Teaching into the heart of knowing in on

TEACHING INTO THE HEART OF KNOWING IN ONLINE EDUCATION: AESTHETICS & PRAGMATICS by Jocelyn Elizabeth Chapman A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the California Institute of Integr

TEACHING INTO THE HEART OF KNOWING IN ONLINE EDUCATION:

AESTHETICS & PRAGMATICS

by

Jocelyn Elizabeth Chapman

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty

of the California Institute of Integral Studies

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Transformative Studies

California Institute of Integral Studies

San Francisco, CA

2012

Wendel Ray, Ph.D Adjunct Faculty, Department of Transformative Studies, CIIS Frances Davis Hammond Endowed Professor of Education, ULM

Paul Pangaro, Ph.D General Cybernetics, Inc., CEO Part-time Faculty, Interaction Design MFA Program, School of Visual Arts

© 2012 Jocelyn Chapman

Oct 5, 2012

Dear Diana:

This email will confirm our recent conversation I am completing a doctoral dissertation

at the California Institute of Integral Studies entitled ÒTeaching into the Heart of

Knowing in Online Education: Aesthetics & Pragmatics.Ó I would like your permission to reprint in my dissertation a figure from the following:

ÒRethinking Teaching for the Knowledge Society,Ó 2002, EDUCAUSE Review, 37 (1),

p 21 The figure to be reproduced is: Conversational Framework

The requested permission extends to any future revisions and editions of my dissertation, including non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and to the prospective publication

of my dissertation by UMI These rights will in no way restrict republication of the material in any other form by you or by others authorized by you Your replying to this email will also confirm that you own the copyright to the above-described material

If these arrangements meet with your approval, please reply to this email with your name where indicated below

Thank you very much

Sincerely,

Jocelyn Chapman

PERMISSION GRANTED FOR THE

USE REQUESTED ABOVE:

Professor Diana Laurillard

London Knowledge Lab

Dear Paul:

This email will confirm our recent conversation I am completing a doctoral dissertation

at the California Institute of Integral Studies entitled ÒTeaching into the Heart of

Knowing in Online Education: Aesthetics & Pragmatics.Ó I would like your permission to reprint in my dissertation a figure from the following:

ÒIntroduction to Cybernetics and the Design of Systems: Collected ModelsÓ by Hugh Dubberly and Paul Pangaro, 2010 The figure to be reproduced is: Second-order

Feedback: Formal Mechanism

The requested permission extends to any future revisions and editions of my dissertation, including non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and to the prospective publication

of my dissertation by UMI These rights will in no way restrict republication of the material in any other form by you or by others authorized by you Your replying to this email will also confirm that you own the copyright to the above-described material

If these arrangements meet with your approval, please reply to this email with your name where indicated below

Oct 5, 2012

Dear Keith:

This email will confirm our recent conversation I am completing a doctoral dissertation

at the California Institute of Integral Studies entitled ÒTeaching into the Heart of

Knowing in Online Education: Aesthetics & Pragmatics.Ó I would like your permission to reprint in my dissertation a figure from the following:

ÒConversation Theory: A Constructivist, Dialogical Approach to Educational

Technology,Ó by Bernard Scott, 2001, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 8(4), p 29 The

figure to be reproduced is: ÒPaskÕs Skeleton of a Conversation, interpreted by Scott.Ó The requested permission extends to any future revisions and editions of my dissertation, including non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and to the prospective publication

of my dissertation by UMI These rights will in no way restrict republication of the material in any other form by you or by others authorized by you Your replying to this email will also confirm that you own the copyright to the above-described material

If these arrangements meet with your approval, please reply to this email with your name where indicated below

Thank you very much

Dear Jocelyn,

Thank you for your request

Permission is hereby granted for the use requested at no charge [the figure "Orders of Epistemological Analysis" in Aesthetics of Change, by Brad Keeney, 2002, p 41.] Please print this email for your records as no other paperwork will be sent to you

Any third party material is expressly excluded from this permission If any of the material you wish to use appears within

our work with credit to another source, authorization from that source must be obtained

This permission does not include the right for the publisher of the new work to grant others permission to photocopy or otherwise reproduce this material except for versions made by non-profit organizations for use by the blind or handicapped persons

Credit line must include the following:

Title of the Work, Author(s) and/or Editor(s) Name(s) Copyright year Copyright

Guilford Press Reprinted with permission of The Guilford Press

Copy of permission granted by Bucknell University Press to reprint ÒOn the Road HomeÓ

by Wallace Stevens in Hines, T J., 1976, 103 The later poetry of Wallace Stevens: Phenomenological parallels with Husserl and Heidegger Lewisburg, PA.: Bucknell

University Press

Jocelyn Elizabeth Chapman

California Institute of Integral Studies, 2012

Alfonso Montuori Ph.D., Committee Chair

TEACHING INTO THE HEART OF KNOWING IN ONLINE EDUCATION:

