This paper draws on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Norman Fairclough to show how dialogue is cen... more This paper draws on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Norman Fairclough to show how dialogue is central to the construction of identity in networked management learning. The paper is based on a case study of a networked management learning course in higher ...
This paper reports on an enquiry into relationships between students' views of their experiences ... more This paper reports on an enquiry into relationships between students' views of their experiences of participating in networked learning courses and data on their conceptions of learning and approaches to study. It has been suggested in the literature on networked learning that students with more sophisticated conceptions of learning and students who take a deep approach to learning are more likely to benefit from, and have positive experiences of, networked learning. Drawing on a sample of almost 180 undergraduate social science students on four networked learning courses, we established that there were no strong links between students' judgements about their experience of networked learning and either their conceptions of learning or their approach to study. Further research is needed, but a practical implication of this study is that it is reasonable to expect all students to have positive experiences on well-designed and well-managed networked learning courses-not just those students with more sophisticated conceptions of learning or deep approaches to study.
There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between d... more There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between digital and physical spaces or what we could term hybrid spaces. Therefore, we discuss a recent study of students from two different programmes who are engaged in long-term, group-based problem and project based learning. Based on interviews, workshops and observations of students' actual group practices in open, shared and flexible spaces in Aalborg University (AAU), we identify and discuss how students incorporate networked and digital technologies into their group work and into the study places they create for themselves. We describe how in one of the programmes 'nomadic' groups of students used different technologies and spaces for 'placemaking'. We then show how their experience and approach to collaborative work differs to that of the more static or 'artisan' groups of students in the other programme. In both cases the ways of utilising space, places, tools and activities was an extremely complex interweaving of the digital and physical and of different places and artefacts over time. Thus, we argue 'placemaking' is an important practice or literacy in relation to students' 'doings of networked learning' and one that impacts on the kind and nature of collaboration that takes place.
In this paper, we argue that in order to get a fuller understanding of the complexity of conflict... more In this paper, we argue that in order to get a fuller understanding of the complexity of conflict in democratic pedagogies in online and blended learning settings, it is important to know not only how to manage or resolve it, but also how it is triggered and can be avoided. The emancipatory nature of democratic pedagogies fosters differences, and differences provide the basis for the emergence of conflict among learning community members. Much has been written on certain aspects of conflict, such as conflict management or effects of conflict; however, these studies are frequently disparate and fragmented. Conflict has a cyclical dynamic and the main purpose of this study has been to experimentally build an analytical model of this cyclical dynamic of conflict, drawing on both literature and research data. We believe that such a model might empower practitioners and designers of democratic pedagogies to embrace and work with the differences that lead to conflict, as a way to support collaborative learning and action. The model of conflict which emerged at the end of the study is supported by illustrative qualitative evidence and constituted in a diagrammatic depiction of analytic themes that illustrate the connections between these themes, and the values ascribed to them. The outcomes of this study have implications for developing learning strategies for distance and blended learners.
International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2008
Abstract: The paper suggests that Online Learning Communities (OLC) can be considered as learning... more Abstract: The paper suggests that Online Learning Communities (OLC) can be considered as learning spaces which participants occupy and at the same time by which individual and collective identities are constructed. Some of the processes that contribute to an OLC learning space becoming experienced as a curriculum and pedagogical learning space of open and participative dialogue are described in the paper. The importance in these processes of participants’ establishing an identity and finding a voice within the process of constructing and defining the learning space of an online learning community is identified as a key factor.
Abstract This paper is concerned with the relationship between open learning and the use of comp... more Abstract This paper is concerned with the relationship between open learning and the use of computer mediated communications systems (CMCS) in supporting open learning. In order to illuminate this relationship, we report on a small scale trial of a model of open learning developed at Lancaster University: ITOL — Information Technology-based Open Learning. The ITOL model has successfully been applied to an M.A. in Management Learning, and through a case study approach, we discuss an evaluation of this new computer mediated M.A. and point out some of the issues that emerge in introducing CMCS into professional learning situations.
Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly particip... more Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly participatory and democratic medium because it reduces the requirement to interrupt or wait your turn to speak. Such aspects of discussion have been shown to be relevant to differences in male and female participation in group discussions. In general, men have been found to take more turns and to speak longer than women in mixed sex groups. Men are also said to characteristically speak about “things”, take centre stage and give opinions. Women on the other hand are more likely to emphasis people rather than things, and to build and maintain relations in the way they talk. These two styles have been described as “report talk” of men and “rapport talk” of women. In this paper we describe some preliminary findings on the impact of using CMC and its effect on traditional gender participation differences. We look first at turn taking by men and women in computer conferences, and then how women in particular experience differences in the kind of contributions made to the conferences by men and women. Finally, we look at the actual contributions made by men and women and the extent they differ from each other.
Abstract This paper has two main purposes. The first one is to consider the theory and nature of ... more Abstract This paper has two main purposes. The first one is to consider the theory and nature of cooperative learning and the benefits which seem to result from it. The second one is to consider the Cooperative Learning and Development Network (CLDN) trial in the JITOL project, and to look at the relationship between theories about cooperative learning, and the reality of a group of professional people participating in a ‘virtual’ cooperative learning environment.
In this chapter we offer an overview of recent advances in research on net-worked learning, using... more In this chapter we offer an overview of recent advances in research on net-worked learning, using the studies reported in the main chapters of the book as our primary source. Networked learning is an area which has both practical and theoretical importance. It is a rapidly ...
The article reviews the popularity in networked learning designs for values of collaboration, and... more The article reviews the popularity in networked learning designs for values of collaboration, and in particular, of community. Examples of this are drawn from the networked learning literature, highlighting corresponding arguments for networked learning providing the basis for a more democratic ethos within higher educational programmes. The authors critique the notion of ‘community’, especially its association with consensus and pressures to conform. They argue for an interpretation of community which would be more likely to take account of differences, without suppressing or ‘managing’ them, and cite examples of network learning structures which seem to be based on principles more sympathetic to this aim.
ABSTRACT What do we really know about participants' experience of courses and training pr... more ABSTRACT What do we really know about participants' experience of courses and training programmes? What are their thoughts and feelings at the time? What goes through each person's mind during the course of a learning event? Do course members' experiences of training reflect in any way their experience of the work-place?.
This paper draws on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Norman Fairclough to show how dialogue is cen... more This paper draws on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and Norman Fairclough to show how dialogue is central to the construction of identity in networked management learning. The paper is based on a case study of a networked management learning course in higher ...
This paper reports on an enquiry into relationships between students' views of their experiences ... more This paper reports on an enquiry into relationships between students' views of their experiences of participating in networked learning courses and data on their conceptions of learning and approaches to study. It has been suggested in the literature on networked learning that students with more sophisticated conceptions of learning and students who take a deep approach to learning are more likely to benefit from, and have positive experiences of, networked learning. Drawing on a sample of almost 180 undergraduate social science students on four networked learning courses, we established that there were no strong links between students' judgements about their experience of networked learning and either their conceptions of learning or their approach to study. Further research is needed, but a practical implication of this study is that it is reasonable to expect all students to have positive experiences on well-designed and well-managed networked learning courses-not just those students with more sophisticated conceptions of learning or deep approaches to study.
There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between d... more There is a need within networked learning to understand and conceptualise the interplay between digital and physical spaces or what we could term hybrid spaces. Therefore, we discuss a recent study of students from two different programmes who are engaged in long-term, group-based problem and project based learning. Based on interviews, workshops and observations of students' actual group practices in open, shared and flexible spaces in Aalborg University (AAU), we identify and discuss how students incorporate networked and digital technologies into their group work and into the study places they create for themselves. We describe how in one of the programmes 'nomadic' groups of students used different technologies and spaces for 'placemaking'. We then show how their experience and approach to collaborative work differs to that of the more static or 'artisan' groups of students in the other programme. In both cases the ways of utilising space, places, tools and activities was an extremely complex interweaving of the digital and physical and of different places and artefacts over time. Thus, we argue 'placemaking' is an important practice or literacy in relation to students' 'doings of networked learning' and one that impacts on the kind and nature of collaboration that takes place.
