Cognition and Computers

Computers As Mind Tools Date: 23rd June 2020/ Tuesday This blog post looks at an interesting concept of computers being used as mind tools and how this could help learners functions as creators, developers and designers. Jonassen (1996) says that when computers are used as mind tools they offer learner critical thinking opportunities. They help the learner scaffold the learning content, think from different perspectives. For example when learners create a data base about a company and organize data about the employees to make evidence based decisions, they are actually thinking analytically. So what are basically mind tools and how do they help think critically is the core concept we are going to address in this blog post. There are a number of mind tools available including semantic organization tools, dynamic modelling tools, information interpretation tools, knowledge construction tools, , conversation and collaboration tools. Semantic organization tools help learners org...

Thinking in levels - Uses in Education Date:22nd March 2020/Sunday This blog post discusses a new topic about thinking in levels and why it is necessary to think in levels. I found about levels in the paper "Thinking in level: a dynamic systems approach to making sense of the world" by Wilensky , u , & Resnick (1999). The first part of the blog talks about levels in depth, the second part takes you through sample project involving levels and the last part explains why thinking in levels is necessary. Lets begin by exploring what do we mean by levels. The better understanding of the levels would lead to better understanding of the how different phenomenon occur in the world and how different patterns emerge. By levels here the writer means the description we use to categorize a system where there may be many interacting agents. The issue was noticed when two students working on a simulation found that when the cars move forward in a traffic, the traffic jam seems to...

Knowing and Understanding Types of Knowledge: How they effect the choice of an education technology tool? Date: 4th March 2020/Wednesday This blog post is interesting in the sense that it provided an opportunity to connect the ideas in the reading with the tools we use in classrooms. It was an opportunity to analyze the education technology tools we use from different angles. To begin with what are the different types of knowledge that the tool possesses and how does it benefit the user or the learner. How is knowledge represented in the tool. We all know that knowledge is a collection of facts about a particular concept gained through some sort of experience educational, vocational, technical etc. This knowledge can be divided into different types, these include conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, strategic knowledge and situational knowledge. One thing that needs to be understood here is that not every tool will have all types of knowledge and this may vary depending on ...

Computers As Social Actors Date: 17th Feb 2020/Monday This article begins with a very interesting story about a man found shouting I am going to kill you, the residents heard the shouts and called the police. On arriving the police found that the man was shouting on the computer. So basically this directs us towards how computers persuade humans to behave in a specific manner. Social cues from computers are important to understand because they trigger automatic responses from people. As a social actor the computer does three things, first it rewards the people with positive feedback, they model a target behavior and third they provide social support. Interacting directly with a computer is a social experience. If a technology is physically attractive, it will have greater persuasive power. For example if an interface, device or onscreen character is physically attractive , it may have an halo effect, user may assume the product is intelligent , capable and reliable. If interactive...

Evolution of Cognition Date: 12th Feb 2020/Wednesday This was a challenging reading yet extremely important because this provided an insight into how are we actually using the education technology in schools or universities currently. The tasks teachers usually design end up in rote learning experiences requiring low cognitive demand and low element interactivity in the working memory. I could think and map apps and tasks that either lead to cognitive engagement or decrease cognitive engagement. The article begins by looking into the cognitive architectures, the different elements of the cognitive architecture that include  working memory, long term memory,schemas, automation and coalescing of isolated cognitive structures. Before this it explains the concept of high interactivity between elements in the working memory and low interactivity. My understanding of high interactivity is where the elements need to interact simultaneously for understanding to occur. For example when...

Cognitive Architectures Date:4th Feb 2020/Tuesday Lets begin this blog post by understanding what is a cognitive architecture. My little understanding is that it is similar to a buildings architecture, just like a building had floor, it has rooms, the rooms have cabinets installed, they have furniture which can be moved in and out, appliances installed or movable and so on.Similarly, a mind has an architecture which needs to be explored and understood. So, cognitive architecture is a theory , framework which looks at the structure of the human mind and how they work together to manage intelligent behavior in a complex environment. Cognitive computing looks at simulating human problem solving and processing skills. These basically include those aspects of the system that remain constant over time, these include the short term and long term memories that hold the knowledge, beliefs and goals. But what needs to be understood is that the content in the memory changes, so it cannot be ...