AESTHETICS & PRAGMATICS

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this dissertation is to show how aesthetic experiences and

nontrivial conversations are at the heart of learning and can be designed for and practiced online Aesthetic experiences are moments of acute attention, imbued with meaning (Parrish, 2009) Nontrivial conversations are conversations that increase possibilities for learning and generating knowledge (Pask, 1972; Sharples, 2005) Together they form a complementarity, meaning that in relationship they describe a phenomenon, in this case knowing or meaning making Fostering nontrivial conversations and triggering aesthetic experiences is a non-dogmatic way of orienting education towards student-centered constructivist learning

Higher education is in the midst of large-scale transition, both conceptually and technologically, in response to global, social, economic, political, technological, and learning research trends This transition has been slow and partial, but is accelerating Conceptually, if not in practice, education is shifting from a model of knowledge

transmission to collaborative knowledge construction Technologically, online education has become largely accepted The rapid expansion of online education does not contradict that it remains in many ways a wild frontier, a place where possibilities for increasing learning by methods unique to the online environment are being newly discovered and

explored (Laurillard, 2005) This expansive Ôplace of possibilitiesÕ is where this inquiry is located, expressly directed at facilitating learning

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I was enormously fortunate to have participated in the Transformative Studies online doctoral program at CIIS, under the direction of Alfonso Montuori In his first semester class, he indoctrinated students in the personal introspection and academic rigor

of Creative Inquiry I had never worked so hard or so passionately! Additionally,

AlfonsoÕs delightfully outrageous online persona inspired a whole new way of showing

up for class, a lesson in itself For the many lessons I learned from Alfonso, I am grateful

I am grateful to Brad Keeney, my un-teacher and anti-mentor, whose crazy

wisdom knocked me out of some mindsets and opened my eyes and opened my heart

I am grateful to Paul Pangaro for sharing his expertise in second order cybernetics and his significant suggestion to pay attention to the goals of a system, which led to my inquiry into the purpose of education I also appreciate our conversations regarding my adaptation of his model ỊSecond-order Feedback: Formal MechanismĨ

I thank Wendel Ray for his great enthusiasm and encouragement when I proposed this study

I appreciate the many long conversations about cybernetics of cybernetics that I had with Laura Ehmann, which led to a deep friendship As friends, we bravely pushed each other into a Wonderland of acting to know how to act to know I am grateful to Laura for her reviews of drafts of my dissertation and her constant support

