Hi Emre

you might find these an interesting reading, I have just been using them in relation to an MA in Online and Distance Learning I have been taking part-time with the Open University;

Engeström, Y. (2007) ‘From communities of practice to mycorrhizae’ in Hughes, J., Jewson, N. and Unwin, L. (eds) Communities of Practice: Critical Perspectives, London, Routledge.

Pettit, J. and Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2011) ‘Mobile 2.0: crossing the border into formal learning?’ in Lee, M.J.W. and McLoughlin, C. (eds) Web 2.0-based E-learning: Applying Social Informatics for Tertiary Teaching, Hershey, PA, IGI Global; also available online at http://www.igi-global.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/gateway/contentowned/chapter.aspx?titleid=45023&accesstype=infosci (last accessed 20 July 2014).

Thorpe, M. (2008) ‘Effective online interaction: mapping course design to bridge from research to practice’, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, vol.24, no.1, pp.57–72; also available online at http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=0bec5f9a-c6a6-41ff-833b-33d44bccca0b%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4113 (last accessed 12 July 2014).

Thanks Dawn for these resources. The second one is an interesting book (which I have noticed is also available in another URL - see the link below). I have started reading it. It relates to how social networking and bookmarking sites are used on mobile devices by learners for collaboration and sharing resources. I am sure the rest of it will be just as interesting, with some real world examples. 

http://oro.open.ac.uk/22867/1/pettit_chap_lee_book.pdf

Thanks Emre, I have down loaded this and I am sure it will be really useful :)

With the advent of technology interface, 24x7@anywhere is enabled through e-learning, which creates a more flexible and friendly learning atmosphere.

Suitably pick convenient tools as listed

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/files/2014/03/STEM-Report-FINAL.pdf

Knowledge building (Scardamalia & Bereiter) as a pedagogy has been around for 20+ years. A Google Scholar search will lead to a number of important articles written by then since early 1990s.

System thinking, emergence, and self-organization are all important design elements in knowledge building. CSILE/Knowledge Forum is the most widely used computer software to support knowledge building. Its version 5 is under development. 

One critical point I wish to make here is many people would think knowledge building as a synonym of learning. It truly isn't. Although it has been widely used in education as a distinctive pedagogy, what it is after is "knowledge creation" by all members in a knowledge-building community, with learning as an important by-product. 

http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=knowledge+building+scardamalia&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5

Emre happy to greet you again.

No doubt now learn in networks and is the most efficient way to do so due to the new circumstances of theinformation technology development and therefore the flow of information so overwhelming.

The tools are available and what we need is to design strategies that involve the use of tools must are to improve learning achievement, and allow us to achieve competencies, achieve autonomy of learners.

I mention, as an example, that in my experience use class blogs, online forums, creating videos for students that build visual organizers and share them online.

What matters is essentially the ability to create a learning experience that leads to use of information technology resources and safely these designs should be improved with the experience of the instructor.

see you soon

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Emre gusto en saludarte nuevamente.

No hay duda que que ahora se aprende en redes y que es la forma más eficiente de hacerlo debido a las nuevas circunstancias de desarrollo tecnológico de lainformación y por lo tanto al flujo tan abrumador de información.

Las herramientas están disponibles y lo que necesitamos es diseñar estrategias que involucren el uso de estás heramientas para mejorar el logro del aprendizaje, y nos permita lograr competencias, lograr la autonomía de quienes aprenden.

Te comento, como ejemplo, que en mi experiencia de clase utilizo blogs, foros en linea, creación de videos por los estudiantes, que construyan organizadores visuales y los compartan en linea.

Lo que importa en esencia es la habilidad de crear una experiencia de aprendizaje que lleve a utilizar recursos tecnológicos de información y con seguridad estos diseños deberán ser mejorados con la experiencia del instructor.

Hasta pronto

I'd like to endorse Bodong Chen's response. Scardamalia and Bereiter have published extensively about knowledge building and frequently discuss the complex systems perspective on the process.

