Blogs en wiki’s niet geschikt voor kennisconstructie?

Teemu Leinonen vindt weblogs en wiki’s geen erg goede tools voor kennisconstructie omdat ze er niet voor zijn ontwikkeld. Hij illustreert dit met een voorbeeld. Ik ben het er niet mee eens. Lees hier mijn (Engelstalige) reactie.

"Hi Teemu,

Interesting post. But I must admit: I do not agree completely.
Firstly: you wrote "Blogs and wikis are not (very) good tools for knowledge building because they are not designed for that." Correct, so are videos, beamers and computers, etc not designed for education and learning. But they are used for this purpose as well. Not always in a proper way, ofcourse.

Secondly: you describe blogs as personal spaces and tools for individualism. I do not agree. I see blogs as tools for networking. You neglect the power of trackbacks and RSS. Thanks to these tools people can contribute to knowledge building from their personal space. I agree with Leigh Blackall on this point. It is quite easy to connect different contributions, made by different bloggers. Blogs combine personalisation (important for motivation) and the power of networking. And I experienced that this can lead to new knowledge. As far as the culture is concerned: again, it’s not about individualism. Yes, personalisation is important. But networking is more important.
Furthermore, blogs can be used for individual learning. Writing blogs can help learners re-structuring their thoughts in their personal -save- learning environment. The outcome of this process can be used in a common place. In this way blogs can also contribute to knowledge building.

Thirdly: I agree with you as far about wiki’s. They do have poor support for constructive discourse and dialogue. But do we need ‘one size fits all’ solution? Does this lead to monolithic systems that try to fulfill all our wishes, but doesn’t succeed? Why not combining tools?

Last but not least: yes, tools do need affordances that stimulate knowledge building. And if they do not have these affordances (or affordances which even obstruct knowledge building!), knowledge building can be hampered. But more important imho is how you organise knowledge building with -for example- blogs? Blogging often is voluntary. It’s not part of your job or education. And it takes a lot of time. So, I think blogs (and wiki’s) can be useful for knowledge building. It depends how they are used. It’s like blaming the messenger. "

Ik heb ooit met Teemu samengewerkt in een Europees project rond samenwerkend leren en ICT. Het artikel Design of web-based Collaborative Learning Environments. Translating the pedagogical learning principles to human computer interface van ons en anderen is daar één van de resultaten van. Teemu is erg deskundig op dit terrein en bovendien een sympathieke kerel. Hij is wel erg strikt in de leer als het gaat om computer supported collaborative learning. Op dit punt ben ik het dan ook niet met hem eens.