Learning Theory, Media, and Life: Oh My! | Wk 4: Discussion Synthesis - Instructor | Forum

This week’s discussion raised a number of learning theories: constructionism, sociocultural learning theories, and social constructivism that people felt most synergistic with aspects of social media.

We discussed the intersections between learning theories and affordances of social media. For instance, we drew connections between aspects of social media that are interactive, collaborative, and constructive and the social, constructive, culturally situated ways people learn. We drew connections between the dynamic context of social media and the diverse perspectives that can be shared there. We emphasized the notion that learning is active and participatory and social media’s D-I-Y culture and multimodality allow users to create work that is meaningful to them. The point was raised that social media offer features that allow users to bring their prior knowledge, ideas, backgrounds, identities into the space and support the construction of learning ‘artifacts’ or knowledge objects within a particular cultural context.

We also discussed contradictions or tensions between learning and the affordances (or uses) of social media. For instance, some people noted the potential of a social media space for learning that is interactive and productive, but reported that in their own experience, they used social media as consumers, not producers. The point was also made that just because a social media can potentially support learning does not mean it does so for everyone. There are “variations in who, how, why, and when folx are able to interact with Facebook in general and specifically in an educational context.” A tension surfaced between the theorized relationship between learning and media and the reality of use.

Discussion Questions
Could we come up with a working definition of “social media” as a class? We could approach this definition several different ways: (a) through theory (e.g., informal learning, situational perspectives, social constructivism), (b) through technical considerations (e.g., networks built on Internet protocols), and (c) through practical concerns (e.g., usage, participation).

How does this week’s set of readings re-affirm or challenge ideas you raised when you were Clark or Kozma?

“Media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition. Basically, the choice of vehicle might influence the cost or extent of distributing instruction, but only the content of the vehicle can influence achievement.”