Nida Khan

​​This week’s readings were a continuation of important principles that are crucial for learning environments or building communities. They are relevance, interactivity, and engagement. All three of them play a vital role in building an effective learning environment. If the instructors are able to design their environments according to all six principles described by Bonk and Khoo (2014), they can reach their set goals successfully. 

Relevance

Relevance is the first principle according to this week’s prompts. The more relevant and meaningful the instructional material and activities are, the more engaged learners become. “Make learning interesting and personally meaningful, however, and you will dig into a rich vein of online learning success” (Bonk & Khoo, 2014). Relevance also helps in organizing the material step by step and to facilitate students/learners by staying relevant to the topic. To achieve this target of staying relevant, specific pedagogical practices should be adopted, clear distinctions should be made in instruction, critical thinking should be incorporated, and learners’ cultural backgrounds should be kept in view while designing the activities. It is also important that the learning activities and material should be interesting and motivating for students/learners. Once the instructors are able to create meaningful and relevant content, they will be able to engage students/learners in classroom/community activities. Relevance is an important quality in providing authentic information to students/learners and increasing the standard of education. What is taught, how it is taught, and why it is taught should be relevant. The learning activities and appropriate course content should provide learners with the best opportunities to learn better. Flexible delivery arrangements can also play a good role to meet the diverse needs of a learning environment. 

Learners will feel related to the learning environment if the material and activities are relevant. They will remain focused and interested in the classroom/community activities. The learning tools and proper instructional strategies aid this process massively. Our own class discussions via Google Docs and Padlet are good examples in this regard. The way we worked on the Wiki project collectively reminds me of staying relevant to the assigned task. Other than that the mini designs that we are working on always have relevant question prompts that give us a direction to think of the relevant ideas and proceed in the relevant direction. I would like to mention the role of Canvas here. It is helping both the instructors and students to stay in touch with each other in a productive way. As students, we can follow the relevant instructions and deadlines and complete our assignments keeping in view the question prompts and relevant instructions. All activities that we engage in via Canvas lead us in a relevant direction and there are fewer chances of getting lost or confused. Once the confusion occurs, peer interaction and instructors’ timely cooperation help greatly to find relevant ideas and work accordingly.  

Interactivity

Interaction is one of my favorite vocabulary words. It has done wonders in education. A lot of other ideas come to my mind when I think of interaction, for example, collectivity, collaboration, group discussion, peer work, cooperation, togetherness, engagement,  and more. If the environment is designed keeping in mind the interaction of learners with their peers and with the instructors, it can create a distinct impact. 

When students interact with each other, they engage themselves in productive discussions. By developing interaction between students/learners, the instructors can decrease the feelings of boredom and isolation in their classrooms/community. Especially in online classes, where we don’t meet physically, it is more difficult to keep students engaged and focused on the course content and activities. Here interaction is more important and necessary to develop the interest of students/learners. I have observed that learners get disengaged easily in remote classes but peer interaction and group activities can be great strategies to engage them in effective learning. 

I really liked the way Bonk & Khoo, (2014) have described three types of interaction. They are interaction with the course content, interaction with the peers, and interaction of learners with the instructors. A good learning environment will always have these three contents of interaction to run smoothly and successfully. I am pleased that we are a part of an institute where we are experiencing all three together in all of our classrooms whether they are remote or in person. Here I will talk about the activities that we perform in class. The way we join different rooms, get connected, follow the instructions, share ideas, seek and give assistance, resolve conflicts, respect each others’ opinions, use different tools (Google Docs, Padlet, Canvas discussion boards), and learn from each other are some examples in this regard. “Social networking technologies such as LinkedIn and Twitter as well as collaborative tools like Google Docs and Wikispaces provide virtual avenues for rich collaboration among learners in different parts of the world. Students can basically pick their peers and learning partners. They can form teams and communities outside of those enrolled in their school or university, or employed in their work setting. As this happens, they have opportunities for sharing ideas, perspectives, and strategies that can result in unique course products and solutions” (Bonk & Khoo, 2014).

I remember the activity that we performed in class about describing the importance of journals. We were divided into groups and we had to read an article regarding the roles journals can play in education. Keeping in view the time limit, we planned to read it via a skimming method, highlighted the main points, wrote them on a shared google docs page, worked on the editing together, and compiled some notes in the given time. We also talked about the confusion we had and resolved them through the interaction with Dr. Ge when she showed up during our group discussion. This activity is a clear example of all three types of interaction i.e interaction with the instructor, interaction with the content, and largely, interaction with the peers. 

