mindtools technology as cognitive tools: learners as designers

Mindtools

Technology as Cognitive Tools:

Learners as Designers

Computer and Education

separated

Computer as Tutor

Computer as Tools

Tool for What?

Tool or “Fool”?

Give me some research and development money, I will

develop my great invention of writing. People can then……

Thot

The discovery of the alphabet will create forgetfulness in the learners'

souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the

external written characters and not remember of themselves. Your

invention is not an aid to memory...you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth;

they will be the hearers of many things and they will learn nothing.

ThamusPlato: Pheadrus.

Is Writing Useful?

Do we forget things because of writing?

Tools for the complement of human mind

Writing What else?

Human Minds are limited

limited capacity of human short-term and working memory,

knowledge in long-term memory may not be well-organized

May not use some effective cognitive strategies

Writing

?

?

What expected ?

Tools that extend the human abilities

Cognitive Tools

mental and/or technological devices which support, guide and extend the thinking processes of their users

simplifies, rather than complicates the user's tasks aid the construction of knowledge by compensating f

or three major constraints of the human cognitive system: the limited capacity of human short-term and working mem

ory, the organisation of knowledge in long-term memory, and the learner's use of cognitive strategies.

Task

Think of a cognitive strategy you used in Reading comprehension Preparing for examinatio

n Reading a novel

Cognitive Strategy you used ? ? ?

Cognitive Tools

Internal: such as cognitive and metacognitive strategies

External, extend the thinking processes of learners. engage learners in more meaningful cognitive processing. used for the construction and facilitation of knowledge can be applied to mediate learning in most subjects. prece

ding computer technology: writing systems, systems of mathematical notation and systems of visual/spatial representation

computer-based procedures and environments

Instruction versus Learning

Why mindtools but not CAI?

information or intelligence (in many different forms) is encoded visually or verbally

learners perceive the messages encoded in the medium and sometime "interact" with the technology

Interaction is normally operationalized in terms of student input to the technology, which triggers some form of answer judging and response from the technology in the form of some previously encoded (canned) message.

Technologies as conveyors of information have been used for centuries to "teach" students by presenting prescribed information to them which they are obligated to "learn."

Teaching/Instruction (CAI)

Educational Communication

Technology as conveyor Believed -- communicating

content to students will result in learning

Coded in

formati

on

Instructional Design Models

CausalityA will cause B

Objectivity:•Objective Reality •Common perception

Assumptions

Technology controlled by Experts

the process of learning is holistic. It cannot be understood by simply analyzing human responses to attributes of technologies that carry the messages to be learned.

In fact, it is difficult, if not impossible, to isolate the effects of the affordances of technologies.

Our instructional design models are grounded on two essential components of reality--objectivity and causality--both integral components of western consciousness.

Objective reality is predicated on a number of assumptions, such as commonality of perception which supposedly enables us to observe and describe the physical world and to convey those descriptions to others as reality.

Drawbacks of Instructional Model

Knowledge Construction, Not Reproduction

How we construct knowledge depends upon what the learner already knows which depends on the kinds of experiences that the learner has had, how the learner has organized those experiences into knowledge structures, and the learner's beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events that s/he encounters in the world.

Cognitive tools are tools for helping learners to organize and represent what they know. Constructivists claim that we construct our own reality through interpreting experiences in the world.

What is Learning? Constructivism: knowledge is built by the learner, not supplied by t

he teacher. The learner is actively engaged in interpreting the external world, but with social negotiation of meaning, i.e. common representations are shared with others. Mindtools facillitate this knowledge construction, in which learners organize and represent what they know. The learning processes of mindtools are active, creative, and student-controlled.

Reflective Thinking: involves inferences, implications, reasoning which requires some deliberation. Opposed to experiential thinking, which occurs automatically or reflexively during one's experiences in the world. Mindtools engage learners in reflective thinking, which leads to knowledge construction.

Constructionism: an extension of constructivism which states that the learner can especially construct his or her own knowledge when building an external or sharable product, such as a sand castle or a hypermedia computer project.

What expected from IT

To instruct someone to learn perform some activities which result in your under

standing of, and durable memory for, this material.

