Summary
“How People Learn” is a product of the National Research Council that explores pedagogically relevant research in the areas of brain-based learning theory, cognitive learning theory, socio-cultural learning theory, and more. Though originally published in 2000, the distillation of information into key findings and their potential application to teaching and learning helps this volume retain its value to educators and education researchers.

Commentary
Our discussion was restricted to chapter 1 – “Learning: From speculation to science”, and provided an opportunity for OAT staff to review the historical development of scholars’ understanding of how people learn. However, the real value of the work becomes apparent in the opening discussions on 3 key findings in learning research, which are:

1. Students come to the learning process with preconceptions which may inhibit learning, and to which they may revert if they are not exposed and examined,
2. Students need to develop a depth of factual knowledge, beyond the ability to repeat facts and trivia,
3. It is important to not only train students in metacognitive strategies, but to also integrate metacognition into our instructional practice.

These three key findings are the springboard for a number of implications for teaching, and the design of environments that nurture the learning process. The implications for teaching include:

• Teachers must draw out and work with the pre-existing understandings students bring to the learning process.
• It is important that teachers teach some subject matter in depth, providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge.
• The teaching of metacognitive skills must be integrated into the curriculum.

With an emphasis on “understanding”, the authors point out a couple interesting misconceptions. First, confusing a constructivist theory of knowledge with a theory of knowing. That is, some mistakenly assume that applying constructivist principles to teaching and learning means the teacher never tells the students anything directly. Obviously, it is critical that students explore concepts and issues. However, the need for students to develop a solid foundation of factual knowledge requires some direct instruction from the teacher. Another misconception noted in the chapter is mistaking hands-on learning for learning with understanding. The authors highlight the importance of ongoing formative assessments that help make students’ growth in understanding visible to both teacher and student. This is especially important in our role as technology mentors and coaches, given the appropriate context, to lead faculty to a better understanding of applying technology rather than merely providing a list of steps to follow.

The implications for designing classroom environments (or any learning environment) are:

1. Classrooms must be learner centered. That is to say, instructors must take pains to know their students (culture, need for scaffolding, etc.), and manage the level of difficulty in learning activities so as to keep students challenged, but not so challenging as to discourage them.
2. A learner-centered environment is knowledge-centered. That is, the goal is for students to understand, not to merely accumulate facts. According to the authors, “Knowledge-centered environments also look beyond engagement as the primary index of successful teaching” (p.24).
3. Ongoing formative assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students are essential. It is important to for the teacher to accurately understand students’ preconceptions in order to know where they are in the learning process.
4. Learning is fundamentally affected by its context. Nurturing and guarding a healthy sense of community enables students to learn more effectively. The community described in this chapter is characterized by a number of characteristics such as, feeling safe in asking questions, admitting you don’t know the answer, trust, belonging, common goals and purposes, and more.

The importance of community in both the traditional and online classrooms has its own body of literature that deserves a broader hearing and application in higher education. A few key research articles on the importance of community in learning are listed below.

R. M.
oat-research-summaryrm10_30_08
Bransford, J. et. al. (2000). How people learn. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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Research on the impact of community on student learning and persistence

Gunawardena, C.N. (1994). Social presence theory and implications for building online communities. Paper presented at the Third International Symposium on Telecommunications in Education, Albuquerque, NM.

Gunawardena, C. N. (1995) Social presence theory and implications for interaction and collaborative learning in computer conferences. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 1, 147-166.

Gunawardena, C.N., & Zittle, F.J. (1997). Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer-mediated conferencing environment. The American Journal of Distance Education, 11(3), 8-26.

Kim, A.J. (2000). Community building on the web. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press.

McMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 6-23.

Moore, M. G. (1989). Three types of interaction. The American Journal of Distance Education, 3(2), 1-6.

Moore, M. G., & Kearsley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Palloff, R.M., & Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace: Effective strategies for the online classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rovai, A.P. (2002). Development of an instrument to measure classroom community. The Internet and Higher Education, 5(3), 197-211.

Rovai, A. P., Cristol, D. S., & Lucking, R. (2001). Building classroom community at a distance. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, April 12, 2001. http://caret.iste.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=studySummary&studyid=401

Sarason, S. (1974). The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wegerif, R. (1998). The social dimension of asynchronous learning networks. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 2(1). http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v2n1/v2n1_wegerif.asp

Woods, R., & Ebersole, S. (2003a). Social networking in the online classroom: Foundations of effective online learning. EJournal, 12-13(1). http://www.ucalgary.ca/ejournal/archive/v12-13/v12-13n1Contents.html

Woods, R., & Ebersole, S. (2003b). Using non-subject-matter-specific discussion boards to build connectedness in online learning. The American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 99-118.

