Month: May 2010

Who’s Taming Who?

Terrie Lynn Thompson discussed her paper, Who’s taming who? Tensions between people and technologies in cyberspace communities. She used Actor Network Theory (ANT) for her work, especially through the work of Latour and John Law. Networked include people, objects, ideas, and practices. From this perspective, she studied numerous participants, such as people, blogs, and even the delete button. She interviewed these objects in her study, both human as well as  non-human. I am not entirely clear how she did this (how do you interview a delete button?), though she mentioned this is basically another paper out there and from what I understand, actor network theory is quite complex and not easily explainable to the newbie.

This presentation is clear that I need to read more about actor network theory, as many of the specifics were lost on me (that very same newbie). Terrie seemed quite animated and confident in her work, and this leads me to believe that this research may not be available to a novice (me), without an extensive background in this area.

Small world; Terrie was in one of my presentations on critical human resource development (HRD) several years ago at another conference. Yes, very small world.

The Web of Identity

Marguerite Koole from Athabasca and Lancaster Universities is presenting her paper, The Web of Identity: Selfhood and Belonging in Online Learning. She did a distance-learning master’s degree, and she felt disconnected with her faculty there, without any face-to-face engagement. She experienced few ah-ha moments within the required discussion forums. She did not relate to other  students in the program, and as a result of not feeling connected and engaged, she began exploring identity and how the individual differentiates between the self and other.

Her work around identity was influenced by Ricoeur (1992), Mead (1934), Ferreday, Jones, and Hodgson (2006). She was also interested in impressions management from Goffman (1959) and also saw Foucault’s work on the technologies of the self. She then demonstrated how these issues from Goffman could be interpreted through a Foucauldian lens, and then presented her Web of Identity Model. She includes an element of Cognitive Resonance component, which is an individual’s identityt as reflected or refracted through the strategies with the final goals to achieve a comfortable level of resonance and harmony.

There were numerous implications for learning, and it will be intersting to see how this model develops over time. I think that the follow-up questions at the end, many of which were very theoretical, demonstrates how rich this area may be.

Reading screens: A critical visual analysis

Nice to see Zoe Williamson and Jen Ross speaking again, this time about WebQuest projects in schools as part of a joint national museum initiative. Great to hear about Webquests again, as I recall using these a number of years ago when I taught high school.

The WebQuests in this project included developing critical thinking and interpreting skills using resources from at least 3 of the partner museums. These are not value-neutral exercises (after all, what education is devoid of some values or another?), and they are based on deep assumptions around teaching and learning. Since some of the websites were not even accessible via some of the schools they worked with, the researchers referred to this as irelated to ssues of control, restraint, and surveillance.

They were able  to show us an example of a WebQuest from the Wallace Collection. The pages were colorful and framed clearly to direct what student learners should do and where they should go next. It is instructor-focused, with clear instructions for the students to follow. There were no examples of Web 2.0 or learner-focused screens or locations. They then demonstrated a possibility for how these WebQuests can be redesigned to be more consistent with their own experience as being more open-ended and student-focused. As a former instructional (learning designer, I always find this sort of work interesting).

They made a good point about how students continued to click ahead to get to the task they had to accomplish to therefore be complient, and not necessarily engaged in the pages and the learning. Alas, their work demonstrates that while more work and advancement for using technologies in education are increasing, a lot of work still remains to be done.

