The time has come to give the face-to-face presentation of the activity on this blog as part of the AECT 2006 convention BlogTracks. And as far as the activity outside of my own writing, I can report that …
Nothing happened.
I understand, of course, that folks are busy, and what’s in it for them anyway to engage in the dialogue of this blog? So I am not at all offended. I’ve been blogging in relative obscurity for a couple of years now, content with the benefits I have received personally from writing.
But I am curious about how future BlogTracks presentations can be made more effective, since this is the first one. Like everybody else, I think sitting on my tail and being lectured to all day long at conferences is not very productive, so I applaud AECT for trying to innovate and introduce a new presentation format. Hopefully we can think of some methods for improving the engagement in future BlogTracks. To that end, in this post I will summarize what I have written about during this BlogTracks and my conclusions, and then in my next post I will consider some possible ways we could make future BlogTracks more effective.
Metacognition in TEDLEs
- The use of hyperlinking and repetition that is common in these environments provides cognitive cueing and supports metacognitive awareness
- BUT nonlinear environments require more cognitive load to mentally organize material, reducing metacognition.
- SO, metacognitive prompting is a helpful strategy.
- FUTURE QUESTIONS?: Whether, and in what ways, students are more or less prone to use metacognitive strategies in an information-overload, nonlinear Internet
Intrinsic Cognitive Load in TEDLEs
- Not very much done!
- We could learn from information literacy research.
Example: Jones, Ravid, and Rafaeli (2004) reported a trend towards high intrinsic load in informal online spaces, causing less participation. - Future questions
Is ICL a predictor of attrition in DE?
Can design compensate for high ICL in DE?
How can you measure the ICL?
Can a strong online community keep participation high in subjects with high ICL?
Extraneous Cognitive Load in TEDLEs
- Limited prior knowledge of the technology used to facilitate the distance learning environment could lead to increased extrinsic load
- Web-based hyperlinking, in the absence of organizational guides, increased extraneous cognitive load associated with learning.
- FUTURE QUESTIONS?
More replication of studies to verify results
How can design improve material organization and lower ECL?
How can we ease ECL with new technologies?
Germane Cognitive Load
- Not very much done in online environments, although heavily researched by many IT and DL folks!
- We could learn from communications research on navigation and surfing patterns.
Example: Eveland et al. (2004) reported participants learned factual information best from linear websites, but nonlinear sites improved knowledge structure density. - NOW WHAT?
How do you use standard GCL-building methods online?
How are mental models constructed online?
How do you measure GCL online?
Course Management Systems
- Literature audit found 70+ research articles
- Most of these were one-shot, convenience studies
- Less than 10 were studies of more generalizable impacts
- But 95% of colleges and universities use CMS tools!
- Discussion Questions:
Why isn’t more research conducted about CMS technologies?
What kind of research should we be conducting about CMSs? What outcomes? What measures?
Have we missed the opportunity to really see what happens from implementing a CMS because the tools are now ubiquitous?
Other Topics I’ve been discussing
- What can we learn from popular social networking sites?
- Are we different personalities online?
- Social Network Analysis and DE
- Can “cool” be created?
- The Creative Digital Divide
- Educating a global economy
- No family left behind
- Digital natives
- Sexy research
I’d love to have anyone discuss these ideas with me! There’s still time this week! 🙂
technorati tags:AECT, AECT2006, BlogTracks, distance, learning, education
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