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A B C D F G H I K L M P Q R S T U V W Z
The seven months’ constraint for this project conflicted greatly with the depth of my chosen topic. There was little time to acquire, read, and synthesize even the most major works in this field. Given my time budget, I tried to first gain a broad understanding of learning theory by reviewing sources on the Web. From this I identified major historical theories, popular modern directions, and ideas that resonated with me personally. I ordered the books whose reviews indicated that they detailed these things well, or were original sources. Though it has been too fast an education in learning, I feel I have gained a solid grounding in the field from which to develop the project.
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Abell, George O., David Morrison, and Sidney C. Wolff. Exploration of the Universe. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College, 1991.
Ackermann, Edith. "Piaget's Constructivism, Papert's Constructionism: What's the Difference?" Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 04 Dec. 2002
Summary: Ackermann compares and contrasts Piaget and Papert's learning theories. She introduces Piaget's Constructivism, and criticizes the theory for being too concerned with accommodation and not including the social aspect of learning. She contrasts this with Papert's Constructionism and its focus on learning through making and social interaction around the making. The paper includes small sections discussing situated learning and Vygotsky's learning theory, and suggests a perspective to integrate the views .Use: I read this paper as I was trying to get a grasp of Papert's Constructionism (since I find his writings often oblique). Ackermann's summaries helped me understand each of the theories in terms of the other. Being already familiar with some of Piaget's work helped.
Ackermann, Edith. (1996) "Perspective-Taking and Object Construction: Two Keys to Learning." In Constructionism in Practice: Designing, Thinking, and Learning in a Digital World(Kafai, Y. and Resnick, M., Eds.). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Part 1, Chap 2. pp. 25-37
Summary: Ackerman compares the implications of three modern experiments to Jean Piaget's original Tree-Mountain experiment to illustrate that the internalization model of learning is still valid and can co-exist with the analytical perspective of situated learning. She further hopes to show that Piaget's internalization task of accommodation requires applying a stable objective viewpoint of a new situation. Short descriptions of the experiments follow. - The Tree-Mountain task, Piaget's original, had children are asked to envision other's perspectives of a miniature scene before them.
- The Cat-dog experiment requires young children to guess what another person sees on the other side of a flashcard.
- A Mental Rotation and Perspective-Taking experiment has blindfolded children move around a 3D model before guessing another observer's perspective.
- The Shadow Box had participants with different perspectives collaborate to imagine what the complete subject looks like.
Use: These experiments do go a long way to explaining the problems with the original experiment and its historical interpretation. But, I don't think she has tied the two disparate analytical positions together as she claims to have. However, she has made more room for more the accommodative learning function, one on which my service focuses. She has also made it clear that children may be cognitively more advanced than Piaget gives them credit for, which only means my service might stretch, with some modification, to an ever younger audience than I had imagined.
Allee, Verna. "Knowledge Networks and Communities of Practice." Journal of the Organization Development Network 132 (2000). 08 Nov. 2002.
Summary: Allee describes the Communities of Practice learning theory from an organizational development perspective. She first argues that for organizational knowledge management as general a corporate initiative by identifying the fact that tacit knowledge, in people, is the prime resource available to companies. She then notes that tacit knowledge is built up in communities of practice, discussing each part of the term in turn. She lists the benefits of communities of practice in general, and details arguments why companies should support their creation and maintenance.Use: I read this article before I received the book Communities of Practice. I hoped to get an overview of the theory. Allee is writing from the perspective of organizational development, and so it was sometimes difficult to decipher what had been narrowed for knowledge management and what was a fair representation of the original theory. Since having read the original work, I would suggest referencing it instead.
Axelrod R., The Evolution of Co-operation, London: Penguin; 1990
Summary: Axelrod extends game theory principles to illustrate the development of cooperation in many domains that lack a central authority. After detailing the game theory principle called the Prisoner's Dilemma, which encourages participants in a zero-sum circumstance to look after their own best interests, Axelrod notes how cooperation would ensure the most positive outcome for everyone. He shows how it evolves naturally in computer systems, social systems, and nature, using illustrative stories. He closes the books with direct advice to his readers on when to choose cooperation and when to choose selfishness.Use: This book illustrates the deepucture reason why cooperation is the best, most logical response to most free-choice thinking. The principles did not end up playing directly into my project except to underscore some of what may be the reasons we learn so well in communities of practice.