In this paper, we argue that in order to get a fuller understanding of the complexity of conflict... more In this paper, we argue that in order to get a fuller understanding of the complexity of conflict in democratic pedagogies in online and blended learning settings, it is important to know not only how to manage or resolve it, but also how it is triggered and can be avoided. The emancipatory nature of democratic pedagogies fosters differences, and differences provide the basis for the emergence of conflict among learning community members. Much has been written on certain aspects of conflict, such as conflict management or effects of conflict; however, these studies are frequently disparate and fragmented. Conflict has a cyclical dynamic and the main purpose of this study has been to experimentally build an analytical model of this cyclical dynamic of conflict, drawing on both literature and research data. We believe that such a model might empower practitioners and designers of democratic pedagogies to embrace and work with the differences that lead to conflict, as a way to support collaborative learning and action. The model of conflict which emerged at the end of the study is supported by illustrative qualitative evidence and constituted in a diagrammatic depiction of analytic themes that illustrate the connections between these themes, and the values ascribed to them. The outcomes of this study have implications for developing learning strategies for distance and blended learners.
International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2008
Abstract: The paper suggests that Online Learning Communities (OLC) can be considered as learning... more Abstract: The paper suggests that Online Learning Communities (OLC) can be considered as learning spaces which participants occupy and at the same time by which individual and collective identities are constructed. Some of the processes that contribute to an OLC learning space becoming experienced as a curriculum and pedagogical learning space of open and participative dialogue are described in the paper. The importance in these processes of participants’ establishing an identity and finding a voice within the process of constructing and defining the learning space of an online learning community is identified as a key factor.
Abstract This paper is concerned with the relationship between open learning and the use of comp... more Abstract This paper is concerned with the relationship between open learning and the use of computer mediated communications systems (CMCS) in supporting open learning. In order to illuminate this relationship, we report on a small scale trial of a model of open learning developed at Lancaster University: ITOL — Information Technology-based Open Learning. The ITOL model has successfully been applied to an M.A. in Management Learning, and through a case study approach, we discuss an evaluation of this new computer mediated M.A. and point out some of the issues that emerge in introducing CMCS into professional learning situations.
Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly particip... more Claims have been made that computer mediated communication (CMC) is a potentially highly participatory and democratic medium because it reduces the requirement to interrupt or wait your turn to speak. Such aspects of discussion have been shown to be relevant to differences in male and female participation in group discussions. In general, men have been found to take more turns and to speak longer than women in mixed sex groups. Men are also said to characteristically speak about “things”, take centre stage and give opinions. Women on the other hand are more likely to emphasis people rather than things, and to build and maintain relations in the way they talk. These two styles have been described as “report talk” of men and “rapport talk” of women. In this paper we describe some preliminary findings on the impact of using CMC and its effect on traditional gender participation differences. We look first at turn taking by men and women in computer conferences, and then how women in particular experience differences in the kind of contributions made to the conferences by men and women. Finally, we look at the actual contributions made by men and women and the extent they differ from each other.
Abstract This paper has two main purposes. The first one is to consider the theory and nature of ... more Abstract This paper has two main purposes. The first one is to consider the theory and nature of cooperative learning and the benefits which seem to result from it. The second one is to consider the Cooperative Learning and Development Network (CLDN) trial in the JITOL project, and to look at the relationship between theories about cooperative learning, and the reality of a group of professional people participating in a ‘virtual’ cooperative learning environment.
In this chapter we offer an overview of recent advances in research on net-worked learning, using... more In this chapter we offer an overview of recent advances in research on net-worked learning, using the studies reported in the main chapters of the book as our primary source. Networked learning is an area which has both practical and theoretical importance. It is a rapidly ...
The article reviews the popularity in networked learning designs for values of collaboration, and... more The article reviews the popularity in networked learning designs for values of collaboration, and in particular, of community. Examples of this are drawn from the networked learning literature, highlighting corresponding arguments for networked learning providing the basis for a more democratic ethos within higher educational programmes. The authors critique the notion of ‘community’, especially its association with consensus and pressures to conform. They argue for an interpretation of community which would be more likely to take account of differences, without suppressing or ‘managing’ them, and cite examples of network learning structures which seem to be based on principles more sympathetic to this aim.
ABSTRACT What do we really know about participants' experience of courses and training pr... more ABSTRACT What do we really know about participants' experience of courses and training programmes? What are their thoughts and feelings at the time? What goes through each person's mind during the course of a learning event? Do course members' experiences of training reflect in any way their experience of the work-place?.
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Papers by Vivien Hodgson