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract vii

Acknowledgements ix

Figures xvi

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

The Purpose of the Research 1

Thesis Statement 1

Research Objectives 2

Overview of the Research 2

Overview of the Chapters 4

Chapter 2: A closer look at online education 4

Chapter 3: The purpose of education 4

Chapter 4: The pragmatics and aesthetics of knowing 5

Chapter 5: A recursive dance between rigor and imagination 6

Chapter 6: A model of the design and practice of online education 6

The Significance of the Research 7

Academic significance 7

Ethical significance 9

Social significance 10

Personal significance 10

Boundaries of the Research 11

Clarifying the Form of Online Education Addressed in this Dissertation 12

Massively Open Online Courses 12

Lecture-based online courses 13

Conversation-based online courses 15

Theoretical Foundations 17

Transdisciplinary inquiry 18

Cybernetics 19

Theories of education reform 20

Theories of epistemological change and learning 21

Theories of aesthetic experiences and conversation theory 21

Aesthetic experience and knowing 21

Conversation as the pragmatics of knowing 22

The aesthetics and pragmatics of knowing 22

Chapter 2: A Closer Look at Online Education 23

From Information Transmission to Construction of Knowledge and Metacognition 23

Identity and Learning 27

Conversation and Learning 32

Emotions, Conversations, and Learning 37

Aesthetic Experiences and Learning 37

What is an aesthetic experience? 38

Why curriculum is rarely designed for aesthetic experiences 38

Pluralistic clarification 39

Intrinsic value 39

Creative function 40

Conceptual function 40

Association with art 41

Subjectivity and epistemic indeterminacy 41

A Call to Design Curriculum for Aesthetic Experiences 43

Online Education Designed to Teach into the Heart of Knowing 44

Chapter 3: The Purpose of Education 47

History of Universities and Knowledge 47

What is the Purpose of Education? 49

Traditional View on the Purpose of Education 49

A closer look at the history of thought 50

Positivism and social science 51

Behaviorism 51

Objectivist paradigm and the academy 52

Modernity and education 53

Limitations of objectivism 54

ReformersÕ views on the purpose of education 54

Call for change in cultural values 55

Call for reformed thinking 56

Acting to know 56

Knowing about knowing 57

Qualities of reformed thinking as the purpose of education 58

Roots of thinking about thinking differently 58

Creative Inquiry: An Educative Approach to Reformed Thinking 59

Creative Inquiry and complexity theory 60

Complex systems 61

Aesthetic experience and complexity 62

Finding language to express complex thinking 63

The interpreter in Creative Inquiry 64

What is creativity? 64

Where is creativity? 65

Creativity and learning 66

Creativity and education 67

Creative Inquiry and transdisciplinarity 68

Our Way of Thinking: Teachers Thinking Differently 71

Questions of Epistemology 72

How Can Online Education Support Reformed Thinking? 75

Education and Ethics 78

The Purpose of Education 80

Chapter 4: The Pragmatics and Aesthetics of Knowing 81

The Aesthetics and Pragmatics of Knowing: A Cybernetic Complementarity 82

Conversation and Knowing 85

Conversation Theory 86

Conversational framework 91

Aesthetic Experiences and Knowing 94

Education as aesthetic experience 95

Risk-taking 95

Ethics 98

Affect 98

Processes of Knowing 100

Coda 102

Chapter 5: A Recursive Dance Between Rigor and Imagination 104

Action Level: Aesthetic Expressions 106

Every picture tells a story 106

Sensual understanding 107

Self-expression 109

Novelty and creativity 109

Action Level Dance 110

Context Level: Aesthetic Seduction 110

What is aesthetic seduction? 111

The art of aesthetic seduction 114

Photovoice 114

Arts-based teaching and learning 116

Poetry Poetic logic Poetic pedagogy Poetic organizations 119

Stories and Storytelling 123

Digital storytelling 128

Play 129

Provocative ideas 131

Context Level Dance 133

Metacontext Level: Aesthetic Vision 134

Education reform or education transformation? 135

Aesthetic vision 138

Metacontext Level Dance 141

Chapter 6: A Model of the Design and Practice of Online Education 143

Second Order Feedback Model 145

Modeling Online Education for Teaching into the Heart of Knowing 148

Inner loop: online course 150

Outer loop: online program design 151

Interpreting Feedback 152

Formative assessment and student learning 153

Formative assessment and teacher learning 157

Formative assessment and conversation 158

Designing effective conversation 162

At the classroom level 163

At the program level 163

Formative assessment and aesthetic experience 165

Resistance to formative assessment, resistance to nonreproductive 169

teaching 169

Feedback and program assessment 171

Observing the Observer: The Researcher 174

What does Alice know? How does Alice know? 177

The Heart at the Heart of Knowing 178

References 181

FIGURES

Figure 1 PaskÕs Skeleton of a Conversation, interpretedÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.87 Figure 2 Conversational Framework ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ 92 Figure 3 Orders of Epistemological AnalysisÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ105 Figure 4 Second-order Feedback: Formal MechanismÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ 147 Figure 5 Second-Order Feedback: Online Education for Teaching into the Heart of KnowingÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ 149

Chapter 1: Introduction The Purpose of the Research

Higher education is slowly transitioning to a new paradigm, from centered knowledge transmission to learner-centered knowledge construction Meanwhile, online education has become widely accepted Emerging research shows that there are unique qualities in the online education environment that are particularly fitting for pedagogical approaches informed by the new paradigm (Dorman & McDonald, 2005; Williams & Goldberg, 2005) In particular,

teacher-asynchronous communication affords reflective dialogue, and the ability to share music, images, and more from the arts can prompt new perspectives In this dissertation, I aim to show how learning and knowing emerge from processes of conversation and aesthetic experiences, and how both can be designed for and practiced in the online environment to exceptional effect Furthermore, I argue that such practices in online education can support and further efforts to transform higher education

increase possibilities for the complex thinking and creative inquiry needed in todayÕs uncertain world

Research Objectives

1) To examine the theories and epistemologies influencing teaching and learning 2) To explore conversation and aesthetic experiences as processes of knowing 3) To increase possibilities for excellence in online education by proposing

designing for conditions and practices that elicit nontrivial conversations and trigger experiences of aesthetic knowing

4) To explore how the design and practice of online education can support efforts

to transform education to serve the purpose of education: thinking in ways that are creative and complex

Overview of the Research

In the opening sentence of Lewis CarrollÕs (1960) AliceÕs Adventures in Wonderland we are charmed by the naivety found in the bored complaint "and

what is the use of a book,Ó thought Alice, Òwithout pictures or conversations?Ó (p 1) But is this naivety or a hint at CarrollÕs uncanny wisdom? Pictures, interpreted

as aesthetics, and conversations can be conceived together, in relationship, as the essential medium and impetus for thinking beyond our current understanding In other words, they are at the core of learning The purpose of this dissertation is to show how nontrivial conversations and aesthetic experiences can induce higher order learning and can be designed for and practiced in online education This dissertation highlights many of the possibilities unique to the online learning environment With the simultaneous rapid growth of online education and calls

