It is interesting how participants are using their collaborative efforts to share and learn. Meaningful to the discussion process is the ability of participants to demonstrate critical thinking skills by relating prior knowledge and experiences to the topics and course contents. Really, online discussion can be structured for meaningful discourse. Meaningful discourse explains the process of collaboration and social negotiation with the aim of storing different viewpoints and ideas on building problem solving and knowledge activities. Articulation of experiences and reflections support knowledge construction and allows participants to relate course materials to what they already know. The process can serve as a catalyst for analysis, synthesis and evaluation of course content and understanding from different perspectives.
As I continue to read participants postings, I can really appreciate the concept of knowledge construction and social networking. Come think of the fact that participants are sharing knowledge by posting links to relevant information and discussing how they acquire new knowledge and access technology for their working environments. Online discussion promotes constructive thinking and maximizes interactions between and across participants with different experiences. Generally, I find these participants to be very active and experienced.
With the FIT project, the facilitator is using discussion cycles to moderate the topics for the team projects. Each cycle’s duration is about three weeks, even though; Tu & Corry (2003) suggest a week or two for each discussion cycle. There are eight team projects going, and I will have the opportunity to facilitate the Social networking Group. I look forward to the opportunity. Stay tuned…….
JLA
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