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BBC News (uncredited). "Mobile gadgets offer new lessons." BBC News 28 May 2003. 29 May 2003 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2940936.stm>.
Summary: This article discusses the benefits of mobile learning in general. It also discusses the m-learning project and the learning materials company Cambridge Training and Development in particular.
Bloom, B.S. "Major Categories in the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives." 1956.
Summary: Following the 1948 Convention of the American Psychological Association, Bloom and D. Krathwohl developed a comprehensive list of categories of cognitive objectives in the school. Their list includes actions encouraged by the cognitive categories. - Knowledge
- Comprehension
- Application
- Analysis
- Synthesis
- Evaluation
Use: I used these summaries to try and develop my list of free range learner's needs. It was interesting to compare Ciardiello's 4 cognitive categories to Bloom's 6.
Bork, Alfred. "Four Fictional Views of the Future of Learning" 04 Dec 2002.
Summary: Brok provides short descriptions of four science fiction author's visions of learning in the future: Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars, George Leonard's Education and Ecstasy, James Cook Brown's The Troika Incident and Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. He then identifies the salient aspects of these visions, and finally discusses why these aspects have not yet been realized.Use: Bork's informative summaries of each work led me to reading two of the four books that he mentions. Those two books are included in this bibliography.
Brockman, John. Ed. The Next Fifty Years. New York: Vintage Books, 2002. 206-215.
Summary: In this collection of 25 essays, scientists predict what will happen in the next 50 years. Roger C. Schank's article Are We Going to Get Smarter? focuses on intelligence, education, and learning. He begins by disparaging both the concept that all great thoughts have already been thought, and its corollary, that education is a process of memorizing the classics. He predicts a complete knowledge environment and proposes a new episteme centered on good question-asking and adaptability. He concludes with a vision of virtual, inquiry-based schools.Use: Schank's article summarizes in scientific terms what some fiction authors have described in their vision of the future. While the developments necessary for this future to become reality are too far away to have impact on my nearer-term project proposals, I feel that my project is a first state towards his learning society.
Brookfield, Stephen. "Adult Cognition as a Dimension of Lifelong Learning" Lifelong Learning: Education Across the Lifespan. Eds. J. Field & M. Leicester. Philadelphia: Falmer Press (forthcoming)
Summary: Brookfield surveys research filtering for topics relevant to adult learning. Through the article, he introduces four critical adult cognitive capacities. - Dialectic thinking
- Practical logic
- Metacognition and epistemic cognition
- Critical reflection.
The next part of the article discusses affective dimensions to adult learning. Sadly, the first four of these are inhibitive. - Impostership
- Cultural Suicide
- Incremental Fluctuation
- Lost Innocence
- Community
Use: The first part of Brookfield's article helped inform the background research into learning theory. The second part of the article influenced my development of learner needs, from positive and negative perspectives. I highly recommend this article for the quality of the writing and the frankness with which he shares difficult emotional realities of adult learners.
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Cassell, Justine, Nicholas Negroponte, and Mitchel Resnick. "Creating a Learning Revolution.". 04 Dec. 2002.
Summary: This short opinion article describes the MIT Media Lab's arguments for (technological) educational reform in three areas: How children learn, what children learn, and with whom children learn. It provides six guiding principles that support its work: direct exploration, direct expression, direct experience, multiculturalism, multilingualism, and multimodality.Use: This article helped me to further understand Papert's constructionism and the Media Lab's learning bias towards children.
Champion Ward, Frederick, et al. Learning To Be, The world of education today and tomorrow. Paris: UNESCO, 1972.
Summary: Edgar Faure edited this research report for Unesco in 1972, arguing for the member nations to prioritize learning as a cultural and humanitarian imperative. The report popularized the term "Learning Society" and set into motion political initiatives on lifelong learning that continue, primarily in Western Europe, to this day. Part 1 begins by comparing historical and (then) modern educational practices. Over the next chapters it outlines the modern economic and educational context across the globe. He explains four schools of thought as how education interacts with society.Part 2 deals with future scenarios of education and how they impact the rest of society. It then discusses new educational research understandings in a number of different fields. It then presents goals for education reform, linking the effects to an individual's becoming fully human. Part 3 introduces the concept of a learning society and suggests ways that a society might reach this ideal. Use: When I was couching my project primarily in terms of the learning society, this massive document provided a clear historical context for the activity surrounding the topic today, especially in the UK. As the committee was paid to research formal education and not learning, however, their recommendations are all school-related, and not directly applicable to my final results.
