Computers as Mindtools
by David Jonassen
Summary by David Jonassen
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Computers can most effectively support meaningful learning and knowledge construction in higher education as cognitive
amplification tools for reflecting on what students have learned and what they know.
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Rather than using the power of computer technologies to disseminate information, they should be used in all subject
domains as tools for engaging learners in reflective, critical thinking about the ideas they are studying.
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Using computers as Mindtools by employing software applications as knowledge representation formalisms will facilitate
meaning making more readily and more completely than the computer-based instruction now available.
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This paper has introduced the concept of Mindtools and provided brief descriptions and some examples. More
information and examples are available on http://www.ed.psu.edu/~mindtools/
Mindtools are personal knowledge construction tools that can be applied to any subject matter domain.
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Used to construct knowledge
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Mindtools scaffold different forms of reasoning about the content that students are studying.
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Relatively easy to learn
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unintelligent tools, relying on the learner to provide the intelligence, not the computer.
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Planning, decision-making, and self-regulation, LEARNING SKILLS are the responsibility of
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the learner.
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Computer systems can serve as powerful catalysts for facilitating skills assuming they are used in ways that promote
reflection, discussion, and problem solving.
EG. Developing Databases: is constructing a conceptualization of the organization of a content domain.
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How we construct knowledge depends upon we already know, which depends on the kinds of experiences that we have
had, how we have organized those experiences into knowledge structures, and what we believe about what we know.
The meaning that each of us makes for an experience resides in the mind of each knower.
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This does not mean that we can comprehend only our own interpretation of reality.
Teaching is the best way to prove and expand understanding.
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The designer learns the most in the whole process.
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Mindtools often require learners to think harder about the subject matter domain being studied while generating
thoughts that would be impossible without the tool.
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While they are thinking harder, learners are also thinking more meaningfully as they construct their own realities by
designing their own knowledge bases.
Mindtools repurpose computer applications to engage learners in critical thinking. There are several classes of Mindtools,
including semantic organization tools, dynamic modeling tools, information interpretation tools, knowledge construction tools,
and conversation and collaboration tools (Jonassen, in press).
Semantic Organization Tools: Databases/ electronic filing
Semantic Organization Tools: Semantic Networking/ concept maps
?Semantic Organization Tools: Expert Systems: eg. artificial intelligence/ robots
?Semantic Organization Tools: Systems Modeling Tools/ complex representations of phenomena
Information Interpretation Tools: EG. search engines
Visualization tools
Hypermedia: embedding/ multimedia
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Knowledge Construction Tools. Papert has used the term "constructionism“ Constructing things
Conversation tools/ Scaffolded conversations result in more coherent and cogent conversations.
Collaboratory provides a scaffolding structure for conversations by requiring specific kinds of responses to messages.
EG learners can only "provide evidence" or "develop a plan" to support that conjecture.
White Paper
Henry Jenkins et al
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century
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An occasional paper on digital media and learning
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Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT
Table of Contents
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Executive Summary 3
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The Needed Skills in the New Media Culture 5
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Enabling Participation 7
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Why We Should Teach Media Literacy:Three Core Problems 12
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What Should We Teach? Rethinking Literacy 19
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Core Media Literacy Skills 22
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Who Should Respond? A Systemic Approach to Media Education 56
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The Challenge Ahead: Ensuring that All Benefit from the Expanding Media Landscape 61
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Sources 62
George Siemmons
• From Cognitism, constructivism to
Connectivism as a learning theory
• How networked learning applies
to today’s digital world
• Academic, philosophical geared
more towards higher academics
(out of K12)