Engagement

Engagement is the most basic and vital component of effective learning environments. Engagement of students/learners in the activities and with the course content increases their rational thinking. The more the students are engaged, the more creative and innovative they become. This engagement can be in many forms. They can be engaged in peer interactions, group discussions, solo performances, direct interactions, and much more. Here I would like to mention the importance of autonomy in a learning environment. The instructors can increase the engagement of students/learners in a number of ways. Autonomy is one of them. When students play the role of the instructors, they gain confidence and love to take the lead. A sense of responsibility emerges in them and they always like to choose through a set of flexible learning activities. Once that choice is given to the students, they can be engaged in effective learning. 

The background of students counts a lot here. As mentioned earlier, it is highly important for the instructors to make students feel related or belong to the class, to their peers, and to the instructors. Instructors should choose such activities and tools/mediums for instruction that may be adaptable for students. The affective domain should be kept in view on a prior basis to keep students motivated and engaged in various classroom activities. 

“Disengaged learners, however, lack commitment to the learning situation or to school in general and often see no value in learning” (Bonk & Khoo, 2014). For better engagement of students, the instructors have to play a very active role. Their planning to execute the instructional material should be proper. His/Her instructions to perform a task or use a tool should be clear. These instructions should be both written and conveyed orally as well. Sometimes they should be repeated orally especially the points that they find can be confusing for the students. They should give prompt responses and feedback. They should monitor the classroom activities vigilantly. Encouragement and instant feedback can motivate and engage students to perform well. Last but not the least, students’ complete attention and participation are most important to keep them engaged in a learning environment. 

 

 

References

Bonk, C. J., & Khoo, E. (2014). Online motivation from four perspectives. Adding some TEC-VARIETY: 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online (pp. 31-43). OpenWorldBook.

This week’s readings are about the power of technology to support virtual community learning. Technology is a massive support to build online communities. It has helped to create safer environments for students where they can contribute to their best. It is crucially important to use technology in a way that students may feel comfortable and safe in a learning environment. While designing a community, the designer/instructor can take various steps to make students feel related to their learning environments. “Instructors, no matter the situation, can create climates that are learner-centered and invitational in nature. Such environments are filled with a sense of meaning, individualization, belongingness, and encouragement” (Bonk & Khoo, 2014) 

1. It should be ensured that the personal information of students is not leaked in any way. Personal meetings with students of that community should be avoided to treat everyone equally. The instructors can also ensure that no student is bullied or is a victim of misbehavior from their peers. The ethics of a classroom should be kept in view. Nothing should be posted or generated that may hurt any student’s feelings or emotions. Passwords to reach a community should be protected and this kind of confidential information should not be shared with anyone, even with the closest friends or family members. While working in a community, interactive practices should be introduced. Everyone should be honest and ethical about the work that is submitted for the class. The time students spend on the internet during class should be balanced with other activities, especially for homework and weekly assignments. The learning environments should be built in such a way that students may become able to analyze their performance by making comparisons to their peers and instructor’s guidelines. Students should always be treated politely and there should not be any favoritism in classrooms. Instructors can encourage little efforts of students and give them space to express themselves. The instructors can develop all these strategies to make students feel related to each other, to the instructor and to the learning environment.  

2. Feedback is the best form of promoting relatedness in online learning communities. Instructors can give feedback in the form of praises, encouragement, and by giving quick responses to students. They can use rubrics to evaluate the performance of students. Annotations and comments on various discussion forums like Google docs are effective ways of giving feedback. “Whatever system you choose, be clear about the processes and procedures for annotation. Set the due dates and forms of paper exchange (e.g., course system dropbox, e-mail, physical meetings, and the like)” (Bonk & Khoo). Audio, video, and different image files can be created to give feedback so that students may have clarity in response. Blogs, journals, direct emails, and short responses with additional tools like smileys can encourage students to do more. Direct and instant feedback is always effective. It can be provided during in-class activities and at various steps. Peer feedback is another effective tool to develop a discussion in the classroom and to solve several problems. It increases the confidence level of students and students also learn to see a picture or resolve a problem from different angles.  

