Comment: In what ways can computer-mediated learning environments support more active learning?

Computer Mediated Learning environments as a social construct

Thinking broadly about any computer-mediated learning environment, one of the ways that a learning environment can support active learning is by Educators is thinking of the diverse learning environment tools, and putting their energy into the design of the learning activity or project, with the goal of lending itself well to being more social within the context of the computer-mediated learning environment and the cores standard learning outcomes.

Bill Cope, introduces the concept of social environments in his lecture “Social Learning in Scholar: The Learning Module”, where he highlights how the course project is designed to “build dialogue between the students.” That the project is not reliant on one single authoritative voice such as a textbook by one author or a teacher lecturing in front of the class. In fact, he stated: “We curate the world, we link to things; all sorts of original sources, but most importantly we build dialogue of various kinds”. The technology mediated environment is not about the student being along with their machine, they area bout the students interacting in a very, very social kind of way.’ It’s adaptive in the sense that students can express themselves and be themselves. It does not have to be synchronous; it can be hybrid or asynchronous learning environments. This learning environment includes adaptive and personalized learning environments, while having a space that is intensely social. [i]

The keyword here is “intensely social”, which people living in the digital age and during a global pandemic, not only rely on, but require. Social Networking environments which include Apps such as Houseparty, Skype, FB Messenger, Google Hangouts or Discord[ii] are popular because they are remarkably social.

Education needs to also needs to be incredibly social, in order to support active learning, because that is what students are expecting and immersed in all the time outside of school. 

SUMMARY:
The Key factor in any computer-mediated learning environments is “social”. The crucial question all educators should explore is How do we as educators include learning content curated to encourages socialization by way of engaging learners, facilitating collaboration and feedback among peers?

[i] https://www.coursera.org/learn/ubiquitouslearning/lecture/N6Ond/social-learning-in-scholar-the-learning-module

[ii] https://instabug.com/blog/top-5-social-networking-apps-to-help-you-socialize-with-distance/