Hi Maria, That's a fascinating project.
Do you have any links to any examples of the activities families develop? Do the families produce resources/handouts that are used in the learning activities? What tools do families use to generate and share the activities? I quickly scanned the list on google groups -- but admit due to time constraints, I could easily have missed references to the examples :-(. As you suggest -- a wiki is a powerful tool to combine community activity and engagement with both the creation and use of activities. If you're interested -- shall we try a pilot? Cheers Wayne On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 06:33 -0500, Maria Droujkova wrote: > I'd like to describe a system we have started to develop in the family > multiplication study. The "reusable objects" there are "small" > according to "The reusability paradox": > http://web.archive.org/web/20041019162710/http://rclt.usu.edu/whitepapers/paradox.html > Each object (or, to using the "discover the multiplication planet" metaphor > of the study - not a Lego metaphor, hehe - a "multiplication planet site") is > a very brief, skeletal description of a project or activity. The only > requirement of an activity design is that it should invite each participant > to create, build, invent and in general author their own mathematics. A few > examples of the current multiplication planet sites: spirolaterals > (sequences, order, rotation can be investigated and designed), snowflakes > (folding, reflection, rotation, contents of each segment), mirror books (an > art project about symmetry and 2d transformations), design your own > multiplication war game (coming up with buff cards and other game rules). > This is the study's mailing list: > http://www.groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy > > Participating families select an activity per week, then describe how > it went for them. Some families design their own, throw in design > ideas, or request a design: "something about World War II" or > "whatever we can do without writing" or "something to help us > memorize." Parents describe themselves and their kids - as an aside, > you'd be surprised how little age correlates with requested level of > activities. Technically, after the study runs for a while, you can > collect activity descriptions, edit comments that go with them, and > publish a sort of "multiplication text." However, even if we exclude > the idea that the community designs new activities every week, one > goal of the study is to help future participants plan their own travel > routes on the multiplication planet, based on how previous people > selected activity sequences. I can't see a book providing such a > service, because it involves software analyzing a database. I envision > somebody following a friends' path, for example, or finding a family > with similar philosophy and structure and following their steps, or > going from the Snowflake activity to the Mirror book activity because > both deal with symmetry and there are strong topic connections that a > lot of people followed before. I'd like to see something like Amazon's > book suggestions: "people like you read these books" - except on > activity-to-activity basis. It's too early in the study to tell, but > intuitively, it feels like the social aspects of the system won't be > easy, or possible, to capture in a book format. A book may be a nice > souvenir of the past of the study, but it won't provide the services > participation in that community provides. > > This last paragraph is dreaming, brainstorming and wild speculation - > please take it as such. A claim: history and story (narrative) help us > understand and reify past activities for the purposes of planning the > future and dealing with the present. A constructivist claim: "In the > beginning was the deed" - to learn, do. A novice, in addition or > instead of "catching up" on the (dead, reified) past through > narratives, can be active in creating her own actions and adventures > in active and adventurous current communities of practice. This > requires tools that support action directly - both authoring action > and social community action. A wiki can be such a tool, a book - ? > > -- > Cheers, > MariaD > > Make math your own, to make your own math. > > naturalmath.com: a sketch of a social math site > groups.google.com/group/naturalmath: a mailing list about math maker > activities > groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy the family multiplication > study > > > On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:48 PM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Leigh > > In practical terms -- can you describe the teaching-learning > system you envisage in terms of the functions of teaching and > elements of the system. I'm not sure that I understand what > you are talking about. > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 14:21 +1100, Leigh Blackall wrote: > > > I'm not convinced we are pioneers at all. Illich is > > significant to me not for hi Deschooling Society, but for > > his vision of learning webs. As he describes it (in chapter > > 6 I think), Bolivia was rolling out OER in the form of > > television. The cost of television back then meant that > > Bolivia could afford 1 tv per 5000 Bolivians. Illich > > proposed a networked communication through audio cassette > > recordings. At the time, he proposed that Bolivia could > > afford 1 cassette recorder per 5 Bolivians > > with enough money left over to set up a postal