3. All of us have learned that students who gain autonomy in a learning environment are more likely to begin and continue with behavior without any external reinforcement and juncture. “Giving students a choice on their assignments and activities builds commitment and passion for learning” (Bonk & Khoo 2014). Autonomously motivated students prove to be more effective in regulating their behavior. The advancement of technology in education gives opportunities for learners to experience a new form of learning such as learning autonomy. For example, with the use of computers and the Internet, learners can access rich information and authentic learning resources for self-directed learning. Different technology-based tools like Minecraft, kahoot, Mind maps like LucidChart, PowerPoint, Canva, Flipgrid, Discord, iMovie, social networking tools like facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and Chatterpix have proven extremely effective to make students autonomous in learning. Students get motivated and enjoy the learning process thoroughly. 

 
References 

Bonk, C. and Khoo, E. (2014) Adding some TEC-VARIETY: 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online (pp. 45-90, pp. 137-155). Open World Books. 

Through this week’s readings, the new thing I came across is Bonk & Zhang’s R2D2 model. It can be a thorough guide to design a successful virtual community. The four components of this model that are Reading, Reflecting, Displaying, and Doing are based on several learning activities and strategies. “If instructional designers involved in distance learning initiatives as well as online instructors take these four types of learning and learning activities into account when designing and delivering online and other forms of distance learning courses, they should experience higher success rates with diverse students” (Bonk & Zhang, 2006).

While going through this model, I was thinking of Bloom’s taxonomy as well. Different models provide different hierarchical structures to promote learning. I found this model quite interesting and easy to grab. I could also relate it to our present classes as throughout this graduate program, I have observed all four types of learning techniques well incorporated in the designing of both our online and in-person classes. Bonk & Zhang have provided a detailed list of learning activities for each type with several supporting tools and styles. For me all of them are interesting but following the question prompts, my favorite will be online discussions (group discussions and presentations), collaborative group paper writing, and interactive visuals with online chat.  

Online discussions (group discussions and presentations)  

Online discussions and presentations are always helpful in building an effective learning environment. The technology/tools/resources that support online discussion and presentations are Chat, Instant Messenger, bulletin boards/forums, Yahoo groups, and listservs. I prefer online discussions because of the teacher and peer collaboration, responses and feedback that can help peers develop an interactive session and communicate with each other regarding the topic concerned. Through these discussions they can also help each other understand various difficult concepts and support each other in several diverse ways. Chats, Instant Messengers, bulletin boards and forums give a platform to students where they can respond promptly, ask questions to each other, feel free to talk about their confusions and get instant solutions. I remember the small activity we did in class on Padlet. Padlet is one of the forums that is easy to create and can bring many people together at one time. It is one of the best discussion boards where students can come together and discuss a topic, raise questions, provide solutions, share ideas, give feedback, acknowledge others’ efforts, and suggest possibilities while staying connected with peers and teachers.  

Collaborative Group Paper Writing 

Collaborative group paper writing is second of my preferred learning activities. The supporting tools or resources Bonk& Zhang provide for this activity are SharePoint, Groove, and Word etc. All of us have gone through this activity many times. Even our group discussions and in class activities are an apt example in this regard. Google Doc is always helpful in drafting students’ planned data. Through this platform, students can work on the same document together while staying in their comfortable couches or zones. They can draft, edit, review, revise, and proofread the material together. The facility of sharing is tremendously helpful which is used by peers and teachers to provide their feedback and comments on that paper. Being a magnificent support for group paper writing, I find SharePoint and Google Docs extremely easy to use. 

Interactive Visuals with Online Chat 

Personally speaking, I am a visual learner and I always learn better when I have audio/visual support. I believe that most of the students learn better through visuals and here in my graduate program, I was lucky to have teachers who used this activity most frequently in the classrooms. www.learningbydoing.com mentioned by Bonk&Zhang can be an additional source of interactive visuals for students like many others. I have not experienced it yet, but I can well imagine its benefits. PowerPoint slides are common examples which speed up the learning process when online chat is added to these slides. Online chat with these visuals clarifies the ideas which are difficult to understand apparently. Visuals with chat have a long-lasting effect on students’ memory. Through this type of presentation, students can retain information for a longer period, they can understand the concepts faster as compared to the simple texts and can self-reflect.  

