Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
involve both individuals at different levels of expertise such as students and teachers
and artifacts such as books, computers, and scientific tools.
Like Vygostky's cultural-historical approach,
socio-cultural theories
propose
that individuals' cognitive developments are embedded in the socio-cultural activi-
ties through which they engage in mutually constituting relationships (Rogoff, 1998,
p. 686). Learning involves transformations through participation in socio-cultural
activities which are taken as the units of analysis.
Appropriation
, which exemplifies
Rogoff's socio-cultural theory, occurs when two or more people are jointly involved
in solving a problem; their understanding of the problem may change as a result of
each other's contributions (Rogoff, 1991).
Connecting Two Strands of Theories—Agency and Collective
Cognitive Responsibility
Promoting agency in learning is an important theme in the learning sciences. The
notion of agency emerged with constructivism but has varied levels of involvement
according to different theories (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991). Piaget's notions of
constructivism attributes agency entirely to children who were regarded as nat-
ural born scientists. Vygotosky's cultural historical theory and his notion of the
ZPD treats student's active knowledge construction in terms of social interactions
with more knowledgeable others. Students assume varying levels of agency in their
learning, especially given the extent to which technology supports learning con-
texts and promotes collaborative interaction. Collective cognitive responsibility is an
important aspect to understand the social and cognitive contributions in knowledge
creation society. It includes reviewing and understanding the state of knowledge in
the broader world, generating and receiving constructive criticism, sharing and syn-
thesizing multiple perspectives, anticipating and identifying challenges and solving
problems, and collectively defining knowledge and emergent goals.
Agency and collective cognitive responsibility are complementary elements of
learning. A certain level of agency determines the level of collective cognitive
responsibility which further promotes higher levels of agency. Web 2.0 users possess
new degrees of agency in managing their engagement with resources and other users
and it is easy to interact in and with social and technological networks. Because
web 2.0 is inherently social, users are central to both the content and the form of all
material and resources (Hardey, 2007). The next section will introduce three web
2.0 technologies: blogs, wikis, and social bookmarking.
Applications of Web 2.0 Technologies
Blogs
Blogs are “easy-to-use website[s] characterized by dated entries displayed in reverse
chronological order” (Stefanac, 2006, p. 230). Bloggers post online diaries, photos,
and opinions to which readers can respond by posting comments and feedback.
