Week 8 Blog

Week 8 is done, so officially 50% more to go. Yay!

Tonight we had a very special guest, her name is Leslie ( I think) and she works in KQED where she teaches people on how to do digital storytelling. For 3 hours, we discussed and gave feedback on each other's story. Here are some of the highlights for tonight's class:

Digital Storytelling involves 4 steps:
1. Finding the Experience - This is the process where you are trying to find your story through deep reflection.
2. Telling the Story - Once you find your story, this is the process where you find ways to tell your story in your own unique style. This is also the process where you will get feedbacks among your peers.
3. Creating the Piece - This is the process where you will use software to create your digital story. Software such as iMovies, MovieMaker, Powerpoint, Acrobat, etc will be use to accomplish this.
4. Publishing the Work - This is the step where you publish your work in a variety of format such as DVD, CD, VHS, Powerpoint, etc.

For tonight's class, Leslie have covered the first two with us, namely "Finding the Experience" and "Telling the Story". The last two step, we will complete on our own.

Tips on Storytelling:
Create simple sentence
Slow down on reading
Be creative on how you want to say your words
Add movements to your pictures
Use "first person view" such as using the word "I"
Tell story as "truthful" not "factual"

Week 7 Blog, Thursday Class

We started class talking amongst ourselves about the market hourly rate of an Instructional Designer. Kim joined the conversation and related the subject hourly rates for Instructional Designers to our reading, putting us in the role of "Insider" in ID. Those not in the Instructional Design Community of Practice would likely not understand much of the conversation.

After our brief discussion, Kim sent the class, in groups, on a field trip. She sent each group to a different spot on campus, instructing us "eavesdrop" on random groups of people for 10 minutes. We were to see if there is learning going on in the conversations, and to report back to class the kind of learning that we observed.

Kim reminded us that learning can be informal, not just classroom style. She told us to look at interactions between people. Note the makeup of each group based on race, gender, etc. Listen to what they're talking about, and categorize the conversations. Also she asked that we note what makes each of us gravitate toward the conversations, noting if we chose groups that were part of one of our own Communities of Practice.

When we returned from our field trip, Kim began by noting that the focus of this class was to remain aware of our own learning process. Keeping this in mind will help our work in designing instruction for others. We need to remain sensitive to different styles of learning. This seemed to be one of the goals of our field trip assignment...we were to observe others learning and identify what type of learning they were doing, so that we will be able to identify what types of learning will be most effective for our target learners.

Here are some highlights of what the groups experienced:

One group visited the café near the Burk hall. They overheard several conversations ranging from cheese to dating to math homework. Kim brought the discussion back to the topic of situational cognition, describing the progression of a new-hire at the cafe. In that position, you learn "on the job". You cannot practically train all of the nuances of the job in a classroom. In the case of a café employee, an experienced employee has a wealth of knowledge and they impart this knowledge on others while doing their job. In this case, the existing employee is the "Insider", and the new-hire is a "Peripheral" member of the community.

In one case, the target group was speaking in Korean. One of the class members speaks Korean, so she homed in on this group as a member of the Korean speaking "Community of Practice". Another group that she overheard was speaking in Japanese, explaining how to set up PDF file. While our class member did not speak Japanese, she was able to discern what they were learning/teaching by observing the gestures and looking at the subject of their conversation.

Another part of the same group observed some students near the offices of an Asian Student organization. They were working on a banner. One worker was talking with someone about their relationship with someone else. This person mentioned that the two peopele were "that close", making a gesture indicating that they were very close indeed. This case illustrates how learning uses non-vocal cues as well as vocal. This is an example of "Semiotic" communication/learning (using signs).

Another group went to the Student Union building. A member of this group observed a conversation where one of the participants had given a to someone else, but now wanted it back. The observer was not able to hear the entire conversation, but was able to figure out that they wanted the gift back using non-vocal (Semiotic) cues. How did the observer learn what was actually happening in the conversation? Past experience within the American culture told him how to interpret the conversation, including the angry tone of the participant's voice.

Kim interjected at this point, pointing out that researchers need to be an expert in teaching to be able to observe and pick out the subtleties that become "data points". Many of the cues in the angry conversation were subtle, and the observer was only able to interpret them because he was a part of a similar Community of Practice (culture).

