Tuesday, September 15, 2009

CCK09 Begining

From  the Saturday, February 03, 2007 article

What Connectivism Is by Stephen Downes  http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-connectivism-is.html

“Hence, in connectivism, there is no real concept of transferring knowledge, making knowledge, or building knowledge. ….

This implies a pedagogy that (a) seeks to describe 'successful' networks (as identified by their properties, which I have characterized as diversity, autonomy, openness, and connectivity) and (b) seeks to describe the practices that lead to such networks, both in the individual and in society (which I have characterized as modeling and demonstration (on the part of a teacher) and practice and reflection (on the part of a learner)).”

In my experience as a trainer and taking into account recent demonstration of tools available on Tower Control Simulators I have come up with the following distinction:

Trainers can create and provide a simulator or a stimulator to model an experience .

a) A simulator is a virtual reality tool , where like in the Matrix a person is completed immerse in a scenario . Events and interfaces with the body of the learner are not real or do not mimic the real world. Due that there is no limitation of frontiers in the presented environment and to its intrinsic properties a simulator induces a delusion – we know that we cannot believe in the experience . Example Flight Simulator from Microsoft

b) A stimulator is tool where we materialize a scenario in a real environment . The events are displaced (another time ) or misplaced (another physic location). A stimulation is an illusion. We can distinguish perfectly that is not real although the human interfaces are meticulous mimicked. Example : A Tower Simulator at an Air Navigation Service Provider .

 

I think that this course (CCK09) is a simulation of a class. There are no teachers  and no real students . The scenarios are well constructed and each learner can conduct the experience as he thinks is best  .

 

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1 comment:

Benjamin L. Stewart, PhD said...

You present an interesting distinction between simulator and stimulator as you conclude that the CCK09 course fits into a "simulation of a class".

An anthropologist, Barth (1990) mentions that there are societies around the world where "profound learning" takes place. And in these societies, "everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner" (p.46). I see the CCK09 course or experience precisely in this way. It doesn't take long to see that each person brings real experiences to a real exchange of ideas both through synchronous and asynchronous communication. Just as important as the subject matter (i.e., connectivism and connective knowledge) is how the course is being conducted, allowing each participant to take control over individual learning processes in a way that ultimately defines what the class will end up looking like. As I struggle to categorize CCK09 in terms of a simulator or stimulator, I would say that it's a bit of both.

Barth, R. (1990). Improving schools from within: Teachers, parents, and principals can make a difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.