Mindtools Technology as Cognitive Tools: Learners as Designers

Give me some research and development money, I will develop my great invention of writing. People can then…… Thot The discovery of the alphabet will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. Your invention is not an aid to memory...you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be the hearers of many things and they will learn nothing. Thamus Plato: Pheadrus.

Is Writing Useful? Do we forget things because of writing?

Human Minds are limited limited capacity of human short-term and working memory, knowledge in long-term memory may not be well-organized May not use some effective cognitive strategies Writing ?

Cognitive Tools mental and/or technological devices which support, guide and extend the thinking processes of their users simplifies, rather than complicates the user's tasks aid the construction of knowledge by compensating for three major constraints of the human cognitive system: the limited capacity of human short-term and working memory, the organisation of knowledge in long-term memory, and the learner's use of cognitive strategies.

Task Think of a cognitive strategy you used in Reading comprehension Preparing for examination Reading a novel Cognitive Strategy you used ?

Cognitive Tools Internal: such as cognitive and metacognitive strategies External, extend the thinking processes of learners. engage learners in more meaningful cognitive processing. used for the construction and facilitation of knowledge can be applied to mediate learning in most subjects. preceding computer technology: writing systems, systems of mathematical notation and systems of visual/spatial representation computer-based procedures and environments

Areas of application direct problem solving, creating something, i.e. a product, idea or procedure, finding new uses for computing.

Common Software word processors, spreadsheets, graphics, adventure games and simulations.

Curriculum Areas enhancement of reading comprehension and all kinds of writing skills mathematics and science social studies foreign language learning technology subjects arts.

Generic Skills Acquired the development of knowledge representation skills, problem solving, planning and management of study, and students' self-monitoring and evaluation.

Instruction versus Learning

To instruct someone to learn perform some activities which result in your understanding of, and durable memory for, this material. A cognitive tool gives the learner just such a ready made set of activities. Difference between Instruction and the use of Cognitive Tools

Educational Communication Technology as conveyor Believed -- communicating content to students will result in learning Coded information

information or intelligence (in many different forms) is encoded visually or verbally learners perceive the messages encoded in the medium and sometime "interact" with the technology Interaction is normally operationalized in terms of student input to the technology, which triggers some form of answer judging and response from the technology in the form of some previously encoded (canned) message. Technologies as conveyors of information have been used for centuries to "teach" students by presenting prescribed information to them which they are obligated to "learn." Teaching/Instruction

Instructional Design Models Causality A will cause B Objectivity: Objective Reality Common perception Assumptions Technology controlled by Experts

the process of learning is holistic. It cannot be understood by simply analyzing human responses to attributes of technologies that carry the messages to be learned. In fact, it is difficult, if not impossible, to isolate the effects of the affordances of technologies. Our instructional design models are grounded on two essential components of reality--objectivity and causality--both integral components of western consciousness. Objective reality is predicated on a number of assumptions, such as commonality of perception which supposedly enables us to observe and describe the physical world and to convey those descriptions to others as reality. Drawbacks of Instructional Model

Computer-based Cognitive tools activate and perhaps model cognitive operations provide external resources that compensate for the limited capacity of human memory. aid thinking, problem solving and learning by: making large amounts of information immediately available for the learner's use, making it easy to retrieve relevant, previously learnt information prompting the learner to structure, integrate and to interconnect new ideas with previously acquired ones;

providing for self-testing, thus rehearsing the recall of previously learned information and thus increasing its retrievability; enabling the learner to represent ideas verbally, pictorially and graphically; providing for the easy movement, consolidation and restructuring of information needed by individuals as their knowledge base grows.

Rationales for Using Technology as Cognitive Tools Designers as Learners 教學相長 Learners as Designers: Students learn and retain the most from "mindful" engagement cognitive tools require students to think mindfully in order to use the application to represent what they know

References Technology as Cognitive Tools: Learners as Designers by David H. Jonassen ml ml IERG Imaginative Education Research Group

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Knowledge Construction, Not Reproduction How we construct knowledge depends upon what the learner already knows which depends on the kinds of experiences that the learner has had, how the learner has organized those experiences into knowledge structures, and the learner's beliefs that are used to interpret objects and events that s/he encounters in the world. Cognitive tools are tools for helping learners to organize and represent what they know. Constructivists claim that we construct our own reality through interpreting experiences in the world.

Distributing Cognitive Processing Cognitive technologies are tools that may be provided by any medium and that help learners transcend the limitations of their minds, such as memory, thinking, or problem solving limitations (Pea, 1985). Example: Language, computer off-load some of the unproductive memorizing tasks to the computer, allowing the learner to think more productively

Another Example

In cognitive tools, information and intelligence is not encoded in the educational communications which are designed to efficiently transmit that knowledge to the learners. With cognitive tools, the traditional design and development processes are eliminated. Rather than using technologies by educational communications specialists to constrain the learners' learning processes through prescribed communications and interactions, the technologies are taken away from the specialists and given to the learner to use as media for representing and expressing what they know. Learners function as designers using the technology as tools for analyzing the world, accessing information, interpreting and organizing their personal knowledge, and representing what they know to others.

Cognitive tools are generalizable computer tools that are intended to engage and facilitate cognitive processing--hence cognitive tools (Kommers, Jonassen, & Mayes, 1992). Cognitive tools are both mental and computational devices that support, guide, and extend the thinking processes of their users (Derry, 1990). They are knowledge construction and facilitation tools that can be applied to a variety of subject matter domains. I argue in the forthcoming book, Mindtools for Schools (Jonnasson, in press) that students cannot use these tools without thinking deeply about the content that they are learning, and second, if they choose to use these tools to help them learn, the tools will facilitate the learning process.

Use of Cognitive tools the traditional design and development processes are eliminated Technology given to the learner to use as media for representing and expressing what they know. Learners function as designers using the technology as tools for analyzing the world, accessing information, interpreting and organizing their personal knowledge, and representing what they know to others.

Cognitive Tools generalizable computer tools that are intended to engage and facilitate cognitive processing- are both mental and computational devices that support, guide, and extend the thinking processes of their users knowledge construction and facilitation tools that can be applied to a variety of subject matter domains. students cannot use these tools without thinking deeply about the content that they are learning, and second, if they choose to use these tools to help them learn, the tools will facilitate the learning process.