for educational reform from industry, policy-makers, the public, and

educationalists alike, this study is timely and important

This dissertation is transdisciplinary, encompassing literature from a broad range of fields and thinkers Regarding nontrivial conversation, I integrate the work of intellectual luminaries such as cybernetician Gordon PaskÕs (1976) Conversation Theory, further pursued in education practice and research by Gary Boyd (1993, 2004), Bernard Scott (1987, 2001a), Diana Laurillard (2005), and

others; physicist David BohmÕs (1996) Dialogue, used by Parker Palmer (2004) in

education; and regarding aesthetic experiences, philosopher and social pragmatist John Dewey (1934) is perhaps most prominent and has had extensive influence in education This dissertation is valuable to educationalists across the disciplines, as

it promotes a non-dogmatic approach to teaching into the heart of knowing It will

be particularly valuable to online teachers and program designers

There is a theoretical foundation for considering aesthetics and

conversation in relationship, as a cybernetic complementarity, though using them

to organize the design and practice of online education extends the literature in a new direction I justify this by making apparent how the learning that occurs from aesthetic experiences and nontrivial conversation fits the purpose of education as described by educational reformers and also serves the needs of learners as

described by current learning research In order to address the complexity of issues related to online education, there are several dimensions and inter-related components to the design of my dissertation

Overview of the Chapters

Chapter 2: A closer look at online education

This chapter was written to give the reader an appreciation for some of the effective and innovative practices occurring in online education It was also written to introduce the idea of conversation and aesthetic experiences as

complementary processes of knowing What I mean by aesthetic experience is made thoroughly clear in this chapter

Participation in online education is compared with trends in social media, with particular attention to the theme of identity and learning Conversation is presented as the locus of concept change while aesthetic experiences are shown to disrupt habits of thought As antidote to intellectual and emotional impotence, aesthetic experiences awaken learners to their subjectivity and enliven their imagination and empathy Educators can utilize this engagement to highlight learnersÕ responsibility for their learning, increase metacognition or awareness of oneÕs thought process, and cast doubt on objectivism This chapter concludes with

a summary of how aesthetic experiences and nontrivial conversations - meaning conversations that increase possibilities for generating knowledge and learning to learn - constitute a model for organizing the design and practice of online

education

Chapter 3: The purpose of education

This chapter contextualizes online education by examining the purpose of education, which is shown to be closely associated with views on knowledge and knowing A brief historical account of universities and knowledge frames this

point Conventional education is associated with a representational epistemology and a view that the purpose of education is to acquire knowledge Educational reformers hold that knowing is a process and the purpose of education is to learn how knowledge is constructed, to develop more complex, creative ways of

knowing I argue for a constructivist view and promote Creative Inquiry as a desirable purpose for education, a goal towards which to steer the design and practice of (online) education I also discuss learning and epistemological change, ethics, and issues of teacher thinking

Chapter 4: The pragmatics and aesthetics of knowing

This chapter holds the theoretical center of the dissertation, expressing nontrivial conversation and aesthetic experiences as distinct processes that

together comprise our understanding As a cybernetic complementarity, they represent the dance between rigor and imagination that occurs in learning A foundational basis of my dissertation is the constructivist view that participants in conversation construct meaning based on context and previous knowledge

I use this chapter to highlight current learning research showing the centrality of conversation to learning and respond to literature that bases online learning practices on Conversation Theory and conversation practices I also summarize the plentiful research on the value, purpose, and practice of inducing aesthetic experiences in an educational setting, including online education I provide evidence to support my claim that the online learning environment is exceptionally suitable for creating conditions for aesthetic experiences and for

fostering learning conversations The ideas presented in this chapter are grounded with the purpose of education, as expressed in the previous chapter

Chapter 5: A recursive dance between rigor and imagination

The main purpose of this chapter is to show how aesthetic experience can

be elicited, experienced, and expressed in the online learning environment The chapterÕs organization is based on a model for analyzing orders of

epistemological analysis, which I use to examine online education at the action, context, and metacontext levels in these ways: aesthetic expressions that bring forth learning, aesthetic seduction that brings forth concept change and learning about learning, and aesthetic vision to bring forth or extend paradigmatic change

at the educational system level Although aesthetic experience is the focus in this chapter, the conversations in which they are interpreted are of great importance because they provide evidence of reconstructed understanding As in Chapter 4, I make clear how all of this connects to the purpose of education as described in this dissertation and how this can be optimally pursued in the online environment

Chapter 6: A model of the design and practice of online education

In this final chapter, I provide a model to aid the reader in envisioning developing and implementing an online course or program rich in nontrivial conversation and aesthetic experiences The model is based on second-order feedback, partially analogous to formative assessment in education In the context

of education, formative assessment occurs during the learning process to improve understanding of behavior patterns so teaching can be adapted to meet student needs Features and benefits of formative assessment are discussed at length