Importance of Motivation 

Bonk&Khoo (2014) have given importance to four theoretical perspectives regarding motivation. They are behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and sociocultural theory. I remember my Fall semester last year. We came across all these perspectives in detail with Dr. Bradshaw and we had remarkably interesting discussions about them. I think all of them are important for motivation and community growth, but behaviorism and cognitivism play a pivotal role in increasing motivation in students. It is especially important to keep the behavioral aspect in mind while designing a learning environment. If we can understand students’ behavior, we can plan strategies and activities accordingly to facilitate and motivate them. Cognitivism is another perspective that is crucially important to consider. Learners’ cognitive abilities should be valued and focused. Strategies and models should be used that can polish students’ cognitive abilities. R2D2 and Bloom’s Taxonomy are good examples in this regard. According to me, both behaviorism and cognitivism are intricately connected to SDT and without them, it cannot be well implemented. SDT gives independence to students and increases their intrinsic motivation to learn effectively and without behaviorism and cognitivism, SDT seems to be failing.  

References 

Bonk, C. J., & Khoo, E. (2014). Online motivation from four perspectives. Adding some TEC- VARIETY: 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online (pp. 31-43). OpenWorldBook. 

Bonk, C. J., & Zhang, K. (2006). Introducing the R2D2 model: Online learning for the diverse learners of this world. Distance education, 27(2), 249-264. 

This week’s content helped me dive deep into CoI framework and learn how computer conferencing plays a vital role in building a CoI framework. Computer-mediated communication has become a need for all learning communities in all parts of the world. A proper and planned computer conferencing leads towards the achievement of goals for an online learning community. CoI framework provides a platform to learners and experts where they can come together, interact with each other, share their ideas, reflect outcomes, and build a mutual relationship by helping each other. Major participants of this community are teachers and students. According to Lipman (1991), the characteristics of a CoI include questions, reasons, connections, deliberation, challenges, and development of problem-solving techniques. The CoI framework has been divided into three components. They are cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence.  

Cognitive presence is related to the learners’ ability to delve into a meaningful conversation, derive constructive meaning out of a learning environment, enquire about ideas where they feel confused and to reflect on what they have learned. Learners go deep into understanding a scenario, raise questions, generate practical solutions, engage with each other in solving problems. The focus of cognitive presence is to construct meaning through conversation or communication. “Cognitive presence is a vital element in critical thinking, a process and outcome that is frequently presented as the ostensible goal of all higher education” (Garrison et al, 2000). There are several examples of cognitive presence in online communities. For example, students leading a discussion, students working as teams, peer reviewing in students, and students creating or finding relevant material to post in class discussions. 

Social presence is the second key component of CoI framework. Participants must feel they belong to a certain community, and this is what social presence means. People from diverse backgrounds should have equal social presence. The community should be providing a secure environment for the participants where they can share their opinions and listen to each other with mutual respect and honor. Equity, tolerance, and respect are the key ingredients to promote an effective learning environment with strong social presence and respectful discourses. Even disagreements and conflicts should occur in a respectful way. The power of listening patiently is especially important and one should not be judgmental for an effective learning community. Examples of social presence are open communication, group cohesion, self-selection of group members, self-projection, and expression without any reluctance and fear (keeping mutual respect in view). 

The third and major component is Teaching presence. Teacher has a lot of responsibilities including the designing of learning environment, choosing suitable instruction methods, incorporating productive activities, using effective tools for instruction, maintaining a routine to influence the learning outcome in a better way. Teacher should be able to ensure the cognitive and social presence in the learning environment through proper planning and strategies. Examples of teacher presence are developing the critical thinking of students by engaging them in various discussions, task management and problem-solving activities. Question prompts can be designed according to the topic which students may answer on a discussion forum both individually and in groups. Peer responses are effective to create a discussion forum. Clear introduction of the course content, organization of material, a review from another expert, prompt responses to students, providing feedback and facilitating students at various steps of learning can be extremely fruitful for a community.  

CoI framework is developed if all three components of CoI are established successfully. Without cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence, CoI cannot work smoothly. CoI framework is a theoretical framework and a social constructivist model that is based on collaborative constructive presence of the participants and without all three components, an effective learning environment is hard to imagine.  

The Community of Inquiry framework is important because it facilitates the participants with an educational experience that emerges out of the intersection of cognitive, social, and teaching presence. Teachers play a vital role in blending cognitive and social presence while designing an online community. Their skills to choose suitable materials and set learning goals, ability to facilitate students with direct or explicit instruction, and timely feedback or presence can build a productive online learning community. The implications of building a virtual learning community include a memorable impact on students’ educational experience with suitable educational programs. It also provides an enjoyable and interesting learning experience to students where they apply what they have learned, retain knowledge, reflect ideas, and build mutual relationships. 

