“Collaboratism: A Learning Theory for Online Education”

By Paul GruhnMarch 2017

ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING THEORY

Theorist: Dr. Linda Harasim

Professor: Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication https://www.sfu.ca/communication/people/faculty/harasim.html

Ph.D. in Educational Theory, University of Toronto

Website: https://lindaharasim.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-harasim-aa8a6511/ eMail: harasim@sfu.ca

1985, she taught the first online university course in the world 1987-89, developed the online pedagogy & design that launched

the University of Phoenix.

Book

Title: Learning Theory and Online TechnologyBy: Linda HarasimPublisher: Routledge (2012)ISBN-13: 978-0415999762

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/switch-language/product/0415999766/ref=dp_change_lang/188-3888072-6587007?ie=UTF8&language=fr_CA

Publications

Learning Theory and Online Technologies, (2012, Routledge Press) Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online (1995,

MIT Press) Global Networks (1993, MIT Press) Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment (1990) More publications: https://lindaharasim.com/publications/

She has given over 100 keynotes and presentations in 30 countries and has published hundreds of articles related to OCL.

Has been a member of several prestigious boards and committees, and consults around the world, in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

LEARNING: A HISTORIC VIEW“WE THINK BECAUSE WE CAN TALK WITH ONE ANOTHER.” (BUFFEE 1999)

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…...27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1 - King James Version (KJV)

Communication Technology Advances impacts Learning(and how we do education)

Speech•Stone Age•40,000 BC•Grunts & sounds turn into patterns of communication & speech

Writing•Agrarian Age•10,000 BC•Wealthy – Business – Writing to keep track of business transactions•Education was only available for the wealthy & elite

Printing Press•Discovery Age•1440 – Gutenberg Press invented – Easy to distribute 100’s of flyers•1635 – Boston Latin 1st Public School – Knowledge is no longer for the elite

Electronic Communication• Industrial Age•Telegraph(1844), Record Player(1877), Telephone(1876), HAM Radio(1888), Radio(1900), Television(1920’s), Tape Recording(late 1800’s) (Analog technology), reel-to-reel, cassette, 8-track,

Internet• Information Age (1970) -- Knowledge Age (2000)•1969 – Paul Gruhn learns BASIC & FORTRAN in High School on IBM 360 Mainframe•Digital technology - March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invents World Wide Web iPhone(2007), Amazon Echo (2015)•Over 3.5 billion users on the Internet today (40% of the world) http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/

Learning theory as a discipline is 100+ years old•Knowledge comes from … God … Philosophy & Theology … we learn from God via the Church (or other philosophers) •40,000 BC to the Age of Discovery & Science, when new ideas of learning are conceived •Influencers: Philosophers & Religious Prophets, Church leaders & World Thinkers •Education is for the elite

Meta-Physics & Theology

•Knowledge comes from … Stimulus > Response ... Learning/new behaviors occurs through associations between stimuli and response

•Introduced in the late 1800’s•Influencers: Thorndike, Pavlov, Watson

Behaviorism

•Knowledge come from … Stimulus > "Mind as Computer" > Response … we learn through internal processing of information•Gained credence in the 1950’s•Influencers: out of Gestalt psychology, Kohler, Wertheimer

Cognitivism

•Knowledge comes from … Active Participation ..we construct our own knowledge of the world based on our individual experiences •Popularity 1950’s to 1970’s•Influencers: Piaget, Vygotsky, Cobern, Dewey, Montessori, Kolb

Constructivism

•Knowledge comes form … Collaborative Discourse … we gather, organize, converge knowledge in a online community context, knowledge is “dynamic and evolving , not static and finite” (Harasim 2012)

•Strong roots to the 1950’s – 80’s … 21st century expands the scope via the internet•Late 70’s term “collaborative” used in contest of electronic teamwork tools, by Douglas Engelbart, at Augmentation Research Center•Influencers: Harasim, Scardamalia, Bereiter, Salmon, and others•Education & knowledge sharing is available to 40% of the world, over 3.5 billion people

Collaborativism

ONLINE COLLABORATIVE LEARNING (OCL)

OCL roots

Born out of advancing technology & Constructivist learning theory

Vygotsky – “zone of proximal development” ZPD, we learn through contact & discourse with others

Today’s socio-economic culture has made knowledge a key component of today’s economy

(Harasim 2012)

OCL defined

“Online collaborative learning theory, or OCL, is a form of constructivist teaching that takes the form of instructor-led group learning online. In OCL, students are encouraged to collaboratively solve problems through discourse instead of memorizing correct answers. The teacher plays a crucial role as a facilitator as well as a member of the knowledge community under study.”