In a related point (and I've forgotten how they were related, but I'm sure that they were somehow), Kim pointed out that setting up a learning situation where students can teach other students is often very effective.

Another (this time unrelated) point that came up is that often there is stratification in the college environment, especially in a social area (leisure hours). Often people of the same ethnicity, race, religious, or other background will end up "hanging out" together. Research backs this up. Also, topics of conversation are usually different than what they discuss in a classroom setting (things such as cheese and dating rarely come up in math class).

Another class group observed several people (all male) dancing at the Student Union. One group was dancing, and two groups were observing. Those dancing were teaching each other moves, showing off moves, etc. There was quite a bit of interaction between them. Again, the "Insiders" were the dancers, while the "Peripherals" were observing. They also observed a gender-mixed group playing soccer. The observer noticed that when one of the guys had the soccer ball, other guys would get up close to try to take it away. However, when a girl had the ball, they wouldn't get as close. In this case, the Insiders and non-Insiders were not clear, since many of the signals (such as distance from each other in the observation above) may be ambiguous to learning. In a formal learning community, the distinction between insiders and others is often quite obvious.

Kim again offered some observations about the dancing group. If someone were to walk up who knew how to dance but was not familiar with the group, they may start as a "boundary" person. However, they would progress rapidly to the status of Insider, as he/she has expert knowledge of the community (dancing in general).

From here we shifted our focus to last week's assignment.

Some think that Situated Cognition should stand alone. Others think it's part of constructivism. For example, plumbers have professional organizations (Community of Practice). They go to conferences and share knowledge among themselves. As this knowledge is shared, the new knowledge brought by an individual becomes part of the community. However there are other variables, such as culture. Plumbing here in the US is going to be different, and US plumbers' knowledge may be useless, when taken to Africa. US plumbers may go to build a house in Africa but they cannot complete it because materials that they are accustomed to using are not available. Knowledge is VERY MUCH culture and context-bound. "Knowledge is in the situation".

One can become an "insider" by being in the situation. One takes a medical doctor to a hospital to learn to be a doctor. One takes a teacher to a school to learn.

Some highlights from our own Communities of Practice (from homework):

One of our classmates was a member of an International Student Org. In fact, he was an officer. Now, having done his overseas "stint" and having been graduated, he is outbound. He still participates, but is no longer a full-time student. However, he still has people asking him questions. He has travelled the entire cycle from inbound to insider to outbound.

Another is a professional trainer (not the fitness type). He works on teaching people skills that they can take back to others to use. He creates Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). This is an example of a Boundary trajectory.

Kim says: Any job has a learning community. One person learns and passes it on. Companies have deliberately structured situations to foster this. This idea is also present in ITEC. Some years the ITEC studet organization has organizers who can bring in speakers, etc. They are insiders since they have the knowledge and contacts to bring in the speakers, who in turn share their knowledge with others.

All examples so far are real world, not based on book knowledge. Knowledge gained in these situation was based on experience that you constructed. It was learned through concrete experience, not abstract ideas from a book. Th idea that Kim wanted to pass on is the need to reflect on concrete experience to guide you in your later experiences. You need to apply "theories" that you develop based on early experiences to help interpret additional experiences.

More examples from homework:

One class member is also a member of a teaching community. He is an insider, but feels tha the is at the boundary level. He's an english teacher, but uses technical methods that are different than what other english teachers use. Part of the curriculum is to have students go out and create audio documentaries. He works at the school , but also works with the non-profit organization that organizes the interview exercises that the students participate in, so he is actually the boundary between the school and the non-profit. However, he sees his role changing now as he learns more at the University level, and so is possibly outbound now.

Another is a member of a Motorcycle community: The Southbay riders. He began as a peripheral, making sure he can keep up with other riders, etc. Now he's inbound. He has found the group to be very instructional, teaching to ride safely, know the parts of his bike, etc. Now the knowledge is coming to him, so he is feeling that he is on his way to being an insider where he can share his knowledge.

Kim says: Being an Insider comes with responsibility because you need to share knowledge with other inbound members.

