As mentioned before, but repeated here in case you are starting with
this post, I need to find a better way to explain what I mean when I
say, "I
want to apply tools useful for understanding and managing natural
resources to better understand and manage learning systems." I realize
that statement is not at all descriptive to anyone who hasn't done large
scale resource management. The name of the technique, "computational
modeling," isn't very helpful, either, unless it's already familiar. One
effective way to describe a difficult concept is through analogy, and
this seems like a good forum to try out some ideas. I hope you'll leave a
comment to let me know what you think!
The navigation systems in our cars and phones have changed the way we move around. We are more aware of all the destination options available to us. We can easily choose our type of experience, whether we want to take a scenic route or the fastest route. We can make better choices with readily available information like the cost of a trip in money and time. We can more easily avoid problems like traffic jams. This is possible because of the great strides made in Geographic Information System (GIS) technology over the past few decades.
A GIS is able to combine many different types of data. It can hold discrete data like store and home locations. It can hold network data like road and trail systems. It can even hold continuous data, like elevation, to help you find a bike-worthy route through Tallahassee. GIS combines these data across many systems. Transportation networks, cultural institutions, weather, other people's opinions, they all might factor into our decisions about where we will go. GIS is a visualization and analysis tool that can help us make better decisions, a decision support system based on computational modeling.
A decision support tool for visualizing and analyzing a learning system could help us make better decisions in the realm of education. Such a tool would allow us to better understand the opportunities and constraints in our social and professional networks, educational institutions, and cultural climate. We could more easily find and access resources to facilitate learning. We could choose the type of learning experience we wanted, informal or formal, behaviorist or constructivist. And we would know the cost in money and time of our choices. We could all make more informed decisions.
Lee - at first this sounded interesting, as in 'that would be really cool'. Then I realized that a) that deciding what learning system and tools would be best for a situation is my job as an instructional systems designer; and b) that is the reason I am in this program, to learn how to make those informed decisions.
ReplyDeleteCould an algorithm be developed to take in all the parameters and provide a best solution? I saw yes because it seems they can develop one for any set of input or data.
It may help to think of it from a meteorologist perspective: weathermen are better at their job of predicting the weather when they use computational models to visualize/analyze complex phenomena.
DeleteLee, it's great to see that you're digging up more and more! I liked the analogy and most of the time it makes a lot of sense to refer to these analogies. As soon as I've read your post, I thought that the way that it works position the subject/learner in an active form which is not always the case in most of the formal learning environments. I also thought about the transferability of this analogy into learning environments. It definitely sounds promising and I wish it existed. But, most of the time we assume that these theories really explain learning while looking through one or the other theory. I remember from Theories of Learning and Cognition (I'm sure you'll also remember) that each theory may play a role at certain point in time and it's generally difficult to separate one theory from others in every day learning environments. So, when you say the type of learning experience one wants sets the theory ahead and I'm not sure whether it includes others along the way, as well. Also, do we really exactly know which type of learning experience we want? I think I don't LOL! :)
ReplyDeleteI loved your ideas, definitely sounds very interesting, keep it up! I love reading your ideas!
Lee, I like your idea of having a support tool to visualize and analyze a graduate class before taking it. It would be nice to know the pedagogical theories behind the class, the formality, and more, and would be equally useful in universities. A data drive dashboard on instructional design.
ReplyDelete