Re: [xmca] What about a new kind of XMCA forum?

Dear Kevin,

Thanks for this clear description of learning 'knotworking'--allowing
for continuity with variations. We had a small and active discussion
group running in the Boston area alongside the last course. Our group
made great use of the resources and online discussion but, as I recall,
found it challenging to loop back into the discussion in a way that
reflected the richness of our onsite discussions and aligned with the
forward motion of the online discussion. (This is also a big challenge
in the in-service hybrid courses I'm working on now.)

Maybe there's a way of having affiliated groups (whether for-credit
course, informal small group, connected individuals) take responsibility
for different topics/readings, opening the way with generative
questions, guiding the process, and most important, pulling together a
synthesis of artifacts (multimedia resources, discussion highlights,
etc.). Anyway, I'd enjoy thinking more about designing for punctuated
equilibria when the time comes.

David

Kevin Rocap wrote:
> Dear Mike,
>
> Just a little food for thought:
>
> In our Teacher Ed learning networks we link existing classes/courses
> together for key joint online-mediated activities. So each
> participating professor/instructor and his or her class has his or her
> own full syllabus into which the learning network activities have been
> integrated substantively (but the local topic of the course can and
> certainly does vary from locality to locality, so that even though the
> learning network activities are somehow shared activities, the
> perspective or point of reference and entrance into interaction with
> others stems from the local topic/course).
> For example, our online network "Knowing Our Students, Knowing
> Ourselves" provides prompts and activities for a variety of ways in
> which future teachers need to "know themselves" and "know their future
> students" - but these prompts and activities can be as relevant for a
> methods course as it is for a foundations course or a content course and
> so has relevance for incorporation into courses that cover varying
> topics. The variation can lead to engaging exchanges as each
> participating class engages from its particular vantage point regarding
> what it means to know themselves and know their future students in the
> context of their local topic.
>
> Last time we ran the CHAT course internationally, of course, we had many
> individuals and/or non-university-affiliated small groups who wanted to
> participate. These could be folks who do or do not want to participate
> for credit, but are not under the umbrella of one of the existing
> courses such as my examples above. In that case, it seems to me that
> any professor whose full-course is participating in the CHAT exchange
> that has a mechanism for granting credits could make their course and
> syllabus known to the wider participating CHAT community so that
> community members might be able to find a course to affiliate with that
> makes sense for their own educational, professional, personal
> trajectory, but also permits them to participate in the CHAT exchanges
> (he/she would, of course, also have to fulfill any additional
> requirements of such a course beyond participation in the CHAT exchanges
> to qualify for credit).
>
> The other occurrence in learning networks we've facilitated and that
> occurred in our last CHAT course experience was that individuals or
> groups identify each other and form their own local book or study
> groups. When I queried about that during the last course it seemed
> several people were making use of the online content and exchanges to
> engage in local face-to-face discussions and activities (e.g., printing
> out copies of comments from the online and using these as additional
> texts in book/study group discussions, etc.).
>
> It also seemed to work well last time to have graduate students and/or
> other key participants take some sort of
> discussion/prompt/question-generating lead on a given reading or topic
> at different times in the exchange.
>
> Anyway, a short re-cap and some additional ideas to stir around in the
> pot as options for the once and future CHAT exchange ;-)
>
> In Peace,
> K.
>
> Mike Cole wrote:

-- 
David Eddy Spicer, Ed.D.
Harvard Graduate School of Education
617-384-9869
<eddyspda@gse.harvard.edu>
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