A cognitive tool gives the learner just such a ready made set of activities. Motivate students to learn actively

Difference between Instruction and the use of Cognitive Tools

Computer-based Cognitive tools

activate and perhaps model cognitive operations provide external resources that compensate for

the limited capacity of human memory. aid thinking, problem solving and learning by:

making large amounts of information immediately available for the learner's use,

making it easy to retrieve relevant, previously learnt information

prompting the learner to structure, integrate and to interconnect new ideas with previously acquired ones;

providing for self-testing, thus rehearsing the recall of previously learned information and thus increasing its retrievability;

enabling the learner to represent ideas verbally, pictorially and graphically;

providing for the easy movement, consolidation and restructuring of information needed by individuals as their knowledge base grows.

Rationales for Using Technology as Cognitive Tools

Designers as Learners 教學相長 Learners as Designers:

Students learn and retain the most from "mindful" engagement

cognitive tools require students to think mindfully in order to use the application to represent what they know

What are Mindtools

a way of using a computer application program to engage learners in constructive, higher-order, critical thinking about the subjects they are studying".

The learner enters an intellectual partnership with the computer and begins to access and interpret information, and organize personal knowledge in new ways.

Mindtools are computer-based tools and learning environments which serve as extensions of the mind.

Use of Cognitive tools

the traditional design and development processes are eliminated Technology given to the learner to use as media for representing

and expressing what they know. Learners function as designers using the technology as tools for

analyzing the world, accessing information, interpreting and organizing their personal knowledge, and representing what they know to others.

Distributing Cognitive Processing

Cognitive technologies are tools that may be provided by any medium and that help learners transcend the limitations of their minds, such as memory, thinking, or problem solving limitations (Pea, 1985). Example: Language, computer off-load some of the unproductive memorizing

tasks to the computer, allowing the learner to think more productively

Cognitive Tools

generalizable computer tools that are intended to engage and facilitate cognitive processing-

are both mental and computational devices that support, guide, and extend the thinking processes of their users

knowledge construction and facilitation tools that can be applied to a variety of subject matter domains.

students cannot use these tools without thinking deeply about the content that they are learning,

and second, if they choose to use these tools to help them learn, the tools will facilitate the learning process.

Practical Reasons for Using Mindtools

Lack of Software: available Computer Assisted Instruction materials only cover a fraction of the curricula.

Cost: purchasing even just a few CAI programs is very expensive.

Efficiency: a small set of mindtools can be used across the curricula. This is also more time efficient, because less time spent learning to use different programs.

Pedagogical Criteria for Evaluating Mindtools

The application can be used to represent knowledge.

Generalizable to content in different subjects. Engages learner in critical thinking about subject. Develops skills transferable to other subjects. Significantly restructures or amplifies thinking (provi

des alternative simple, powerful formalism for representing ideas).

Software should be learnable in 2 hours or less.

Jonassen: http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/edpy485/edtech/mindtool.htm

Examples of Mindtools

Database Semantic Network Spreadsheet Expert System Modelling Tools Microworlds word processors, graphics, adventure games and simulations.

Areas of application

direct problem solving, creating something, i.e. a product, idea or

procedure, finding new uses for computing.

Curriculum Areas

enhancement of reading comprehension and all kinds of writing skills mathematics and science social studies foreign language learning technology subjects arts.

Generic Skills Acquired

the development of knowledge representation skills,

problem solving, planning and management of study, and students' self-monitoring and evaluation.

Graphical Organizers as Thinking Technology by Jamie McKenzie

Graphical Organizers convert complex and messy information collections into

meaningful displays. They compress. They focus. They make interpretation, understanding and insight much easier.

help keep students plan their research forays. They guide the gathering. They focus purpose. They show what is gained. They show what is still missing.

sometimes act like mind maps. They point to the destination. They identify related sites and sights.

Spreadsheet as Mindtools

Examples: Spreadsheet as Mindtools Why they are considered as mindtools

mental and/or technological devices which support, guide and extend the thinking processes of their users?

simplifies, rather than complicates the user's tasks? aid the construction of knowledge by compensating for thre

e major constraints of the human cognitive system? the limited capacity of human short-term and working mem

ory, the organisation of knowledge in long-term memory, and the learner's use of cognitive strategies.

References

Technology as Cognitive Tools: Learners as Designers by David H. Jonassen http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper1/paper1.html

IERG Imaginative Education Research Group http://www.ierg.net/ideas_cogtools.html

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