THE PATH

- the journey from getting to know one another to creative knowledge construction

POLKU, in English the Path, is the main section of the module. Whereas the Bank is net-like structured and does not necessarily have a specific order or hierarchy, the Path (as its metaphorical name suggests) is linear. It consists of eight phases which include tasks that the students are expected to complete one after another. From the path the passengers are directed to the Bank and the Stop, the other sections of the learning space, but it is the Path through which the passengers are seen to progress.

PICTURE x.x. The structure of the learning space

All the eight phases of the Path have a distinct theme. These phases are structured in such support the processes of group integration and collaborative knowledge building throughout the module. We direct the passengers attention to various topics on web literacy and through different awareness raising activities ask the passengers to reflect on the web and themselves as users of the web. Whether the reflection are short comments of one's actions, or the characteristics of the web, or longer discussions or log reflections, they are always public, which supports the collaborative knowledge building process. As the passengers travel through the Path the tasks and interaction are planned to develop in the lines of Salmon's (2002) five-stage model of learning online. We also refer to the cognitive constructive side of meaning making introduced in chapter 3.2., for the individual tasks are mostly structured in the lines of the cognitive processes of directing attention, shared reflection and building metacognitive knowledge.

PHASE I PHASE II PHASE III PHASE IV PHASE V PHASE VI PHASE VII PHASE VIII	Introduction to Netro Netro passengers Knowledge on the web Reading on the web Reading images Who owns the web On cultural issues and the web Rebuilding the concept of web literacy
TABLE X.x. THE EIGHT PHASES OF THE PATH

The structure of the path is presented with the help of the icons below. We first introduce the themes and goals of each phase, then describe the procedure, through which these aims are realised in relation to the theoretical background introduced in the previous chapters. And finally, we will briefly comment on the phase and share our experiences from the test drive of Netro in May 2003.

The aims of the phase:

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE related aims i.e. what is web literacy

METACOGNITIVE KNOWLEDGE related aims i.e. how web literate am I

This section contains the description of the various tasks of the phase, through which we attempt to reach the goals of the phase presented above.

This link opens a new window in which you can go through the Netro phases in the actual learning space. Close the window after each phase and return to this description.

This section contains comments on the success of the phase, suggestions and recommendations for future passengers.

continue to phase I