The work-reflection-learning cycle - Department of Computer and ...

Work, learning and reflection: theoretical background
In approaching a case of collaborative work with the aim of understanding the role of
tools in knowledge construction, the focus on representational media and states makes
DCog a particularly useful analytical framework. DCog has been used as a framework
for understanding collaborative work in general (Rogers and Ellis 1994), organizational
memory (Ackerman and Halverson 2004), SE project work (Sharp and Robinson 2006)
as well as educational practice (Blandford and Furniss 2006; Daradoumis and Marques
2002). In this thesis, DCog has been applied in the analysis of the case study in P8 and
in the development of the conceptual model of reflection presented in P7.
A further link between tools and knowledge construction can be made by considering
computerized tools that are used to aid thinking as mindtools (Pea 1985) or cognitive
tools (Kim and Reeves 2007; Kirschner and Erkens 2006; Kuutti and Kaptelinin 1997).
Cognitive tools can be seen as “cognitive reflection and amplification tools that help
learners to construct their own realities by designing their own knowledge bases”
(Jonassen 1995, p.43). In the thesis, the concept of cognitive tools is central to P7.
The DCog perspective can shed light on the role of individual participants in the
functional system of collaborative work by distinguishing between internal and external
representations. The need to focus on the individual learner within a DCog perspective
on collaborative learning has been stressed (Salomon 1993). From a related theoretical
viewpoint, personal knowledge is “the cognitive resources which a person brings to a
situation which enables them to think and perform” when (typically) combined with
codified knowledge (Eraut 2000). The latter is by definition explicit, whereas personal
knowledge can be either explicit or tacit (Polanyi 1966). In this thesis, the DCog
perspective is used in P7 and P8 as the role of external and internal representations of a
work process in work and reflection is explored.
2.2 Reflection as a bridge between work and learning
Reflection is a core concept in the thesis and a main topic of the research papers P5-P8.
Situated in the philosophical school of pragmatism, John Dewey developed a theory of
learning from experience:
“To „learn from experience‟ is to make a backward and forward
connection between what we do to things and what we enjoy or
suffer from things in consequence. Under such conditions, doing
becomes a trying; an experiment with the world to find out what it
is like; the undergoing becomes instruction – discovery of the
connection of things.” (Dewey 2008 (1909), p.140)
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