Contribution-oriented pedagogy

Draft

Introduction

Collis & Moonen (2004) define contribution-oriented pedagogy as “approach in which students find, create, submit, and/or share resources using a Web-based course-support environment” and “identified as a model that is particularly valuable for forms of distance and computer-based learning.”. More precisely, the key ideas are “Learners contribute to the learning materials via contributions made available to others in a Web-based system. The others may be others in the same group or others at other times. The others may be at the same or different locations.”

The concept is also known under other names, e.g. “A Contributing Student Pedagogy (CSP) is a pedagogy that encourages students to contribute to the learning of others and to value the contributions of others.” (Hamer et al. 2008).

There are several kinds of contribution-oriented pedagogies, e.g.

• communal constructivism
• Community of practice
• Community of learning
• Knowledge-building community model
• Connectivism

There is also a link to open educational resources (OER), knowledge management and various technology-enhanced environments that are designed for collaborative knowledge building such as wikis.

Benefits

Hamer et al. (2008) , in their literature review, conclude that contributing Student Pedagogies are attractive for a variety of complementary reasons:

• adaptivity to the diversity of learner needs and abilities,
• requiring deep learning and interaction with course material in a variety of ways — selecting, filtering, creating, presenting, reviewing, responding to feedback, etc.
• shifting of power relations to more closely mirror those practiced in the computing industry and in research.
• encouragement of independent learning, to develop self-monitoring and control
• engagement in social interaction to develop social skills,
• valuing contributions to counteract the feeling of being passive recipient in education.

Collis & Moonen (2004) cite a number of benefits of contribution-oriented approach (partial citations).

• "Learning from the work of other learners", citing social cognitive theory
• "Using the work and experiences of other students as model answers or as a basis for peer feedback, peer reflection, or peer teaching".
• Increase of motivation, knowing that "submissions are meaningful to the communal learning experience of the course".
• "Expanding the range of examples and resources available for the course, and for reuse in subsequent versions of the course or other courses".
• "Dialogue and interaction with others during activities that use collaboration learning and knowledge sharing" (benefits of collaborative learning)

Bibliography

Other

See also: communal constructivism

• Collis, B., & Strijker, A. (2001). New Pedagogies and Re-Usable Learning Objects: Toward a New Economy in Education. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30(2), 137–157. https://doi.org/10.2190/K1FQ-XAF6-HTKN-48K0
• Collis B., Moonen J. (2006) The Contributing Student: Learners as Co-Developers of Learning Resources for Reuse in Web Environments. In: Hung D., Khine M.S. (eds) Engaged Learning with Emerging Technologies. Springer, Dordrecht
• Fischer, F., Troendle, P., & Mandl, H. (2003). Using the Internet to improve university education: Problem-oriented Web-based learning with MUNICS. Interactive Learning Environments, 11(3), 193-214.
• Pinto, M. (2012). A framework for knowledge management systems implementation in higher education. Advanced Research in Scientific Area. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258872954_A_Framework_for_Knowledge_Management_Systems_Implementation_in_Higher_Education
• Sfard, A. (1998). On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational Researcher, 27(2), 4-13.
• Shneiderman, B. (1998). Relate-create-donate: A teaching/learning philosophy for the cyber-generation. Computers & Education, 31, 25-39.