forwarding: Feedback requested
Roumiana Ilieva (rilieva who-is-at sfu.ca)
Fri, 27 Mar 1998 14:56:18 -0800
>From: Maria Bakardjieva-Risova <bakardji who-is-at sfu.ca>
>Subject: Feedback requested
>To: rilieva who-is-at sfu.ca (Roumiana Ilieva)
>Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 13:59:23 -0800 (PST)
>X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24]
>
>Greetings to all members of the Mind, Culture, and Activity List!
>
>I am a Ph.D. student in Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada.
>For more than a year now I have been involved as a research associate in
>Simon Fraser University's Virtual-U project. The project leader is Dr. Linda
>Harasim. In my research, I have tried to apply some sociocultural
>concepts developed in the work of James Wertsch and Michael Cole & Yrjo
>Engestrom to educational computer conferencing. I have written two papers
>based on this research that I would like to get some feedback on.
>
>Would anyone on this list be interested in reading my papers and giving
>me comments? I would appreciate it very much.
>
>You can find the abstracts of my papers below. I will send the full text
>to those of you who express interest. Please e-mail me at: mbakardj who-is-at sfu.ca
>
>Thank you very much for reading this request!
>
>Maria Bakardjieva
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Discourse of Online Learning: Cognitive and Interactive Dimensions
>
>Maria Bakardjieva
>School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada
>
>Linda Harasim
>School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Canada
>
>Abstract: Appropriately designed educational computer conferences can
>offer "institutionally sanctioned spaces" [Wertsch and Toma 1995]. where
>the discourse of science represented by scholarly texts is dialogically
>interpreted by communities of learners. Therefore, some of the central
>questions facing researchers of computer conferencing include: Under what
>circumstances do learning groups engage in a dialogue containing the
>cognitive patterns consistent with the instructional goals in the
>particular situation? How can such a dialogue be successfully nurtured?
>In this paper we set out to explore these questions by devising
>taxonomies of descriptive categories in order to capture the diverse
>cognitive acts and interactive moves performed in the course of online
>group discussions. We believe that analysis of students' online discourse
>based on these categories can provide educators with awareness of the
>different choices available in designing and directing computer
>conferences towards their desired outcomes.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Collaborative Meaning-Making in Computer Conferences:
>A Sociocultural Perspective
>
>Maria Bakardjieva
>School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
>Canada
>
>Abstract: The goal of this paper is to propose a perspective on how the
>sociocultural approach, and in particular Cole and Engestrm's model of
>activity, can inform the design and introduction of computer conferencing
>in the context of university education. It is argued that
>computer-conferencing systems should be seen by educators as new
>mediational means that become formative components of new activity
>systems. Conceptualizing and modeling these activity systems as complex
>sets of learning objects and objectives, rules, roles and tools, rather
>than a narrow focus on the technical aspects, is therefore the actual
>challenge facing the educational community.
>
>
>--
>Maria Bakardjieva
>School of Communication
>Simon Fraser University
>Burnaby, B.C.
>V5A 1S6
>
>e-mail: mbakardj who-is-at sfu.ca
>
>
Roumiana Ilieva
Doctoral student
Faculty of Education
Simon Fraser University
phone & fax 604-299-5268