Interaction Animates Content – Cases of Sustainable Dialogic Learning

Learners construct understanding especially well if interacting with other learners. How can such dialogic interaction be organised? Three generations of web based learning are taken as guideline for the evolution of the usage of elearning functionalities. Content, interaction and also assessment are implemented in different styles along these generations. “Dialogue” and resulting “consensus” are presented in this text as “elementary particles of perceived reality”. To train creation of consensus appears as valid and reasonable target of interdisciplinary university formation – nonetheless in the light of a constructivist worldview. Two case studies for such composed learning arrangements are presented: One negotiation game for universities (“Surfing Global Change”) and an economic- industrial training program (“Virtual Factory of the Future”) for acting in sustainable manner which will be explaines as follows: It is the goal of this project to design and create a model of a „virtual enterprise“ where managers can learn interactively how decisions will influence the “sustainability” of the company. The model reflects the essential elements of a company regarding techniques, organisation and socio-economic environment on the basis of a galvanising plant. It is the goal of this decision support system to make it clear to the user that a sustainable increase of the value of the company can only be achieved by a simultaneous optimisation of resource efficiency, cost minimisation and investment in human resources in the holistic context of the enterprise. The title of this special issue is understood very literally and therefore it is suugested that “content” is “managed and distributed” in dialogic manner.

09.01.2007 | Gilbert Ahamer & Johannes Fresner (Graz)