During my microteach session, centred around object-based learning, our course leader, Lindsay Riley, said something which peaked my interest.
“Someone once told me, in order for something to be interesting it must hit the sweet spot of being familiar whilst bringing something new”.
Object based learning inherently brings a sense of familiarity to a subject. Whether the item is an everyday object or something seeming quite foreign, there is a sense of familiarity a tactile object brings. The material, the shape, the text written on it, are all aspects which can be used to make connections between a physical item and the subjects related to it.
“In recognition there is a beginning of an act of perception…Perception replaces bare recognition. There is an act of reconstructive doing, and consciousness becomes fresh and alive”.
Dewey, J. (1934) Art as experience
During a peer observation, I witnessed how a sense of familiarity can be impactful even with non-physical objects. The main aim of the session I observed was to visualise and contextualise research through concept mapping. I, along with most of the students, had never come across concept maps. When introducing the topic, the tutor began by covering mind maps; something most students would have come across from as early as secondary school. As the tutor began explaining mind mapping the students nodded their heads in confirmation. The tutor then went on to explore concept maps and how they differed from the latter.
If introduced independently the topic of concept maps could have been hard for some to comprehend. The comparison between the two created a familiar space to explore from. Even without the physical item, the students were able to use the recognised practice and mental image of a mind map to create links between the old and new.
So how can this be replicated in digital learning environments?
“All of this actually makes our job of developing digital literacies more
Belshaw, D. (2014) The essential elements of digital literacies
difficult. When X is actually different to Y, but is made to seem somehow
similar, then problems arise. Instead of attempting to understand the
ways in which Y is different to X, individuals will often become frustrated”.
In The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies, Belshaw outlines 8 approaches to developing digital literacy:
- Cultural
- Cognitive
- Constructive
- Communicative
- Confident
- Creative
- Critical
- Civic
Within confidence, Belshaw makes the case that attempting to highlight similarities between digital to analogue practices actually causes more frustration, as “they will assume that Y ‘should behave’ like X, not understanding that it
is qualitatively different.” He instead makes the claim that pointing out differences in digital can actually be beneficial. Focusing on that which cannot be achieved manually, rather than looking for similarities.
Although this takes a sharp turn from the initial idea of familiarity, I would like to further explore how association, whether familiar or unfamiliar, can play into teaching digital technologies.