Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001

THE POST-SECONDARY NETWORKED CLASSROOM:
RENEWAL OF TEACHING PRACTICES AND SOCIAL
INTERACTION
Milton Campos
Assistant Professor
Département de communication
Faculté des arts et des sciences
Université de Montréal
C
...
6128, succursale Centre-ville
Montréal - QC - H3C 3J7, Canada
Tel - (514) 343-2066
Fax - (514) 343-2298
E-mail - Milton
...
ca
http://www
...
umontreal
...
htm

Thérèse Laferrière
Professor
Département d’études sur l’enseignement et l’apprentissage
Faculté des sciences de l'éducation
Université Laval, Ste-Foy
Québec - QC - G1K 7P4, Canada
Tel - (418) 656-2131 ext
...
ulaval
...
tact
...
ulaval
...
ca
http://www
...
ca/g_access/harasim
...
Educators are re-discovering collaborative education as they understand
how electronic conferencing can support and empower teaching and learning
...
This article presents the teaching practices of post-secondary educators who integrated
asynchronous electronic conferencing in over one hundred mixed-mode courses at eight North American
institutions between 1996 and 1999
...
Based on the findings, pedagogical approaches for the use of electronic
conferencing are provided, and are grouped according to the level of collaboration
...


KEYWORDS
Networked classroom, collaborative learning, communicative interaction, higher education, online learning,
pedagogy

I
...
While initially delivered by mail, distance
education courses were later enhanced with multimedia
...
With today’s popularization and use of online media and the Internet1 distance
education is rapidly changing
...
Learning networks were defined by Harasim et al
...
4; 14]
...
Networked classrooms are, thus, classrooms with
extended capabilities, wherein asynchronous electronic conferencing is used to build shared collaborative
spaces as a means to achieve set learning goals
...
The mixedmode is a combination of online and regular instructional strategies “in which a significant portion of a faceto-face or distance education class is conducted by e-mail or computer conferencing” [pp
...

Many challenges emerge from this new educational context, carrying with them questions that need to be
answered to advance our knowledge of networked learning processes in post-secondary institutions [19]
...
The authors present the theoretical framework applied, the
method of inquiry and analysis used, and the results achieved
...


II
...
We denote action as the socio-biological
dynamic (structural and functional; phylogenetic and genetic) that is triggered by the physical and symbolic
exchange between subjects, or between subjects and symbolic objects (such as computers, television, radio,
etc
...
Piaget pointed to the importance of action for the development of the
knowing subject [21] [22] [23]
...
Action implies phylogenetic processes that express culture at its highest
level [27]
...
Moreover, educational settings propitiate the emergence of
communities built around consensual social learning practices [28], be those communities traditional (faceto-face) or ones that integrate new technologies such as asynchronous conferencing [3]
...
Rather, cognition is
productive action able to promote structural changes in a system, creating history either by aggregating a
pre-existent world of meanings in continual development or by creating a new one as a result of that history
(enacting theory) [26] [20]
...
By taking activity (an aspect of action) as the focusing point, this model provided the authors with a
guiding theoretical framework for research data analysis at the activity level
...
However, although these
dimensions are useful as an instrumental means to analyze pedagogical processes, they are not presented in
the model as an integrated whole
...
Our working hypothesis is that teachers’ actions in mixed-mode networked courses are
units suitable for analysis to better understand the dynamics of early teaching practices occurring in the
emerging networked classroom
...
In this study, we pay particular attention to the pedagogical action that aims at
building collaborative classrooms through the implementation of networked technologies
...
METHOD
The authors studied mixed-mode courses taught by educators between 1996 and 1999 in eight postsecondary institutions: six in Canada and two in the United States
...
The two American institutions were a Mid-Western and an
Eastern university
...
cs
...
ca/vuweb/VUEnglish/)
...
Instructors used Virtual-U, a web-based virtual learning environment specifically
designed to support knowledge building and collaborative learning [12] [16] , which contains a reliable
state-of-the-art built-in conferencing system
...
2
Thirty-eight instructors taught those courses
...

We prepared and carried out extensive surveys to collect course data from numerous disciplines taught by
the educators
...

