Running head: LEARNING THROUGH THE CONTENT

Learning Through the Content Rebecca Harrison 87257127 ETEC 512 Section 64B UBC Vancouver Dr. McCracken November 16, 2012

LEARNING THROUGH THE CONTENT

Learning Through the Content Content is important when considering whether collaborative web-based information or tools will be effective ways to communicate information. Words are developed through activity (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989, p.33), and online collaboration can provide opportunities for concepts to be expanded, while performing or experiencing authentic activities (Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989 p. 33). Online cognitive tools can demonstrate to students how to perform tasks. For example, students can engage in discussions that are practice for the kinds of conversations they could experience in a field. These conversations and language also satisfy the tenets of Distributed Learning. In Distributed Learning, being exposed to the systems of distribution of knowledge is important (Hutchins, 2000). If students learn to navigate through these systems via a collaborative web-based process, they will begin to understand the ways information moves through the channels within a field and gain a deeper understanding of the content through this examination. Engaging in online tasks and collaborative discussions with content or individuals within a field, far extends the scope available to most schools for real-life opportunities. There are financial, time and space constraints that prevent most teachers from providing these experiences, perhaps online opportunities can extend and contextualize knowledge in a way that students will find meaningful, and therefore retain. Content is important for Situated Learning, as no online collaboration or experience about gardening could match the experience of having your hands in the dirt. Certain details of learning to garden could be made more applicable through online activities, however, the majority of it is better learned through the process of doing it. In Distributed Learning, using online chats, reading wikis, and other such tasks will expose students to the knowledge around

LEARNING THROUGH THE CONTENT

this topic. If the content is right, online collaboration, and learning can be incredibly effective and powerful when looked at through the lens of both Distributed Learning and Situated Learning.

LEARNING THROUGH THE CONTENT

References Brown, J. S., Collins, A. & Duguid, S. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32-42. Retrieved from http://edr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/32 Hutchins, E. (2000). Distributed Cognition. Retrieved from http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/ Anthro179a/DistributedCognition.pdf