I use the model to make explicit various components of interaction and their feedback channels and to show how unsuccessful interactions can be

detected and where opportunities for change exist The difficulties addressed are assessing student thinking and learning, quality of participation, teacher thinking and efficacy, and program evaluation This brings the inquiry full circle to the researcherÕs role in the research- my goals and biases and the experiences that led

me to this topic I conclude with comments on how teaching into the heart of knowing is connected to love, to the sacred

The Significance of the Research

This research provides a rational for orienting the design and practice of online education for fostering nontrivial conversation and triggering aesthetic experiences

Academic significance

Online education has become largely accepted and is projected to continue growing at a rapid pace This coincides with calls from industry, government, and educationalists for sweeping changes in education practices There is no doubt that higher education is in a reform cycle (U.S Dept of Education, 2006) The essential desired outcome of educational reformers crystallizes around the idea of complex thinking, as presented by Edgar Morin (2001), who asserts that this change will be paradigmatic In more general terms, this study shows ways

technology enables changing from an educational paradigm of being taught to one

of learning to learn with guidance, emphasizing passion not discipline (Prensky, 2007) This dissertation serves to promote and support the paradigmatic changes

called for throughout the educational system, for students, teachers, and program

designers

This dissertation is representational of a paradigm shift occurring in education research as well, a movement towards an appreciation of systems and complexity (Tarride & Zuniga, 2010) In accordance, Òresearch reports and

theoretical accounts must be considered as forms that contribute to the shape of possibility They are partial rather than comprehensive, active rather than inert, implicated rather than benign, they are parts of always-evolving realityÓ (B Davis, 2008, p 59) This dissertation is meant to catalyze change by proposing viable possibilities for the design and practice of online education organized around nontrivial conversations and aesthetic experiences It also contributes to the pool of research employing systems thinking and cybernetic principles, from a constructivist/interpretive tradition

Generally speaking, this is an inquiry into how computing technology can support educational goals and how educational goals can shape the use of

computing technology It contributes to the conversation on discovering and creating possibilities for learning online and is therefore timely and practical More specifically, this dissertation contributes to the literature on how online education can be designed and practiced to elicit nontrivial conversations in which learning to learn might emerge Because knowing is social, and

conversations are the pragmatics of knowing, designing education for nontrivial conversation also serves to build online community, an oft noted challenge in the online environment (D R Garrison, 2007; Schwen & Hara, 2003) In this

dissertation, I also seek to fill a gap in the literature on designing for aesthetic experiences in the online learning environment Although there is ample research

on the relationship of aesthetic experience to meaning making, there is very little research connecting this to the unique possibilities in the online environment (Perry & Edwards, 2011) Additionally, this dissertation will extend KeeneyÕs (1983) conceptualization of aesthetic/pragmatic as a cybernetic complementarity

Ethical significance

Most students are trained in an objectivist, reductionist way of knowing that entails Òan ethic of competitive individualism, in the midst of a world

fragmented and made exploitable by that very mode of knowingÓ (P Palmer,

1987, para 5) By introducing a constructivist way of knowing, the subjective nature of interpretation is revealed and it is seen that our biases, values, and past experiences influence how we make meaning Our knowing is self-referential and participatory Since we construct meanings, we are responsible for them and must respect this responsibility in others (Glanville, 1996) ÒThe logic of self-

reference,Ó Varela (1984) states, Ò should tell us that ethics - tolerance and pluralism, detachment from our own perceptions and values to allow for those of

others - is the very foundation of knowledge, and also its final pointÓ (p 323)

The ethical significance of organizing the design and practice of online education for developing Complex Thinking is a paradigmatic change from objectivity to a self-referential, participatory epistemology fundamentally

concerned with responsibility

Social significance

The ethical consequences of reformed thinking extend to beneficial social ramifications, reinvigorating an integral vision of relationship and responsibility Moreover, the model for online higher education presented in this dissertation is a model for community in a number of ways It is a model of valuing aesthetic experiences as valid ways of knowing It is a model of conducting nontrivial conversations whereby participants may learn and come to empathize with one another These are practices that, though aimed at increasing possibilities of learning to learn in online education, can bring forth desirable changes in society because students who learn to think in complex, creative ways make connections among ideas and experiences and transfer learning to new situations outside of the

academy

Personal significance

My choice of dissertation topic was motivated by my experiences

encountering cybernetic thinking and other ways of knowing in an online doctoral program Many of the online conversations I participated in were deeply

engaging, provocative, and illuminating and changed my way of thinking and living Yet the word play, image posting, and poetry were also, in very different ways, challenging and inspiring and changed my way of thinking and living This dissertation enabled me to deepen my understanding of my experiences, testify to the effectiveness of specific online practices, demonstrate the merits of Creative Inquiry, and contribute to the conversation on creating and developing

possibilities for higher order learning in online education Personal significance

also includes the self-creation that partially defines Creative Inquiry and is

inherent in transdisciplinary research

Boundaries of the Research

My proposal for the design and practice of online education is aimed at humanities or social studies programs with small class sizes Needs and practices unique to science, engineering, and mathematics programs are beyond the scope

of this dissertation I do not summarize all advantages of online education, but focus on those related to meaning making Specific skills such as improved

writing are beyond the scope of this study

The model I am proposing is based on a learner-centered approach to education where teachers serve as Òguide on the side,Ó providing structure,

scaffolding, and a strong presence This approach is intimate and time-consuming

It does not scale well because it is based on interaction rather than lecturing I suspect large classes could be broken into small groups, facilitated by well-trained teacherÕs aides, but this is just speculation An area for future study relates to developing online community and fostering nontrivial conversation in larger classes