Ciardiello, Angelo. (1998). "Did you ask a good question today? Alternative Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 42, 210-219.
Summary: Ciardiello derives four types of questions from four cognitive processes: memorization, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, and evaluation. He introduces a system of inquiry-based learning, called TeachQuest. It lists the different questions and describes the cognitive functions required to answer each. It also shows the keywords commonly associated with each category and provides some examples of each. The TeachQuest system is aimed at teaching high school teachers how to encourage divergent questions from their students.Use: I followed a few of Ciardiello's references when identifying the "Ask good questions" learner skill. Subsequently I used these four categories of questions to inform the functionality of the Goal wizard/Question Engine.
Clarke, Arthur C. The City & the Stars. : Yestermorrow, 1999.
Summary: Originally published as Against the Fall of Night and rewritten in 1954, this fictional story describes a civilization in the far future in an ancient city called Diaspar. There are a number of elements, which relate to learning systems. Characters use immersive, interactive adventures called sagas with entertainment and educational value. The lead character, Alvin, uses a voice-controlled computer to unsuccessfully try and create a work of art. And there is a formalized student-tutor system, in which the parents play a part.Use: I would like to think that free-range learning systems one up Clarke's sagas in that members of the service will be involved in real-world, on-demand circumstances that fuel their learning. It is interesting to note that Clarke institutionalized the master-apprentice model with the tutor (though he plays next to no part in the story) years before social learning would emerge to its modern level of importance.
CNN (uncredited) "Mobile phone sales to take off." CNN 2 Dec. 2002. 15 May 2003. <http://edition.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/12/02/nokia/index.html>.
Summary: This article discusses investment company Merrill Lynch's recommendation of Nokia stock and its supporting projections for the future.
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Davachi L, Maril A, Wagner AD. "When keeping in mind supports later bringing to mind: neural markers of phonological rehearsal predict subsequent remembering." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2001;13:1059--70.
Denny, Nathan R., Ph.D. "An Orienting Reflex/External Inhibition Model of EMDR and Thought Field Therapy." The International Electronic Journal of Innovations in the Study of the Traumatization Process and Methods for Reducing or Eliminating Related Human Sufferings 1 (1995). Mar. 2003 <http://www.fsu.edu/~trauma/v1i1/contents.html>.
Summary: [From the paper] The clinical phenomena of the conduct of EMDR and Thought Field Therapy were interpreted in light of concepts in the field of classical conditioning with emphasis on the orienting reflex and its external inhibiting effects on conditioned responses. A model was proposed using the temporary suppression through external inhibition of the fear and avoidance conditioned responses to disturbing memories.Use: Unable to directly acquire a translated copy of Sokolov's Perception and the Conditioned Reflex, I had to rely on texts such as Dr. Denny's, which describe the research.
Dervin B., 1999. "Chaos, Order, and Sense-Making: A Proposed Theory for Information Design." Information Design: 35-58.
Summary: Dervin presents a theory of learning called sense-making, which is a constructivist framework for systems making. She names four main components to sense-making, which she suggests by example as a way to structure ways of access to a computerized learning support: Situation, Outcome, Gap, and Bridge.Use: This dense theory provides insight to the ways many people approach problems in the learning domain. It influenced my thinking of how a service search engine, knowledge base, or profile questions might be designed.
Dewey, John. "The School and Society: being three lectures by John Dewey supplemented by a statement of the University Elementary School." Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (1907)
Summary: In these three lectures Dewey proposes a participatory philosophy of education, reviving a long-dormant spirit of inquiry-based learning. Using many personal anecdotes from his observation of classrooms, he outlines the effects of industrialization, globalization of the economy (!) and the coming information age(!) on children from the social, humanist, and institutional perspectives. Dewey also provides an instructive history of schooling from the Middle Ages onward.Use: Dewey is primarily concerned with the education of young children, and so it is somewhat difficult to apply his ideas to a modern mobile learning service for adults. What relates is the idea that problems in activity encourage learning and can lead us to the whole history of mankind and its present knowledge. In this light, mobile learning seeks to give learners the tools to follow that lead wherever they are in the world.
