Constructivist Knowledge

These readings are very important to consider for integration into the symposium content. It is easy to visualize content using the databases, spreadsheets, and iWork. I have used Lotus, Access, Powerpoint, Excel, and Word many times over the years for work projects and personal use. I can't wait to try the new iWork because I love the drag and drop feature. I am saving for my MacBook Pro right now so I can get the works (@ $2500). Spreadsheets are extremely useful for visualizing written work, say, like a dissertation. SPSS is a good tool but I actually used Excel to integrate graphs, pie charts, and other organizational data for my action research thesis at Poly SLO. Numbers, Keynote, and Pages are similar to Excel, Powerpoint, and Word, respectively, yet have differing qualities. I am unsure if there is a similar software paralleling Access.Not many people really program access databases because they are a little more difficult to learn. Access is awesome though because you can create surveys and such for qualitative data tracking rather simply. The iLife for Mac looks really cool too!

I really like the idea of Mindtools. That could be a possible symposium topic. Use of "critical thinking tools that engage and facilitate cognitive processing sounds" and "amplify and reorganize mental functioning!" Sounds just like what we need to motivate and further recruit professional leaders. I can definitely use some help reorganizing my mental functioning, especially now that I am working at the elementary school mornings and the high school afternoons.

I visualize constructivist knowledge analogous to Hak here generously handing out his bananas at UCSB. We learn by peeling each banana off the bunch as if we are scaffolding knowledge to each one of us who pull from the bunch. What we have left is a little nub that then holds our knowledge together. Then as we grab for the next bunch, we scaffold more and more knowledge until we have a bunch of little nubs representing modules of integrated knowledge that we leaders then spread like seedlings to all the little bananas of the world to consume voraciously because they hunger for this e-knowledge. I know it's late...but you all get the idea! Can't wait to hear your theories.