Jeffrey’s Twitter Updates for 2010-05-04

  • Taking a tour of the #Utzon Center in #Aalborg. He was the architect who designed the opera house in Sydney. #nlc2010 #
  • Glad that my Internet access was restored; have to see which of my brief offline posts from earlier today I can still publish #nlc2010 #
  • I try hard not to say anything critical on Twitter or my blog during a conference , though sometimes I slip (or so have been told) #nlc2010 #
  • Interesting way of showing how various theories informed Design Dialogue questions – list the questions, and use references #nlc2010 #
  • Interesting way of showing how various theories informed Design Dialogue questions – list the questions, and use references #ncl2010 #
  • When we learn and then go home, we have experienced change and learning, though our home is still the same. #nlc2010 #
  • Attending Jen Ross's presentation that focuses around blogging. Interested to see her Reference list #nlc2010. #
  • Interesting website about shared thinking http://sharedthinking.info/ from this session now #nlc2010. #
  • Shared Thinking session-individual writes concerns, small group discussion, list construction, voting, whole group view, responses nlc2010 #
  • Like clockwork, my Internet access resumed at 4:00 this afternoon. Yes, @czernie I am considering a conspiracy theory. #nlc2010 #
  • Listening to Robin Yap and Joost Robben present on leveraging social learning technologies in corporate environments. #nlc2010 #
  • Great Prometheus cartoon to demonstrate a WIIFM. #nlc2010 #
  • Great Prometheus cartoon to demonstrate a WIIFM? #
  • Always interested in the possibilities for next steps in research. #nlc2010 #
  • Interesting chart to demonstrate a Life Cycle of Network Activities, which may lead to potential next steps. #nlc2010 #
  • Watching a presentation that discussed networked learning stages from Bateson and Engstrom's work. #nlc2010 #
  • Giving up on accessing the Internet. Person at the desk tried, failed, and shrugged. Where is a good network cable when I need one! #nlc2010 #
  • We got a wonderful USB memory stick with all the conference presentations on them. Quite enviro friendly and useful all at once #nlc2010 #
  • If you ask different questions, you get different network structures. Good point. #nlc2010. #
  • If SNA maps are used for much more, can they stifle discussion by over simplifying complex relationships? #nlc2010 #
  • I like the idea of using social network analysis maps as a discussion starter. nlc2010. #
  • Some excellent uses of network maps in a social network analysis presentation. #nlc2010 #
  • Somebody just asked about how social network analysis (SNA) is related to learning. Helpful follow-up question about context then #nlc2010 #
  • Ran out of chairs, so sitting on the floor. Chairs then came, but I am already comfortable. #nlc2010 #
  • This first room is completely full #nlc2010. Good sign for a session. #
  • Just getting to the sessions at #nlc2010. Alas, the sessions are a bit backed up and it was a bit unclear where the rooms were. #
  • You have to rub people's nose in contradictions at times. I loved Wenger's reply to it. #nlc2010 #
  • Gale Parchoma is asking about CoPs and contradictions. They do seem full of them at times, as Wenger describes. #nlc2010 #
  • Yrjo Engstrom sounds better now; his voice sounded a bit scratchy (sick?) earlier. Been there; not fun. #nlc2010 #
  • Please speak the questions into the mic. #nlc2010 #
  • My gods, what are they all talking about? Wonder if I am the only one who does not get the flow of questions now? #nlc2010 #
  • Somebody just embedded several questions into a lecture in the fishbowl. How to respond. Perhaps say anything? #nlc2010 #
  • The fishbowl between Etienne Wenger and Yrjo Engstrom is continuing, though I am struggling to see something new. Am I missing it? #nlc2010 #
  • I am sitting in the opening session at the #nlc2010, though can not get an Internet connection. Everybody else seems fine. WTF? #
  • I am stiing in the opening session at the #nlc2010, though have not been able to get an Internet connection. Everybody else seems fine. WTF? #

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Methodologies of design for network learning (MOPEM)

Helle Wentzer is speaking about her work that addresses her work with MOPEM. She is bulding on Hegel’s work, the dialectical result of home – out – home movement. Not sure I am able to follow the Hegel (and Gadamer) references, but will trust their work informs Helle’s research and will read the paper after the session.

Ahh, the true, good, and beautiful–I recall them from my philosophical studies. Alas, she is reading (perhaps from her work?) at us, and it is all going a bit fast for me as I am struggling to recall what some of these major thinkers said, and how they were being used in her work. Of course, given some of the presentation I have experienced today, it may just be me considering this. Anyway, enough about me . . .

Ahh, it seems that when we go from home – out and then back to home, we are changed (we have experienced leraning), though  the home has not changed.I think this is avery valuable insight. Re-reading my post at the end of the session before publishing it, I seem to notice that I have spent some time considering this during part of the session, as it seemed to stop me in my place to consider it.

MOPEM–Marketing Online Path to Enter new Markets is an EU research project. Why does there seem to be so much interesting work funded by the EU? Doesn’t the US have any interesting fundedd research? No, I am not saying this since I do not  haveany  funding, but stilL . . .

I also really need to read this paper, as a few things I missed left some gaps that I think will be valuable for me to fill.