Piaget, a constructivist, suggested that children learn through peer interactions and resolving conflicts of opinion. A good treatment of Piaget and Vygotsky is given in Peer influences in cognitive development: Piagetian and Vygotskyian perspectives in Lev Vygotsky: critical assessments vol 3, ed Lloyd & Fernyhough, 1999. If we take the view that research is essentially the same process as learning, genuinely new knowledge cannot come about through the presence of an expert (unless we posit the presence of a higher being present), so it seems that new learning can occur without one. When seeking to educate large numbers of learners, however, the presence of a Teacher role facilitates their learning, at least in some cases - that is certainly the intention of the design of our education systems.
It seems to me that a slight modification of Vygotsky's definition of ZPD reconciles the Piagetian and Vygotskyian views. For me, the ZPD is the zone in which learning is made easier through support by differently abled others. These others may be physically present, or remote in terms of location or time. Vygotsky and Piaget both provide support for my learning through the extension of their knowledge in written media. Steve Wheeler, amongst others, provides geographically remote support through blog posts (and more on that one later) and my colleagues at OdinLab at the University of Reading (e.g. Shirley Williams) provide support through direct contact as well as through the more remote methods.
Modelling the acquisition of knowledge (a.k.a. learning), Steve Wheeler suggests the scaffolding removes the need for the knowledgeable other. The scaffolding represents the learner's Personal Learning Network (PLN) (to some degree, at least), enabling the learner to build new knowledge through their interactions with a range of other people and resources. I would argue that this works because we are good at recognising patterns and identifying gaps; social learning fundamentally occurs through our attempts to negotiate meaning with others and recognising holes in our existing knowledge as a result. The act of negotiation literally creates new meanings in our minds (however those are represented), and we are prompted by our inquisitive drive to examine how well the new knowledge fits with other patterns we have observed.
If we view the building in Wheeler's model as representing communal knowledge, and each builder as an individual learner, the scaffolding is part of the Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The scaffolding is a tool which is continuously being affected by the community (the builders) to provide the support necessary for each of the individuals to achieve their goals. It provides the support necessary for each individual to make their contributions to the sum of communal knowledge, the building in this model. The individual acts of adding bricks (or other elements of the building) are acts of sharing one's learning, in a social constructionist model. Each contribution builds on society's level of knowledge, helping create meaning and understanding. The builders (our learners), on the other hand, experience this in a social constructivist way, developing their own understanding.
The building is not governed by an architects plans (again, unless we assume the presence of a higher authority) but emerges through the complex interactions between the builders and their interactions with the environment, or landscape. The flexible nature of the system allows it to cope with even quite dramatic environmental shifts - high winds, to extend the model, which may not be so well catered for if being built to a blue print. The blue print, in this case, can be seen as a curriculum - a useful tool for the mass production of buildings (or learning in students heads), but one which is not necessarily well suited to the needs of either the individuals or of society as a whole. In the case of the Personal Learning Environment, which is typically viewed as the set of tools an individual acquires to help with their learning, it is important to also extend the model to include other environmental factors which may be beyond the individuals control. Equivalent to the high winds on our communal building site, changes in the availability of tools can provide impetus for learning, and challenge existing assumptions.
The Personal Learning Network provides challenges and support for learning, and forms a part of the Personal Learning Environment. Both the PLE and the PLN are tools used by, and modified by, the learner and by society as a whole. I suspect this is the reason Wheeler mentions Activity Theory (AT), and was a primary motivation in re-examining how AT relates to these types of systems in Folksonomical Reification (Parslow et al):
Just as learning is an act of negotiation and forming
narrative, the same model works for considering the act of creating
one's identity. Our work on Digital Identity is increasingly pointing
towards, in my view, the idea that the individual recognises their own
identity through interaction with others. Indeed, their identity is
really what is seen by others, in many ways, and their sense of self can
be dramatically altered by the actions and assessments of others. This
can be seen as being similar to assessments of learning - our 'image'
as portrayed to a potential employer in academic terms is the product of
the outcomes of assessment processes by others of our abilities in a
number of fields. In DI terms we talk about facets of identity, and these can be seen as being an analogue of qualifications.
Why mention DI in the context of learning and scaffolding,
PLEs and PLNs? Because they are intimately linked when you are
engaging in electronically mediated learning. Your ability to attract
important people to your PLN, for instance, is influenced by the
projection of your identity into the community. Of course, in many ways
this is not a new phenomenon - the same could be said of the pupil in
class attracting more 1:1 attention from a teacher by modifying their
behaviour appropriately. However, there are subtle but profound
differences, largely down to the persistence of information and the
searchability of it. The persistent nature of our digital footprints
means that society can make judgements on our track record with, perhaps
alarming, ease, but it also means that we are starting to be in a
position to build tools to help the learner chart their historical
progress through their learning landscape and offer advice based on
rigorous analysis to aid in their future development.
Wheeler points out that the PLE provides the scaffolding
which supports the learning process. The PLE, in turn, is a dynamic
structure which is supported by, and helps to change, the Digital
Identity (or, indeed, the social identity) of the learner. The PLN and
the PLE, at any one time, are instantaneous reifications of the set of
(as yet, unknown) rules which govern the complex interactions between
resources, individuals and their own knowledge.
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