BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Characterising Participation within a Communal Virtual World: A Se
 cond Learning Place - Libby Jared\, Faculty of Education\, University of C
 ambridge
DTSTART:20100426T160000Z
DTEND:20100426T173000Z
UID:TALK23921@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Bryony Horsley-Heather
DESCRIPTION:My recent research has centred around Ask NRICH\, the web boar
 d conference section of the NRICH mathematics website (www.nrich.maths.org
 .uk) and the interactions between young people\, as they pursue serious ma
 thematical study away from the classroom. Previous studies analysing contr
 ibutions to Computer Mediated Communication forum discussions have their o
 rigins in higher education\, but the AskNRICHers as well as being of (seco
 ndary) school age\, are very different to participants in earlier studies 
 because:\n1) participants belong voluntarily\; 2) the conference board is 
 primarily used only at home for 'pleasure’ and is thus not part of any s
 et course\; 3) topics are only raised because they are important to the in
 dividual making the initial post\; 4) there is no teacher/lecturer led ele
 ment.\n\nThe exploration in searching out the daily ‘goings-on’ of the
 se young people who\, working on their own\, at home and alone\, meet like
 -minded peers only in a virtual space\, involved using an interpretative a
 nalysis of upwards of six thousand messages. Findings show Ask NRICH as a 
 place of harmony where people work within a collaborative\, co-operative e
 nvironment showing consideration and care (the four c’s) for others.\n\n
 This presentation will report on the emergent realization\, linked to Gee
 ’s [2005] ideas of an Affinity Space\, that the characterization of Ask 
 NRICH should be located more within the space in which the participants in
 teracted - what goes on and how it goes in seems more important and approp
 riate than defining a common membership.\n\nNon-mathematicians will not be
  harmed by listening to this presentation.
LOCATION:1S3\, Donald McIntyre Building\, Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills
  Road\, Cambridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR