Postdoctoral Research: Ontological Designs for Collaborative Learning

Norm Friesen, September 2004

Academic discussions of the educational potential or efficacy of communication and information technologies typically begin by naming and framing their use in rather evocative and metaphorical terms.   For instance, threaded, text based exchanges have been named "new" or "online classrooms" (Burge & Roberts, 1994), "learning networks" (Harasim, et al, 1995) and "knowledge building environments" (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1994) --to provide but a few examples from related Canadian research.   Each of these terms or phrases tacitly frames the use and purpose of this technology by designating particular ends ("knowledge building," "networked" learning) or environments (classrooms, networked spaces) that the technology is to realize.  

Technologies are not neutral, but are named and designed for specific purposes.   However, the history of technology provides many examples of how these technologies are in fact adapted, "creatively appropriated" (Feenberg, 2004), and even modified in ways entirely unanticipated by those who designed or named them.   Examples include the early Minitel integrated telephone and computer network, which was hacked to support a form of text messaging which became its most profitable application (Feenberg, 1991), and MUD chat environments in the 1990's, whose use now extends far beyond the restricted domain that its obscure name initially implied.

It is my intention in this proposed project to study how similar adaptations, mis-uses or even "hacks" have taken place in various asynchronous, text-based educational communication systems, and to consider ways of conceptualizing design so that it can be used to incorporate rather than exclude these adaptations.   This study compliments and extends research and development being undertaken by the applicant (Dr. Friesen), and is closely allied with the strengths and orientation of the host supervisor and institution.  

As a basis for data collection, this research will utilize the applicant's international experience supporting the use of these communication environments (e.g. Friesen, 2000a; Friesen 2000b; Friesen, 2002) --specifically the WebCT system which is also in widespread use at Simon Fraser University.   Besides the direct relevance of this type of study to Dr. Feenberg's research interests, a close and fruitful relationship with the host University and the School of Communication is further assured by the presence of Drs. Harasim and Richards, experts in the fields of telelearning and social networks, and Drs. Gutstein and Gunster, who have focused on political and educational policy ramifications of Internet technologies.  

Actual use of the WebCT and other systems will be studied according to what Winograd and Flores (1986) and Feenberg after them (1991), refer to as "ontological design."   This notion of design begins with the recognition that "the creation of a new device or systematic domain...can create new ways of being that previously did not exist and a framework for actions that would not have previously made sense" (Winograd & Flores 1986; emphasis added).   Threaded communication systems allow for ways of "being-in-the-world" (Heidegger, 1962) that have many of the affordances and limitations of textual, epistolary experience, but that enable, for example, an increased rapidity and informality of exchange (Feenberg, 1989).   Further ontological characteristics that these technologies afford, cultivate and also prevent will be investigated with a number of phenomenological instruments utilized and refined in Dr. Friesen's SSHRC-sponsored dissertation (2003), and in research supported by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant awarded in 2004 (entitled "Learning Spaces") in which Dr. Friesen is the principal investigator.   These methods have been refined to draw out unexpected applications and breakdowns of the technology --events which can reveal aspects of use that are often systematically erased from technical "use-cases" and documentation (e.g. Agre, 1997).   These data-gathering techniques include observation protocols and contextualized, open-ended interviews, and will be adapted to address "social factors" as well as "human factors" (Feenberg, 1999) --in addition to the more general experiential ramifications of design.   This research activity can be integrated with that occurring simultaneously in the empirical data-gathering phase and the analysis and synthesis phases of the "Learning Spaces" study.   This will allow Dr. Friesen to be involved with research assistants in a direct and sustained manner in these important phases in the research process. In this way, it will be possible to conceive and understand "communication technologies [not] logically, on a priori grounds" as is done in many design contexts and products, but instead ontologically , "in terms of the realities of actual experience" (Feenberg, 1993).   The results of such a research undertaking will also confirm, or perhaps give cause to replace, the names, metaphors and frames of reference for technologies such as the ones mentioned above.  

Bibliography & Citations

Agre, P. (1997). Computation and Human Experience . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Burge, E. J., & Roberts, J. M. (1998). Classrooms with a Difference - Facilitating Learning on the Information Highway . (2nd ed.). Toronto: McGraw-Hill.

Feenberg, A. (1989). A User's Guide to the Pragmatics of Computer Mediated Communication. Semiotica, 75 (3/4), 257-278.

Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical Theory of Technology . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Feenberg, A. (1993). "Building a Global Network: The WBSI Experience," in L. Harasim, (Ed.), Global Networks: Computerizing the International Community . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Feenberg, A. (1999). Questioning Technology . London: Routledge.

Feenberg, A. & Bakardjieva, M. (2004). "Consumers or Citizens? The Online Community Debate." In Feenberg, A. & Barney, D. Community in the Digital Age . Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison . Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Friesen, N. (2000a). The McGraw-Hill Guide to WebCT for Instructors .   Whitby, ON: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.  

Friesen, N. (2000b). Guide to WebCT 3 for Instructors: Design, Development and Deliver y. Whitby, ON: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Friesen, N. (2002). "Is there a body in this class?" In van Manen, M. (Ed.), Writing in the Dark . London, ON: Althouse Press. Pp. 221-235. 

Friesen, N. (2003). Student-Computer Relation: A Phenomenology of its Pedagogical Significance . Dissertation.

Friesen, N. (2004a). Asynchronous Collaborative Learning Forums: Opportunities for Interoperability. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies. Joensuu, Finland. August 30, 2004.

Friesen, N. (2004b). Introduction to E-Learning Standardization Organizations. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. 30(3).

Galloway, A.R. (2004). Protocol: How Control Exists after Centralization . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Harasim, L. , Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L., & Turoff, M. (1995). Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. New York: Harper.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of Perception . London: Routledge & Paul.

Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1994).   Computer Support for Knowledge-Building Communities. The Journal of the Learning Sciences . 3(3), 265-283.

van Manen, M. (2001). Phenomenology Online . Retrieved September 7, 2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.phenomenologyonline.com.

Winograd, T., & Flores, F. (1986). Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design . Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Pub. Corp.