H809 – Comparison of studies (A3.4)

Contextualising the readings: technologies, policies and methodologies

Reflecting on the readings, to contextualize them in terms of broader perspectives, particular in relation to the era they were written and other influences on the approaches, to develop a critical awareness of the contextual factors that influence the development and use of particular tools and methods is the aim of this activity. The historical location of technologies, policies and methodologies, their interconnectedness on elearning is the main theme running through Block 1.

No doubt raising awareness, reflection and development of a broader perspective is always a good thing, however I am quite unsure if I achieved that with this activity 😕

We were asked to compare Readings 1 and 2, thus Hiltz and Meinke (1989) with Wegerif and Mercer (1997) and we were offered a template already with the basic research question we got to know in Week 1. Well, not sure how others solved the task, but I simply copied and pasted my answers from the readings into this table, shortened it, and that was it. But how does that broaden my perspective, were is the reflection, how is that suppose to raise my awareness. After reading Hiltz and Meinke we were asked to reflect on the reading (A1.5), similar to the Reading 2 were we were asked to reflect on the research methods (A2.5). Yet, this activity simply put the results from both readings next to each other. Sure, you see similarities or where the studies differ in their concepts, methods or settings, but …

Well, here is my comparison table(s). Please click on them to enlarge them.