(Harasim: https://www.learning-theories.com/online-collaborative-learning-theory-harasim.html )

OCL key attributes Discourse Collaboration Knowledge Building

Active Engagement Engagement with …

Each other Professor Knowledge Community

Internet

(Harasim 2012)

OCL flow

(Harasim 2012)

Divergent Thinking

Convergent Thinking

Knowledge Product

OCL Core Design Principles

Idea Generating Idea Organizing Intellectual Convergence

“The process is not circular, but one of continual growth or advance based on a feedback spiral.”

(Harasim 2012)

Knowledge Building & Social Application

Intellectual Convergence

Idea Organizing

Idea Gathering

These are different … (Harasim 2012 p. 92)

Cooperative Learning

“... each group member contributes an independent piece to the whole, in the form of division of labor …”

Collaborative Learning

“… the group members discuss and work together throughout the process. The process is ‘collaborative’ not just the product.”

OCL the role of the professor (Harasim 2012)

Connection, a link, a mediator between the Student to the Knowledge Community

Structures discourse around Knowledge Problems

Instruction is based on the ‘guides/norms of the knowledge discipline’ Introduces the student to the Knowledge Community

Terms & language Key influencers, readings & viewings Community of Practices Example: “Interview a Theorist”

Is not ”guide on the side” or “sage on the stage” … the role is to engage the learner in the language and activities … they are representatives of the particular discipline being taught.

OCL model (Harasim 2012)

OCL Discourse Attributes (Harasim 2012)

Place-independent Time-independent Many-to-many Text-based Internet/Computer mediated

OCL creates Free Open Knowledge OpenCourseWare Consortium MIT OpenCourseWare Connexions – Rice University OER Commons Google Directory OpenLearn Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) UNESCO Open Training Platform Open ICEcat Catalog https://okfn.org/ MOOCS – Massive Open Online Courses

Dr. Harasim Thoughts TodayISSN: 2292-8588 Vol. 32, No. 2, 2016 - Thirty Years Later: Educational Applications of Computer Conferencing We asked Linda to comment on three questions about online education by providing a reflective commentary on:

Linda Harasim - Professor, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University Original article: http://ijede.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/305 Thirty years ago I wrote an article presenting and analyzing the first online credit course that used computer conferencing, an online technology unique in its ability to enable group communication and collaborative learning. The course was thus in many ways unprecedented, enabling participants to overcome obstacles of time and place to log on to a common space to discuss, learn together, and undertake group projects. This was not a course in which students interacted only with a software program but one in which students engaged in peer collaboration and knowledge building with one another and with the professor.

What remains true? What remains true and important about online education, is the following: 1. The emphasis on pedagogical and technological design of the online environment to support learning has been proven essential. Active, collaborative learning processes

a. Learning design (LD) has been viewed as pedagogically different from instructional design (ID). There was a need to refocus from ID to LD. b. Successful learning design benefitted from technological learning environments expressly structured to support collaboration and knowledge building.

2. Online collaborative learning designs contributed to very positive learning outcomes, as good as or better than f2f courses. Our goal was to be better than traditional didactic learning outcomes, in terms of completion rates, teacher and learner reports of learning satisfaction, equitable distribution of participation, active and deep learning and understanding. Research demonstrates we met those goals. 3. Online collaborative learning typically integrated research and assessment, yielding a large knowledge base with valuable lessons for today’s teachers and learners. 4. A theory provides an explanation and guide for how people learn, in this case, online together (either asynchronously or synchronously).Online collaborative learning theory (aka Collaborativism) is essential in designing a pedagogy to support effective learning, i.e., with high completion rates, reports of user satisfaction, and evidence of active learning by all participants.

