LA4 Processes of Learning Online

Social Development theory - L Vygotsky

The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be obtained alone.

This is particularly true for me. Being part of the online Ultraversity community allows me to develop my own skills at my own pace, but also enables me to "pick the brains" of fellow researchers and Learning Facilitators. My own skills have so far exceeded my expectations and this is due to the information, help and support given by fellow researchers and LF`s. By accessing shared folders and home sites I am able to view different technical ideas and layouts which till now would have been unattainable to me. No one in the online community appears to mind the "How did you do thet" questions from others. By having the support of my peers I am encouraged to try new things. I think this reflects in my previous power point, webspace and movie. Previously I would never have attempted this.

Situated Learning ( J Lave)

Social interaction is a critical component of situated learning - learners become involved in a "community of practice" which embodies certain beliefs and behaviours to be acquired. As the beginner or newcomer, moves from the periphery of this community to it`s center, they become more active and engaged within the culture and hence assume the role of expert or old timer.

This is certainly true of the Ultraversity community. In C4 there are researchers who seem to have become experts. This may be because they are more actively involved in the community than others and because of this they are asked for help or advice from the other researchers. Often asked before the researcher has contacted their LF. In the Ultraversity Community, researchers from previous cohorts seem far more knowledgable than those in C4. I think that they would all have been beginners at one time and are now becoming old timers. I would expect that by next year when there is a C5, I might become an old timer.

In all cases there was a gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills as novices learned from experts in the context of everyday activities.

This has happened in C4. Some researchers have entered this degree course with far more ICT skills than others. In fact some are employed in this field. For me, who has very basic knowledge this has been both a negative and a positive effect. Negative because when others were able to produce very technically skilled pieces of work, I was struggling to produce basic things. A positive effect was that I pushed myself harder to produce more elaborate ( for me) pieces of work than I would have done had I been working alone.

Many found that they began to form bonds of one sort of another.

Bonds have been developed among researchers for many reasons. Here are some that I have witnessed

Location - live close by or "used to".

Employment - work in the same field. i.e. education or health. Soome even in the same workplace.

Common circumstances - Parents

Knowledge - expert to expert

expert to novice

novice to expert

novice to novice

relationships - I believe there are researchers who are related

Hobbies - share the same hobbies and can become part of other communities. eg gardening,christian

Personal attributes - sense of humour, same wave length.

In general the existance of particiapents called lurkers, who post very few or no messages in an online community is widely known. It is stated that lurkers might have a negative influence on an online community because many people regard them as free riders. On the other hand, some researchers have argued that lurkers play an important and necessary role. For example this can be merely a stage of membership shift. ( stranger, passer-by, lurker, participant and regular member.

I think that I started of as a lurker. Happy to read other peoples comments and find out a bit about them. I was still bit unsure and not confident about posting too many messages myself. Everyone seemed very knowledgable and I did not want to appear stupid. I then bacame happy to " dip my toe in" every now and then. As my confidence increased I was able to add to conversations and even start some. As my confidence increases further I hope to contribute more. There are some researchers named as members of the Ultraversity community who have never contributed any messages within First Class or Plone. I wonder if they have either never actually started the course or had to drop out for some reason after starting. If they are still researchers within the community and "lurking" I find it strange that they are able to complete the course work as part of the work has been to communicate with others within the community.