The Design of Online Communities: How Educational Theory Can Help
Speaker
Amy Bruckman
Assistant Professor, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
When
-
Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)
Description
How are online communities designed? What theoretical approaches can aid us in creating successful computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems? A key affordance of Internet technology is its support for users becoming creators of content. “Constructionism” is an approach to education that advocates learning through design and construction activities. There is a natural fit between the affordances of Internet technology and constructionist pedagogy. Lessons from research in constructionist learning can help us to design more effective CMC systems, not just for educational applications but more generally. In this talk, I’ll present three examples developed in Georgia Tech’s Electronic Learning Communities (ELC) research group. In the Palaver Tree Online project, middle-school students learn about 20th century history by interviewing elders who have lived through that history. In the MOOSE Crossing project, 8 to 12-year-olds practice creative writing and learn object-oriented programming by building a text-based virtual world. In the AquaMOOSE 3D project, high-school students learn about the behavior of parametric equations in three dimensions by playing and creating math puzzles. Not only can constructionist learning theory help with the design of CMC systems, but this in turn reflects back on the theoretical underpinnings of this approach to learning. I’ll conclude by discussing how the combination of CMC and constructionist learning can enhance our theoretical understanding of both technology and pedagogy.
Speaker's Bio
Amy Bruckman is an Assistant Professor in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She and her students in the Electronic Learning Communities (ELC) research group do research on online communities and education. Current projects include MOOSE Crossing (a text-based virtual world for kids), AquaMOOSE 3D (a graphical world designed to help teenagers learn about the behavior of mathematical functions, research supported by an NSF CAREER award), and Palaver Tree Online (in which students learn about history by interviewing elders who lived it). Amy received her PhD from the MIT Media Lab’s Epistemology and Learning group in 1997, her MSVS from the Media Lab’s Interactive Cinema Group in 1991, and her BA in physics from Harvard University in 1987. In 1999, she was named one of the 100 top young innovators in science and technology in the world (TR100) by Technology Review magazine. In 2002, she was awarded the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies.
Speaker's Website
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/
Host
Scott Hudson