Ex-member of a co-op nursery school: As a arent she worked there but was also a parent. She began as an Inbound, being part of the school and contributing to the school, then progressed to become a board member, then director. Now she is a member of another daycare that is not a co-op. It is still a community, but she is not as much a part as they were in the co-op. At the new day care, she is a peripheral member of the community of practice since she not at the heart of the day-care management, but also feels Inbound since the day-care focuses on the community, an she can continue to increase her involvement.

Marriage: This is an illustration of a Peripheral level progressing to Inbound, and eventually Insider, as a couple grows together. Marriage can also be viewed as outbound since marriage can force a move of one member from one comminity to another (in this case, SoCal to the Bay Area).

Kim Says: In 1990s we began to see that learning is context based. We learn as we become connected to communities. We can learn more as an insider, and in turn pass knowledge on to other Inbound individuals. This causes a separation between classroom and real world learning. Knowledge that we learn in the classroom can become unused as real life uses different knowledge. There is a great deal of debate on how we can change learning environments for young people from classroom to something that will impart more useful, real world knowledge.

Kim raised the question: "Why didn't this theory (of community-based learning) come in earlier?" The answer is that in the early 20th century, we were focused more on productivity. We needed people to make products, so behaviorism was king.

One of the students brought up the idea of the Socratic Method - proposing a question for his students to answer in a group discussion. This learning theory was being used in ancient times!

Next week:

• Digital story telling. Kim showed some examples, including a very touching story that she shared (her first story of this type).
• Next week bring your script (200-300 words), pictures, music, etc., and you will edit it together using iMovie or Movie Maker (or something similar).
• We will do story editing in-class, and production will be on your own time. You can borrow a microphone if you need to from the learning lab.
• Can be on any topic, but should be something that fits into 2 minutes.Should use voice, so that you actually write the story. Use pictures and music to augment.
• There is a link from iLearn to KQED site with examples.Be sure to think about your background music, as it will add alot.
• You will want to choose a starting event and show the steps leading to an ending step. Use images to illustrate the different steps.
• On the iLearn site - Updated manual on how to create your story. First, find the experience. then tell (write) the story. Then create the piece. then publish the work.
• When complete, you will publish to your SFSU website and Kim will link to it from iLearn.

One thing that Kim has noted is that this exercise also builds your community ties in theclass. We will move to a different level as we find out things about each other.

Week 7 blog

Week 7 of ITEC 800 is done! Next week is week 8, if we pass this mark, that means we are 50% done with the course! Yay!

Okay, here are the things that we went over tonight. Dr. Foreman briefly went over last week's materials such as derivative and correlative subsumption, superordinate and combinatorial learning, and schema theory. For more information, please refer to chapter 4.

After that, we jumped into a discussion about situated cognition where Dr. Foreman talked about the diagram on page 153 of our textbook. Dr. Foreman then asked each us what is our learning community and what types of learning trajectory we are at, such as peripheral, inbound, insider, boundary, or outbound. Dr. Foreman mentioned examples of learning communities in learning and education such as ASTD, AECT, UECC, CUE, and ISAN, ITEC SFSU alumni network.

After we return from the break, we were presented a case study, you can see the case study at:

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=A_case_study_in_situated_cognition

Among our groups, we were suppose to critique the case study and identify learning outcomes, role of the learner, role of the instructor, inputs, and process of learning. After our group discussion, Dr. Foreman focused us back and discussed more about the case study of how experiential learning can be advantageous to learners in situation cognitive learning.

We concluded class through Dr. Foreman introducing us to digital storytelling where it is due in 2 weeks. For next week, we are suppose to bring our story that consist of 100 to 200 words.

ITEC 800 Week 6 October 7, 2007

We started class by viewing a short video about Simon Foreman’s art exhibit titled “Scared Sacred”. Simon is Dr. Foreman’s son and his website is “simonforeman.com”.

We reviewed the cognitive process and had a discussion of meaningful learning. Learning is meaningful when you need or want it and often comes from real life situations (experiential learning). Several people in class shared some meaning learning experiences in their lives.

Different learners have different ways to get motivated. Some people want to know “why”, while others want to know “what”, while still others want to know “how”.

We then discussed behavior theories again and stated that the behaviorist approach looks for a change in behavior. The cognitive approach looks for a change of knowledge structure and a change in memory. The constructivist approach looks at what you learn and the experience of learning. This is where meaningful learning applies most.

