Learning through Communicative Activities and Informative Practices_计算机网络论文.docVIP

Learning through Communicative Activities and Informative Practices_计算机网络论文 Learning through Communicative Activities and Informative Practices_计算机网络论文 Abstract The fundamental nature of learning entails a connection between subject matter and human affairs. Activity theory coupled with a communication perspective of learning-as-transmission, learning-as-sharing, and learning-as-interaction provides a framework within which to structure online learning and teaching programs to account for this connection. In this framework learning is more than a concern with types of information already existing. Learning is also about the communicative activities of exploring and constructing new information. These activities are manifested in the informative practices of seeking, sifting, sorting, and sharing information as students engage new informational boundaries. The Activity-Process Model is tool for designing instruction for online courses to better account for the fundamental nature of learning. Keywords: Activity Theory, Learning, Activity-Process Model Introduction The fundamental nature of learning entails a coming together of subject matter with ongoing human affairs. This vital connection between learning and the social and historical context of human life has been expressed in a variety of forms by different scholars (Billett, 1998a, 1998b Bruner, 1962 Dewey, 1916/1966 Kolb, 1984 Vygotsky, 1934/1962, 1978 Wegerif, 1998 Wenger, 1998) . Much of this discussion has focused on the theoretical importance of communication in bringing about the union between learning and human affairs. Over and above the notion that communication plays out merely with respect to expository methods of instruction is the view that communication is the process through which understanding takes place, meaning is generated, and learning is never-ending (Berger amp Luckmann, 1966 Daloz, 1986 Merriam, 1994 Merriam amp Heuer, 1996 Mezirow, 1994 Pearce amp Cronen, 1980) . In this view, learning o