Different types of data were collected in order to meet the following specific objectives:
• course syllabi to understand how the courses were conceptualized, structured, and organized;
• in-depth interviews with the educators to assess their experiences: why they decided to teach
online, how they were adjusting to the networked environment and adapting their teaching to it,
what changes they made from traditional face-to-face courses, how they evaluated their own
teaching processes, and to what extent collaboration was intentionally integrated into their
teaching strategies;
• demographics and general information about the online experiences of the educators; and
• analysis of online interaction through conference transcripts
...
Complementary data were used, and
repetitive or inconsistent data were eliminated
...
The results are presented below
...
RESULTS
A
...
Goals, activities and tasks
In this category, the authors examined teaching and learning goals, the activities designed to help ensure
goal achievement, and the tasks through which activities surrounding the use of conferencing were
structured
...
In
relation to activities and tasks, the authors identified a pattern whereby all courses included at least one or
many of the following online activities, and related specific tasks:
• to develop a theme of common interest
• to explore a specific topic
• to answer a question
• to solve a problem through discussion
• to prepare and to work on a project
39

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
• to work on a text (either a text given by an educator or a text created by the participants)
2
...
In the
majority of the courses analyzed, the conferences appear to stem from the core of the teaching and learning
processes
...

The educators organized either general or specific conferences
...
All activities occurred in the same single or root
conference throughout the course, and were independent of the different topics being discussed
...
In this case, a specific activity or task was
usually attached to a specific sub-conference
...
In some instances, educators set up sub-conferences for the exclusive use of
groups independently carrying out the same activity or task
...
Roles
We term role as the function that a) educators used to guide students, and b) students adopted to carry out
activities and tasks organized in or through the conferences
...
In both cases all educators engaged in, at least a minimal level of knowledge sharing or other
collaborative activity
...
Facilitators engage students to discuss and share
contributions, and to guide collective shaping as online conversations deepen
...
In cases where educators used the conferences for publishing, the material
was posted to be shared
...

a
...

Few educators limited themselves to purely observing what was taking place in the conferences
...
Action was
only taken by educators when they observed that discussions were inappropriate to the learning direction
...
They typically guided the ongoing student learning processes reflecting
on student discussions, sharing summaries of contributions, and understanding the discussions for continued
debate
...
They went beyond
moderating the learning process by taking a more participative role through engaging at the substantive level
and becoming, along with their students, knowledge builders
...
6

40

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
b
...
Educators used the virtual learning environment
strictly to publish lessons related to the courses, to provide links to resources, and to share materials
...
Analysis of the data showed that this online “lecturing” role encouraged instructor-student
interaction rather than student-student interaction
...
Rules of participation
The authors term rules of participation as the normative standards established for participation in order to
make clear what activities had to be carried out, how they had to be organized, through which tasks, when,
why, by whom, and where participants were expected to act
...
Some rules of
participation were specifically defined, wherein interaction was controlled, while others were unrestricted
wherein educators allowed students to create and/or propose their own rules of participation
...
The pedagogical-action clusters
When addressing the relationships between components of the pedagogical action (goals, activities and
tasks, organization, educators’ and students’ roles, and rules of participation) the authors determined some
patterns related to:
• collaborative and individual work (more collaborative than individually – balanced, and more
individual than collaborative);
• face-to-face and online activities/ tasks (more face-to-face than online, and more online than
face-to-face)
• educators’ online experience (seasoned, experienced, or new)
...
From the multiplicity of possible combinations, the
authors identified the following pedagogical action clusters from the data collected: (1) stand-alone specific
activities, (2) collaborative learning projects, (3) simulation activities, (4) theme development, text
structuring, and case studies, (5) network-enhanced lecture, (6) networked-enhanced seminar, and (7)
networked-enhanced teaching practicum
...
Stand-alone specific activities
Stand-alone specific activities are defined as conferencing used for specific networked activities such as
online reading and knowledge sharing, group production of virtual objects, Internet search, collective
multimedia projects, etc
...
Face-to-face and/or online
as well as individual and collaborative activities were well balanced
...

2
...
Activities and
tasks evolved in and through online discussions (e
...
, the planning and implementation of the projects)
...
Online individual activities were almost non-existent
...


