 |
||
 |
||
    |
||
 Increasing
Students' Participation via
Multiple Interactive Media Chris Dede and Audrey L. Kremer |
||
© Copyright 1998-99 by Chris Dede (cdede@gmu.edu) and Audrey L. Kremer (kremer@mitretek.org). The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author. |
|
Section Seven: The National Science Foundation has a multidisciplinary research initiative centering on "knowledge and distributed intelligence" (http://www.ehr.nsf.gov/kdi/default.htm). In science and many other fields, new ways of learning and knowing are emerging that involve creating a community of mind, a new type of "cognitive ecology." Through sharing disparate data and diverse perspectives via emerging interactive media, a virtual group of professionals develops an evolving understanding of a complex topic. Over time, the group’s conception of the issues involved continually expands and deepens, at times broadening the range of disciplines seen as relevant. During these times, the membership of a knowledge networking community grows to include participants who bring new perspectives and backgrounds. An ever larger cast of members redefines how to conceptualize the topic; this involves a constant collective acculturation into new ways of thinking and knowing via communal learning. Emerging interactive media are crucial to knowledge networking through providing rich sources of data; rapid information exchange; sophisticated analytic tools; and—most important—the collective intellectual capacity to tackle larger, more complex, and multidisciplinary problems at low cost. In contrast to Chris’s "Leave-It-To-Beaver" generation being prepared for a mature industrial workplace, today’s students face a global economy in which knowledge networking and mastering the rhetorics of multiple interactive media are crucial skills (Dede, 1998). Distributed learning is vital for preparing students for this future. Within a few decades, we believe refusal by a university instructor to use multiple interactive media will be considered professional malpractice. Next Section:References and Acknowledgments Previous Section: Analysis of the Discussion Forum |