Dr. Foreman then shared a story of a bird that she had and of taking care of a friends dog (this story didn’t end well for the bird). She also shared another story of her bird in which after years of Dr. Foreman making breakfast and attempting to wake her son up for school by calling out to him, the bird associated the sound of coffee being made with her son.

The class then split up into groups and worked on schema theory examples. Group 1 used Airplanes as the basis of their schema, group 2 used trees, group 3 used witches, and group 4 also used trees.

After the break, we discussed pattern recognition and moved into another exercise. Dr. Kim selected 6 people to leave the room and then told the first person the story of Yi Song-gye. The story was then told by the first person to the second and so on. As the story was retold, unfamiliar portions or items were forgotten. We realized that the existing schema has much to do with the remembrance of important details as schema works to try and make things meaningful. When people can’t anchor items to existing schema, people forget.

ITEC 800, Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

Class Notes

We recapped what is cognitive.

Cognitive is short term and long term memory. We recapped the information processing model:

In brief:

Sensory Memory (attention) > working memory (processing, makes sense of info, encode to LTM) > LTM

In more detail:

Sensory memory is knowledge briefly in memory.

Then you move to Working Memory, which processes information. It is temporary memory. You categorize and use different methods of remembering.

Rehearse methods were used in the items exercise from last week. Some people repeated what they say. Others chunked the information.

Then you move to Long Term memory.

We reviewed activity when we memorized 19 items, what where the strategies that we used? Rehearsal, chunking, classifying, etc.

Main Class Topics:

Meaningful Learning Theory
Schema Theory

Meaningful Learning Theory

Ausubel is famous for presenting how we organize information.

He would compare and contrast and use prior knowledge.

How do people learn things?

You learn “tree” when you are young. When you get older, you learn about different kinds of trees.

How do we organize to long term?

For example:

A chair has features: 4 legs, place to sit, handles, etc. But I can show you many different chairs. They have the same prototype features, but are different.

Difference in two theories:

Ausubal: more simple theory

Schema: more platonic, problem solving.

Compare the two:

Ausubel	Schema
Simple	Complex
How we learn concepts, example tree – trunk, branch, leaves	Script, example a restaurant has roles like a waiter, cashier, customer and props like a table, bill, tip The variance in other restaurants is type of restaurant and location
	Recognize pattern

We broke into groups and created a graphical chart.

Group 1

Type	Definition	Example
Derivative	Anchor ideas	You learn shortcut keys in MS Word. Ctrl+S equals save. Then you build upon that and learn that Ctrl+S also works in other MS applications.
Superordinate	Have a foundation of ideas and build on that. Assimilate	A woman already has three skills that will help her learn project management; She know how to balance labor hours, how to budget money, and how to do project tracking. Together these build a foundation for project management
Correlative	Elaborate on an anchored idea. Build ideas to meet the goal.	Build an airplane. You need manufacturing and design.
Combinational	Multiple concepts come together	Invention of the airplane. Studied the birds, aerodynamics, wind, and physics. This all lead to the airplane invention.

Group 2

Type		Example
Derivative	Car brands Hondo, Ford, Chevrolet. Then introduce Pougeaut, a new model
Superordinate	Red, yellow, blue. Then learn the primary colors, which are red, yellow, blue
Correlative	Fruit is the anchor Blueberry, apple, grape. Chocolate could also be categorized with fruit because it comes from the cacao seed, which grows on trees.
Combinational	Writing styles. You can write business, creative, and scientific. They all require grammar, but they are a different kind of writing.

Group 3

Type		Example
Derivative	Cars BMW, Ford, Acura. Then introduce Toyota and Ferrari.
Superordinate	Car body frame is made of metal. New technology introduced aluminum and fiberglass. Cars are now lighter and safer.
Correlative	Engine technology can include electric, gas, biodiesel, diesel
Combinational	Transportation combines motorcycle, bicycle, cars, skateboard

We broke into group again to discuss how to teach

Now that you know the different learning styles, how would you teach them?

Derivative – shortcut keys Use Advanced Organizer. Relate the Ctrl+S in Word and show how you can use it in Excel. Comparative. Provide a list of shortcut keys for various applications and show the relationship.	Correlative Give students the same kind of cupcake. Give them different decorating ideas and let them decorate the cupcakes. This is progressive teaching.
Superordinate Have an example of an electric engine. Have an example of gas. Biodiesel use an example of vegetable oil. Give an example of an auto that uses diesel.	Combinational Take out your hand and hold it like a cup. Pour your imaginary bottle of water in your hand. It will fall through your hand, thus changing its properties.