41

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
3
...
Conferencing was used for the planning, preparation and
implementation of the exercises
...
Data collected showed that only educators applying networked
teaching for the first or the second time proposed simulation-based activities
...
Theme development, text structuring and case study
This cluster groups courses organized around themes, case studies, text production and discussion, readings,
and other written activities that happened, mostly, within online conferences
...
Both first timers as well as more experienced
educators structured their courses in this cluster type
...
Network-enhanced lecture
This cluster groups courses in which, in addition to face-to-face lectures, educators published and provided
links to materials
...
Most activities and tasks were exclusively individual although face-to-face and online
components were relatively balanced
...

6
...

Seminar preparation typically commenced face-to-face while development and closing were completed
through online conferences
...
Most educators were inexperienced and were integrating technology into their teaching for the
first time
...
Networked-enhanced teaching practicum
This cluster groups clinical experiences in which conferences were established for use by student teachers to
support discussions related to learning needs and professional and practicum problems they encountered
...
Most educators had
already taught online, and when new, were mentored by experienced educators
...
Levels of collaboration
We identified three general levels of collaboration in the clusters by combining the results of the interviews
and the detailed analysis of a sampling of online conference transcripts (see Figure 1)
...
Vague
The most vague demonstration of collaboration was found in the most conventional cluster: lecture-based
combined with networked activities
...
For
example: a geography course in a mid-western Canadian university in which the professor taught his course
face-to-face, and set up a VGroups conference only with the purpose of making available resources such as

42

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
links to appropriate web sites, course notes, and messages with information concerning assignments and
related tasks
...

2
...
These clusters were based on theme development, text structuring and case studies, teaching
practica, and networked-enhanced seminars
...
In these clusters, the concept of collaboration could be more closely
identified to the definition of cooperation (etymological meaning of the Latin word cooperatio) meaning
acting together
...
For example: an
education course in an Eastern American university in which students were invited to participate voluntarily
in online discussions about pedagogical subjects related to a number of activities happening during face-toface encounters
...

3
...
The concept of
collaboration developed in the networked-class dynamics was similar to the meaning of collaboration,
(etymological meaning of the Latin word collaborare) denoting working together
...
Students were given fictitious problematic business scenarios during face-to-face
meetings that had to be solved through online discussions
...

It is note-worthy that a relationship existed between levels of collaboration and educators’ experience in a
networked classroom
...
Nonetheless, it was evident that educators without online
experience organized activities that applied only minimal collaboration activities
...


These levels of collaboration also reflect the concepts or thoughts voiced by the interviewed educators as it
relates to their definition of collaboration in educational settings
...
Few educators intentionally set up activities based on the belief that collaboration
would enhance learning
...
Consequently, the degree of collaboration was visible within the dynamics of interaction in
the networked classrooms
...
THE NETWORKED CLASSROOM
A
...
This emerging trend offers new ways of addressing
the place for learning technologies in education
...
g
...

The notion of the networked classroom warrants clarification as the term is typically applied according to
pedagogical and technological contexts that are not always consistent
...
, need to be considered
...
In other words, social
interaction is enhanced by the integration of conferencing
...


44

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
This definition, therefore, forms the basis for a proposed model representing an integrative vision for
teaching and learning in the networked classroom
...
This model supports the importance of assisting educators in
designing collaborative mixed-mode environments by including ALN asynchronous learning networks that
enhance both their teaching practices and student learning
...
”
The cognitive structures resulting from organic brain processes are necessary but not sufficient to explain
the emergence of actions in a dynamic situation such as pedagogical communication
...
Interacting with the world, including online
interaction, implies a dynamic symbolic flexibility that has a logical dimension (neural systems) as well as a
meaning dimension (symbolic historical contents of the individual’s life that are “printed in” neural
systems)
...
The resulting symbolic configurations triggered by these
systems directly correspond to “knowledge building,” the intentional process [24] of the subjects in their
attempts to “make sense” of given content (understood here as interdependence of intentionalities [25]), to
solve both well- and ill-defined problems, making use of procedures being taught or already learned, and the
several semiotic levels of the meanings built in a lifetime through language [26]
...

The concept of cognitive structures implies that the subjects’ actions are at the center of the knowing
process, not the object of knowledge
...
Knowledge construction
together with knowledge building enables and is enabled by the use of technology
...
It responds to man’s intentional expression needs of going through the creative
reproductive paths of the writing process
...
The
resulting shared object of knowledge then shapes the subject’s symbolic behavior in a continued and
constitutive process
...
This notion bases intentional pedagogical actions, that is, the establishment of goals, activities,
tasks, organization, and attribution of roles and rules to be consensually agreed upon by the learning
partners
...


