Okay you asked for it! :-) The focus of my presentation at the J conference was to be a look at the Jsoftware.com environment as a learning ecology.
Spoiler alert that this could be a long post and will cover many aspects of my presentation (which is thank goodness, still in development). To begin, what is a learning ecology? [1] It is a way of looking at the entire system that leads to learning for individuals. It is composed of transmissive, accretive, acquisitive and emergent domains. The transmissive domain consists of the things that we usually think of as teaching - texts, lectures, and other opportunities for a learner to be exposed to information about a topic. The accretive domain is the area that provides the environment that the learner interacts with in order to explore the topic. The acquisitive domain is more learner driven and allows the learner to explore facets of the topic based on their interests and the emergent domain is the area where there is support and a chance for the learner to reflect and interact with other learners. Most of the time when we think about teaching we focus on the transmissive domain because that is the place where teachers do most of their work - at least in a traditional classroom. Interestingly enough this is not where lea rning takes place in a learning ecology. Learning is what happens in the accretive domain and the acquisitive domain at least that part of learning that is about how to do things, understanding usually emerges in the emergent domain when the learner gets a chance to reflect on what they have experienced and may be able to share that with the community of practice. So, that would be the theory - transmissive domain - and thank you for putting up with that. Now lets move this over to accretive. I propose a model that may be a little less complex than the J learning environment. We are part of a travel bureau that wants to increase tourism to our country. Transmissive domain items would be books about our country and its history. The accretive domain becomes the transportation in and out as well as within the country and to some extent travel guides although bridge over to transmissive as well. The acquisition is the experience that you have exploring the countryside and the emergent would be the stories that you write or the letters that you send that help you frame your experiences. When you look at it that way it becomes pretty clear that most of the learning goes on in the acquisitive domain and is highly influenced by the accretive domain. Now transferring over to what I see in the J environment, we have a lot of transmissive resources but what we need is a better accretive environment to interact with the language and a really good guide book that can suggest different ways to experience the country. Oh, by the way the labs are also amongst the most important communication devices that we have because they not only transmit information but they also allow you to practice independently. In the model of the travel bureau they would be like a tour that you pick up or drop at anytime and that move you around the country as you chose. I think that they can also be expanded to become more accessible. [2] A lot of these ideas are still in development so I apologize in advance if they seem incoherent. Part of the challenge is that we are framing a new way of learning that is not so time or space dependent and must be more flexible in how it handles the expectations of its learners. We do not face this alone but perhaps more than many other organizations, J software is in a position to get things right in terms of online learning. cheers, bob ps. I'd be interested in helping out, but would also understand if you didn't want to put up with the all the learning theory. :-) [1] Much better explanation by Siemens G. 2003 http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/learning_communities.htm [2] Therriault, R. 2011 "Video Annotation for Idiosyncratic Introduction to J" https://bobtherriault.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=205&action=edit On Apr 26, 2014, at 4:57 PM, Raul Miller <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 6:43 PM, Joe Bogner <[email protected]> wrote: >> I would be greatly interested in a book or activity guide that focused on >> learning J in small steps. Other books, Learning J and J for C are great as >> tours of the language. The labs are also fun. I haven't yet tried the >> exercises in the Dictionary -- are those recommended? > > Certainly! > > (Skipping over tempting side topics...) > >> It would be also rewarding to be a part of a group that was going through >> the book / guide / plan at the same time. > > I volunteer Linda! No, wait, it was your suggestion... I volunteer you! > > (I imagine that you'll have a variety of interested people here, if > you can sort out all the various scheduling issues and deal with the > shyness of some of our forum readers.) > > Thanks, > > -- > Raul > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
