Leon James

Gamification in Instruction and the Management of Intersubjectivity in Online University Courses

Technology integration with twelve online undergraduate and graduate courses over four semesters provided the occasion for experimenting with effective ways of managing student learning at a distance. Students had online access to the publicly available applications used for communicating and coordinating activities with each other. Gamification principles guided some of the course procedures, such as a point system, feedback, awards and penalties, social networking, team tasks, individual options. A theoretical framework is proposed for understanding how to manage instructional intersubjectivity for students meeting online. Student thinking and motivation is observed to be higher under conditions of intersubjectivity in comparison to doing the same tasks alone. Learning from each other through participation promotes intersubjectivity when the instructional strategy installs technological affordances that keep each student informed of what the others are doing in context, and how they are reacting or responding to each other.

Carl Jung and Alcoholics Anonymous: is a Theistic Psychopathology Feasible?

The reputed success in rehabilitating so-called “hopeless” alcoholics through the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) program depends in large measure to convincing the members of the group or community that they are totally helpless in changing themselves through their own efforts, but that God can do it when they give themselves and their lives over to God. This theistic approach and method may influence future theory and practice in psychopathology and psychiatry, as this aspect of Carl Jung’s psychology [1] becomes the focus of attention.

Carl Jung's Psychology of Dreams and His View on Freud

Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a well-known Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. He made significant contributions in psychiatry, psychology, anthropology, and religious studies. He was a prolific writer throughout his long career and some of his books were only published posthumously. He was a world traveller and gave many interviews and lectures that were well received. He carried out a voluminous correspondence with various people and most of these were published after his death [1]. Today there are millions of people who study Jung’s works and practice Jungian counseling, depth psychology therapy, and self-realization efforts.

The Collaborative Construction of Intersubjectivity Mediated by Technology: A Social-Biological Model of Online Communication

A theory is presented for understanding the construction and development of group intersubjectivity, defined as the joint infosphere produced through collaborative activity. A model is presented that represents online social networking as an integrated social-biological technology. The schema depicts the flow of interactions both within an individual participant and between participants who are engaged in the collaborative activity online. The model shows how the three human biological sub-systems form a symbiosis with technology through the body’s sensorimotor interface, and how this interacts with the cognitive and affective biological sub-systems that create the interaction flow. All technology is interpreted in terms of satisficing affordances and optimizing affordances in relation to the three biological sub-systems. This model would allow a charting method for the study of progressive interactionism that characterizes successful goal-motivated group cooperation and online community building.