{"id":484,"date":"2005-05-22T13:23:22","date_gmt":"2005-05-22T21:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrator.rab.olt.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/2005\/05\/article-reflection-supporting-tools\/"},"modified":"2005-05-22T13:23:22","modified_gmt":"2005-05-22T21:23:22","slug":"article-reflection-supporting-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/2005\/05\/article-reflection-supporting-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Article: Reflection Supporting Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"

I came across an article in the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning<\/a> that I thought members of our e-portfolio community might find useful.<\/p>\n

The article, by Seung-hee Lee (Indiana University), is Design and Analysis of Reflection-Supporting Tools in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing I like about this paper is that argues that reflection is not a solitary activity. To me, the implication of this from a software side is that both “individual” and collaborative\/social tools should be included in an e-portfolio system in order to provide a more meaningful experience for e-portfolio owners, and enable deeper reflection.<\/p>\n

My personal experience with this harkens back to the launch of our e-portfolio community of practice in early 2003. I think that was the first time I became conscious of the social aspect of reflection. The activities that Barbara Cambridge engaged us in – cubing, dialogue journaling – underscored the very notion that creating an e-portfolio is a social activity. We learn and hone our understanding of our learning and ourselves by interacting with others.<\/p>\n

So, … about the article:<\/strong>
\nThis short article provides a concise overview, theoretical foundation and design considerations for online environments that support reflection, particularly collaborative reflection. Figure 1<\/a> is a good snapshot of the concepts covered; it links the design principles (facilitating social awareness, thinking visualization, learner discourse, and group meta-cognition) to the components of an environment that support collaborative reflection. The four components include:<\/p>\n

– Group workplace
\n – Reflection journal
\n – Thinking sharing board
\n – Reflective scaffolding<\/p>\n

The research carried out by the author spanned three universities. Learners were placed into three groups: 1) learners that used collaborative reflection-supporting tools; 2) learners that used individual reflection-supporting tools; and 3) learners that used no reflection support.<\/p>\n

The author concludes:<\/p>\n

\n

“…the findings show that reflection-supporting tools have positive impacts on the group performance as well as the perception of learners on collaborative learning. Also, the reflection-supporting tools in CSCL environments were effective and user friendly for group learning.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The observations associated with each of the components provide more context; I believe that members of our community of practice will find pearls of wisdom for their specific contexts and purposes.<\/p>\n

What was my pearl?<\/b>
\nI took to heart the observations related to the comfort level of learners with the tools. From the preface to the discussion of the components:<\/p>\n

\n

“At the beginning, learners with little online group learning opportunities seemed to have psychological and cognitive overload to collaborating online, but they perceived online learning positively as time gradually went by.” <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A few thoughts. ..<\/p>\n

Students are adjusting to number of elements when they go online, with changes in environment and expectations related to (increased) personal responsibility high on the list.<\/p>\n

Collaboration in and of itself is most likely unfamiliar to many, and adding a number of new tools that support activities carried out in new ways….<\/p>\n

It’s not surprising that is daunting!<\/p>\n

The comforting part is the part of the quote that says..<\/p>\n

“..as time gradually went by”.<\/em><\/p>\n

Students did and do adjust, if they are supported through that process, particularly if the instructor provides concrete linkages between the activities and the students’ success in the course.<\/p>\n

This requires that we make conscious decisions about when<\/em><\/strong> and why<\/em><\/strong> we employ tools, and ensure that they support the objectives of the course.<\/p>\n

To me this means a need to think about tools within the context of a program – not just a course (module).<\/p>\n

This leads me to a question about the role of curriculum committees and learning technology decisions. For online programs, I believe the technology decisions are integrated within the discussions. What about “traditional” curriculum committees? Do they also discuss the role of learning technology in the overall curriculum? Is “learner support” a component of this?<\/p>\n

Be interesting to know more about that — sounds like something I need to investigate!<\/p>\n

Id love to hear from our Community of Practice members on this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across an article in the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning that I thought members of our e-portfolio community might find useful. The article, by Seung-hee Lee (Indiana University), is Design and Analysis of Reflection-Supporting Tools in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. One thing I like about this paper is that argues that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/eportfolios\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}