Reading Assignment for 02.21.08

Here they are at last.  Sorry about the delay.First reading is the next two chapters of Wengers book.  This includes "Learning" and "Boundary", both of which are critical to the way that we think about teaching and learning with technology.  Learning is obvious, but based on our conversation in class yesterday, and my ranting about a definition of knowledge, think about how Wenger defines learning and the implications of his definition.  The second chapter on boundary is particularly relevant in the context of our Web 2.0 world.  Things to think about in that chapter are:  What are the implications of Wenger's ideas about boundary for identity?  What are the "boundary objects" in a Web 2.0 world and how are they different or the same as those in RL?  Also in light of our conversation in class pay particular attention to pgs. 113-121 and his discussion of practice.The second reading is a classic on technology by Everett Rogers called "Diffusion of Innovations".  This piece bears directly on the question of how schools will change or not to adapt to new technologies.  Pay particular attention to the social system aspects of diffusion as they are deeply connected to our theme of community.  You may also want to think about the parallels between learning by individuals and learning by institutions (which is another way to think about diffusion of innovation).These two readings again provide a complementary pair about learning without an explicit focus on technology and a reading about technology without an explicit focus on technology, yet the pieces seem to speak to each other (or at least I think they do).  Happy reading and the next set of readings will be posted soon.