I also do not address the small but significant research on how somatic functions work in conjunction with cognitive functions to make meaning from experience (see, for example, Amann, 2003; Claxton, 2006; Grand, 2011) The relationship of developmental stages to ways of knowing is also beyond the scope

of this study (see, for example, Kegan, 2006; W G Perry, 1970) These

dimensions would likely enhance my thesis without diminishing or contradicting

it

Clarifying the Form of Online Education Addressed in this Dissertation

Almost everyone who has attended traditional college (meaning face to face classes in physical classrooms), whether recently or one hundred years ago, has had roughly the same experience The phrase Òthe college experienceÓ

conjures a similar set of ideas for all of us This is not true with Òonline

educationÓ which encompasses a wide range of practices resulting in drastically different experiences for individuals Differences range from complete anonymity

to intimate cohorts; asynchronous discussions to synchronous teleconferencing; automated evaluations such as multiple-choice testing to crowd sourcing to peer-to-peer feedback to traditional teacher assessment; small classes of a dozen students to course enrolment of tens of thousands of students or more; closely prescribed to extremely open; exclusively online to blended or hybrid; and

varying uses of technologies, e.g interactive simulations, low to high production quality video recordings, message boards, and so on

Massively Open Online Courses

Perhaps the most oft-mentioned form of online education in the press today is MOOCs, or Massively Open Online Courses, such as those offered by Stanford University, MIT, Harvard, and others These are exciting experiments in training tens of thousands of students at once, organized around high-quality recorded video lectures by exceptional instructors While MOOCs are lauded for providing tens of thousands of students with free content, they are also criticized

for their high drop-out rate, frequent cheating, problems with assessment, weak sense of community, and lack of direct interaction with teachers, as well as for extraordinarily high costs for production (Butin, 2012; Hieronymi, 2012; Lewin, 2012; Vaidhyanathan, 2012) Furthermore, MOOCs are not yet offered for

of interpretation and scholarly interaction So MOOCs seem like a huge step backwardÓ (para 17) Interestingly, the majority of people enrolling in MOOCs are remote students who live outside the U.S and American citizens not enrolled

in a college program

Lecture-based online courses

Much more typical of online education for U.S college students are the medium- and small-scale online courses that most colleges offer and grant credit for upon completion These courses are typically designed to emulate traditional face-to-face courses including classroom activities and lectures (Howard, Schenk,

& Discenza, 2004; McLoughlin & Lee, 2008) Though some students like the convenience of online courses, there are many complaints, including lack of

opportunity for interaction, little feedback on work; frustration when some peers

do not carry their weight on group assignments; and an over-emphasis on lectures (Gabriel, 2010) The most frequent cause for complaint is lectures, a topic

explored extensively in this dissertation No matter how captivating recorded lectures are - and most are not Ð they are monologues aimed to disseminate

information, not engage students in discourse

In an op-ed piece for The New York Times, professor Mark Edmundson (2012) expressed a common criticism regarding online courses based on pre-recorded lectures: ÒThe class seemed addressed to no one in particular It had an anonymous quality In fact there was nothing you could get from that course that you couldnÕt get from a good book on the subjectÓ (p A23) In a follow-up letter

to the editor, Rhodes Scholar and Yale graduate Adam Chandler (2012) chimed in with his reflection on taking an online course at Stanford to feed his obsession for learning mathematics: ÒI started the program with enthusiasm, but I soon felt alone and unsupported I had no one to impress or disappoint I struggled to stay motivated It was impersonal and transactional, and it nearly destroyed my

obsessionÓ (p A24) These legitimate criticisms are typically aimed at packagedÓ online programs adhering to a Òstudent-as-information consumerÓ model where the instructor is knowledge disseminator, usually via lectures

Òpre-(McLoughlin & Lee, 2008)

