will have to listen to an after event recording.
What's your view - is reading a conversation? What can conversation add to the 'reading experience'? Are we simply participating in an online bookclub or reading circle but with a visit from the author?
So - I was interested to note a session to be run at 12am tonight in Elluminate at: http://tinyurl.com/futureofed on this very topic. The changing role of author and reader in a social media age 'where everyone can join the conversation' is up for discussion, as well as the dramatic changes now ocurring with the whole 'reading experience'. With pre publication wikified collaboration and increased author-reader and reader-reader conversations reading is becoming, it seems, less of a private conversation and more of a 360 degree one!
I doubt I will be awake that late unfortunately so will have to listen to an after event recording.
What's your view - is reading a conversation? What can conversation add to the 'reading experience'? Are we simply participating in an online bookclub or reading circle but with a visit from the author?
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Grading and Assessing Conversation
One topic worth a focus for research purposes is the area of assessment regarding 'conversations' and levels of contribution or engagement........ so I thought I would use this blog post as a flag in the sand so to speak - a place to return to in order to review or add to various thoughts, insights or references on topic.
Lets start with Trent Bastons: "Learning in the Webiverse: How Do You Grade a Conversation?," Campus Technology 06/18/08
So - just how do you grade a conversation?
and more importantly,
if we are to align our teaching and assessment practice, what learning is it important to surface and expose within conversation?
Lets start with Trent Bastons: "Learning in the Webiverse: How Do You Grade a Conversation?," Campus Technology 06/18/08
So - just how do you grade a conversation?
and more importantly,
if we are to align our teaching and assessment practice, what learning is it important to surface and expose within conversation?
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