Month: June 2012

A few thoughts regarding the intricacies of CMC.
Even before I had finished the assigned reading this week, I had some conflicting thoughts about the success of a CMC learning environment. Specifically, how successful it would be for a group of learners that I have had the opportunity to work with for the majority of my career – First Nations students.
The reading does identify some “must haves” for a successful CMC but is quick to also admit that the research about the success of CMC is in the fledgling stages. The authors identify the three essential elements and further surmise that there has to be a strong, dynamic relationship between the three for it to be a successful combination. However I can’t help but still wonder, does it work for every student of every age category/computer experience level, or is it really only truly affective for digital natives or those extremely well versed in virtualism?
The authors further posit that spoken and written language have different impacts on our thinking. Which leads me to question if this is a blanket statement that applies to all cultures – again specifically to groups that have not had a traditional written language? And is there any further research to identify the differences between marginalized and non-marginalized peoples in a CMC environment? My question would be is the emotional experience which so often accompanies a traditional First Nation learning environment (and is often absent as well in mainstream education) even more distant/silent in a CMC learning situation?
So putting aside my thoughts about the group of students to find the most success with CMC, when I reflect on the type of activity that would best be supported by CMC I feel that project-based learning would find the most achievement with CMC learning. This would be due to the ability for strong, active participation by members in a group project that is conducted in a virtual, asynchronous manner.
I keep coming back to the same thought – that a highly effective CMC environment can only be constructed with a specific subsect of learners. Those that have a strong background in the material, are mature, have experience in a relevant discipline and some previous experience with working in a virtual environment. And the research should direct some effort to looking at which type of learner finds the most success in a CMC environment.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

Co-operative versus group learning
Initially, I had thoughts about identifying the similarities/differences between group and co-operative learning. Then as I finished the readings and remembered all the activities in my classroom that I had thought were legitimate co-operative learning experiences and it turns out they probably were not, I changed my mind and decided to go with the What-Cooperative-Learning-Is-Not approach vs. the What-Group-Learning-Is-Not approach to my reflection.
Co-operative learning is not
• A learning experience where students are in a group to complete any old task
• A day when the teacher still lectures on the topic and then puts the students into groups to answer questions till the end of class
• A competition amongst students in a group format
• An activity where kids pick their own groups to work in to complete the activity during a class
• An activity where there is only a group mark assigned and no individual accountability
• An endeavour that has insignificant student interaction (like the divide the task and conquer approach)
• Just having a class discussion on a topic
• Completing any task with a well-defined problem – such as a chemistry lab
• A class based activity where students share ideas in a group and report back to the teacher
• The completion of a learning task without significant use of social/mediated/community skills by the students
As to what group learning encompasses, flip any of these statements into a “What does group learning involve” and almost all of them will become affirmation points. I am slightly humbled by my ignorance as to what legitimate co-operative learning is in actuality. And it makes me smile a little bit because earlier this week, on National Aboriginal Day, I learned that in the Nlaka’pamux language instead of saying “I don’t know that”…. they say “that is not in my knowledge yet.” A saying that applies quite well to my new understanding of co-operative vs. group-learning experiences.

Guanghai, Hou. The Relationship between co-operative learning and academic achievement in English.
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