learning is socially constructed

Sometimes new teaching and learning tools need new theory. In one view the knowledge is an item to be passed on to others, their head is to be filled by tutor's input. Cartesian knowledge. In another view knowledge is created by the individual by discussing and sharing in social learning.Today's post is from Seeley Brown's work.I have referenced in text, referenced a web page and plagiarised.
“The most profound impact of the Internet… is its ability to support and expand the various aspects of social learning”. “Attention has moved from access to information towards access to other people”. “Web2.0 blurs the boundaries between the producers and consumers of content”. (Seely Brown, 2008)
John Seeley Brown ,amongst many ,commented on the use of students connecting  in his paper Minds on Fire (http://www.johnseelybrown.com/mindsonfire.pdf), saying in the future of colleges and Higher education is not to continue filling up courses with set papers and readings.That is why i have encouraged the  students to blog ,so that the individuals will be able to belong to an eco system that enable equal opportunities because they can find whatever makes sense to them.A  variety of perspectives can be shown on individual blogs that are joined together inside a see "wall" and the tools on the web will allow learners freedom to source or find , use and reinterpret knowledge in ways that make sense to them. "Compelling evidence for the importance of social interaction to learning comes from the landmark study by Richard J. Light, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, of students’ college/ university experience. Light discovered that one of the strongest determinants of students’ success in higher education— more important than the details of their instructors’ teaching styles—was their ability to form or participate in small study groups. Students who studied in groups, even only once a week, were more engaged in their studies, were better prepared for class, and learned significantly more than students who worked on their own.6"
I like this piece of how group work theory research has been built up so i have copied it all so i don't loose it . I know its not proper referencing but plagiarism  ..Richard J. Light, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001). For a summary of Light’s research, see Richard Light, “The College Experience: A Blue- print for Success,” <http://athome.harvard.edu/ programs/light/index.html>. An earlier, though more focused, contribution to our appreciation of the power of group study was provided by Uri Tre- isman more than twenty years ago. As a graduate student at UC-Berkeley in the late 1970s, Treisman worked on the poor performance of African- Americans and Latinos in undergraduate calculus classes. He discovered the problem was not these students’ lack of motivation or inadequate prepa- ration but rather their approach to studying. In contrast to Asian students, who, Treisman found, naturally formed “academic communities” in which they studied and learned together, African- Americans tended to separate their academic and social lives and studied completely on their own. Treisman developed a program that engaged these students in workshop-style study groups in which they collaborated on solving particularly challeng- ing calculus problems. The program was so suc- cessful that it was adopted by many other colleges. See Uri Treisman, “Studying Students Studying Calculus: A Look at the Lives of Minority Math- ematics Students in College,” College Mathematics Journal, vol. 23, no. 5 (November 1992), pp. 362–72, <http://math.sfsu.edu/hsu/workshops/treisman .html>.

adapting, creating,contributing and connecting

NEWS FLASH Collaborative learning is different to collective learning. I am working in a blended fashion with degree students helping them to create blogs  to solve problems and share informal links to complete formal education tasks . The first year child studies are excellent at keeping them going so far.They are using their collections to discuss and comment on an authentic task (the module) and social problems (getting finances and enrolments sorted).The work they do  is a good example of when openness helps students to create knowledge .In the groups the blogs are only available within the institution not truly open on the whole net. The good stuff cannot be added to by communities across the world so this limits the debate. The trouble with setting the blogs in an open world would add to concerns from students about being public ,on show.Not every student wants to connect. not every student wants to consume so much knowledge ,so much reading ,so much contributing and so many actions towards collective learning . It is considered by some so much easier to read a book and create their own project. Finding , consuming and creating takes so much time so some have to be convinced to blog and some will never accept blogging as a tool.Having said that all visit and read other's blogs not wishing to be left in the dark about the conversations.
Tutors have to browse through blog posts and to encourage this there needs to be encouragement and incentives. Tutors are also busy people and i find i am not joined by other staff.some students wonder why write them if the tutor does not read them but i suggest tutors do not have to be the audience .In the blogs there is always recognition for a prolific blogger as other students like to follow them and they get a "readership" a good following.

#change11 what binds a group and makes them blog?

This week i started a new group of learners on the foundation degree for young people and the community.They had never blogged and were rightly worried and concerned about their privacy . Once settled the group members started attaching articles and posting them to offer knowledge to the network . The relationship between the individual and the group has to be developed so they can complete their projects. This led me to reflect on the notion we interact around the social objects we stick onto blogs. The forces that makes people blog are to provide relevant "stuff" for the learning goals.(the project).

Further reading:

Knorr-Cetina, K (2001) Objectual Practice. In Schatzki, T. R., Knorr-Cetina, K., & Savigny, E. V. (Eds). The practice turn in contemporary theory. p175-188  Routledge. Retrieved from Retreived from: http://kops.ub.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/handle/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-opus-81918/kcobjectualpractice.pdf?sequence=1

Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., & Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Models of Innovative Knowledge Communities and Three Metaphors of Learning. Review of Educational Research, 74(4), 557-576. AERA. Retrieved fromhttp://rer.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.3102/00346543074004557

#change11 change.mooca.ca

 I am still working on blogging with the degree students and hope this new massive on line course will add to my discourse for the write up of my PhD. Hand in March 2012 ,first viva done. Thedraft schedule is available here.

If you're interested in participating, please register for the course. More information is available on the course site.