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Falk and L. Csikzentmihalyi, M. Flow, New York: Harpers; 1990
Summary: This book describes a theory of inherently-rewarding activities. Csikzentmihalyi begins by researching why people pursue activities for which they are not paid. He then identifies certain feelings the subjects when they are engrossed and encapsulates them with the name flow. It then forwards a prescription for the deliberate use of such activities for improving one's quality of life.Use: Csikzentmihalyi shows how important the quality-of-life and inherent-rewarding aspects of learning are, tempering my original economic-only approach. I am also convinced that my service has built-in psychological reinforcement since it is based on learning.
Falk J., and Dierking L., Learning From Museums, Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning. Oxford: Altimira; 2000.
Summary: Falk and Dierking synthesize and describe many modern learning theories into a single theory, which they apply to museums. They suggest the positive term free choice learning as an alternative to informal learning. They identify three main contexts in which free-choice learning occurs: Personal, sociocultural, and physical. They provide suggestions on how museum professionals can work to optimize each of these contexts.Use: Deconstructing their synthesized theory led me to much of the most recent research in learning today, which influenced the design of the service. It was also from their term free-choice learning that I partially derived the term free-range learning.
Funderstanding.com. 1998. 07 Nov. 2002.
Summary: Among other education reform topics, this website provides clear summaries of 12 influential learning theories. - Constructivism
- Behaviorism
- Piaget's Developmental Theory
- Neuroscience
- Brain-based learning
- Learning Styles
- Multiple Intelligences
- Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking
- Communities of Practice
- Control Theory
- Observational Learning
- Vygotsky and Social Cognition
Each listing provides a definition, a discussion, and a summary of how the theory impacts learning. Some listings indicate reading references. Use: I used these summaries as a basis for broad understanding to popular theories of learning. It was an excellent introduction to the topics, letting me determine which seemed to fit my project and research those theories more fully.
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Gagne, R. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Summary: Gagne sets out a theory of Conditions of Learning. He defines five types of learning for which different types of instructions are needed. - Verbal information
- Intellectual skills
- Cognitive strategies
- Motor skills
- Attitude
He describes an 8 point hierarchy of skills regarding intellectual skills, which must be mastered in sequence. - Stimulus recognition
- Response generation
- Procedure following
- Use of terminology
- Discriminations
- Concept formation
- Rule application
- Problem solving
He then describes nine instructional events and the correlative cognitive tasks. - Gaining attention (reception)
- Describing the objective (expectancy)
- Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)
- Presenting the stimulus (selective perception)
- Providing guidance (semantic encoding)
- Eliciting performance (responding)
- Providing feedback (reinforcement)
- Assessing performance (retrieval)
- Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization)
Use: Gagne's focus is on the acquisition of intellectual skills, with original application on military situations. The work is comprehensive, accessible, and well-considered. His conclusions are recommendations for instructors rather than learners. This information would be an excellent self-awareness or "learning about learning" module.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind. New York: Basic Book Inc.
Summary: By defining intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting" Gardner was able to open the range of what is encouraged and appreciated as intelligence. He backed his theory with biological and cultural research to develop an original list seven intelligences. (He later added two, thus the list of nine used in this thesis.)Use: By validating forms of intelligence other than the traditionally-lauded verbal and computational, Gardner gives everyone the opportunity to realize how, rather than whether, they are intelligent. This overcomes feelings of "impostership" often reported by adult learners. In adopting this view of intelligence and incorporating it at a deep level, the service becomes accessible to a wider audience.
Gay, Greg. Online Course: Learning to learn. 2001. Learning Disabilities Resource Center. Jan. 2003.
Summary: This self-paced e-learning course material helps the user learn about and develop skills to improve their ability to learn. Each module contains learner goals, readings, activities, web resources, and opportunities for participants to hold online discussions. The main topics follow. - Consciousness
- Metacognition
- Learning Styles
- Thinking Styles
- Memory
- Language
- Reading
- Writing
- Problem Solving
- Creativity
- Biology of Learning
Use: This excellent course by Greg Gay at the University of Toronto is thorough and clear in its presentation and references. I developed the learning skills list by distilling the suggestions in Gay's course and combining it with correlative suggestions from other authors.
Gilmore, James H., and B. Jospeh Pine. "Welcome to the Experience Economy." Harvard Business Review (1998): 98-105.
Summary: The authors describe three historical economic stages of development: commodities, goods, and services, and predict the emergence of a fourth: experience. They claim that this last economic stage is an inevitable evolutionary step and predict it as the primary differentiation of companies in the future.Use: Though I do not accept an Experience economy as the next foregone evolutionary stage of our economy, the theory presents some important points to consider when designing a service to be better than a service.
