Month: January 2018

This week’s readings made me think about what may keep some new researchers from blogging. I agree with Hitchcock that “A lot of early career scholars, in particular, worry that exposing their research too early, in too public a manner, will either open them to ridicule, or allow someone else to ‘steal’ their ideas” (Hitchcock, 2014). I think such concerns can be addressed by remembering that research benefits from peer review. In addition, new researchers should not feel restricted to only writing about certain subjects. Thus, it is important not to “let ideas about propriety or academic silos limit you” (Perry, 2015).

Hitchcock, T. (2014, July 28). 3 Rules of Academic Blogging [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/

Perry, D. (2015, November 11). 3 Rules of Academic Blogging. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/3-Rules-of-Academic-Blogging/234139

 Yes, the digital revolution that was supposed to transform our intellectual lives, through constructing a public global square for sharing ideas and facilitating dissemination of information, did actually happen. But the changes it brought about were, to say the least, underwhelming.

And Reading through one of this week’s readings (Tim Hitchcock’s 2014 blog post), I sense a great deal of optimism in the passionate calls of the academic for better use of web technologies and social media. Being in 2017, it is obvious to me that the transformation has not taken place. The “American scholar” is still struggling to find its broader audience while the masses vehemently reject “taking life advice from Elites.”

While I am being deliberately cynical here to make a point , It is only fair to point out some of the positive changes: MOOCs have indeed democratized access to some levels of higher education. Open text-books are finding their place, although their growth is disproportional in STEM fields and the open-access frameworks allows free of charge access to academic research.

Nonetheless, our diminishing attention spans and the changes in our information consumption habits (from text to audio to visual content) is in direct contrast with blogging. It is also true that I prefer long-form content over fast-food style provocation-delivery services of tweeter. A successful contrasting example that comes to my mind is Vlogging. It is a form of content making that allows engagement with all sensory abilities. (some examples: + , + , +). And many video sharing platforms such as Youtube support discussion groups. It is still an open question where comprehensive, meaningful and constructive conversation can taking place online.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see students who aren’t interested in topic and not motivated to learn, at best they may put efforts to get good grade and that’s that. Despite advances in learning sciences, classroom often treats as rigid environment isolated from the real world, in which teacher is authority. In such environment, the existence of mere communication between members wouldn’t help that much to increase relational capacity among students as well as teacher and students in a way that the setting serves as creating a community of scholars. In such environment, if there is attention to acquiring knowledge, it’s more often because of earning high grade and not necessarily enhancing knowledge. One may picture a chilly climate where nor teacher neither students care that much about learning. And even if teacher really cares about students’ success how much she can do to change pedagogy considering existing institutional pressure. Can she make growth priority rather than proficiency, for example? Michael Wesch in his inspirational talk about learning, illustrates grading as climbing mountain; he emphasizes on experience rather than final destination. There is not such thing as failure in this system, if one couldn’t get to upper stages during the process, student is not done yet, she needs more work. Climbing happens in a group, it is a community-based process.

Building on the notion of community and the importance of working together, Gardner Campbell sees the role of community, looking at broader picture. He addresses experiential learning, not necessarily in its traditional meaning, but practices within community with emphasis on connection and collaboration. One may think of community engagement as one particular approach to implement experiential learning which encourages participation and connection, though its effectiveness can remain under questions, deepening on a a variety of issue and more importantly power relations. But what Garner argues is that in digital age “connected learning” through internet offers unique opportunity in which students can collaborate within a social setting and benefit from educational experience that change lives, he emphasizes. Regardless of existing benefits of such network and potential concerns over it, one may doubt if this can be part of a picture to address the major issue of education as Garner argues, becoming more about career and competencies rather than knowledge inquiry and understanding. It is worthy to explore…

As future academics, we are encouraged to produce work that gets published in academic journals. Research papers are a powerful tool to communicate scientific findings. They help to showcase the latest in scientific research. In its own way, academic journals support the theory of networked learning as it communicates knowledge and information between individuals. However, there are a number of other tools that apply to the networked learning theory.

The readings touch on blogging a tool for disseminating knowledge. Micro-publishing platform, such blogs, can grant higher visibility and engage a wider audience outside of academia. It can also bring the audience through the research process. Due to the interactive nature of blogging, it can extract useful feedback. Blogging fall under the umbrella of networked learning by maintaining communications between individuals, and information.

I see blogging to be a useful avenue in which ideas can be expressed. It helps build relations between like-minded people outside of the rigorous of scientific publication. Communication in blogging build relationship to other and relationship to scientific outlets which can establish further apatite to it.