What has changed? 1. The subsequent rate of adoption of online education has been remarkable. In the 1980s, only a small handful of professors were teaching online. By 2016, six million students in the USA alone are

taking at least one online course. 2. Online education is no longer a peripheral experiment; online education is today mainstream and essential. 3. There is increasing attention to learning theory and online education. My most recent publications are: Learning Theory and Online Technology (Routledge 2012; 2017). I am also completing a book on

The Theory and Practice of Collaborativism, which analyzes the results of online learning activities over the past decade. 4. We are learning about learning, through online education. For the past several years, I’ve been studying online seminars and have developed a methodology to visualize learning processes and

progress. Online peer discussion makes learning visible, whereby it can be more effectively studied, understood, implemented and improved (Harasim 2017).

What needs to be changed? 1. While the rate of adoption of online education has skyrocketed and expanded globally, sadly:

a. The pedagogy of online education has received very little attention. Instructors replicate didactic methods from 20th century lecture halls, correspondence education or courseware: CONTENT+QUIZ. Such designs neither reap the potential of online environments nor do they encourage active thinking by students. MOOCs like other courseware are based on CONTENT+QUIZ,— clicking, not thinking. Moreover, teachers have put themselves at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence driven MOOCs and endangering their students to a dumbed-down learning future. b. Today’s “Learning Management Systems” (LMS) manage but do NOT facilitate learning. Today’s LMS reflects yesterday’s lecture hall. c. Online educators require support, training, and commitment to understanding the THEORY, DESIGN, and PEDAGOGY in order to achieve effective online education. d. Online educators should build on research and lessons learned to reinvent education before it becomes automated. e. Finally, Educators—Do What AI Cannot DO: help students learn to THINK.

Linda Harasim, Ph.D

PONDERING SOME OCL LIMITATIONS

Limitations to ponder

OCL appears to assume the learner can jump right into a collaborative dialogue. Not much is written about the role of the teacher to provide the base language, and how to do it.

How does learning core competencies fit into OCL? Isn’t there knowledge, the ‘expert’ holds that could be transmitted without OCL

pedagogies? OCL should not exclude the role and place for other types of learning. Sometimes the learner needs to be told. “Don’t touch the chain saw blade when it is

running.” Example, active-learning, can build self-competencies to better engage with others

in OCL. Since the teacher is the connection between student and the knowledge

community; what role/responsibility does the knowledge community have? My concern is OCL is not the one stop pedagogy for online learning, for me it is a

part of the process as a learner is introduce to, and grows in the knowledge community.

MORE INFORMATION ON OCL

OCL Influencers …

Linda Harasim Gilly Salmon Carl Bereiter (Knowledge Building) Marlene Scardamalia Voltsky Bruffee

OCL – Gilly Salmon, 5 Stage Model …

OCL Research

https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org

OCL Conferences

https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/innovate/

OCL Slide Deckshttps://www.slideshare.net/laurieposey/from-research-to-practice-the-instructional-design-of-online-collaborative-learning

https://www.slideshare.net/aquifolium/linda-harasim-on-online-collaborative-learning

https://www.slideshare.net/tmvcr/online-collaborative-learning-2399548

https://www.slideshare.net/Curatr/curatr-towards-improving-participation-in-online-collaborative-learning-environments

https://www.slideshare.net/trausan/automatic-support-for-the-analysis-of-online-collaborative-learning-chat-conversations-ichl-2010

https://www.slideshare.net/CalMcNiven/online-collaborative-learning-7391796

https://www.slideshare.net/aleksandralazareva/peer-assessment-in-online-collaborative-learning

https://www.slideshare.net/cpaivafranco/unigranrio-online-learning-claudio

https://www.slideshare.net/astone1/online-collaborative-learning-with-audiencefeedback

https://www.slideshare.net/TarasDanko/danko-2012-developing-high-tech-marketing-capabilities-through-online-collaborative-learning

DISCOVERING OCL IMPACTS MY RESEARCH WORLDVIEW & THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

For Me Online Learning Theory: Requires an all-inclusive hierarchy of learning

Collaboratism

Constructivism

Cognitivism

Behaviorism

Metaphysics, Personal Theology/Ideology

MY RESEARCH CONCEPT MAP (AS OF MARCH 14, 2017)

purpose improve professional development for online educators

method mixed methods quan informs qual survey focus groups semi-structured interviews auto-biographical narrative

conceptual framework “eclectic pragmatist” worldview online collaborative learning

validity & credibility triangulation of participants & data sources & methods

research question How do we best train online educators?

References

Bruffee, K. A. (1999). Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363.

Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. Routledge.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (2006). Knowledge building. The Cambridge.

THANK YOU