I have some ideas for my final project and the strategies to enhance my virtual learning community are manifold. I shall try to make sure that all three components of CoI are incorporated in my design. The instructor’s presence will be crucial where they can facilitate the participants. Setting learning goals and objectives, making announcements, management of the data sources, promoting ice-breaking activities for introductions of participants, urging learners to ask questions, igniting synchronous and asynchronous discussions, supporting peer learning, conducting online journaling, responding promptly, creating an environment where participants can take part in open discussions, share their ideas/emotions, respect each other’s opinions, and producing constructive feedback will be the main strategies. I shall try to make the best use of technology and hope to learn from the participants myself.  

References: 

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The internet and higher education, 2(2-3), 87-105. 

Lipman, M. (1991). Thinking in education. Cambridge. The reflective model of educational practice. NY, 7-25. 

Motivation and Self Determination Theory

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation play a vital role in people’s lives. People get encouraged to do something when they are motivated. Deci and Ryan have highlighted both forms of motivation quite well, but more focus is placed on extrinsic motivation as they have elaborated its various kinds in detail and major portion of the article covers the details about extrinsic motivation.  

Intrinsic motivation is a behavior that is molded by internal rewards. Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence (Ryan and Deci, 2000). This motivation arises from within and has a satisfying effect. In other words, when someone finds pleasure and satisfaction in doing something without any external reward, it shows their intrinsic motivation. For example, if we read something for our aesthetic pleasure, we feel internally motivated to read that text without any external pressure or tension. Likewise, our hobbies like playing games, writing our personal diaries, painting, and cooking our favorite dishes can be good examples of intrinsic motivation. For hobbies, we do not think of any reward, we own them because they please us. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is a reward-based behavior. Extrinsic motivation is a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome (Ryan and Deci, 2000).

It is a form of Operant Conditioning in which reward and punishment are used to modify behaviors, approaches and to decrease or increase the tendency to do or not to do anything. For example, in extrinsic motivation, people are motivated through praise, money, fame and several other external factors. Doing a job to get a salary at the end of the month is a common example of extrinsic motivation. Sometimes, we offer candies and snacks to children, or promise to take them for a tour to their favorite places if they perform well in their studies. Any kind of praise, acknowledgement and different gestures of support can also be examples of external motivation. It is not a compulsion that the reward or acknowledgement will always be in a tangible form. For example, some kind words, appreciation, praise, and fame.

Ryan and Deci (2000) have described four different forms of external motivation. They are external regulation, introjection, identification, and integration. External Regulation is a behavior that is controlled by external factors. For example, telling our kids that they will be rewarded if they get good grades. They will study intentionally as they want to, but their studying will be affected by the rewards that they will expect from us. Introjection is an internal pressure that is the result of ego, tensions, guilt, peer support, and other kinds. People perform due to different obligations not due to internal pleasure. Identification is a good side of external motivation. People take actions keeping goodwill. For example, if a person consciously joins an organization to polish their skill, it is their self-selected goal. They get motivated to work for that organization. They take that decision intentionally, but they still have an external motivation factor. Integration is the best type of motivation. This type of motivation helps people self-reflect, understand the reasons, see if the reason matches their needs, and after analyzing a situation completely, they act. Although it is their conscious decision but the person following integrated regulation experiences several options and external factors that influence them.  
 

According to my personal experience, both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation have their distinct roles in joining different communities. It depends on our needs and preferences which community we are going to join. The decision we take is based on the type of motivation that guided us to take that decision. I can give my own example. I join different cooking communities because cooking gives me pleasure and these communities develop my interest and motivation level to learn more about different recipes, organization methods, different kitchen hacks and much more. The involvement of external motivation can be vividly seen in educational communities like Canvas and Moodle. We join these communities to stay updated about our weekly assignments, different scholarship programs, upcoming tasks, peer interactions, grades, and much more. Likewise, we join communities like Linked In to improve our links for various job opportunities, to expand our businesses, to develop contacts, to advertise our products and much more. These external factors keep us motivated to join various communities. 

