Thesis in progress - request for comments

Thesis in progress - request for comments

by Anders Berggren -
Number of replies: 6
Hi,
My work with a thesis on how to design Learning
Communication (in Moodle) is progressing. 80% of the
thesis is now available in Wiki-format for comments.
If you are interested, please send me a Message and I
will provide you with login info for guests.

You will have access  to two courses :
1. 'Magisterutbildning' (here you'll find my online
environment for research and the thesis in Wiki-format)
2. 'Pancake' which is an actualisation of the thesis.
You will have teacher rights (no editing though) to
the Pancake course because there are two layers in
it. One for teachers and one for students. By going
to 'Participants' and logging in as Demo User you can
get access to the (simpler) student view.

It is also possible to register on these courses but then
course keys are required and you'll need to notify me
by mail (see my profile) that you want these course keys.

I'd be much obliged if you would care to pay attention to this.
Cheers, Anders B
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In reply to Anders Berggren

Re: Thesis in progress - request for comments

by David Delgado -

Anders, you are a revolutionary! sorpresa smile I DO like your idea of using Wiki to improve your Thesis. By the way, Martin has put his Thesis in a Moodle course, and it is related to yours, as I see in your abstract. Perhaps you two can collaborate and improve both Thesis.

I would like to take a look at your work on it, and access your wiki and courses. I cannot promise much, since I have very little time for that, but I will try to contribute. E-mail me when possible to grant access. Just use the e-mail in my profile.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and research with us! smile

By the way... I would start reading the lots of research papers on Moodle at Moodle Buzz. wink

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In reply to David Delgado

Svar: Re: Thesis in progress - request for comments

by Anders Berggren -

Hi David,

Thanks for enthusiastic and encouraging responses
and tips. My thesis however is depending heavily
on a compilation of the work of other people and
an attempt to apply known theory by using the tools
nowadays available. Martin in comparison is working
on a doctoral thesis based on groundbreaking develop-
ment. My work is on the level of a Swedish equivalent blyg 
of a Master degree so it not really comparable at all.
Using the Wiki is possible for me because someone
invented it and implemented it in Moodle. Sharing is
something I learnt a lot more about than I knew before
from the Open Source culture and from the Moodle
community in particular. So I am not as much a supplier
at all as an enjoyer leende.
Cheers, Anders
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In reply to Anders Berggren

Re: Thesis in progress - request for comments

by Ger Tielemans -

Hi Anders,

Reading your proposal, I see that you propose that interpersonal communication is essential for learning in any context. I have the impression that you narrow your scope on learning to live classroom interaction and wonder how much you can transpose of that type of live interaction to a VLE context.

.
In The Netherlands we have the famous scientist A.D. de Groot, writer of "The thinking of the chessplayer" but more feared by his book "methodology for the scientist". In this book he writes that the core of human learning is reflection. Writing down what you did, what you expected, what you learned today and what you will try tomorrow in a notebook is the first step: by formulating sentences you start the first dialog.. with yourself. (Moodle's journal could fulfill this role). Extending this inner dialog to classroom dialog is the next step. (forums?) 

Doing good research is extending this notetaking behavior: formulating thoughts and hypotheses, writing down how you did your research so that others can read it, comment on it or even replicate it. AND AS LAST STEP OF YOUR RESEARCH YOU GO TO THE FORUM OF YOUR PEERS AND OFFER THEM YOUR SCRIPT. In the old days the final forums were the scientific magazines, in the modern VLE's you can use forums and Wiki's for this purpose.

So I wonder: why not taking the whole picture of old learning/research activities and wonder what the conversion into a new total picture will have as effect..

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In reply to Ger Tielemans

Svar: Re: Thesis in progress - request for comments

by Anders Berggren -

Hi Ger,

My supervisor in ICT and Information Systems wrote a
(at least in my view) groundbreaking doctoral thesis on
learning communication in systems development. Yet
still he preferred to communicate with his students by
means of 'oldfashioned' phone and text on paper via
snail-mail. So even he seemed to doubt the advantages
of e-communication and VLEs etc. Therefore I think we
will need to be advocates for this a lot and for a long
time still. Apart from that I think you have got my point
real well, as would be expected provided there is a point blinkning.

I definitely agree that organised reflection, not the least
inner dialogue, is essential. As you say though, in this context
I have a narrower scope and the thesis is not on the highest
possible level either. I will probably dig deeper into this field
later and then I will remember your advice. For a start I might
use a forum in my Moodle research environment to document
reflection and to a certain extent leave it open for inspection.
Cheers, Anders
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In reply to Ger Tielemans

Re: Thesis in progress - request for comments

by Etienne Lévy -
Hi Ger
I am often reading tour post from France and I have been translating in french your "studyguide plus". I was looking for an opportunity to thank you and found it to day in that citation you make because I completly agree with that :

"Doing good research is extending this notetaking behavior: formulating thoughts and hypotheses, writing down how you did your research so that others can read it, comment on it or even replicate it. AND AS LAST STEP OF YOUR RESEARCH YOU GO TO THE FORUM OF YOUR PEERS AND OFFER THEM YOUR SCRIPT. In the old days the final forums were the scientific magazines, in the modern VLE's you can use forums and Wiki's for this purpose. "

You are pointing out how the same work as usual is growing mighty.


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