1. Interaction. The interactions learners have with each other build interpersonal skills, such as listening, politely interrupting, expressing ideas, raising questions, disagreeing, paraphrasing, negotiating, and asking for help. 2. Interdependence. Learners must depend on one another to accomplish a common objective. Each group member has specific tasks to complete, and successful completion of each member’s tasks results in attaining the overall group objective.

将“Cooperative Learning”融入课堂——浅谈英语素质教育

The Social Psychology of Groups. J. W Thibaut & H. H. Kelley. New York: alley, 1959. The team of Thibaut and Kelley goes back to 1946 when, after serving in different units of the armed services psychology program, the authors joined the Research Center for Group Dynamics, first at M.LT and then at the University of Michigan. Their continued association eventuated in appointments as fellows at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 19561957. It is during these years that their collaboration resulted in the publication of The Social Psychology of Groups. The book was designed to "bring order and coherence to present-day research in interpersonal relations and group functioning." To accomplish this aim, the authors introduced, defined, and illustrated basic concepts in an effort to explain the simplest of social phenomena, the two-person relationship. These basic principles and concepts were then employed to illuminate larger problems and more complex social relationships and to examine the significance of such concepts as roles, norm, power, group cohesiveness, and status. The lasting legacy of this book is derived from the fact that the concepts and principles discussed therein serve as a foundation for one of the dominant conceptual frameworks in the field of family studies today-the social exchange framework. Specifically, much of our contemporary thinking about the process of interpersonal attraction and about how individuals evaluate their close relationships has been influenced by the theory and concepts introduced in The Social Psychology of Groups. Today, as a result of Thibaut and Kelley, we think of interpersonal attraction as resulting from the unique valence of driving and restraining forces, rewards and costs, subjectively thought to be available from a specific relationship and its competing alternatives. We understand, as well, that relationships are evaluated through complex and subjectively based comparative processes. As a result, when we think about assessing the degree to which individuals are satisfied with their relationships, we take into consideration the fact that individuals differ in terms of the importance they attribute to different aspects of a relationship (e.g., financial security, sexual fulfillment, companionship). We also take into consideration the fact that individuals differ in terms of the levels of rewards and costs that they believe are realistically obtainable and deserved from a relationship. In addition, as a result of Thibaut and Kelley's theoretical focus on the concept of dependence and the interrelationship between attraction and dependence, there has evolved within the field of family studies a deeper appreciation for the complexities and variability found within relationships. Individuals are dependent on their relationships, according to Thibaut and Kelley, when the outcomes derived from the existing relationship exceed those perceived to be available in competing alternatives. Individuals who are highly dependent on their relationships are less likely to act to end their relationships. This dependence and the stability it engenders may or may not be voluntary, depending on the degree to which individuals are attracted to and satisfied with their relationships. When individuals are both attracted to and dependent on their relationships, they can be thought of as voluntarily participating in their relationship. That is, they are likely to commit themselves to the partner and relationship and actively work for its continuance. Thibaut and Kelley termed those relationships characterized by low levels of satisfaction and high levels of dependence "nonvoluntary relationships. …

The Social Psychology of Groups

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge

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Online communities – Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability

E-Moderators are \"the new generation of teachers and trainers who work with learners online\" (p. viii) using Computer-Mediated Conferencing (CMC) as a learning tool, regardless of the subject they are teaching. They are the focus of E-Moderating, a recent book which provides both a theoretical framework for developing online learning using CMC (part one), and a wealth of practical advice (part two). The book is supported by a Web site. The author, Gilly Salmon, a distance education specialist with the Open University Business School in the UK, provides a five-step model of effective online education, along with copious examples of how the model relates to real-life online learning contexts. Salmon proposes that, by basing learning on a constructivist model, it is e-moderators that can make the difference in online education as they convene, direct, summarize, and archive synchronous and asynchronous discussions.

/pdf/e-moderating-the-key-to-teaching-and-learning-online-149mr9c3qc.pdf

E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online

Social rank and feeding behaviour of group-housed sows fed competitively or ad libitum

Effect of dietary fibre and feeding system on activity and oral behaviour of group housed gilts

Please refer to the original article:
Koper, R., Giesbers, B., Van Rosmalen, P., Sloep, P., Van Bruggen, J., Tattersall, C., Vogten, H., & Brouns, F. (2005). A Design Model for Lifelong Learning Networks. Interactive Learning Environments, 13(1-2), 71-92. Accepted Jan.2004

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A Design Model for Lifelong Learning Networks

Van Rosmalen, P., Sloep, P., Kester, L., Brouns, F., De Croock, M., Pannekeet, K., et al. (2008). A learner support model based on peer tutor selection. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(1), 74-86.

/pdf/a-learner-support-model-based-on-peer-tutor-selection-5g90eh62s8.pdf

A Learner Support Model Based on Peer Tutor Selection

We investigate incentive mechanisms to increase active participation in Learning Networks (LNs). The LN under study is LN4LD, an LN for the exchange of information about the IMS Learning Design specification. We examine how to encourage learners in LN4LD to contribute their knowledge, and whether incentive mechanisms can increase the level of active participation. We describe an incentive mechanism based on constructivist principles and Social Exchange Theory, and experimentation using the mechanism designed to increase the level of active participation. The incentive mechanism allows individual learners to gain personal access to additional information through the accumulation of points earned by making contributions. Repeated measurements according to a simple interrupted time series with removal design show that the level of participation was indeed increased by the introduction of the reward system. It can therefore be considered worthwhile to use incentive mechanisms in LNs.

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Francis Brouns

Papers

Social rank and feeding behaviour of group-housed sows fed competitively or ad libitum

Effect of dietary fibre and feeding system on activity and oral behaviour of group housed gilts

A Design Model for Lifelong Learning Networks

A Learner Support Model Based on Peer Tutor Selection

Encouraging contributions in learning networks using incentive mechanisms