With a summer full of transitions, this site is being retooled and upgraded for freshness. This fall expect weekly updates from multiple contributors. We will still be doing product reviews and sharing best practices for systems we are setting up for teachers. However, we are also branching out to provide academic journal article reviews on emerging technologies in teaching and learning as well as an additional layer of instructional technology tips. It’s shaping up to be a great academic year. Feel free to post comments as well as forward this to relevant parties who would benefit. With those thoughts in mind, we move forward.

We had a meeting yesterday where our boss asked how we were doing.  I said, “I think we’re at the point where we head to Sprint PCS’s fair and flexible where we start nights and weekends at 7pm.”  It’s going to start with five weeks to go.

I guess I’m posting this simply for the sake of posting to apologize and document that I haven’t taken time to post and I need to.  I’ll try to recap the past few weeks tomorrow and early next week to make sure this journey is worth it.

Impossible Is Nothing

Originally uploaded by Jason 2.0.
Sherry drew this a month or so ago as we were talking about how much work it is going to be to re-design and re-build www.arbor.edu. Working with different departments with competing interests is going to be hard. Two VPs with competing interests is going to be hard. Not actually having a project manager for this is going to be incredibly hard. Trying to educate the “powers-that-be” that standards trumps design (forgive me Stephen P. Anderson is going to be a huge mountain to climb. Couple these with the fact that 80% of the content on the site needs to either be updated, re-categorized, or killed will make things even more interesting.

The other blessing/curse is that we’re working with two vendors. The CMS we purchased, Ektron CMS400.net, and the firm we hired for migration, The C2 Group. So, we’re going to have to merge these two with our disorganized organization in a freakishly crunched time line to roll out an incredible site March 1, 2007.

As I evaluate where we are and what needs to be done, I’m confident we will have something ready. I just want to make sure that it’s excellent. I’ve got four books I’m reading right now and trying to make sure I can speed up my learning curve to slightly dodge the 8-Ball I’m behind.

The pic is a fun one of Sherry, Joel and I climbing the uphill battle that she aptly labeled, “Web Promised Land”. I’m going to refer back to this picture to both inspire and challenge me to push beyond just an adequate or even nice site. I want this new site to be excellent. In every way. So, onward to reading and growing. Why? Because today, Impossible is Nothing.

See, I’ve been designing Web sites since 1995. My first site was for my church. I made it in Adobe Pagemill 1.0. I had pictures, text, and colors.

Didn’t even have a domain name. But it was the best and one of the only church Web sites around. I was proud. Since then I’ve been self-taught and built sites for different clients in many different contexts and timelines. Always in tables.

Really never thinking about accessibility or standards. Alt tags were it. CSS was for fonts and color/links.

Even after I was hired at Spring Arbor University, I was behind the learning curve for technology. I have the raw skills and vision ability. But technically, in no man’s land. I can bring people together, listen to users, translate client expectations into results, but can’t design in CSS. I know no Java. I don’t have a firm grasp at all at standards. I know they’re important, but didn’t know how.

Now after five years at SAU and in our second redesign with an enterprise-level CMS that is going to be leveraged for many different groups and for multiple purposes, I am now getting ready to leave a conference in a state of shock. The stuff I know is out dated. The stuff I need to know will take longer than I have to design and develop the new arbor.edu. I just bought some books. And I have about 40 sites in a “Web Dev” bookmark in my Safari. And I’ve set up this blog. I’ve had this wordpress golden ticket saved for a year or so. Didn’t know what to do with it. Now I do.

I feel somewhat like Jerry McGuire when he had his “aha moment” and wrote his “mission statement”. Of course it got him fired. But he was inspired. Right now I am overwhelmed, but I am going to lay it all out for everyone to read and respond to. I’m a hack. I have no business being in the same area code as many of the people in the room I’m in. But I’m inspired. And I have to go where they already are. I don’t know how things will turn out, but I’m going to chronicle it all in the hopes that when Web 3.0 comes out and I’m on the cutting edge of where the technology is going, someone like me who is light years behind will find this blog and my ramblings and use it as a tool to move. To know it’s not where you are today. It’s where you aspire to be.

I’m aspiring. Starting now. Hope you enjoy the journey.