Week Seven

Week seven dealt with situated learning and technology demonstrations.

In addition to the class readings, I found an article by Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver titled, "Critical Characteristics of situated learning:  Implications for instructional design of multimedia."  They add to the situated learning debate by weaving the theory into practice focusing three areas:  designing for the role of multimedia, designing for the role of the student, and designing for the implementation.  Of particular importance to me was the second area regarding the role of the student.  Herrington and Oliver offer the following for student learning:  collaboration, reflection, and articulation.  Learn by doing is not limited to Cal Poly students because our classes have emphasized discussion in classes, reflections through blogging, and collaberation through projects.

Herrington and Oliver criticize multimedia learning because often times assessment takes a traditional approach such as written testing rather than portfolios, summary, and reflection.

This has me thinking about other situations and whether or not assessment has kept pace with technology.  For example, synchronous learning or web conferencing with team members in different locations.

Perhaps a dissertation topic . . . .

Kirk