12.30.2010

Should the Door be Closed or Open: Thoughts on the Social Learning and Reflection Continuum

I have been doing some more reflecting on the Social Learning and Reflection Continuum. This reflection includes both social reflection (mostly via Twitter) and self-reflection. Part of it includes how the continuum fits in with other continuums and does the Social Learning and Reflection Continuum really make sense? I created the diagram below to see what would happen if I changed it and how other forms of learning fit in. If you click the diagram it will bring up a larger diagram in a new window:

Hydra Theory of Learning

In the diagram I replaced the Social Learning and Reflection Continuum with Social Learning and Achorite. This was mostly because of some tweets with Marcia Conner (@marciamarcia) where she thought that Solitude should be on the opposite side of Social Learning. I did not really like that word so I used the term anchorite, which in part means “rural countryside” in order to contrast it to social, as meaning village or town” (e.g. it takes a village or number or people).

NOTE: While the opposite ends of the various continuums discussed below may be a choice of one or the other, they are more often shades of various degrees and/or combinations. That is, don't just look at the ends, but also picture a wide rage of possibilities inside of them.

The Door

Door: Open or Shut?

I had the thought, “What is the real purpose of the continuum? Is it to count the number of people involved? Or does it have a deeper meaning.” Then I remembered of what I read when the physicist Freeman Dyson commented on the subject. He noted that when writing, he closes the door, but when doing science, he leaves it open. This is because when writing you need to perform deep reflective thoughts, but when doing science you welcome being interrupted because it is only by interacting with other people that you get anything interesting done.

Thus it is not really about the number of people involved in the learning episode, but rather, do you welcome the thoughts of others or do you need to sort out your thoughts and ideas without being interrupted? Counting the number of people in a learning episode does not make sense as it sort of like counting the number of seats in formal learning — who cares? The real purpose is do you need to discuss ideas with others or do you need to sort ideas, order them, toss out invalid ones, etc. within your own mind.

So I named this continuum “the door” – do you need it open or shut during a specific point when learning? And of course you may decide to choose a combination and have Social Reflection — engaging with others in a way that encourages talking with, questioning, or confronting, to aid the reflective process by placing the learner in a safe environment in which self-revelation can take place.

Thus, I am now sticking with my initial premise that reflection belongs on the same continuum with social learning.

Direction of Control

Direction of Control

David Winter (@davidawinter) thought perhaps that Autonomous should be placed opposite of Social Learning. At first I thought his term was better than Achorite or Solitude. But then I thought some more and decided that Guided Learning was really its opposite, thus in the first diagram above I have them on their own continuum. But when I started to name them, it dawned on me that they had the same purpose as the Formal and Informal Continuum — who controls the learning? Since Autonomous and Guided Learning has slightly more precise meanings than Formal and Informal, I placed them on the inside of the Direction of Control Continuum.

Known or Unknown?

Known or unknown answer

Collaborative Learning is quite similar to cooperative learning in that the learners work together in teams to increase their chance of deeper learning. However, it is a more radical departure from cooperative learning in that there is not necessarily a known answer. For example, trying to determine the answer to "how effective is reflection?" would be collaborative learning as there are a wide ranges of possibilities to this question, depending upon the learners' experiences and perspectives.

Purpose of Learning

Purpose of Learning

I included a Purpose of Learning Continuum as learning normally has a purpose during an informal or formal episode, but often we learn something that was not in the initial plan. However, that learning may prove later to have a real and important purpose.

Processing

Type of Process

The processing continuum is important because it determines how we will learn something. If it is easy to learn, we may only have to listen, observe, feel, etc. But as it becomes more complicated, we need to actually do it. Of course that is not always possible, so between the two ends of the continuum are the various activities that we may practice in order to be able to perform in a real work setting.

Workflow

Workflow

While writing this post, I thought of another learning continuum, workflow — can the learning be embedded within the learner's workflow or does it call for a training process?

Thoughts?

What are your thoughts on these various learning continuums? Are there more? Do these make sense? Please let me know by leaving a comment, Twitter me (I'm @iOPT), or carrying the discussion further on your own blog (send me a tweet so I can RT it).

12.29.2010

The Social Learning and Reflection Continuum

Recently I had a Twitter conversation with Marcia Conner (@marciamarcia), Aaron Silvers (@mrch0mp3rs), and David Winter (@davidawinter) on the subject of reflection. Or more specifically, is reflection on the same continuum as social learning:

social learning and reflection continuum

Being on opposite sides of the continuum does not mean it's one or the other, but rather there are different degrees and combinations of social learning and reflection. The reason I place them on the same learning continuum is that their definitions seem to be just about the opposite (one is performed with others while the other is often performed in one's head):

  • Social Learning: a process of learning caused or favored by people being situated in a common environment and interacting and observing one another. This allows the learners to not only perceive each other for comparison and self-evaluation, but also see others as a neutral source of information, which may help or speed several forms of instrumental learning.
  • Reflection is thinking for an extended period by linking recent experiences to earlier ones in order to promote a more complex and interrelated mental schema. It normally involves looking for:
    • commonalties
    • differences
    • interrelations beyond their superficial elements

The middle of the learning continuum might be termed Social Reflection: engaging with another person in a way that encourages talking with, questioning, or confronting, in order to aid the reflective process by placing the learner in a safe environment in which self-revelation can take place (Hatton, Smith, 1995):

Social Reflection

And of course we can combine the Learning Continuum with other continuums to form a quad:

Social, Reflection, Informal Learning, Formal Learning Tools

Note: examples of tools that promote reflection

How do you view the Social Learning and Reflection Continuum?

