Elsebeth Korsgaard Sorensen

Enhancing Learning Through Technology

A Sample of Contents: Online communities and professional teacher learning: Affordances and challenges Situated learning and interacting with/through technology Ms. Chips and her battle against the cyborgs.

Knowledge-Building Quality in Online Communities of Practice: Focusing on Learning Dialogue

This paper reports on a case study on the implementation of ‘language games’ as a pedagogical tool for analyzing, assessing and promoting the quality and the level of collaborative knowledge building in online learning dialogues. Part of the overall objective is to explore the use, strength, weaknesses, and limitations of using the method in the context of an online senior level university course (on-campus and off-campus continuing education) on Global Change. In this investigation, the insight from using a theoretical perspective of language games is elucidated and discussed in relation to the benefits of other theoretical approaches. Applying an analytical perspective of language games, sequences of online dialogues are analyzed in order to understand their specific characteristics and to diagnose the quality of the collaborative knowledge-building processes. To what extent do language games reveal true knowledge building in an online learning environment? Results of this study suggest that language games may function as a tool for diagnosing quality in online collaborative knowledge-building processes. Furthermore, their possible use as an instructional tool for promoting more authentic collaborative online learning is discussed.

Intellectual amplification through reflection and didactic change in distributed collaborative learning

The agreed educational expectation to Distributed CSCL is the establishment of flexible, collaborative and interactive learning processes of good quality (Kaye, 1994). Achieving peer interaction in distributed CSCL, however, has so far proven to be a mixed and ambiguous affair (Fjuk, 1998; Sorensen, 1997b & 1998).Within Distributed CSCL-research it is generally acknowledged, that new insights into the communicative learning conditions of the virtual environments, together with new didactic methods, have to be developed (Koschmann, 1996; Pea, 1994). Moreover, much research points to human interaction and communication as the key elements to unlocking the interactive learning potential of distributed CSCL (Dillenbourgh et al., 1995). In other words, we need more stringent analytical approaches, which relate the communicative qualities of the virtual context, to qualities of the learning process.This paper compares the problem of stimulating online interaction to the lack of understanding among designers and instructors of the specific dialogical conditions of virtual environments. It discusses, from the perspective of the learning principles of Gregory Bateson (1973), in what sense the specific dialogical conditions and qualities of virtual environments may support learning. It also deals with the challenge of how - under different dialogical conditions - to understand the need for didactic and instructional change in order to enhance interaction and intellectual amplification in asynchronous distributed CSCL.

Metaphors and the Design of the Human Interface

As it stands, computers and computer systems are relatively new phenomena in our daily life, and we do not have any norm or tradition for a particular use of language, when we speak about these technologies. Therefore, we must use concepts and terms from domains with which we are already acquainted, and which — in some areas — are similar to these new phenomena; in other words, we must use metaphors as a means both to perceive and understand these new technologies, and to communicate around them.

Dialogic e-learning2learn: creating global digital networks and educational knowledge building architectures across diversity.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the challenge and potential of online higher and continuing education, of fostering and promoting, in a global perspective across time and space, democratic values working for a better world.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a generalized dialogic learning architecture of networked collaborative learning and makes a plea for a theory‐informed networked collaborative learning architecture and methodology appropriate for adult learners in higher and continuing education.Findings – Values include mutual political and intercultural understanding, collaboration, and tolerance to cultural and ethical diversity, and they are mediated through collaborative dialogue and knowledge‐building processes between learners. While embedded, empirically, in a networked distance learning context, established through synchronous and asynchronous communication technologies, the paper advocates for theory informed pedagogical designs and a teaching‐learning method...

Design of dialogic eLearning-to-learn: meta-learning as pedagogical methodology

This paper presents a perspective emphasising Meta learning (ML) as the most significant and pertinent feature for promoting a democratic, collaborative eLearning-to-Learn (eL2L) phenomenon in a global context. Through attempting to understand and clarify the powers of pedagogical design of global networked e Learning based on Learning-to-Learn (L2L), it makes a plea for L2L in a dialogic global learning context, offering a vision of global democratic citizens able to engage in critical dialogue with fellow learners.

Strengthening Inclusion of Learners With Attention Difficulties Through Interventions With Digital Technology In Processes of Production

Abstract This paper investigates the potential of digital technologies for strengthening the participation and inclusion of learners with developmental and attention deficits (focus learners) into the mainstream classroom. The paper describes the authors’ approach to the challenge of researching the extent, to which digital technologies may support the learning process of focus learners - in particular in those aspects of the learning process that deal with the construction of learning products and the communication and dissemination of knowledge to peers, teachers or others. On the basis of the actual analysis and a succeeding discussion, the paper concludes that in order to create ownership, pedagogic strategies and interventions with digital technologies (whether viewed from the perspective of teaching or the perspective of learning) should incorporate opportunities for developing digital multimodal reifications. These, in turn, then stimulate learner reflection and awareness. Finally, the authors of the paper emphasize importance of opportunities for reflection, tools and structures for construction and dissemination of learners’ knowledge (to demonstrate “I am able to” and “I know”).

Learning Together Apart – The Impact on Participation When Using Dialogic Educational Technologies for Kids with Attention and Developmental Deficits

This study reports on research into the impact of digital technological interventions for including kids with attention and developmental deficits into school class contexts. It describes, how the authors have approached the challenge of researching inclusion of kids with attention and developmental deficits for communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing. The analysis assesses the potential of interventions with digital technology for acting as stimulating enzymes for life and learning. On the basis of a thorough discussion of the findings, the authors assess the degree to which interventions with digital technologies, e.g. Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), may promote inclusion through stimulating the participation in life and learning of kids with attention and developmental deficits.

Powerlessness or Omnipotence – the Impact of Structuring Technologies in Learning Processes for Children with Attention and Developmental Deficits

Schoolwork of learners with developmental and attention deficits is often characterised by low productivity, many errors due to carelessness or inattention and poor organisational ability. Focus learners have difficulties performing at the same level as their peers. This paper addresses the challenges and investigates the potential of technologies for creating and facilitating environments, where learners are well-supported with respect to overviewing, structuring and planning tasks, evaluating and adjusting participation and management of time.

Evaluating current capabilities and future research issues in the use of online course portfolios

The purposes of the workshop are to (1) examine the theoretical basis for use of online portfolios to enhance individual and collaborative learning, (2) explore current uses, with focus on strengths and weaknesses, and (3) formulate a research agenda that will enable the educational community to accelerate deployment of effectively designed online portfolios in support of individual and collaborative learning. We will use online portfolios as a means of experiencing and sharing ideas about the use of this technology for enhancing the individual and collaborative learning environment through structured dialog, collaborative work, and peer evaluation. The intended outcome is to create a special issue of a relevant journal on portfolios that will serve as a status report on use of portfolios and a launch point for future research and deployment of student online portfolios.