Gleick, James. Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything. Pantheon. 1999.
Summary: Gleick provides many examples of modern life's acceleration: telephone redial buttons, packaged foods, even car chases in moves. He argues that part of the reason lies in the devices that turned it into a commodity: elevator buttons, wristwatches, time zones, atomic clocks, and nanosecond computer speeds. He also argues that the sum effect of all our efforts have been negative: we now have less free time than our forebears.Use: Gleick's book is an excellent resource illustrating one of the core imperatives informing the need for learning as a lifelong skill: everything is faster. We must adapt to the change.
Gross, Ronald. Peak Learning: How to Create Your Own Lifelong Education Program for Personal Enlightenment and Professional Success. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.
Summary: Gross describes 7 themes useful to adults interested in lifelong learning, drawing on a number of other resources and anecdotes along the way. - You can learn to learn.
- You are already a superb learner on occasion, and you can build on that natural skill to make the rest of your learning easy, enjoyable and productive.
- You have your own personal learning style, which you can identify, take advantage of, and strengthen to become an even more accomplished learner.
- You learn best when you are most active mentally (and sometimes physically), making your own decisions about what, how, where, and when to learn and using strategies that activate your mind.
- You can design your optimal learning environment, one that makes your learning more comfortable and hence more effective.
- You can learn most enjoyably by choosing from a rich array of media, methods, and experiences.
- You can accelerate your career by L(earning) your Living - mastering new skills and knowledge virtually every day at your work.
Use: This book's focus seems to be on changing the adult learner's attitude about learning. Its small section on learning skills are not exhaustive, but is complemented nicely by his next book, Socrates' Way.
Gross, Ronald. Socrates' Way: Seven Master Keys to Using Your Mind to the Utmost. Tarcher/Putnam, 2002.
Summary: Gross describes 7 imperatives to adults interested in learning more about Socrates and adopting the Socratic method as a learning strategy, drawing from a number of other resources and anecdotes on the way. - Know Thyself.
- Ask great questions
- Think for Yourself
- Challenge Convention
- Grow with Friends
- Speak the Truth
- Strengthen Your Soul
Use: This book focuses less on changing the reader's attitude about adult learning and more on the skills necessary to become a lifelong learner. He is one of the few popular authors I could find willing to list learner needs and skills.
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Harris, Paul. "Goin' Mobile." Learning Circuits July 2001. 2 Mar. 2003 .
Summary: Harris introduces the concept of mobile learning to his readership, using Global Knowledge's PDA textbooks for business courses as an example. He presents some pro and con arguments from various market experts, including separate sections to review Sun Microsystem's ISOPIA, Global Knowledge, and PDAs in the classroom.
Hein, George E. "Constructivist Learning Theory." 15 Oct. 1991. Exploratorium. 08 Oct. 2002.
Summary: Hein provides an overview of constructivism and outlines 9 key principles of the philosophy. - Learning is an active process.
- People learn to learn as they learn
- Constructing meaning is cognitive
- Learning involves language
- Learning is a social activity
- Learning is contextual
- One needs knowledge to learn
- It takes time to learn
- Motivation is a key component in learning
Hein applies these principles to the museum domain. The article contains an excellent annotated bibliography.Use: This article helped me greatly in understanding the tenets of constructivism, one of the most popular learning theories today. I tried to incorporate as much of these tenets in the design of my service as I could.
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Institute for Learning. The Exploratorium of San Francisco, CA. 08 Nov. 2002.
Summary: The Exploratorium maintains educational and learning research it funds or occurs in its building on this site for educators. Its site houses many helpful, well-linked, and well written articles.Use: Their commitment to and success with constructivist theories helped convince me that it may be one of the most functional educational theories available. I found a number of influential papers in this bibliography through the Institute's site.
Ismel, Susan. "Adult Learning in Groups." 1997. U.S. Department of Education. 07 Nov. 02.
Summary: In this short paper Imel describes the nature of group learning with a facilitator, differentiating between cooperative, collaborative, and transformative topics. She includes 3 questions whose answers guide formation of adult learning groups. - What purpose is the group learning experience designed to achieve?
- What is an appropriate role for the facilitator?
- How should groups be formed?
Use: Imel's distinctions of topics is incorporated in the workshop facilitator's aspects of the service.
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Keegan, Desmond . "From e-learning to m-learning." Ericsson. 22 Mar. 2003 .