Today’s system of education is still structured in the ways John Dewey warned could lead to a totalitarian regime in the United States. Chairs in a room, arranged in rows and columns so all the students face the front of the class room. At the front stands the teacher. This teachers holds the power to spoon feed the students any information the teacher deems important. All the student need to do is memorize and then, on test day, regurgitate the facts on paper. Is this learning or a memory game? John Dewey envisioned open class rooms that taught children based on interests of the individual, not the institution. This system is put into actual teaching methods across the country but tends to end at the university level. Many classes, if not most, at the undergraduate level are taught in the rigid rows and columns fashion. The professor drones on for 50 to 115 minutes while students avoid repeated cramps in their hands as they attempt to take notes at a pace resembling a starship traveling at warp speed. Other students attempt some form of telepathic learning that is accomplished through a sleeping state while in the class room. Either way, what the heck makes us endure that form of mental anguish to earn or ‘get’ a grade? Well there are options out there. The readings by Gardner Campbell, Doug Belshaw, and Tim Hitchcock enlighten the educators as to possibilities of new forms of not just teaching but the sharing of information with students, peers, and the general public. The use of digital platforms such as blogs, twitter, vlogs, and the like allow for information to be shared at an instant. Immediate feedback allows for ideas to be planted, nurtured, pruned, and then cultivated as strongly rooted concepts for all to enjoy. Why do academic institutions not encourage these options? Why is it restricted to a class called contemporary pedagogy? Why not call it “alternative pedagogical practices for those not tenured and wanting to actually educate rather than just teach”? (I mean no offense to tenured professors, many I have found to be wonderful educators) The use of digital platforms does not remove the people engaged in the online discussion but rather can draw them together. This is the message of this first week of reading and it is a message that should be shared broadly and very often to remind all that teaching is not a job to be endured between academic publications by an exciting way to impact the future through those sitting in your class room.

Networked learning facilitates the relationship between digital technologies and education and learning¹. The central concept in network learning is the connections. Connections include interactions between the user, digital technologies, and resources. However, the question is whether all interactions with technologies constitute networked learning. In other words, despite a growing demand for efficient ways of using networked learning to enhance student learning in higher education, do you think the networked learning initiative reach the point is designed for? My answer is “NO”! I think there are challenges in networked learning concept, developing, and maintaining connections with digital technologies that it still cannot be considered as add-ons to the academic research.

Misusing the digital technologies: This semester I am a TA for a class (~100 undergraduate/graduate students). The instructor does not let the student use computers during the class for any purposes. Students must silent and stow away their cellphones, tablets, and laptops during class meetings. Do you know what the result was? Students engaged more in discussions, took notes, and listened carefully. This makes me think that what are the differences between the classes use the digital technologies and those focus on traditional instructor-student technique in term of level of student learning. I talked to the instructor, and he clarified his intent by explaining that digital technologies disadvantages are more than advantages. He believes that digital technologies make distractions and the students misuse these technologies. I agree with him. To overcome this challenge and increase learning, the central question is how to inspire the student to use digital technologies for learning purpose? And how to teach them to use these technologies in a right way?

Lack of trust in cyberspace: Moreover, in higher education, most of the graduate students and scholars worry that sharing their research in public through cyberspace will allow another scholar to steal their ideas³. Their concerns come from lack of trust in cyberspace and cultural deficiency in using e these technologies.

Miscommunications: All of us suddenly are fallen into the digital technology era without knowing the basics of handling effective public communication. There are several instances of miscommunication in cyberspace information exchange between culturally diverse learners² which not only not increase learning but also impoverish the learning. After inspiring students to use digital technologies to enhance learning, it is essential that student learn how to solve the misunderstanding, pave miscommunications, and facilitate interactions and learning through networked-learning technologies.

All of the factors I have discussed in this blog reinforce the role of culture in networked learning. On the other hand, it is undeniable that our culture also “absorbed a range of new media platforms and practices.”⁴. So, to keep up with the relative rapidity of change in digital technologies platforms being used, facilitate developing and sharing knowledge, and underpin practical pedagogical knowledge in a networked learning environment, all of us must learn the culture of using these platforms accurately. But how?

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References

1. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_129-1.pdf
2. http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/975/896
3. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/07/28/twitter-and-blogs-academic-public-sphere/
4. https://books.google.com/books?id=AHfiCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=culture+and+networked+learning&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEwJGA–fYAhVDY6wKHROAAxAQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=culture%20and%20networked%20learning&f=false