service to > > facilitate the exchange of audio recordings being sent in by > > farmers and kids. He was talking about audio blogging, where > > today the cost of achieving what Illich envisioned is > > greatly reduced for us in the wealthy economies, but still > > impossible for your average Bolivian I guess. Even with > > OLPCs the difficulty of using a cassette recorder and postal > > service compared to an OLPC is laughable. > > > > Illich was talking about networked learning, without the > > middle man. Our OER efforts, and especially the production > > of text books with "learning design" interwoven is more > > broadcast, middle man OER like Bolivia's TV idea, distance > > learning, and to some extent the OLPCs.. nothing new at all. > > The only thing "new" in it is the copyright and the > > technology.. and seeing your historical reference predates > > modern history Wayne, even our new approach to copyright is > > nothing new. > > > > Peter Rawsthorne and James Neill have been talking about > > student generated content initiaties on Wikieducator for > > quite some time, and in many regards this is similar to > > networked learning accept that it tends to focus on a > > demographic we call students, that is typically made up in > > crude class systems like K12 and everything in between - > > leaving out the contributions that someone outside that > > class might have to offer - such as traditional, > > subsistance, local even mystical. > > > > I'd hazard a guess that the funding is easily geared towards > > text books. They are tangible and have established processes > > and protocols. But this doesn't make it a good idea. A text > > book with "learning designed" in it, over powers so much of > > what might be otherwise possible. A straight text with a > > range of culturally appropriate "learning design" held > > seperately would be far more scalable and versatile. > > Especially with strong learning networks around each text. > > Strong networks like in Wikibooks and blogs for example, or > > any number of offline networks > > > > Better would be a straight text with a learning network to > > go with it. In the poorer countries this is obviously not > > through the Internet and computers, but the ideas and models > > we have through the Internet could inform new approaches to > > radio, newspaper, telephone, and postal services.. even > > distance learning. > > On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Wayne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > Hi Leigh > > > > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 08:57 +1300, Leigh Blackall > > wrote: > > > > > Illich's Learning Webs idea for Bolivia, cited in > > > his book Deschooling Society - predating ODL, > > > ignoring "instructional design", and predicting > > > post industrial society enabled by networked > > > communications. Illich was interested in networked > > > communications empowering subsistance living. > > > > Illich's Deschooling Society is a seminal text and > > is a highly recommended read for those dabbling in > > the future of OER. > > > > On a minor historical technicality ;-) Illich's > > Deschooling Society did not predate the practice, > > research and publication in the field of DE/ODL. I > > believe Deschooling Society was published in 1971. > > Their are published references on DE dating back to > > 1728. However mainstream DE research as a field of > > research endeavour started appearing in the > > literature in the early 1950's. This followed the > > inception of the world's first single-mode distance > > education university which began teaching in 1946 > > --- (The University of South Africa). The detail of > > the actual dates is not too relevant -- but rather > > the era in which these publications emerged. > > > > Deschooling Society was published shortly after the > > peak of industrialisation after the second world > > war. DE/ODL is in fact a consequence of the > > industrialisation of society. DE delivery was not > > possible before the invention of the printing press > > and universal postal services. It's also interesting > > to note that Illich's text was published shortly > > after the student revolts of the 1960s and should be > > read within this context. > > > > Illich was not the only author commenting or > > "predicting" on the emergence of post-industrial > > society. For example, Daniel Bell's text on "The > > Coming of Post-industrial Society" published around > > the same time. The notion of "post-industrial" > > society was a pretty topical issue of the time. The > > Fordist versus Post-Fordist debate has been well > > documented in the DE literature (including for > > example: Raggart, Rumble, Farnes, Edwards etc.) > > > > Discontinuity theory is a contested concept in > > sociological terms --- Is post-industrial society > > fundamentally different from industrial society, or > > is it more of the same? Personally -- I buy into the > > theory of discontinuity which would argue that the > > networked world is structurally different, but at > > the same time I err on the side of caution with > > regards to how OER is unfloding on our planet. I see > > many promising projects (WikiEducator included) - > > but there is still lots of work for us to do before > > OER becomes the default approach to education. > > > > Its going to be up to us to turn tommorrow's promise > > for OER into today's reality! > > > > It's fun being a pioneer! > > > > > > Cheers > > Wayne > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