12.03.2010

Designing eLearning

A learning methodology is a set of procedures composed of methods, principles, and rules for enhancing individual capacity and performance. Yet, some elearning designers only think of the technology and content, which normally leads to a “page-turning” design — the learner reads what is on the screen and then clicks the next button. While this can bring about knowledge, which is important, the design often fails to follow-up with the next step — performance — having the learners practice the skills in order to master them. While there are a number of means of achieving this, one option is using a design architecture composed of the “Five Types of Content in eLearning” (Clark, Mayer, 2007) and the six categories of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy:

Five Types of Content in eLearning

  • Fact - unique data (e. g., symbols for Excel formula)
  • Concept - a category that includes multiple examples (e. g., Excel formulas)
  • Process - a flow of events or activities (e. g., how a spreadsheet works)
  • Procedure - step-by-step task (e. g., entering a formula into a spreadsheet)
  • Strategic Principle - task performed by adapting guidelines (e. g., doing a financial projection in a spreadsheet)

Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Bloom's Revised Taxonom

Design Architecture Matrix

Putting the above two concepts into a matrix gives us an idea of what type of activities the learners need in order for them to learn the required performance skills. The chart below lists various activities and aids that can help increase the possibility of turning learning into performance. Since the chart will be cut off in the blog, this link will bring up the chart in a new window: eLearning Design Chart.

  Fact Concept Process Procedure Strategic Principle
Remembering
(or being able to locate data by searching)

EPSS or mLearning for finding facts

Multiple choice, puzzles, or Drag and Drop for learning facts

EPSS or mLearning for finding examples

Demonstration

Reading or podcast

Social Learning Media - learning from others

EPSS or mLearning for finding the activities

Social Learning Media - learning from others

Demonstration (rich media)

Reading or podcast

Multiple choice, puzzles,or Drag and Drop for learning the events

EPSS or mLearning for finding the steps

Social Learning Media - learning from others

Demonstration (rich media)

Reading or podcast

Multiple choice, puzzles, or Drag and Drop for learning the steps

EPSS or mLearning for discovering the basic principles

Social Learning Media for discussing principles

Demonstration (rich media)

Reading or podcast

Multiple choice, puzzles, or Drag and Drop for learning the principles

Understanding  

Matched example/non-example pairs

Demonstration

Reading with simple graphics

elearning, EPSS, or mLearning for demonstration (rich media)

Social Learning Media - discussing and sharing

Demonstration

Reading with graphics

Podcasts

elearning, EPSS, or mLearning for demonstration (rich media)

Social Learning Media - discussing and sharing

Demonstration

Reading with graphics

Podcasts

Social Learning Media - discussing and sharing

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Case study followed by questions

Applying  

Case study followed by questions

Drag and Drop or puzzles

Social Learning Media - sharing experiences

Creating wiki entry or blog post

EPSS - list activities

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Social Learning Media - sharing and receiving guidance

Creating wiki entry or blog post

EPSS - list steps

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Social Learning Media - sharing and receiving guidance

Creating wiki entry or blog post

EPSS - list activities

Social Learning Media - sharing and receiving guidance

Creating wiki entry or blog post

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Analyzing  

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Social Learning Media - reflecting and sharing

Matched example/non-example pairs

Social Learning Media - reflecting and sharing

Matched example/non-example pairs

Social Learning Media - reflecting and sharing

Case study followed by questions

Social Learning Media - reflecting and sharing

Evaluating  

Social Learning Media - sharing experiences and creating blog posts

Case study followed by questions

Social Learning Media - sharing experiences and creating blog posts

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Case study followed by questions

Social Learning Media - sharing experiences and creating blog posts

eLearning - Interactive Scenario

Social Learning Media - sharing experiences

Case study followed by questions and blog post or wiki entry

Creating  

Social Learning Media - project interaction (chat, wiki, blog)

Blended Learning - elearning and face-to-face - Action Learning

Social Learning Media - project interaction (chat, wiki, blog)

Blended Learning - elearning and face-to-face - Action Learning

Social Learning Media - project interaction (chat, wiki, blog)

Blended Learning - elearning and face-to-face - Action Learning

Social Learning Media - project interaction (chat, wiki, blog)

What tools are you using to to help ensure your learning platform goes beyond a page-turner?