Exercise 3

100 years ago an Englishman visited Maya and conducted a mind study. They whispered a story in someone’s ear then told the next person, and so on. How close did the end of the story stay the same as the beginning?

A demonstration;

Kim asked for 7 volunteers.

She had the 7 leave the room.

She planned to have each one return to the room and repeat the story that Kim would tell. Our job was to observe the story tellers.

Kim gave us the written story and we read it.

Then she read us the story two times.

The first student then entered the room.

Kim read her the same story.

Paraphrase: It was about a Korean who had a dream, visited a Korean Monk who interpreted the dream that the man would become king. The man was very excited and built a temple. He later became king.

Kim told the story two times to the first listener.

Then the second student entered the room and the story was told by the first student to the second student.

She said, “It’s a Korean story. I can’t remember his name. Ill call him Mr. X. He was a kin who had a bad dream. In the dream he had a broken mirror, thrashing clothes and rafters. He then went to the monk for the interpretation. The Monk said the flowers meant fruit. Anyways, he built this temple and then end of story.”

The second student asked questions:

Question: “He asked the Monk to interpret?”

Answer: three rafters.

Question: “Was it a scary dream?”

Answer: I think so.

Question: “Did he have to do anything?”

Answer: “He became kind. He built a temple.”

The third student came in and the second student told the third student the story.

I guess this is a Korean fairy tale. He has a dream with rafters and fruit. He goes to a monk for interpretation. The monk says you will be king. So he left and built a temple.

The fourth student enters the room and the third student told the story.

It’s a Korean fairy tale. A man had a dream with a wild kind of fruit. He went to a monk and described the dream in detail. The monk said you will become king.

The fifth student enters the room and the fourth student told the story.

It’s a Korean fairy tale. A man had a wild dream about fruit. This guy went to a monk and recounted the dream in detail. The monk told him he would be king.

The sixth student enters the room and the fifth student told the story.

I am going to tell a story that is a Korean fairy tale about a man who likes fruit. The man wants to become king. That’s all I remember.

The seventh the student enters the room and the sixth student told the story.

I’m going to tell you a Korean folk tale about a man who likes fruit and wants to become king. And that’s it.

The class discussed had a lot of good laughs and discussed what was lost and what was remembered.

The first thing that happened was the name was lost. He became a “man” because his name was Korean it was not easy to remember. The temple name, also Korean, was not used as well. Again not memorable information.

AS attributes got lost, ideas were lost.

When you have no schema, you sometimes create a new schema.

When you don’t have an anchor, ideas get lost, like the Korean names, thrashing clothes, etc.

Would the first student have remembered better with physical cues?

The first student commented, “I was so hung up with remembering the name that I couldn’t remember it.”

The seventh student said, ‘I expected to hear more of the story.”

AS the story gets shorter, then people will start to embellish.

Schema theory is a script. You generate theory in your own way.

We took 5 minutes to read the story again.

Kim then asked, “How will you organize your schema to re-tell the story?”

Ken volunteered to re-tell the story.

“There was a king who had a dream. He wasn’t a king yet and it was a horrible dream. He went to a monk and said, “I saw roosters crowing and thrashing clothes.”

The monk said, “The rooster is a metaphor for greatness. The thrashing clothes are a sign of welcoming. The falling mirror is something bad. The rafter that fell on your shoulder is Chinese calligraphy for King. The man became king and built a temple and had the monk take care of the temple.”

Conclusion from the story exercise/Observations

The names didn’t appear – cultural items that never were mentioned.

Story unfamiliar

Actions lost, then attributes lost

No strong schema, hard, need to create new schema

Schema wasn’t activated

Give the learner material, let them think about it, let them generate their own story, using the schema scrip. The teacher fills in the gaps.

Everybody brings their own culture and experience.

Our mind is active, structuring and re-structuring, changing, moving. It activates on prior knowledge.

Think about how you might teach a large class with people with different cultural backgrounds, different languages. How would you use schema theory.