====== Collaborative framework learning ====== This section focus on the framework learning context, presenting the proposed supporting process, its concepts, phases and tool requirements. ===== Concepts ===== For the sake of clarity, the meaning of //learner//, //artifact// and //knowledge-base// is explained to prevent misinterpretations when reading this page. * **Learner**. Any framework user, developer or evolver that needs to acquire knowledge about the framework. * **Artifact**. For the context at hand, this means any documentation artifact available to the learner and present in the proposed collaborative environment. Is is assumed that there is a [[setting|framework documentation artifacts repository]] (FDAR) present for consultation by the learner. * **Knowledge-base**. This regards the storing facility of the collaboratively generated learning knowledge. Despite referencing the FDAR, it is a different data-source. ===== “Pave the cowpath” revisited ===== The idea behind the proposed collaborative approach evolved from what is commonly known as //“pave the cowpath”//. The expression has its origin in a poem written by american Sam Walter Foss (1858- 1911) called //“The Calf-Path”//[Fos]. The poem tells the story of a strained calf, lost in the woods, who, when returning home, //“made a trail all bent askew, a crooked trail, as all calves do”//. That trail kept being followed by beasts and humans until today, currently being the main streets of a metropolis. The moral is that //“[..] men are prone to go it blind, along the calf-paths of the mind, and work away from sun to sun, to do what other men have done.”// This poem serves as criticism to the lazy, narrow-minded men that mindlessly follow pre-defined paths without questioning its effectiveness or usefulness. Another similar allegory is the //Cage of Monkeys//((Imagine a cage full of monkeys where a ladder is the only way to reach a banana bunch. Every time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, the keeper showers all the monkeys with a hose of ice-cold water. This happens until all monkeys stop trying to climb the ladder to try to reach the bananas. Then a monkey is replaced by a new one. The new monkey, naturally, tries to climb the ladder but all other monkeys stop him by, savagely, beating him up. Every time the new monkey attempts to climb the ladder, the beating ensues. He eventually gives up. Then another monkey is replaced and the pattern repeats itself. Eventually, all hosed monkeys are replaced by new ones (that never knew of the hosing) yet the beating pattern continues, without apparent logical reason but “instated traditional behaviour”, thus the expression “monkey see, monkey do.”)). This poem is popularly attributed to the streets of Boston, given their peculiar layout. Of course, this connotation has issues. Its common knowledge that cattle are actually pretty good at finding the path of least resistance, which is, often the best route for a road. But let’s transpose this concept to the context at hand. ===== “Smart cows, collective herd” ===== Cows walk with their heads down, are beasts of habit and usually move in herds. But a solitary cow is, usually, smarter than the bunch as it can’t rely on the group to reach her goal, whether reaching a pasture or returning home. In fact, they have a good sense of direction and can quickly retrace their steps back to the herd or to the point of origin. The herd factor is simply a matter of blind trust. //Smarter cows// keep their heads up and introduce independence to the herd, making it more wise, and question the effectiveness of the trail they take. Transposing to the collaborative framework learning context, all //cows// (framework learners) are smart. Therefore, the //cowpath// becomes the **steps the learners took to reach a solution**. The problem is that there is no //stepping on the grass//, that is, those steps aren’t being recorded. Most probably, the next learner that undertakes the same steps will not be aware of a //pathway// forming. By paving that pathway, it becomes easier for future learners to quickly reach the same solution. This pathway is called **learning path**. Providing framework learners (//smart cows//) with learning paths (//paved cowpaths//), improves their learning experience by focusing of the relevant knowledge (**steps**) other learners (//collective herd//) already have. This allows for a quicker, more effective knowledge transmission, in the sense that it provides the learner with directions on which artifacts to look at and in what order. ===== Pavement decays ===== If a road is not used and maintained, its pavement breaches, erodes and decays, making it harder to use. It might be because there is a better road than this one. This is also true with learning paths. The quality of the learning paths is maintained by the community of learners. The most useful and effective learning paths are prone to evaluation and rated accordingly. This rating indexes the learning paths, so that the most used and approved by the community of learners are presented first. It follows the [[graspingthecollectiveknowledge#Collaborative knowledge acquisition: abandoning the useless|If it is useful, it is used, if not, it is abandoned]] rule. ====== The learning knowledge cycle ====== Putting it simply, providing a learner with the steps others (learners) took to solve their problems, can improve the learning experience and produce better and quicker outcomes. The motto is: **//Show me how you learnt it//**. This section details the four-step learning knowledge cycle (Figure 1) the proposed collaborative approach defined as a means to support the previously stated. The goal is to non-intrusively capture the learning steps a framework user takes, store it in a shareable knowledge-base, where other users can access it. This knowledge relies on the community’s potential to maintain its relevance and quality, by rating it and allowing the system to recommend possible next steps that aid on the learning task. The four steps are detailed next. {{ :4-step-cycle-explained.png?500 |}}