Studying the Learning Experience
The writings of Christopher Dede from the Harvard Graduate School of Education always offer provocative and deeper perspectives on emerging technology and learning environments.
In
“Designing and Studying Learning Experiences That Use Multiple Interactive MediaTo Bridge Distance and Time” Dede and co-authors Tara Brown L’Bahy and Pam Whitehouse, describe a study of “distributed learning” examined through the lens of a graduate course called “Learning Media that Bridge Distance and Time.”
In brief, the authors examine eight media:
• Face-to-face
• Websites for informal learning
• Groove (groupware tool)
• Tapped In (multi-user virtual environment)
• Wireless handhelds
• Videoconferencing
• Asynchronous threaded discussion
• iCommons (Harvard’s homegrown course shell)
The metacognitive question directing students’ thinking about these learning experiences was:
Ho does each medium
shape the
quality of information and
interaction you receive and contribute?
That’s a question that all staff who support faculty in integrating technology and its associated Literacies into a curriculum should be asking, and answering!
Many definitions of “distributed learning” exist, but I think Dede’s definition (2000) broadens the horizons of our thinking in an effective way:
He describes the facilitation of distributed learning as “orchestrating educational activities among classrooms, workplaces, homes, and community settings.” I like the idea of an instructor as a conductor of a learning experience that can be designed to reach into students' larger world and enrich that world as well as academia itself.
Worth pondering. Thoughts?
