Digital Literacy Week 3

Canvas Reflection-3

Pull together the threads from our three reading areas this week- ‘Communities of Practice’, ‘Affinity Spaces’ and ‘Repertoires’ and write a reflection on how you see them relating to one another in a digital age. Post your reflection on our shared Canvas Week 3 discussion board, and Respond to one of your classmates.

As I reflect upon how my life has changed with the advent of digital tools there has definitely been a change in the people I converse with, the symbols and signs used to orient and guide the interaction, and the level of proficiency needed in each of the “spaces” I find myself in. I work on a regular basis with educators across the country to develop science curricula. I am connected with a group of people that have similar interests and practice the craft of teaching on a regular basis. This seems to qualify as a an ‘affinity space”.  It is additionally interesting that the curricula that is discussed is closer to an environment that can be described as an “affinity space” than a traditional classroom.

1.     Common endeavour, not race, gender or disability,is primary. In these science units students are placed into a learning space by having a common experience that challenges them to represent a description and/or explanation of what is occurring on an atomic scale.

2.     Newbies and masters and everyone else share common space. Groups are organized to present their understanding in groups comprised of members with varying understanding and experise.

3.     Some portals are generators. The observations of the common experience reign supreme. Students use each other to gain access to the conversation that brings the class to an agreed upon understanding of the observed experience thus each student is a portal. They provide each other access to the conversation. Students are encouraged to represent their understanding as a starting point for conversation so as they generate the representations of their thinking therefore they determine the conversation thus becoming generators.

4.     Internal grammar is transformed by external grammar. The teacher continuously guides the conversations in each group by bringing a perspective that impacts the actual representations that the group is developing.

5.     Encourages intensive and extensive knowledge. Although there may be differences in the representations when they are shared the students are encouraged to modify their own representations based upon new insights gained by sharing with others.

6.     Encourages individual and distributed knowledge. Students work together and converse within their group to increase the understanding of all in the group.

7.     Encourages dispersed knowledge.  Students are encouraged to use any and all resources that will help bring clarity to their model of the observed phenomenon.

8.     Users and honors tacit knowledge. It is the act of articulation of description and/or explanation that is valued. Group members support each other in developing this articulation or the teacher helps during the presentation. Talking through the understanding so that the students can develop theior own articulation is valued over simply repeating information that is dogmatic.

9.     Many different forms and routes to participation. Since multiple representations are used more students are able to gain and describe their understanding

10.  Lots of different routes to status. The class functions as a learning community. So, many skills are valued as the class collectively makes meaning of the observed experience.

11.  Leadership is porous and leaders are resources. The teacher is encouraged to stand aside and allow the class to develop their own understanding of the common observed experience. Data is king! The teacher is simply seen as another resource that supports an argument for an acceptable descriptive or explanatory model. Anyone with a contribution toward progress becomes the leader at that time.

While this is a f2f parallel to the ‘affinity space’ that is proposed by Gee it is none the less in accord with his thinking about how we should design student interaction.