No Foolin'...I've Finally Finished Fiedler!
Whew, Sebastian Fiedler has much to say about the educational use of blogs...good stuff.
In his Paper Draft for BlogTalk 2003, Personal Webpublishing as a reflective conversational tool for self-organized learning, Fiedler provides a wealth of support (data, theory, research, anecdotal evidence, and working learning environment designs) supporting the use of blogs (Personal Webpublishing) in an educational setting.
Describing a blog as “a reflective conversational learning tool for self-organized learning,” Fiedler convincing makes the argument that the blog can be used to allow learners “to take control over their own learning.” Fiedler argues against traditional models of education where knowledge is a product to be passively absorbed by the learner. He acknowledges that knowledge can be codified, but cautions against the codification of learning which denies the "open-ended, unpredictable, and continuous flow of our personal knowing and learning."
By supporting a "conversational framework for self-organized learning" blogs allow learners to build the skills they need to "take more and more responsibility for their own learning and to move gradually towards an idealized model of a self-organized learner," moving away from the concept of "expert-knows-best." A conversational framework means that learners are not just "submit(ting) to being instructed,” rather they are engaged in a conversation, both within oneself and with others, about the learning process. Often after traditional instruction, learners will fail in novel situations. Arguing against the view that learning just happens as a consequence of instruction, Fiedler surmises that when learners are in control of their own learning experiences, they will use the newly acquired knowledge and skills to adapt to a novel situation.
Exploring the use of blogs as conversational learning tools, blogs allow “a steady flow of items over time, ‘logging’ ideas, thoughts, reflections, commentaries, and observations,” along with the ability to add hyperlinks for reference and connection to outside ideas, and images, sound and video files or any other digital format to convey meaning. Fiedler strongly believes that this reflective process empowers learners to move “from a task-focused level to a learning-focused level of awareness” leading, most importantly to an “awareness of how one constructs meaning over time.”
When designing a conversational learning environment, Fiedler asserts that teachers must allow learners to take control of their own learning. He describes this as working “somewhere on the edge of teaching,” emphasizing meaningful learning over rote, and creating autonomous learners. That is not to say that the learner is to be released from any connection to the teacher. On the contrary, the teacher’s role is to set up the environment and tools to facilitate this style of learning. The teacher’s role becomes that of “Learning Environment Designer, Manager, and Coach,” with the learner as “Learning Project Owner.” Employing blogs to set up such an environment, each learner has a blog for reflections, links, commentary, etc., with a central class blog linking the various elements. Fiedler calls this “the intentional seeding of new practices and procedures through an initial design” requiring teacher support which in turn allows the growth of “new patterns of meaning and action” on the part of the learner.
Teacher as gardener, I like it.
In his Paper Draft for BlogTalk 2003, Personal Webpublishing as a reflective conversational tool for self-organized learning, Fiedler provides a wealth of support (data, theory, research, anecdotal evidence, and working learning environment designs) supporting the use of blogs (Personal Webpublishing) in an educational setting.
Describing a blog as “a reflective conversational learning tool for self-organized learning,” Fiedler convincing makes the argument that the blog can be used to allow learners “to take control over their own learning.” Fiedler argues against traditional models of education where knowledge is a product to be passively absorbed by the learner. He acknowledges that knowledge can be codified, but cautions against the codification of learning which denies the "open-ended, unpredictable, and continuous flow of our personal knowing and learning."
By supporting a "conversational framework for self-organized learning" blogs allow learners to build the skills they need to "take more and more responsibility for their own learning and to move gradually towards an idealized model of a self-organized learner," moving away from the concept of "expert-knows-best." A conversational framework means that learners are not just "submit(ting) to being instructed,” rather they are engaged in a conversation, both within oneself and with others, about the learning process. Often after traditional instruction, learners will fail in novel situations. Arguing against the view that learning just happens as a consequence of instruction, Fiedler surmises that when learners are in control of their own learning experiences, they will use the newly acquired knowledge and skills to adapt to a novel situation.
Exploring the use of blogs as conversational learning tools, blogs allow “a steady flow of items over time, ‘logging’ ideas, thoughts, reflections, commentaries, and observations,” along with the ability to add hyperlinks for reference and connection to outside ideas, and images, sound and video files or any other digital format to convey meaning. Fiedler strongly believes that this reflective process empowers learners to move “from a task-focused level to a learning-focused level of awareness” leading, most importantly to an “awareness of how one constructs meaning over time.”
When designing a conversational learning environment, Fiedler asserts that teachers must allow learners to take control of their own learning. He describes this as working “somewhere on the edge of teaching,” emphasizing meaningful learning over rote, and creating autonomous learners. That is not to say that the learner is to be released from any connection to the teacher. On the contrary, the teacher’s role is to set up the environment and tools to facilitate this style of learning. The teacher’s role becomes that of “Learning Environment Designer, Manager, and Coach,” with the learner as “Learning Project Owner.” Employing blogs to set up such an environment, each learner has a blog for reflections, links, commentary, etc., with a central class blog linking the various elements. Fiedler calls this “the intentional seeding of new practices and procedures through an initial design” requiring teacher support which in turn allows the growth of “new patterns of meaning and action” on the part of the learner.
Teacher as gardener, I like it.
posted by Stacy at 12:37 PM
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