Summary: In this online paper supported by the Leonardo da Vinci program of the European Union, Keegan describes how learning theory and technologies have evolved through three ages, corresponding to larger cultural trends. - Distance Learning evolved with the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century and the development of postal and transportation technologies.
- e-Learning evolved with the Digital Revolution of the 1980s when desktop computers and later the Internet became ubiquitous.
- m-Learning will evolve as a result of the mobile, or wireless revolution occurring since 1999, as wireless technology proliferates.
The paper further describes many m-Learning initiatives going on in 2001 in the European Union, and details three projects conducted on three differing mobile devices.Use: This paper gave me a solid understanding that learning takes advantage of all new mass market technologies. It is also one of the few resources available on the Internet about the birth of the nascent m-Learning discipline.
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Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning : Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge Univ Pr , 1991.
Summary: This book presents research to support the analytical perspective that legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice is the principle defining activity in learning. They cite examples of situated learning in the apprenticeships of midwives, tailors, butchers, and others.Use: At first I thought situated learning theory was in complete contradiction to my aims until I realized that I was taking advantage of a mobile situations and communities of practice before even knowing these terms. Personal experience tells me that their complete dismissal of internalization models of learning is too extreme, but they have reintroduced an effective and well-researched perspective of learning as a social and situated phenomenon to the academic and learning communities. Since coming to this understanding, situated learning has become the major influential theory for the development of this thesis.
Leonard-Barton, Dorothy. "Designing with the Enemy: Creative Abrasion". The International Design Conference in Aspen. Aspen, Colorado. 1996.
Summary: In this speech, Leonard-Barton argues that innovation is the core capability of any organization and suggests techniques and tools that encourage innovation and innovative people in the workplace, including fail forward and empathetic design. She uses examples from large companies that are striving for innovation such as Sears, Nissan, and Interval, to support her arguments.Use: This underscored the concept that learning is adaptation, and helped me understand that businesses may be interested in using my services for their employees.
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Meshberger, Frank L., M.D., "An Interpretation of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam Based on Neuroanatomy". Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 264. 1990.
Summary: In this article Meshberger illustrates how the Sistine Chapel panel titled "The Creation of Adam" shows a medically accurate representation of the brain.Use: I happened to read this text while working on the thesis, and was struck by the strange connection between neuroscience and art history. It is the discovery of these sorts of surprising connections that keep me enthralled with the world.
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Papert, S. & Cavallo, D. (2000) "The Learning Hub: Entry Point to Twenty First Century Learning."
Summary: This short paper argues for the global development of specialized learning centers, called learning hubs, founded on Papert's constructionist theories. These hubs would be made up of visionaries who wish to change the nature of learning for the better. The paper discusses an overview of the organization of these hubs and concludes by proposing forms these hubs might take.Use: This article helped me to further understand Papert's concept of constructionism and one way the Media Lab envisions its implementation on a global scale.
Papert, S. (2000). "What's the big idea? Steps toward a pedagogy of Idea Power." IBM Systems Journal, vol. 39, no. 3-4.
Summary: Papert presents a theory of education that judges students on their ideas, using many personal examples. He includes a small application of probabilistic thinking to technologically-empowered education, citing experiences with his LOGO system which are "powerful in its use", "powerful in its connections", and "syntonic."Use: This article helped me to further understand Papert's concept of constructionism and its implementation for children via the LOGO system.
Papert, Seymour. The Childrens Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer: Basic Books, 1994.
Summary: In this follow-up to his book Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, Papert surveys the decade since the prior book's publication for how the proliferation of computers have affected schools and education. In discussing the successes and failures he has encountered, he examines underlying assumptions about learning, teaching, education, and school.Use: I could not easily get a hold of MindStorms, and I believe that this may have detracted from my reading. I found Papert's anecdotal style of writing to be distracting, but useful in parts as documentation of the learning process itself.
Postman, N. Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future. New York: Vintage Books, 1999
Summary: Postman describes several ways in which the 18th century has more to teach us in modern times than the 19th. In each chapter he reviews a different aspect of culture, including some surprising ones, such as technology, information, and childhood.Use: I was most struck in this book by learning that childhood was a social construction of the 18th century.
Postman, N. and Weingartner, C. Teaching as a Subversive Activity. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1969
Summary: A critique of the educational system (of its time) and an introduction to the Inquiry method of education and learning, a derivative of the Socratic method. The book includes early incorporation of constructivist theory and some salient deconstruction of McLuhan. In it Postman introduces the charming concept of "crap detecting," his term for critical thinking. The book concludes with suggestions for educational reform.Use: Postman is always an entertaining, engaging, and inspirational read. I include critical thinking as a learning skill because of the end-reason arguments he and Weingartner posit in this book.