Considering root causes for unsatisfactory experiences with online

education, technology historian David Noble, author of Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education, argued early on that the primary motive behind

universitiesÕ enthusiasm for online education is profit rather than pedagogy (J Young, 2000) The resulting forms of online education stem from decisions made with the goal of efficiency and scalability (Carr-Chellman, 2006) It is important

to acknowledge that, from an administrative perspective, there is tremendous pressure to keep up with what other universities are offering in online education,

to keep up with the latest that technology has to offer, and often to increase

enrolment and reduce costs Yet critics rightfully protest that many administrators are more concerned with the fiscal implications of online education than

pedagogical concerns (Feenberg, 1999; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004) Teachers are becoming more astute at articulating a set of professional and political concerns regarding:

the corporatization and commercialization of higher education; the

casualization of working conditions1; loss of control over the product of academic labor, and fears that university administrators are becoming vendor-agents and corporate managers rather than scholar-administrators (Werry, 2002, section 2.3)

Conversation-based online courses

However, the rapid adoption of online education is not entirely

administrative or profit-driven; there has always been a bottom-up enthusiasm as well (Larreamendy-Joerns & Leinhardt, 2006) Teacher-driven, pedagogically sound online education has a long history and growing corps of proponents These Òcraft-styleÓ forms of on-line education, as Chris Werry (2002) refers to them, tend to be seminar-style and labor-intense They are also effective

1

Casualization refers to the practice of hiring adjunct faculty for lower salaries than full-time faculty and with few or no benefits, with whom colleges have a ÒcasualÓ relationship, meaning there is no commitment to rehire next term (B Johnson & McCarthy, 2000)

In her study on effective online teaching in higher education, Suzanne Young (2006) found that online students feel strongly that Òeffective teachers are visibly and actively involved in the learning, work hard to establish trusting relationships, and provide a structured, yet flexible classroom environmentÓ (p 65) It is through online dialogue that teachers demonstrate their presence, foster trust, and negotiate flexibility in a structured environment Teachers, too, tend to believe online education is most effective and enjoyable when they interact

directly with students, providing and receiving feedback on learning (Conrad, 2008; Feenberg, 1999; Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005; Puzziferro & Shelton, 2009)

Experience and research show that text-based communication that is interactive and involves feedback is sufficient for deeply meaningful, effective learning experiences (Anderson, 2003, 2008; Espasa & Meneses, 2010; H

Johnson, 2012; Laurillard, 2001; Merryfield, 2001)

Even after all these years the exciting online pedagogical experiences still involve human interactions and for the most part these continue to be text based But here is the rub: interactive text based applications lack the pizazz [sic] of video alternatives and cannot promise automation, nor can they be packaged and sold On the contrary, they are labor intensive and will probably not cut costs very muchÉ But unlike the fancy alternatives, interactive text based systems actually accomplish legitimate pedagogical objectives faculty can recognize and respect (Andrew Feenberg as cited in Werry, 2001, p 23)

Students and teachers alike are often overwhelmed by the difficulty in using elaborate electronic course management systems2 and tend to appropriately under-utilize their features because they do not serve learning needs (Coopman, 2009; Lane, 2009) Instead, determined online teachers employ those capacities that can

be used to support conversations that challenge students to reflect on their

understanding and develop higher order thinking skills

This dissertation explores the conversation-based, craft-style online

teaching practices, informed by constructivist pedagogy, that foster learning conversations and aesthetic experiences I concur with Diana Laurillard (2005) when she argues that academics who aim to leverage the communication

capacities of online education to increase student learning must

ride each new wave of technological innovation in an attempt to divert it from its more natural course of techno-hype, and drive it towards the quality agenda We have to build the means for e-learning to evolve and mature as part of the educational change process, so that it achieves its promise of an improved system of higher education (p 71)

This dissertation is participation in conversation on how online education can extend efforts to transform higher education so it may better serve the purpose

of education, to facilitate thinking in ways that are creative and complex

overlap: theories of educational reform; theories on epistemological change and learning; and theories of aesthetic experiences and learning conversations,

conceptualized as a cybernetic complementarity Permeating this framework is cybernetics, used especially to develop an appreciation of education as a goal-oriented system Before summarizing the theoretical foundations mentioned above, a brief summary of transdisciplinary inquiry is provided, followed by an overview of cybernetics

Transdisciplinary inquiry

Transdisciplinarity is an orientation towards essential knowing Through a process of interaction and reflection, the inquirer takes pertinent knowledge from various disciplines and discerns similarities that connect otherwise isolated knowledge of a phenomenon The pertinent knowledge is contextualized and organized into a global whole by a vital knower What is key to understanding a given topic is how we connect to it in our lived experience, and what

commonalities persist when the topic is engaged from multiple perspectives By erasing distinctions and making new ones, the observed is reorganized The observer, through initiating and responding to these shifting distinctions, is also changed ÒAnd because transdisciplinarity clearly recognizes the role of values in inquiry, rather than attempting to suppress or ÔbracketÕ them, it engages the inquirer as an active, (embodied and embedded) ethical participant in the worldÓ (Montuori, 2009, p 156)