45

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001

Figure 2 - The networked classroom
...
Sphere B represents the different responses from students to both the educator and one
another
...
It is, however, the level of collaboration triggered by the pedagogical action that
defines a networked classroom
...
The
level of collaboration propitiated by the actions of the educators in a networked classroom is elevated
through their ability to create, implement, and nurture an effective learning environment
...

Different types of networked classrooms are presented below
...

The closer that the students are positioned in a given mixed-mode setting, the stronger the level of
collaboration is likely to be
...


B
...
This classification captures the way in which the majority of
educators set up their learning space in order to achieve their pedagogical goals, and also corresponds to the
levels of collaboration identified (vague, modest and strong)
...
Of the courses analyzed, pedagogical action in this classification satisfied
only a primary level of knowledge sharing
...
It is therefore
inherent that in this type of networked classrooms, a collaborative knowledge-building environment is not
being provided to students
...


The spheres represent classroom members interacting episodically online (purple) and face-to-face (blue) in
a group that is not very engaged in common activities
...
Networked classrooms of this type embody
pedagogical actions that trigger knowledge exchange through conferencing yet without a strong
commitment to knowledge sharing and negotiation of meanings
...


The spheres represent students' integration of online (purple) and face-to-face (blue) components more
consistently
...

The Net-workshop is the type of networked classroom that uses collaborative virtual spaces for social
learning and knowledge building
...


Figure 5 - The Net-workshop: strong collaboration
...
The group interacts in both online
(purple) and face-to-face (blue) activities through the conferencing system, and its thought sharing
possibilities are at its center
...
It is the opinion of the
authors that while none of the above types of networked classrooms reached through this study should be
deemed as superior, the Net-workshop is the one in which educators can take full advantage of networked
technologies to enhance and advance online teaching and learning
...
CONCLUSION
By presenting the data collected, our study highlights a move from peripheral-collaborative to basiccollaborative activities occurring in the classroom
...
Indeed,
results point to a re-discovery of the art of teaching with the support of new technologies
...

The study shows that even the most individualized activity presents a minimal level of collaboration
...

This study also demonstrates the correlation between the collaborative pedagogical action cluster chosen by
educators and their online teaching experiences
...

It is worth noting that the degree of collaboration depends largely on the ability of educators to respond to
the requirements of the newborn knowledge society in the process of intertwining practice and pedagogical
ideas through networking [5] [12] [1] [6]
...

Such research results, however, are not always evident to those working within the confines of institutional
walls
...
They showed interest in studies summarizing mixed-mode experiences
in post-secondary institutions that could provide guidance, new ideas, and an understanding of this emerging
teaching mode
...

This study strongly suggests that the pedagogical possibilities of conferencing are immense, as shown by the
variety of pedagogical-action clusters identified
...
Moreover, we suggest that conferencing systems are being increasingly
seen as communication systems able to enhance collaborative knowledge sharing
...

Finally, this study shows that educators are learning how to integrate networked activities through applying
and transferring their face-to-face expertise into the online environment
...
They can be applied in a number of
educational mixed-mode contexts that include ALN – asynchronous learning networks
...


VII
...
The authors wish to thank the professors who collaborated with this research, Dr
...
Jean Benoit (Université Laval), and
to Valerie Gafka (TeleLearning NCE) for editorial contributions
...
REFERENCES
1
...
, & Riel, Teacher professionalism, school work culture and the emergence of
constructivist-compatible pedagogies, Proceedings of AERA Conference, Montréal, 1999
...
crito
...
edu/tlc/findings/special_report2/

2
...
K
...
, Designing educational technology: Computer-mediated change
...
A
...
), Context and Consciousness: Activity theory and human-computer interaction, The MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA, 123-146, 1996
...
Benoit, J
...

4
...
& Scardamalia, M
...
In Olson, D
...
and Torrance, N
...
), The
handbook of education and human development: New models of learning, teaching, and schooling,
Basil Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, in press
...
Bracewell, R
...
, Benoit, J
...
, & Laferrière, T
...
Ottawa: Industry Canada,
SchoolNet, 1998
...
tact
...
ulaval
...
html
6
...
J
...
, & Le Maistre, C
...
In B
...
Shore, M
...
Aulls, M
...
B
...
G
...
),
Inquiry: Where ideas come from and where they lead, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ,
2000
...
mcgill
...
pdf
7
...
S
...
, The social life of information, Boston, Harvard Business School Press
...