SDT is an approach to human motivation and personality that uses traditional empirical methods while employing an organismic metatheory that highlights the importance of humans’ evolved inner resources for personality development and behavioral self-regulation (Ryan, Kuhl, & Deci, 1997). According to self-determination theory, people are motivated to change by three psychological needs. They are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Competence is about the proficiency of people to perform a task. The mastery to perform a task shows their competence. People can control the outcomes and this control helps them gain mastery over the task. Autonomy makes people independent. For example, when students rely on their abilities and help themselves, they experience autonomy. Autonomy also leads them to regulate themselves. Through autonomy, they get more creative, productive, and self-dependent. Finally, relatedness brings people feel accepted and a sense of belonging develops in them. It is especially important in classrooms and various learning communities to develop relatedness in the learners so that they may feel relaxed and wanted in a specific environment. Relatedness can be developed through social connections, care, concern, and respect for each other.  

References

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 54-67. doi:10.1006/ceps.1999.1020

Ryan, R. M., Kuhl, J., & Deci, E. L. (1997). Nature and autonomy: An organizational view of social and neurobiological aspects of self-regulation in behavior and development. Development and psychopathology, 9(4), 701-728.

Q.1 What are the salient characteristics of an expert’s knowledge structure? How is an expert’s memory, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving, etc. different from those of a novice. Why? Can you share an example about a situation when an expert differs from a novice in a specific task or situation? 

This week’s readings are a familiar set of information for me. I went through these chapters when I was in New York. There are evident differences between the approaches of experts and novices. For me, the experience and long-term association with a job make people experts. Experts have great ability to represent knowledge. The main characteristic that makes experts different from the novices is that experts can very effectively reduce cognitive load and can use computational methods successfully. Experts can recollect the information in such a way that it can be productively used while performing certain tasks. The more experience the experts gain, the more expert they become in chunking the information.  

Experts can handle complexity very well. They can make chunks of larger information, divide that information into several steps, form a unified routine that helps them in handling complexity and to solve different problems. During this entire process of solving problems, their responses are quick, and they can easily do more. Experts usually rely on their pre-existing knowledge, the context in which the data is presented, experience, knowledge, and expectations. The example of playing chess is famous to find out the differences between experts and novices. Knowledge structure plays a crucial role in the performance of an expert by which experts can recall many patterns by briefly looking at the chess board. On the other hand, novices cannot do that. The ability of experts to store and recall information makes them perform better in playing chess.  

Experts can successfully filter the relevant information. They contain an overall picture in their minds and can discriminate between relevant and irrelevant information. Experts are good at the ability to selectively filter relevant information. While a novice makes sense of the information, the expert will jump to the critical information within a short duration of time. So, they can perform quickly and efficiently.  

Experts have tremendous problem-solving skills. They can form the representation of a problem immediately. “Experts’ ability to reason and solve problems depend on well-organized knowledge that affects what they notice and how they represent problems” (Bransford et al., 2000). This representation helps them find solutions to that problem easily. They can find meaningful patterns and features of a given knowledge. They exercise better techniques and meta-skills. These meta-skills in experts make them different from novices because they can monitor, adjust, and analyze one’s thinking, learning, and knowledge during problem solving.  

Q.2 What is knowledge transfer? How does knowledge transfer occur? Why is transfer important? Can you share an example of learning transfer? How can design a learning environment with the intention of facilitating learning transfer? 

Knowledge transfer is a way of sharing or disseminating knowledge. “Transfer is always a function of relationships between what is learned and what is tested” (Bransford et al., 2000). Through knowledge transfer, we can solve various problems. Through this transfer, several solutions can be shared with one another that can help others to solve different issues. Knowledge transfer usually occurs through discussions with peers, professional trainings, Instructions, apprenticeship, seminars, workshops, social gatherings and much more. Knowledge transfer is extremely important for innovation, development, engagement, alignment, quick thinking, fast communication, clear constraints, direct feedback, internal improvements and to produce experts in society. The transfer of learning or knowledge is an aid to solve a problem and apply the steps to a different but related problem. Through this approach, knowledge is shared amongst the maximum number of people and they learners become effective members of society. The best example of transfer learning can be the knowledge gained while learning to ride a tricycle and apply that knowledge to ride a bicycle or a motor bike.  

Q.3 What have you learned from these two chapters? What are the implications each chapter offers to help you design effective and impactful virtual learning communities or any type of learning communities (including face-to-face and hybrid)? 

The implications from this week’s chapters suggest that designing effective learning environments is the need of the hour. It is crucial to design these learning environments keeping in view the following approaches in mind.  

1. These communities should be learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered (including feedback and revision), and community-centered.  

