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As a "language" educator, it's easy to forget that there are other educators out there -- in other subject domains -- who are also thinking about the role of the computer in learning situations. For those ready to open the CALL curtain and venture out, this column is for you. 

Each issue features an educator from another subject domain. The objective is to investigate what research questions they're asking, how they see the computer being used in learning, and why. This issue features Edith Ackerman. 

Who: Edith Ackerman, Massachusettes Institute of Technology

Subject Domain(s): Architecture, Science 

Research Paradigms:

Collaboration. Collaboration ... is mostly (mis) understood as people's ability to "share experiences" when it actually involves the "creation of a shared experience or understanding" (Schrage). Better access and transmission of knowledge -- exchange of information -- is of limited help if one engages a joint venture in exploring and achieving a commonly identified goal. If both communication and collaboration are relationships to be cultivated in their own right, collaboration is a relationship with a dynamic fundamentally different from ordinary communication.

From "You Said Collaboration? I heard: 'Communicate!'" (See access note below)

Interactivity. People are the natural designers of their own learning environments. They are "microworlding," one could say, creating their own characters and casts, putting them in motion, and making them interact dynamically ... Dynamic modelling, or "microworlding," is a necessary condition for constructive learning. Without giving form or expression to one's ideas, by projecting them out [making them tangible], no exploration can be carried out very far. And without giving "life" to these forms, projected ideas may remain cast in stone. To conclude, interactivity is important, not because it allows the direct manipulation of real objects, but because it fosters the construction of models or artifacts, in which an intriguing idea (thought or feeling) can be run or played out "for good" in a make-believe world.

From "Tools for Constructive Learning: Rethinking Interactivity" (See version note below)

Selected Projects: 

• Tools for Constructive Learning: Rethinking Interactivity (See version note below)

Seeks to unpack the ubiquituous term "interactivity," explore the potential of mediated experience, and assess interactive environments. Includes an intriguing contrast of "hands-on" vs. "heads-in" activities.

• You Said Collaboration? I Heard: "Communicate!" (See access note below)

The text of an online discussion for a course entitled "Workplaces of The Future" at the MIT School of Architecture. Topics center around collaboration and the Web.See index to the five sections of the discussion at the bottom of the page.

• The Critical Interview as Mutually Guided Inquiry: Who's In Charge? Who's Learning What From Whom? (See access note below)

A look at how "this particular kind of guided exploration, or design transaction ... encourages [learners] to explore a world (or discover some unfamiliar territory), to keep track of their explorations, and to build comprehensive descriptions for themselves and for others." Includes computer specific examples later in the paper.

• Construction and Transference of Meaning Through Form. In L. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in Education (pp. 341 - 354).

Deals with learning through design (of "microworlds"). Not specifically computer related, but directly transferable. The book itself contains a section entitled "Information-processing, Constructivism, and Cybernetic Systems." Available in hard cover.

• The Agency Model of Transaction: Towards an Understanding of Children's Theory of Control. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp. 367 - 378).

A look at students experimenting with causality and purpose in their the programming of LEGO/Logo "creatures" (serving as "microworlds"). The book itself, a "must have" for educators interested in learning and computers, includes papers by Seymour Papert, Sherry Turkle, Idit Harel (of MaMaMedia), and Mitchel Resnick (the focus of the last column). Available in hard cover or paper back.

Next Issue: David Jonassen, Professor, Instructional Systems, Pennsylvania State University

Access Note:

Two of the documents (You Said Collaboration? I Heard: "Communicate!" and The Critical Interview as Mutually Guided Inquiry: Who's In Charge? Who's Learning What From Whom?) have been set up as "discussion documents" by the author, and require a password to access them. To access as a guest, use the following:

ID: 4184 guest (lowercase, space between 4184 and guest)
PASSWORD: 4184pass

Alternatively, you may register with your own name which allows you to respond to the asyncronous discussions as well as browse the entire site (well worth while).

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Version note:

This document (Tools for Constructive Learning: Rethinking Interactivity) can be downloaded in two different formats- as a PostScript file saved as a ZipIt file (809Kb) or as a Microsoft Word 5.1 file saved as an .hqx file (54 Kb).