Comments on: Social Objects and Campfires http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437 pragmatism over zeal Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:10:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Social objects, not learning objects « Random Mind http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39861 Social objects, not learning objects « Random Mind Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:22:31 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39861 [...] 15, 2008 by randommind The bells went off in my head when I read David Wiley’s post about social objects. The content in a course, says Wiley, is like a campfire. It’s the thing we gather around. [...] [...] 15, 2008 by randommind The bells went off in my head when I read David Wiley’s post about social objects. The content in a course, says Wiley, is like a campfire. It’s the thing we gather around. [...]

]]> By: Martin http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39865 Martin Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:00:52 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39865 Hi David, thanks for the link. I too used to write about LOs a bit (usually referencing you), and this came back to me with the social object stuff for two reasons: i) Are social objects LOs that you deliberately create with _social_ interaction in mind (lots of work on LOs seemed to be about interaction with the LO itself, ie they were conceived as multi-media objects) and ii) like with LOs the debate around social objects quickly becomes bogged down in one of definition. Almost every discussion I had about LOs started and ended with 'but what is a learning object?' I've always liked your campfire analogy, so good to see it applied here. Martin Hi David, thanks for the link. I too used to write about LOs a bit (usually referencing you), and this came back to me with the social object stuff for two reasons: i) Are social objects LOs that you deliberately create with _social_ interaction in mind (lots of work on LOs seemed to be about interaction with the LO itself, ie they were conceived as multi-media objects) and ii) like with LOs the debate around social objects quickly becomes bogged down in one of definition. Almost every discussion I had about LOs started and ended with ‘but what is a learning object?’
I’ve always liked your campfire analogy, so good to see it applied here.
Martin

]]> By: Teemu Leinonen http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39867 Teemu Leinonen Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:08:11 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39867 I am not sure about the "campfire" analogue, at least if you are not camping with a group of firemen/-women. But if you are, and you are an experienced firefighter having a campfire with a group of firemen/-women students you may use the campfire as a social object in your learning (zone of proximal development - Lev Vygotsky). The fire can be one of the mediating (social) objects around what the networked builds. The funny uniforms, professional jargon etc, are other mediating objects of the network. The objects are not there before the people: they are constructed - the meaning of them - by the people. for every firefighter "fire" means from some pars a same thing, and hopefully it is not signing together around it. :-) This means that when the meaning is build there is a network. There isn't network with out social objects and no social objects without network. More interesting links related to "social objects" and learning: http://www.zengestrom.com/blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_Knorr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Constructivism_%28Learning_Theory%29 I am not sure about the “campfire” analogue, at least if you are not camping with a group of firemen/-women.

But if you are, and you are an experienced firefighter having a campfire with a group of firemen/-women students you may use the campfire as a social object in your learning (zone of proximal development - Lev Vygotsky). The fire can be one of the mediating (social) objects around what the networked builds. The funny uniforms, professional jargon etc, are other mediating objects of the network.

The objects are not there before the people: they are constructed - the meaning of them - by the people. for every firefighter “fire” means from some pars a same thing, and hopefully it is not signing together around it. :-)
This means that when the meaning is build there is a network. There isn’t network with out social objects and no social objects without network.

More interesting links related to “social objects” and learning:

http://www.zengestrom.com/blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_Knorr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Constructivism_%28Learning_Theory%29

]]> By: Lee Kraus http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39868 Lee Kraus Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:33:49 +0000 http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/437#comment-39868 David, Great post. I heard Hugh talking about social objects and had similar thoughts. Does this lead to the question of designing social learning interaction or can just embedding them in a social environment be enough for learning to occur? Lee David,

Great post. I heard Hugh talking about social objects and had similar thoughts. Does this lead to the question of designing social learning interaction or can just embedding them in a social environment be enough for learning to occur?

Lee

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