Just for fun once, I diagrammed out the knowledge building process (using Knowledge Forum) from a systems perspective. It can be found at here.

https://db.tt/JuuP0gaJ

I think a knowledge building community must definitely be treated as a system. Also it would largely entail collaborative learning given the strong link between the constructivist understanding that underpins knowledge building in a community setting. Typically, we have tended to focus on the roles of the different participants in a group/collaborative activity. However, I want to suggest that if we really are to benefit from the systemic perspective, a focus on tasks is probably more important. And in terms of tasks, one should not overlook the process tasks, that is, those tasks that build and support the act of collaborating. Also, each participant must be clear about how his/her acts are impacted by and contribute to the acts of his/her co-participants and ultimately to the outcome of the collaborative exercise.

Rennie and Morrison’s (2013) discussion on distributed cognition, in the context of the use of the web 2.0 technologies, is particularly applicable to a system’s view of knowledge building in a community.

Rennie, F. & Morrison, T. (2013) E-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: resources for higher education (2nd. ed.) New York: Routledge.

I agree that KM should be a collaborative system connected to a community  setting.

“Knowledge networks” are collections of individuals and teams who come together across organizational, spatial and disciplinary boundaries to invent and share a body of knowledge. The focus of such networks is usually on developing, distributing and applying knowledge. For-profit and nonprofit organizations of all sizes are seizing on this model to learn more quickly and collaborate productively.

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/designing-effective-knowledge-networks/

I am intrigued by the view of the classroom as a system.  The view of dynamic autonomous units, empowered by digital capabilities, and  interacting  purposefully  is quite appropriate to what can be viewed in any digitally focused classroom.

This web site I will here reference provides an organized collection of information and tutorials related to a number of tools which can be used online to develop knowledge in a collaborative, or individualistic, manner:

https://sites.google.com/site/iptedtec/

https://sites.google.com/site/iptedtec/

Good morning

System theory is an administration parts. In my opinion of course it is. Even a system were virtual or in a physical classroom. Call education system need a few parts professors, students, curricula. Some people talk about connnecty but I prefer system

It enables collaborative forms of inquiry as a means for gaining knowledge and applying PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH process to identify a problematic social situation, “bubbling concern” or existing phenomenon, understand it, and then take some action to rectify the problem, or change the situation. PAR is a useful methodological approach to research where differing knowledge systems and associated worldviews  are a feature because it emphasizes central participation in the research by people who are knowledgeable about the research topic from multiple perspectives, affected by it, and who may wish to use the research to effect change.Objective of this tool is to integrate experience, action, and reflection to produce knowledge and action that is directly useful, and in the process, to effect consciousness raising (learning) that creates empowerment.

I agree with Ingrid in his identification with the system concept. Inevitably see education as a system and its components: professors, students, curricula respond and adapt to the interaction between them and the changes that occur, although seemingly small, can have significant impact on them. (chaos theory)

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Concuerdo con su identificación con el concepto de sistema. Es inevitable ver a la educación como un sistema ya que sus componentes: profesores, estudiantes, currícula responden y se adaptan a la interacción entre ellas y los cambios que ocurren, aunque aparentemente pequeños, pueden tener significativos impactos en ellos. (teoría del caos)

The question actually contains two distinct quarries. The first part enquires whether a knowledge building community or class can be viewed as a system, where the second part mainly concerns with (web based) tools that may be used for knowledge building. I think a better approach will be to model the knowledge building community or class as a system first and then investigate the response of the system when different external inputs derived from modern educational technology are applied to such system. I would prefer supervised learning system and therefore should assume a teacher who will control the whole show. The students are also present in this system and both teacher and the students should be represented by nodes. A node should contain number of attributes like initial knowledge status, accessibility to different information/knowledge sources, decision making power etc. A teacher should have highest decision making power. A student depending on his/her capability should be allotted this power by the teacher. Present knowledge status and the decision making power will define the state of the node. Collection of these states will define the system state. Each node should be connected to the teacher node by a directed link and to some other student nodes. This group of nodes to which a student node is connected will be called the mentor nodes and the group will be called as mentors. There will be directed links present between teacher and some advanced students representing elite group. A student node can get a knowledge input either from the mentor nodes or from some external source. A teacher node also can get the same from the elite group or from the external sources. Upon getting a knowledge input the state of a node will be modified by invoking a state transition rule. For a student node this transition should be supervised and the degree of supervision should depend on the decision making power assigned to a student. Similar transition rule may be formed for the teacher. However, for a teacher no such supervision should be necessary.