Learners: Community

Purpose: To raise questions about the learners’ community and collaboration.

References: 43, 72, 80

1. Does the activity:
1. create an implicit community by linking work tasks of several people together [activity theory: operations level]?
2. support communicative actions?
3. make the network of actors visible [activity theory: action level]?
4. enable the formation of a new community activity theory:[activity level]?

2. In terms of collaborative learning:
1. Are the learners seen as a collaborative community that works towards shared goals, the achievement of which depends upon collaboration?
2. Does the activity acknowledge that knowledge building takes place between people, whether physically present or not?
3. Is it possible for the teacher to be involved as a co-inquirer with the learners in the topics that they have chosen to investigate?
4. Does an inquiry approach pervade other aspects of the programme [e.g., including learners’ suggestions for online or material resources, resolution of interpersonal disputes, planning of field trips, as well as course activity]?
5. Are groups of learners encouraged to actively pursue a common goal and how are they encouraged to contribute?
6. How are learners encouraged to adopt co-responsibility and collaborative engagement?
7. How are open discussion and mutual exchange fostered?

3. Social differences:
1. Are social differences between learners acknowledged as an inextricable but unwanted part of learning processes? [cognitivist perspective]
2. Are social differences between learners celebrated as a powerful learning potential?
3. But, if social differences are treated as characteristics of individual learners, whose voices are privileged?
4. If learning as well as knowledge and knowing are inherently social and dialogical, how does the learning activity acknowledge the social positions and particular cultural meanings carried by the materials?
5. When social differences are part of the practices that are represented, is the issue of inequality addressed and reflected on explicitly?
6. How can learners be encouraged to develop motives to participate in institutional learning processes (and ultimately in social practices) by experiencing their social and personal meaning?
7. Is there an opportunity for joint critical reflection on both the activity and learners’ motives for participating or not participating in these particular social practices?
8. How can subversion of group work by individuals be avoided?

4. In general:
1. Is there a supportive learning environment where learners feel part of a shared context?
2. Can learners work in small groups with the technology?
3. Are learners able to collaborate to create products that could not be produced individually?
4. Do learners collaborate via electronic networks with learners in other locations, including internationally?
5. Can the activity be done by a group who have different contributions to make to the overall result?
6. Do learners construct an interpretation of the task through data analysis, sharing their analyses, and discussing them with other learners?
7. Which conversation and collaboration tools are available to learners?
8. What kinds of social support [e.g., discussion groups, mentor] are available?
9. Is there peer-evaluation (or workplace mentoring for learners from industry)?
10. Does this activity give learners the opportunity to develop both mathematical discourse and the ability to communicate these concepts in everyday language?