ERIC Number: EJ1448943
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2472-5889
More Knowledgeable Other(s): Sensemaking and Networking in Digital Ad-Hocracies
Impacting Education: Journal on Transforming Professional Practice, v9 n4 p9-17 2024
Vygotsky's (1934; 1980) sociocultural theories of learning posit that learning is a socially negotiated activity. Learners can sustain this activity, and specifically how they engage in literacy practices, through participatory experiences with experts, known in sociocultural theory as a more knowledgeable other (MKO). However, hierarchies in academia can make these possibilities for collaboration scarce or difficult to break through for doctoral students, sustaining traditional hierarchies and bureaucracies of education. Digital platforms, though, can afford the possibility of subverting these divisions of social order in the academy and make room for different interlocutors to not only better access these MKOs but to also become an analogous MKO. In socially-mediated spaces such as Twitter, otherwise known as X, an acceptance of ontological and epistemological plurality can occur in virtual communities of practice. Through three examples with the American Educational Research Association's (AERA) Writing and Literacies monthly Twitter chats, the authors showcase how Vygotsky's concept of the MKO can appear in digital spaces, demonstrate the participatory nature of online writing communities, present the possibilities in providing opportunities for online collaborative experiences, and highlight the importance of a plurality of knowledge in public scholarship.
Descriptors: Social Influences, Power Structure, Teacher Student Relationship, Cooperation, Electronic Learning, Adjustment (to Environment), Classroom Environment, Influence of Technology, Communities of Practice, Educational Philosophy, World Views, Digital Literacy, Social Media, Graduate Students, Epistemology, Social Networks, Comprehension, Faculty, Public Speaking
University Library System, University of Pittsburgh. 3960 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Tel: 302-831-1266; 302-831-4441; e-mail: dpjournal@pitt.edu; Web site: https://impactinged.pitt.edu/ojs/ImpactingEd
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A