Apr 29 2009
Assessment 1 Task 2
This assessment piece which analyses my learning experiences on the Freire Project is available at:
http://tatiloz.edublogs.org/assessment-1-task-2/
Happy reading!
Archive for April, 2009
Apr 19 2009
A framework for analysing learning
Having spent a considerable amount of time participating in my chosen e-community: The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy, I started to question what and how I was learning by being a member of this community. I found that any analysis of my learning experience needed an understanding or framework of learning with which to explore my experiences. This took me right back to questions such as “what is learning” and “how do we learn” and can this be easily applied to an e-learning community?
I knew from previous studies that I was drawn to the work of Kolb on experiential learning and constructionists theories of learning but felt as a person committed to social change I also needed to consider the work on transformative learning of Mezirow (1991). Having read about the social theories of learning and Bandura’s work I also felt drawn to these propositions and found them particularly relevant to learning through community. However, it took some research to find more contemporary work on the particular quality fo learning online and found the work on Siemens (2008) just what I was looking for to reflect the uniqueness of learning online.
So feeling that I was on my way to a very sound framework for conceptualising and analysing learning a friend recommended I read the work of Illeris (2002) on the Three Dimensions of Learning and I felt that Illeris summed up very nicely the complexity of learning which I was trying to arrive at with all the above mentioned theories (except perhaps Siemen’s work on connectivism).
So the framework which I am using to analyse my learning is based on Illeris’ (2002) propositions that there are three dimensions to learning: cognitive, emotional, and environmental, and I have been able to fit in constructivism, transformative learning, social learning, and connectivism into that framework using Illeris (2002) as a foundation. I feel that this model, although rather complex, is apt to describe the amazing and diverse process of learning, particularly online with the inclusion of the more recent work on connectivism.
As I interact and participate in the Freire Project I am questioning how it is that I am learning – through the particular online experience that allows such a broad sense of social networking; through the emotions that come with belonging and being affirmed or ignored; through agreement and feedback; through the connectivity inherent in the community; am I learning such that I can change my practice; and most of all I ask myself am I questioning and reflecting on my own assumptions and being open to challenging them?
Next of course are thoguth around learning design – what aspect of my community foster or hinder learning?
References:
Illeris, K. (2002), The Three Dimensions of Learning, Roskilde University Press, Denmark.
Siemes, G. (2008) New Structures and spaces of learning: The systemic impact of connective knowledge, connectivism and networked learning, available at http://www.connectivism.ca/ accessed on 17 April 2009.
Mezirow, J. (1991) Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning, Jossey-Bass, San Franscisco.
Apr 05 2009
A day lost and found in my e-community
I have spent much of today exploring the Freire Project community and I am feeling very excited about my choice of community. I enjoyed being lost and found amongst blogs, forums, wikis, You-tube videos, articles, etc learning more about critical pedagogy and its applicability in my personal and professional life. At times I did feel frustrated at not being sure where to follow the thread of a topic – was it the blog, forums, etc. But by the end of the day my skills at navigating were much better.
I have spent quite a bit of time before today just observing or lurking as the literature refers to it (Nonnecke and Preece 2000) – this was however not as passive as I thought it was before doing some reading on participation on online communities (Gulanti 2004, Williams 2002, Siemes 2008). As I lurked I observed patterns of interaction or non-interaction, response rates, type of knowledge being shared, “loud” contributors, and I made decisions about where to look in this new community.
Today as my first active day on the community I felt rather nervous and some what hesitant about sharing my ideas and many questions of an established community of thinkers and practitioners. However, the more I participated the more I felt confident and like I had something to contribute. I found some fellow Australians in the community and exchanged hellos which definitely contributed to my sense of belonging and value – by the end of the day I felt part of a global community of critical pedagogues which is something I had not felt before.
I saw that the site is a place where much sharing occurs about ideas in the area of critical pedagogy and where research in the area is encouraged. People share their reflections on practice and ideas on current issues which are of concern to critical thinkers – it was great to see my fellow Antipodes presenting a critical view of Australia – its politics of oppression and what is being done to challenge such structures.
The community definitely satisfied my need to connect with like minded educators and critical thinkers and activists and felt elated to read that others share the same concerns for social justice within the field of education. Many of the contributions come from people that are very well versed in critical pedagogy and are highly sophisticated in their arguments and thoughts. I really enjoyed that kind of engagement and look forward to more. I found the referencing of ideas to be very useful to my further research in the area and went of on some every interesting side trips like seeing videos on Avenue Q which I had not heard of before.
The founder of the community Joe Kincheloe has sadly died last December and I feel he was key to keeping the dialogue flowing and encouraging people to contribute to the community. I wonder whether his passing will have a negative impact on the continuation or further learning in this community.
I am keen to continue my participation in the community to see how people learn – that is – do people reflect their learning in the community? Is it evident when someone learns by being a member of this community? I think that more active participation by members helps the learning of others because the interaction in crucial to the learning (Saunders 2000, Conford 1999). I am finding that if the original blogger does not respond the learning can be truncated – will explore this further as time goes by.
To finish off I am still thinking about the framework with which I will be able to analyse learning in this community but I am finding that to be a complicated decision as I think learning is a dynamic process that defines one particular theory. So I leaning towards blending a few theories and applying them to my experience in the Freire Project.
References
Nonnecke, B. and Peerce, J. (2000) Silent Participants; Getting to know Lurkers Better? Chapter 6. pp. 110-132. In. From Usenet to CoWebs. Available online: http://www.cis.uoguelph.ca/~nonnecke/research/silentparticipants.pdf. Accessed on 2 April 2009.
Gulati, S. (2004) Constructivism and emerging online learning pedagogy: a discussion for formal to acknowledge and promote the informal, Annual Conference of the Universities Association for Continuing Education. Available online: http://leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00003562.htm, Accessed on 3rd April 2009.
Williams, C. (2002) Learning online: a review of recent literature in a rapidly expanding field, Journal of Further and Higher Education, vol. 26, No. 3.
Siemes, G. (2008) New structures and spaces for learning; The systemic impcat of connective knowledege, connectivism and networked learning, Available online: http://www.connectivism.ca/. Accessed on 3rd April 2009.
