learning background notes

Introduction at the beginning of the class…
The rubrics for individual assignments were discussed at the beginning of class. The specific requirements are found on Blackboard in the folder marked as such but some specific points are to be addressed.
1. The rubric is a starting point, they are the minimum requirements, not the limit of what is expected. Students are expected to perform beyond the scope of those requirements to achieve a superior grade. Try to get out of the “checklist mentality.”
2. The rubrics are negotiable if Dr. Strobel is contacted. The rubrics are intended to be general but the students’ education is not, therefore a rubric could be more specifically arranged.
3. All assignments MUST relate to social computing and if it doesn’t an explanation is required to show how the assignment could be related to social computing.
4. There is no rubric for the project because it is too specific to warrant a generalized rubric.
5. Specific questions asked…
a. Book Review-If you choose to critique a book, make sure it is one that you think you would enjoy. Yes, there could be some critical remarks but it should view the book in a favorable light. If this is not done, it’s not bad, it’s just a waste of your time.
b. Book Review- when you write the book review, try to think of possible publishing as you do so. It is possible to publish book reviews.

Social learning vs. individual learning
1. Salomon and Resnick
a. Content can be learned socially or degrees of social mediation where schools tend to focus on individual attributes. Individual learning could be the cause of the failure of schools because there is a lack of natural social interaction in the learning process.
b. We do have some educational aspects that we always have believed to be individual such as learning styles and creativity

2. Group projects
a. What if students wanted to complete a major task collaboratively, such as a dissertation?
i. Accountability would be a major question, how would one prove their personal contribution?
ii. Employers may wish to see a personal project that had been completed, not with the assistance of a peer. Although, no dissertation is ever done in isolation. Students will always receive the expert advice of their professors.
iii. Part of the purpose of completion of a dissertation is to complete a project from beginning to end, if a student does not know this, there may be a part of the research process that he or she does not learn how to do or gains experience doing. It is true, however, that most projects outside of the dissertation is done in groups. Once in the “real world” employees tend to work in teams.

3. What is social learning?
a. If everything is social, does it loose it’s meaning?
b. Cultural artifacts
i. In a social environment, you don’t always have to directly work with people. Tools were made from former experiences, therefore if you use a tool, you are “working” with an individual from the past that had created it. Tools help man evolve, therefore social learning helps man evolve.
c. Social learning means that the sum of the total is actually greater than adding all the individual efforts. 1+1>2… the purpose exceeds the individual meaning and the society creates its own identity.

4. History of learning epistemology

Behaviorism-
· Empty mind
· Stimulus/ response
· Feedback/ response
· Law of effective
· Conditioning
· Behaviorism teacher is agent

Cognitivism
· Information processes
· Prior knowledge
· Memory
· Cognitivism brain/ mind is agent

Constructivism
· Authentic tasks
· Problem solving
· Participation
· Collaboration
· Experience
· Meaning making
· Constructivism … others, society, person are agents in extreme form
· social constructivism is a form of behaviorism. Social constructivism is conditioning learner

Cognitive constructive
· Build meaning in your head
· Construct in authentic environments

Social constructive
· Construct knowledge with social negotiation


In reality, the evolution of epistemologies of learning is more of a circle than a continuum…. Young indicates to state goals, provide feedback, etc. which is very similar to behaviorism. Young also suggests to change the environment to create one that induces students to embrace the instructor’s learning goals.


Read all of Collaboration folder for next class.