8
...
T
...

9
...
N
...


50

JALN, Volume 5, Issue 2 – September 2001
10
...
N
...
http://imej
...
edu/articles/2000/2/04/index
...
Campos, M
...
, Conditional reasoning: A key to assessing computer-based knowledge-building
communication processes, Journal of Universal Computer Science, 4, 4, 404-428, 1998
...
iicm
...
htm

12
...
N
...
Virtual-U: results and challenges of unique field trials, The
Technology Source, 6, 1999
...
unc
...
asp
13
...
, & Engestrom, Y
...
In G
...
), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations, University Press,
Cambridge, 1-47,1993
...
Harasim, L
...
, Online education: an environment for collaboration and intellectual amplification
...
M
...
), Online education: perspectives on a new environment, Praeger, New York,
39-66, 1990
...
Harasim, L
...
R
...
, Learning networks: A field guide to teaching
and learning online, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995
...
Harasim, L
...

http://computer
...
htm

17
...
, Breuleux, A
...
, & Baker, P
...
http://www
...
fse
...
ca/ang/html/pdmodels
...
Laferrière, T
...
& Campos, M
...
L'apprentissage en réseau, une réalité
pédagogique à définir, Proceedings of the Colloquium Initi@tives99: vers un enseignement
égalitaire [Initi@tives99: Towards an egalitarian education], News Brunswick, 27-30 August, 1999
...
aupelf-uref
...
Palloff, R
...
, & Pratt, K
...

20
...
Biologie et connaissance
...

21
...
, La naissance de l’intelligence chez l’enfant [The origin of intelligence in the child],
Delachaux et Niestlé, Nêuchatel-Paris, 1977
...
Piaget, J
...
(Original work published 1936)
23
...
,La formation du symbole chez l’enfant : imitation, jeu et rêve, image et répresentation
[Plays, dreams and imitation in childhood], Delachaux et Niestlé, Nêuchatel-Paris, 1976
...
Scardamalia, M
...
, Computer support for knowledge-building communities, The
Journal of the Learning Sciences, 3 (3), 265-283, 1994
...
Varela, F
...
, The specious present: a neurophenomenology of time consciousness
...
J
...
, and Roy, J
...
, Naturalizing phenomenology
...

26
...
J
...
(Original work published 1988)
27
...
S
...
S
...
Rieber and Aaron S
...
Bruner), Vol
...

28
...
, Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 1998
...
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Milton Campos is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication of the Université de Montréal
...
His present
research interests are: socio-cognitive theories of hypermedia and multimedia communication; discourse
analysis of communicative interaction in networked communities (learning communities, communities of
practice and communities of interest), and software development of asynchronous multimedia conferencing
systems
...
She is currently the leader of the research theme "Educating the
Educators" within the TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence
...
Her research activities focus on teacher-student(s) interactions and
peer interactions in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary networked classrooms
...
She has produced three widely recognized books on
online learning: Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment (1990), Global Networks:
Computers and International Communications (1995), and Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching
and Learning Online co-authored with Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Lucio Teles, and Murrary Turoff (1995)
...

1

The first networking experiences go back to the 60s in the United States; the early availability of e-mail in the mid-70s
provided some enhancement on the level of exchange; computer-supported conferencing was incorporated to
instruction in the 80s [14]; but only in the 90s did networks become visible as web-based communication
...
Features include course management, instructor-student and student-student communication,
teaching and learning resources, and also other tools (See http://virtual-u
...
sfu
...
The software
was developed by the Virtual-U Research Project as part of Canada’s TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence
(See http://www
...
ca)
...
(See http://www
...
com)
...
This technique identifies configurations of meanings in the threaded conversation through meaning
implications, aiming to understand how learners build upon the contributions of others
...
In other words, we look for the chains of conditional
statements linking different messages through common meanings, and then try to identify the main themes
(configurations of meanings) of the online communication exchange and knowledge building (see [9], [10], and [11])
...

5
In some few courses professors used conferencing as a publishing tool for informing students about deadline for
assignments and other course related activities, and for providing links to interesting websites (see below)
...


52



---