Technology Enhanced Learning Experiences developed using anchored instruction in the Jasper Series, Scaffolded Knowledge Integration in WISE, Learning for Use in My World and T-GEM in Chemland place importance on the social construction of knowledge, but collaborative opportunities to build collective understanding are primarily dependent on the instructional strategies used to integrate these activities. With each of the TELEs investigated earlier, interactions and collaboration between students were set to occur either asynchronously and/or in virtual or actual spaces outside of the technology in question. Online networked communities, on the other hand, are inspired by shared experiences designed to cultivate the collaborative construction of meaning and emphasize the advantages of a collective experience.
Immersing students in a virtual learning environment presents a teacher with the opportunity to encourage and develop a learning community that can tackle authentic and real-world issues while stepping out of a traditional direct instructional role to one focused on facilitating guided participation. Networked communities by nature exude diversified expertise which if supported successfully will strengthen the emerging community of practice that builds on the concept that “learning does not belong to individual persons, but to the various conversations” students are a part of (McDermott in Murphy, 1999). Teachers must be prepared to shift their role to become “a broker” linking the learning community to external resources that become integral components of the learning process. While teacher interference and omnipotent supervision can threaten the community, instructors must also realize that their presence is essential as students develop their collaboration and communication skills through their interactions with each other, the teacher, and the educational material. Winn, Stahr, Sarason, Fruland, Oppenheimer, & Lee (2005) and Spicer & Stratford (2001) stress that in any classroom situation the teacher’s role impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of learning and that “changing students’ conceptions cannot work without instructional support” (Winn et al., 2005). Whether it’s to help students acquire necessary background information, creatively invite student participation, or strategically provide guidance related to curricula or the online experience, teachers are critical factors in making networked communities viable.
The more authentic a learning experience is, the more present students are, and the more they learn. Traditionally, in the classroom it’s assumed that learning “has a beginning and an end; that it is separated from the rest of our activities; and that it is the result of teaching” (Wenger, 1998). This perception emphasizes explicit and codeified knowledge over tacit knowledge and places greater emphasis on student’s ability to understand concepts within a classroom context instead of developing their adaptive expertise that will enable them to apply these skills in the future in the outside world. Using networked communities to connect globally with experts in various fields of math and science, other classrooms and each other to learn about and solve real world issues authenticates the learning process and makes “life itself … the main learning event” (Wenger, 2000) facilitating greater possibilities for transfer.
Sound pedagogy must accompany the integration of virtual environments and their networked communities into classrooms. As Spicer & Stratford (2001) point out, incorporating these as “replacements for ‘real’ field work on purely managerial, timetabling, and/or economic grounds is a flawed one” and will likely be fraught with frustration. Successful implementation is about more than using the technology – it involves a potential shift in mind set about the roles technology and the teacher play in learning. Virtual field trips and other simulated environments need to be used strategically to complement “real” field trips or uncover phenomena not available to students by other means. These experiences can expose students to a bigger picture of an environment or issue that may be more difficult for students to piece together on their own. They can be used to visualize “information in ways that students in the field cannot see … [or] can only be inferred indirectly in the field from instruments” (Winn et al., 2005) and afford explanatory opportunities to supplement descriptive visualizations to deepen understanding of phenomena. Condensing real-world experiences into virtual ones can limit the amount of information students need to process reducing potential cognitive overload and increasing abstraction, and in turn help students strengthen their background knowledge and associated schema to prepare them for field experience. Since “it is axiomatic that relevant prior knowledge or experience increases student learning” (Winn, 2005), using authentically designed virtual experiences can enrich conceptualization by enhancing preparations for experiences in the real world. When students can connect to prior knowledge the depth of their understanding increases as they are provided with subsequent opportunities to engage in reflective practice and draw inferences within new “real” contexts. Consequently, networked communities are most valuable to the learning process when they are designed to add depth to student understanding and are supported by meaningful pedagogical approaches in the math and science classroom that do not take away from opportunities to participate in real-world experiences.
image: Spider Web by xJason.Rogersx released under a CC Attribution license
References
Murphy, P. (ed.) (1999) Learners, Learning and Assessment, London: Paul Chapman. See, also, Leach, J. and Moon, B. (eds.) (1999) Learners and Pedagogy, London: Paul
Spicer, J., & Stratford, J. (2001). Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field trip. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 345-354.
Wenger, E. (2007). Communities of practice–A brief introduction. http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge – Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html
Winn, W., Stahr, F. Sarason, C., Fruland, R., Oppenheimer, P., & Lee, Y-L. (2006). Learning oceanography from a computer simulation compared with direct experience at sea. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(1), 25-42.