On Monday I said:
Isn’t there a distinction between (even) informal learning and straight information access? If I look up a phone number have I really “learned”? Answer: I’m going to largely dodge this one for now…
I’m now returning with slightly less of a dodge by creating an exploratory first draft for search use cases of possible interest to the learning community. Here I’ll leave the many eCommerce related search use cases to others.
- Known item search for quick reference
- Characteristic: A search target of one with certainty of the target’s existence. An extension of short-term memory.
- Motivation: Performance support
- Examples: a) Looking up reference material, for example an employee listing in the company directory, b) Returning to a previously used job aid for assistance in executing a task, c) Returning to a previously read article to re-read what was said about a particular point or to cut-and-paste a quote or the URL for current writing.
- Narrowly scoped question with minor consequences
- Characteristic: Multiple search targets, anyone one of which may be sufficient. Uncertainty around the existence of the target.
- Motivation: Performance support
- Examples: a) How do I create a macro in my spreadsheet program?, b) How do I remove an ink stain from clothing?
- Broader question with more significant consequences
- Characteristic: Multiple search targets. No single target could be satisfactory as a variety of perspectives are desired. Uncertainty around the existence of the target.
- Motivation: Decision support
- Examples: a) Should I upgrade to Microsoft Vista or should I instead move to desktop Linux?, b) Should we outsource portions of our e-learning development?
- Explicit longer-term learning objective
- Characteristic: No longer a single question to support an immediate task or decision. Desired target could include formal learning, for example an e-learning module, along with informal learning.
- Motivation: Development, Performance Improvement
- Examples: a) Improving ability to coach employees, b) Learning how program in a new software language
- Search for prior work within a narrowly defined topic area
- Characteristic: uncertainty if content exists and once finding potential sources, uncertainty around applicability or validity.
- Motivations: general understanding
- Examples: I would be amazed if I were the first author to travel the path I’ve gone down so far above; however, after many search queries for prior work (sometimes going 12 pages deep in the results) I wasn’t able to find similar work.
Seriously, can anyone point me to other work in this realm or is interested in collaborating on a more rigorous version? I admit, I’m winging this one at this point.
Closing note: I did find Use Cases for Sharing Tag Data, which is tangentially applicable and likely useful for when I finally more directly circle back to my tagging and taxonomy kickoff post one week ago.
More of a tangent, perhaps, but your post reminds me of an article in Performance Improvement Quarterly from (holy cow, I just checked) 1993, in which Peggy Ertmer and Tim Newby compared behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. They were looking from a design perspective, asking seven questions and answering them from each of the three standpoints.
The connection for the tangent was a continuum that they saw, with behaviorist approaches working well at the specific, procedural end of performance (how to set up an online payment, say), and cognitive / constructivist approaches working better for more complex situations in which there’s no one correct way to respond.
Coing back to your post, I’d say that the first example is not learning at all, unless repetition causes the quick reference to sink in.
(Consider that you probably can’t remember the phone number of that person you couldn’t live without when you were 22…)
Thanks Dave
Interesting connection and I do think you are on to something here.
Makes me wonder about how our search strategies could (or perhaps even should?) change as we move along the continuum.
Or, alternatively, perhaps at the search level of things nothing changes at all, rather it is what proportion of the total objective is supported by search…i.e. at the start of this post finding that one reference is end (objective accomplished), whereas further along the continuum finding even a desired selection of content from various sources is STILL only the beginning of the total learning process.
BTW, I like your concept of blog as whiteboard. Good metaphor.
Ray