I have wanted a chance to try Knowledge Forum and would welcome the
opportunity to do so in this context. I don't know Syllabase, and I wonder
how Jim might compare the two. My hunch is that the conceptual foundations
of KF--which make it more amenable to co-construction as opposed to the
transfer predicates of standard courseware--mean that KF probably has a
sharper learning curve but offers more for the time invested in mastery.
I think Gordon's idea of strands is good, and I would also like to get a
"lay of the land". My particular interest is in CHAT & workplace learning;
it would be great to convene with others sharing that interest, maybe
working as a special interest group within the course to come up with a
list of readings for the larger group and serving as facilitators when the
general group discusses that particular area. But I would also want other
strands to do the same so I can get a broader context for current research
and practice.
Perhaps a rough structure something like this might work, based on 14 weeks
(October through January, with ample time off for holidays): 6 weeks on
seminal texts; 4 weeks within smaller, "strand" groups; 4 weeks devoted to
the general group exploring one strand a week.
I realize this kind of discussion will soon bore the pants off those on
xmca not interested in taking part, so we should think about when to make
the move to a new venue. BUT, before this trundles away, it would be great
to get some thoughts about "seminal texts" in particular, and how to cover
these bearing in mind the concern Mike raised about overload.
So, what would those on this list put down as representative foundational
works that a seminar like this should cover and could cover in a handful of
weeks?
Yrjo's group has a brief overview online:
http://www.edu.helsinki.fi/activity/6.htm
Are these the works you would include as stepping stones?
David
-------------------
David Eddy Spicer
Doctoral candidate
Learning and Teaching
Harvard Graduate School of Education
http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~eddyspda/
gwells who-is-at cats.ucsc
.edu To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
cc:
09/12/02 11:58 Subject: RE: online seminar
PM
Please respond
to xmca
I'm wondering whether we might not have takers for this
seminar/course who have rather different long-term interests. For
example, there may be some who are interested in bringing CHAT to
bear on work situations, others interested in out-of-school or
museum-type activities, and others interested in K-12 school
settings, etc. Would it be a good idea to see the seminar as having
two strands: one general and concerned with the seminal texts, and
the other with specific applications? If so, perhaps different people
might take responsibility for the different strands.
As far as a discussion forum is concerned, I should like to recommend
the Knowledger Forum. I have been using it for a number of years in
both face-to-face classes and in distance mode. In both, I have
found it very satisfactory. It can be used at two levels: 1) it
simply provides a forum for threaded discourse, organized according
to specific topics ("views"); 2) it provides means for "rising above"
the post-by-post discussion to explore themes within the discussion
and to carry out a variety of analyses - by participants as well as
by the teachers - of issues that have proved of sustained or
profound interest. If you are interested, you can see how it has
served my student cohort in the introductory course for prospective
teachers (at the first level only, so far) by logging in at
http://knowledgeforum.ucsc.edu:27320/ First selct EDUC250_FALL02 as
the database and then log in with Username: visitor and Password:
guest
If this is of interest, I could relatively easily create a new
database for the envisaged seminar/course.
Gordon
-- Gordon Wells UC Santa Cruz. gwells@cats.ucsc.edu http://people.ucsc.edu/~gwells/
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