Cybernetics

Cybernetics is used as a theoretical tool for this dissertation It is not promoted as a topic of study for online education, nor as a way of knowing, though I believe it is preeminently worthy as such Cybernetics is employed to understand education as a goal-oriented system Definitions of cybernetics vary widely, but many share components with this definition: "cybernetics is about purposiveness, goals, information flows, decision-making control processes and feedback (properly defined) at all levels of living systems" (Corning, 1996,

footnote 4)

The observation of purposeful systems Ð ÒpurposefulÓ signifying the interaction of goals, feedback, responses, stability and change Ð is simple (first-order) cybernetics (Heylighen & Joslin, 2001) In an article entitled ÒCybernetics

of Cybernetics,Ó von Foerster (1979) proposed second-order cybernetics as the

cybernetics of observing systems, distinguishing it from the cybernetics of

observed systems This distinction draws attention to the distinguisher, the one participating in observing Both first order and second order perspectives inform this theoretical dissertation, providing a double description of online education In other words, not only is the design and practice of online education examined, but also how change agents of education are embedded in the educational system

A model titled ÒSecond-order Feedback: Formal MechanismÓ was selected

from a set of models in Introduction to Cybernetics and the Design of Systems: Collected Models (Dubberly & Pangaro, 2010) to further aid investigation of

various components of interaction and their feedback channels in an online

education system This particular model was chosen for its usefulness in

clarifying the different orders of organization between online course participation and program design Using a model served to structure the design research and its presentation

Theories of education reform

For this dissertation, theories of educational reform are analyzed and synthesized to develop a guiding purpose for online education Various efforts to enact new paradigms in higher education draw from feminism and ecology, Asian spiritual wisdom, mythical and archetypal studies, and Romantic epistemologies

as represented by Ralph Waldo Emerson (McDermott, 2005) These varied

approaches to knowing share imaginative, relational orientations generally absent

in the dominant paradigm of rationality and scientism

John Dewey (1910), Jerome Bruner (1979), and Donald Schšn (1995) are some of the enduring early influences who advocate dialogic, relational, and aesthetic ways of knowing Contemporary reformers further their insights while also drawing from integral theory (Ferrer, Romero, & Albareda, 2005; Molz, 2008; T Murray, 2009), systems thinking and complexity theory (Davis &

Sumara, 2008; Doll, Fleener, St Julien, & Trueit, 2005; Jorg, Davis, & Nickmans, 2007; Mainzer, 2009) Edgar MorinÕs (1997, 2001) Complex Thinking and

Alfonso MontuoriÕs (2006, 2008b) Creative Inquiry are utilized in this

dissertation as exemplars of the systemic, relational, imaginative thinking

reformers call for

Theories of epistemological change and learning

As stated by Maiteny and Ison (2000):

The liberating potential of systems thinking, particularly second-order cybernetics, is that it enables epistemology to be brought into the

conversation It invites systems practitioners to operate from a position where one is prepared to acknowledge an epistemological preference in a given context (p 574)

Hence, a second, yet closely related body of literature and theories is used

to investigate epistemological change and learning as pertaining to the goal of fostering creative inquiry and developing complex thinking The underlying epistemologies of various learning theories and reform trends are investigated

within the context of epistemological flexibility

Theories of aesthetic experiences and conversation theory

The third major body of literature and theory used for this dissertation supports an inquiry of the act of thinking differently, the pragmatics and

aesthetics of knowing The pragmatics of knowing Ð conversation - and aesthetic experiences are investigated individually and as a cybernetic complementarity

Aesthetic experience and knowing

This dissertation draws from theories connecting aesthetic experience to learning and meaning making, specifically in educational settings (Barone, 1983;

J Garrison, 1995; Greene, 2001; McFee, 1988; Uhrmacher, 2009) Serghio Manghi (2000) in particular, inspired by the ideas of Gregory Bateson, explores the relationship between aesthetics and knowing, as well as their relationship with

science This dissertation contributes to the scant literature on aesthetic

experiences in the online learning environment (Perry & Edwards, 2011)

Conversation as the pragmatics of knowing

There is a strong theoretical foundation for conversation as the pragmatics

of knowing, most notably in Gordon PaskÕs (1976) Conversation Theory Current learning research continues to assert conversation is central to the construction of knowledge (Baker, Jensen, & Kolb, 2002; Luppicini, 2008) Of special relevance

to this dissertation is the literature that bases online learning practices on

Conversation Theory (G Barnes, 2007; Laurillard, 2005; B Scott, 2001a;

Sharples, 2005; Thomas & Harri-Augstein, 2001)

The aesthetics and pragmatics of knowing

The pair aesthetic/pragmatic can be formally described as a cybernetic complementarity, a way of framing both sides of a distinction as related, without abolishing differences (B Keeney, 1983) Conceptualizing aesthetic experiences and learning conversations as complementary ways of knowing serves to

exemplify the connective, relational thinking promoted within this dissertation while simultaneously underscoring the role of the knower in the process of knowing