I am looking at the methodology used in online courses but I am struggling to find any recent papers on this topic. In particular I am looking for something on communities of practice theory or negotiation of meaning theory. I am beginning to think there is not much theory behind online courses and that many just put the materials online and then ask a couple of questions to test learning outcomes but I hope this is not the case.
I think that you are looking for an all-encompassing theory of on-line learning. Certainly there are tools and techniques that have been invented and re-invented by the pioneering community of practicing e-educators. Then there is the 'old' literature on eduction that you are supposed to haul out and parade at the beginning of your every paper on e-learning, whether the citations to our 'revered scholars' are relevant or not. Usually the slipper does not fit.
The vocabulary is quite different too. For example, “negotiation of meaning” is an important process that speakers go through to reach a clear understanding of each other. What is the electronic equivalent? Conversely, what is the theory of using hyperlinks in education???
As I see it, the fact that a course is online means that you are using certain technological tools to connect people or to facilitate their interaction because they are far away or because it has to be asynchronic learning. The nature of the activity itself has to propitiate "negotiation of meaning" but it should not really matter if it is done face to face or through an online course. Discussion groups, for instance, could be a good way to propitiate interaction when they are given a specific task. I would say that the difficulty precisely lays in designing a task that is useful, purposeful and interesting.
I agree that these theories are quite old social constructivism goes back to the 70s but I have found papers from as recent as 2005 on communities of practice in online courses and I know that the Open University is conducting research on "Mobile pedagogy" and was hoping to find something on the new theories in this area. I would like to know what is the electronic equivalent of the negotiation of meaning. Is there a theory which would explain the process which we are participating in on this site.
Why not start your own theory? You are allowed to! Ask and answer the question: What is the electronic equivalent of the negotiation of meaning? For example, how have we been negotiating a commonly agreed meaning for "negotiation of meaning" on this site? (To complete the picture, you did not see me secretly give the term to Wikipedia for clarification and confirmation.)
I think several works, recent as well as a bit older, can be googled from online resource. For instance you might want to see
Hull, D. M. and Saxon, T. F. (2009). Negotiation of meaning and co-construction of knowledge: An experimental analysis of asynchronous online instruction, Computers & Education 52 (2009) 624–639.
Dabbagh, N. (2005). Pedagogical models for E-Learning: A theory-based design framework, International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 25-44.
and there might be many more sources. In the end I think a lot of work still needs to be done. Till now the focus has been on technology and the ways to adopt it in teaching/learning but now there's a dire need to shift the focus to innovation in pedagogy and instructional design to make online teaching more effective.
Thank you @Rauf Azam these articles were very useful. I have found something more recent that you might like to look at Arno-Macia and Rueda-Ramos (2011) Promoting reflection on science, technology, and society among engineering students through an EAP online learning environment. Journal of English for Academic Purposes. 10 (2011) 19-31.
@Ian Kennedy I am not sure I am good enough to develop a completely new theory but I think it may be possible to modify an old one to explain what the "electronic equivalent" is. I am interested in how to get the students to use whatever the electronic equivalent is (pedagogical features) There is as @Ruaf says "a dire need to shift the focus to ... instructional design".
@Gary. In editing a MA thesis this weekend, I realised that the author had absolutely no ideas in it that she did not support without reference to the literature. These missing ideas, I feel, were a shortcoming of the MA process, where you are expected to review the field, but dare not make any new assertions that not also supported by the quoting of the work of previous scholars! The MA process, unlike the MSc or PhD process thus generates no “new” knowledge: it is entirely evolutionary, not revolutionary. Sad!
Be brave. Send Electronic negotiated meaning to google scholar now. Create the Stobbs theory on "Electronic negotiated meaning". You can.
Thank you @Ian for the encouragement and I do agree that sometimes learners are expected to support their ideas with "proof" from someone who has already had that idea and so you cannot possibly have a new idea.
I do believe there is a new idea or theory needed to explain what as part of the exchange of ideas that allow participants to learn and even think of new ideas. I even have a name for my new theory although I need to do the empirical study to find the evidence. I call it "Negotiation of understanding" where not just the meaning of an idea is negotiated but the very understanding.
Now you can give that ("Negotiation of understanding") to scholar.google.com (and ERIC) and prepare a review of the literature on that topic!
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