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Quinn, Clark. "mLearning: Mobile, Wireless, In-Your-Pocket Learning." LINE Zine Sept. 2000. May 2003. <http://www.linezine.com/2.1/features/cqmmwiyp.htm>.
Summary: Dr. Quinn introduces mobile learning to his readership via examples, including references to wearable computing. He surveys the state of the art through the offerings of several content and hardware companies. He concludes with a look to the future.Use: Dr. Quinn's final paragraph describes a circumstance where "the learner will not know, nor care, where the learner model is kept, where the content resides, nor how the communication is handled," which is excellent support for my project.
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Regan, Melissa. "Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning." Online posting. 8 Jan. 2001. Tomorrow's Professor. 26 Feb. 2003.
Summary: In this academic paper available online, Regan discusses a project undertaken at the Stanford Learning Lab in evaluating a mobile learning prototype. The subject matter for the prototype was learning language. From the user study, Regan concludes that screen sizes and restrictions of cell phones available at the time (2001) are too small and limiting to provide compelling information.Use: Though cell phone display technology has advanced a great deal in the 2 years since Regan's project, it is not widely distributed. One benefit of structuring my project as a service is that we can deliver a baseline technology to the client. Even at a maximum display quality, however, to be mobile, the screens must remain below a certain size. It was with this study in mind that I developed the Body Learning component.
Rifkin, Jeremy. The Age of Access: Everything is a Service. London. Penguin Books, 2001
Summary: Rifkin presents social and economic evidence that the industrialized world is already in what he terms the age of access, in which the concept of capital ownership is replaced by concepts of access to resources. Part one of the book, The Capitalist Frontier, provides evidence of this shift and outlines the larger reasons for the change. In part two, Enclosing the Cultual Commons, he discusses what effects such a shift may have on different aspects of culture, which he says will be massive, requiring shifts in our relationships not just with corporations, but with one another as well.Use: It was partially our own institute's focus on service design and partly the inclusion of chapter five (Everything is a Service) in one of our first-year readers that gave me the idea to approach learning as a service.
Romiszowski, A. J. (1984). Instructional Development. London : Kogan Page ; New York : Nichols Pub. Co., 1984.
Roschelle , Jeremy. "Learning in Interactive Environments: Prior Knowledge and New Experience.." Public Institutions for Personal Learning: Establishing a Research Agenda. : The American Association of Museums, 1997.
Summary: This paper summarizes research on the roles of prior knowledge in learning in three sections: learning research in science, major theoretical perspectives on the process of conceptual change, and useful empirical methods for studies.Use: It is from this argument that I developed the idea of metadata for hyperlinks in the Topic Drift component.
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Schrage, Micahel. "Design for Facilitation, Facilitation for Design: Managing Media to Manage Information." The International Design Conference in Aspen. Aspen, Colorado. 1996.
Summary: Schrage discusses his ongoing work at MIT, principally about the need for collaborative learners to create prototypes. He provides many examples, slowly building a constructivist argument for their use in the workplace. He provides suggestions for successfully facilitating meetings about prototypes. He concludes with some speculations about prototypes in the future workspace.
Smith, Mark K. infed.org the home of informal education. 2000. 28 Oct. 2002.
Summary: Infed.org provides excellent overviews of many topics, theories, and authors dealing with informal education.Use: This site gave me excellent overviews, helping me determine on which topics I should pursue further research.
Sparacino, Flavia et al. "Technologies and methods for interactive exhibit design: from wireless object and body tracking to wearable computers." ICHIM ns(1999): n. pag.
Summary: As part of work conucted with MIT's Media Lab, Sparacino describes the production and testing of four interactive spaces listed in the title. The beginning of the paper describes recent technological developments and media ideologies which drove the development. The later sections describe each project in detail.Use: Though I disagree with the technological implementation, the underlying algorhithms of the wearable museum project concretely demonstrated the practical implementation of inferring preferences form visitor behavior.
Stephenson, Neal. The Diamond Age. Spectra, 1995.
