Collateral Readings Related to Instructional Communication
Dr. Mark Stoner
ComS 221
Topics:The
Concept
of Situated Cognition
Collaborative Learning
Critical and Creative
Thinking
Instructional
Communication in Mediated Environment
Learning Styles Inventories
Critical/Continental Theory
The Concept of Situated Cognition
John Seely Brown, Allan Collins, and
Paul Duguid, Xerox Corporation
Situated
Cognition and the Culture of Learning
Abstract
Many teaching practices implicitly assume that conceptual
knowledge can be abstracted from the situations in which it is
learned and used. This article argues that this assumption
inevitably limits the effectiveness of such practices. Drawing on
recent research into cognition as it is manifest in everyday
activity, the authors argue that knowledge is situated, being in
part a product of the activity, context, and culture in which it
is developed and used. They discuss how this view of knowledge
affects our understanding of learning, and they note that
conventional schooling too often ignores the influence of school
culture on what is learned in school. As an alternative to
conventional practices, they propose cognitive apprenticeship
(Collins, Brown, & Newman, in press), which honors the
situated nature of knowledge. They examine two examples of
mathematics instruction that exhibit certain key features of this
approach to teaching.
David Stein
Situated Learning in Adult Education, 1998 ERIC Digest #195
Stein--SituatedLearningERIC-Digest195.pdf
Abstract
In the situated learning approach, knowledge and skills are
learned in the contexts that reflect how knowledge is obtained and
applied in everyday situations. Situated cognition theory
conceives of learning as a sociocultural phenomenon rather than
the action of an individual acquiring general information from a
decontextualized body of knowledge (Kirshner and Whitson
1997).This Digest presents an overview of the concepts related to
applying situated cognition in adult learning. It should be noted
that situated learning theory has not yet produced precise models
or prescriptions for learning in classroom settings.
Martin Owen, School of Education,
University of Wales, Bangor
The Design of Reflective, Situated, Collaborative Professional
Development supported by Virtual Learning Environments
http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2000/owen/owen.html
Abstract
This paper arises from the need to find formalisms for designing
learning environments mediated by WWW and internet technologies
based on collaborative, creative and reflexive activity. The
limitations of earlier systematic approaches of educational
systems design are discussed as an introduction to other
approaches. The paper describes some of the ideas that inform the
types of systems to be developed based on social cultural
approaches to human activity. Guidelines and heuristics drawn from
these ideas are investigated in relation to formalisms for
describing the design of general computer systems proposed by a
unified modeling language. There is a brief illustration of how
the approach is applied to the design of a specific course in
development.
Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver, Edith
Cowan University.
Critical characteristics of situated learning: Implications for
the instructional design of multimedia
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne95/smtu/abstracts/herrington.html
Abstract
When situated learning was first described as an emerging model of
instruction in 1989, its principal proponents believed that this
was just the beginning-the model would continue to evolve and
develop with new research and theory. This paper will describe the
current thinking on situated learning and the critical
characteristics that distinguish it from other models of
instruction. The use of situated learning as an approach to the
design of learning environments has significant implications for
the instructional design of computer-based programs. Strategies
for the application of these characteristics to the instructional
design of interactive multimedia will be explored. Specific
examples will be given to show how these strategies have been
applied in the development of interactive multimedia products at
Edith Cowan University. j.herrington@cowan.edu.au
The correct citation is:
Herrington, J. & Oliver, R. (1995). Critical characteristics
of situated learning: Implications for the instructional design of
multimedia. In J. Pearce & A. Ellis (Eds.).
Learning with technology (pp. 253-262). Parkville, Vic:
University of Melbourne.
Follow-up Study:
Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design
framework for authentic learning environments. Educational
Technology Research and Development,
48(3), 23-48.
Ted Panitz, Cape Cod Community
College
Collaborative Versus Cooperative Learning- a Comparison of the
Two Concepts Which Will Help Us Understand the Underlying Nature
of Interactive Learning
http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/coopdefinition.htm
Mark Stoner. California State
University, Sacramento
I Never Thought Like This Before!": Apprenticing Critical
Thinking
Abstract
This essay lays explains the necessity for thinking in multiple
ways about any topic in order to facilitate well-grounded
observations. The essay outlines four kinds of critical thinking:
observation, analysis, synthesis/evaluation. Finally, how these
are used within an apprenticeship approach in a course in message
analysis is explained.
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/stonerm/ApprenticeCTEssay.htm
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid
The Social Life of Documents
Abstract
In the course of this paper, the authors relate theories
of texts, documents, and communication to practicalities of the
Web and the Internet. In the process, they argue that a broader
understanding of documents and their uses will open new directions
for developing document media and allow new social practices and
social groups to emerge.
http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/466/387#5
See also "Index of Learning Styles
Questionnaire"
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
This particular version allows on-line scoring and immediate
feedback for students. The feedback could
easily to emailed to you if you wished to look at the data
yourself.