2. There should be training sessions for the novices and the beginners 

3. These communities should be designed keeping in view the mindsets of people 

4. Proper strategy is the key to success. The designing of these communities should be strategic.  

5. Virtual communities should be technologically advanced.  

6. They should be flexible, but members should be kept accountable. 

7. The design of the communities should be open for experimentation and exploration.  

8. The authentic and relevant presence of experts is much needed.  

9. The data in these communities should be used to keep getting better and deliver more.  

10. The goal of the communities should be the promotion of learning.  

References 

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn (Vol. 11). Washington, DC: National academy press. 

Activity Theory and Virtual Learning Environment 

What is “Activity Theory”? What philosophical perspective is this theory contextualized in?  

Activity Theory has been designed as a support system for investigating needs, tasks, and outcomes to design CLEs. Activity Theory is believed to be a socio-cultural, socio-historical perspective through which human activity systems are studied. Activity Theory is a study between consciousness and activity. Jonassen (2000) has developed four assumptions that are related to Activity Theory. They are as below. 

Interdependence: Both consciousness and activity depend on each other. They are inseparable.  

Intentional: The actions and behaviors of humans are intentional most of the time. 

Mediated Action: Technical tools and mental processing signs are sources to mediate an action according to the environmental context. 

Historicity: with the passage of time, change comes in activities. Activity Theory suggests that with the passage of time, activities should also evolve.  

As far as the philosophical perspective of Activity Theory is concerned, Activity theory is derived from the classical German philosophy of Kant and Hegel. Their historical philosophy promotes both the importance of historical advancement of ideas and the active and constructive role of human beings (Jonassen & Murphy, 1999). The contemporary philosophy of Marx and Engels and the Soviet cultural-historical psychology of Vygotsky, Leont’ev, and Luria are also the theories on which Activity Theory is based.

What do each of the following constructs mean in the Activity Theory: subjects, object, tools, rules, and roles in the community? Why are these elements important? 

Subjects: Subjects are the people or participants of a community. They can be students, teachers, professionals, and members from all occupations that have joined a community together. They can also be experts and novices, but the focus is on the students.  

Object: Object is usually the goal or target that is set to achieve. Teachers usually plan certain objects and seek fulfillment through the activities of students. A simple example of Object can be development of a problem-solving environment for online learning. 

Tools: Tools can be devices, methods of execution of a plan learning material, presentations, researching, writing, discussions, and theories. 

Rules: Rules are the policies that are designed keeping in view the needs of the learners, course requirements, ethics and accountability fall under the category of rules.  

Role: Role is referred to the actions of a community member. Different people have distinct roles in a community like student, teacher, facilitator, instructional designer, assistant, and project manager, etc.  

How is a Virtual Learning Community considered as an activity system? Please provide an explanation based on this week’s readings. Please also provide an example of a virtual community that illustrates the activity system.  

Virtual Learning Community is considered an activity system because it contains all the proponents of activity Theory. The participants or subjects are engaged in various activities, use different tools and mediums to share their past experiences, ideas, and knowledge, must follow certain rules, they belong to different sections of society, their roles are different in those communities, and they always have an object in mind. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Moodle, Canvas, Math Forum, and many other examples are VLCs that are based on a certain Activity system. Without that system, they cannot run smoothly.  

Why did Jonassen say that Activity Theory can serve as a framework for analyzing needs, tasks, and outcomes for designing constructivist learning environment (in our case, virtual learning environments)? 

Activity Theory can be a framework to analyze needs, tasks, and outcomes to design CLEs in an effective way because it provides a proper sequence, a set of rules, guidance to value the participants, and provides a proper structure to construct an advanced learning environment. Jonassen & Murphy (1999) have identified important steps to construct a better learning environment. They are given below.  

1. Clarify the purpose of activity 

2. Analyze the activity system 

3. Analyze the activity structure 

4. Analyze tools and mediators 

5. Analyze the context 

6. Analyze activity system dynamics 

All these steps of Activity Theory can be extremely beneficial to construct a learning environment whether it is virtual learning community or learning environments. This organization is like a proper plan and instructional designing to facilitate the participants or learners.  

References:  

Jonassen, D.H. (2000), Revisiting activity theory as a framework for designing student-centered learning environments. In D. H. Jonassen & S. M. Land (Eds.), Theoretical foundations of learning environments (pp. 89-121). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.  

Jonassen, D.H., Rohrer-Murphy, L. (1999). Activity theory as a framework for designing constructivist learning environments. ETR&D 47, 61–79.