Summary: Touching on many aspects of a technological future, Stephenson's tale centers on the relationship of a young girl with a smart book capable of teaching her personalized, vital lessons throughout her life. The book first teaches basic reading and writing skills, then self-defense and etiquette (not at the same time), and finally computers and programming. Throughout the tale, the human voicing and acting for many of the characters becomes a sort of surrogate mother to the central character.Use: Stephenson's story presents an advanced vision of inquiry-based learning and legitimate peripheral participation in a single device. While it presumes many artificial intelligence advances, which seem very far away, it is an inspirational and entertaining read.
Synchrologic (uncredited). "Mobile Learning Adds Up ." Synchrologic 08 May 2-3. May 2003. <http://www.synchrologic.com/2003/05/08/WN/0000-0230-WN_200305091930491_1.html>.
Summary: This article reviews the pilot mobile learning project co-developed by Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario. The project is described as a success from both a student and instructors. The four results of the study are quoted below. - Students and instructors consistently recommended that the colleges continue to explore the potential of wireless networks and devices for teaching, learning and providing college services.
- The effectiveness of a wireless curriculum is dependent on the reliability of technology.
- Assessment of student learning should be based on a multi-factor approach that includes technology as one of several key issues.
- Handheld computers may be more effective in certain disciplines than others.
- Students benefit from multiple training approaches to familiarizing them with the technology device.
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The Future of Learning Group, Mission Statement. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Epistemology & Learning Group. 12 Oct. 2002.
Summary: The writing on this web page sets forth the mission of the Future of Learning Group, from three perspectives: educational reform, theoretical underpinnings, and immediate global problems in learning.Use: This web page helped me understand that the Future of Learning Group's interests are principally in children's learning, and their practical approach to improving it.
The National Education Commission on Time and Learning. "Prisoners of Time." 1994.
Summary: The National Education Commission of Time and Learning traces the ideas that founded the amount of time United States children spend in school, trace the changes (and lack of changes) across the last century, and make recommendations for a different sort of learning time for the future.Use: Moehlings excellent statistical research into child labor and mandatory education laws helped me construct the context section of the thesis.
The Sixth Framework Programme. 2002. European Commission. May 2003. <http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html>.
Summary: This website contains all information pertinent to participation in the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the major research tool for the European Research Area.
Thibeault, Jason . "Learning on the Go." pdaEd. 8 Feb. 2003. <http://www.pdaed.com/vertical/features/learning.xml>.
Summary: Thibeault discusses some reasons PDAs are playing a larger role in mobile learning: lower costs, display improvements, and faster processors. He also discusses two trends encouraging their adoption: corporations seeking cheaper training and an increasing numbers of telecommuting employees. He cites the integration of voice and data and ubiquitous and seamless wireless networks as the next major hurdles for cell phone/PDA combinations to succeed in the market. He concludes with some near, mid-, and long-term forecasts.
Tuckman, Bruce. "Developmental Sequence in Small Groups." Psychological Bulletin 63 (1965): 384-399.
Summary: Tuckman's classical 5 stages of group development are presented in brief. - Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
Use: I tried to facilitate these stages in the design of the online Community of practice services, to encourage growth to the fourth stage, performing, and to alleviate the guilt sometimes felt by groups needing to adjourn.
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University of Bologna. General Description: History. European Community Course Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Commission of the European Community. University of Bologna. History 1994/95.
Summary: Bologna University discusses the formation and evolution of its university from the Middle Ages onward.
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Vinge, Vernor. Fast Times at Fairmont High. The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge. : Tor Books, 2001.
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Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge UP, 1999.
Summary: From the frontispiece: [This book] presents a theory of learning that starts with this assumption: engagement in a social practice is the fundamental process by which we learn and so become who we are. The primary unit of analysis is neither the individual nor social institutions but rather the information "communities of practice" that people form as they pursue shared enterprises over time. In order to give a social account of learning, the theory explores in a systematic way the intersection of issues of community, social practice, meaning, and identity. The result is a broad conceptual framework for thinking about learning as a process of social participation.Use: This book is one of the definitive publications on Communities of Practice, which I have acknowledged as a core learner need and for which I have tried to develop service components that consider and facilitate the social aspects of learning. Zimbardo, Philip and Richard, Gerrig. Psychology and Life 14th ed. New York. HarperCollins, 1996.
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Zimbardo, Phillip and Richard, Gerrig. Psychology and Life. 1414 ed. New York. HarperCollins, 1996.
Summary: This is a college-level psychology textbook.Use: I used the definition provided in the text early in my research to understand learning from a psychological perspective.
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