To help establish the context, a total of seven people are registered for this activity this semester. At this stage I would like to mention the books that have been selected.
Historically, an Independent Study has implied a close working relationship between instructor and student as the student pursues the topic of interest. I hope to continue the spirit of this idea in this course, albeit electronically. The normal mode of such interaction will be via email between each student and myself. As with a normal course, I am assuming that such interaction will occur on a weekly basis although I do not believe this should be a rigid requirement. We all have lives to live and occasions may arise where a weekly submission is practically speaking, not possible. No problem.
I have received a few inquiries about the form of the weekly submission. I have vacillated between providing a forms-based template for each week and letting each student "make their own notes". Having thought about it for some time, I think I prefer beginning by letting you have a fairly free rein and seeing what develops. I am anxious to avoid becoming too prescriptive.
For example, lets try having your first "submission" take
the form of an email message with an attachment. The attachment could be
a description of what you found important in the first chapter. It might
also include any other thoughts that you happened to jot down while reading.
It might include a description of what happened as you "followed the steps
outlined in the web site [5. Steps for a Computer
Augmented Reading of a Non-fiction Book]". Use the word processor of
your choice (but be sure to let me know what it is in the body of your
email message). If you are very comfortable developing a web site, then
that is another excellent option. However I think it is important to keep
the goal clearly in mind (which in this case is to learn as much as possible
about the ideas in the book you have selected) and not to get too far afield
with web authoring issues.
In my mind, reading a non-fiction book implies,
to use Jerome Bruner's phrase, "going beyond the information given". This
means, for me, two different activities. One is personal reflection about
the significance of what I have read. Second is a realization that I may
want (need?) to do additional reading in other sources. For me, reading
a book means reading more than the book. For me it also means having a
few cups of coffee (or tea) and having a conversation with another person
about what I am reading. One of the advantages of the internet is that
it makes this possible at a time and place that is convenient to each participant.
For example, I am writing this at 6:51 am on a Sunday morning in my home.
Convenient for me. You will be able to read this at a time and place convenient
to you, and will be able to respond later at another time that is convenient
for you.
Thus "reading a book" is not simply reading a book, but is a much more thoughtful exercise in bringing together whatever additional resources one can access to help enrich the complexity of the ideas that are presented in the original book. Once again, historically this has usually meant spending a considerable amount of time in a university library. Today it may mean spending a considerable amount of time on the Internet.
I consider this course to have two major dimensions, but
the respective weighting of those dimensions will be different for each
individual. One dimension is to learn as much as possible in the time we
have about the ideas that emanate from the book that has been selected.
The second dimension is to learn as much as possible about this way of
learning, so that we all will be in a more informed position to make recommendations
about how the Internet might, and might not, be used to foster education
and facilitate learning in the future. I am quite optimistic, and very
exited, about this venture!
I mentioned at the beginning of this entry that I consider
communication to be at the heart of learning. While this course is, for
each of you, an Independent Study, this should not preclude the possibility
of us all interacting at some points during the semester. Even in a traditional
independent study the student is allowed (encouraged?) to talk with other
students and people about questions and issues that come up.
This leads to my first question. I would like to consider creating a mailing list with all of us (the seven graduate students, the various "second readers", and myself) so that comments about the "course" and this way of learning can be shared as we proceed. Such comments would focus more on what I called the second dimension of this course - learning about learning, since we are all reading different books. They might include suggestions for possible activities or they might include brief stories about something that someone has done, that they feel very good about, and would like to share with the other members of the list. For example, this might be a description of a particular search engine or a valuable URL or the use of a new software package like Inspiration or a way of taking notes or .... I consider this idea to be an optional part of the course. Thus if you wish to submit your personal weekly statement to me, that is just fine. If you would like to have your name added to a mailing list as one of the possible additional activities then send an email message to me and I will try to get this set up.
Please let me know if you have questions about any aspect of this course.
"Let the games begin!"
Take care.
Dale