Augmented cognition- explorations

As I mentioned, I decided that I wanted to explore the topic of augmented cognition. But what is augmented cognition?

Kruse and Schmorrow (2005) define it as follows:

The goal of Augmented Cognition research is to create revolutionary human-computer interactions that capitalise on recent advances in the fields of neuroscience, cognitive science and computer science. Augmented Cognition can be distinguished from its predecessors by the focus on the real-time cognitive state of the user, as assessed through modern neuroscientific tools. At its core, an Augmented Cognition system is a 'closed loop' in which the cognitive state of the operator is detected in real time with a resulting compensatory adaptation in the computational system, as appropriate.

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A leader in developing augmented cognition is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The video below explains their vision of how it can be applied. The scenario takes place in the year 2030.

Course collaboration - week 1

There are eight of us on the course Psychological and Social Contexts of E-Learning. Most of us are on our last module for the MSc but I only have 'met' one of them before. Mostly everyone had logged in and introduced themselves on the first day but one person very clearly emerged as a 'leader' in the sense of initiating ideas both on the content of the course and raising questions on how we should work together. She also started a thread on the risky nature of a group assessment but ended with her reasons for feeling positive about it. We as a group are also responsible for deciding what areas the course would cover. As I am getting back into the MSc after a terms break my own ideas were rather fuzzy and initially I felt rather uneasy about carving out my own area or someone claiming an area I would like before I got round to it. In the end, that didn't happen as I quickly participated in putting out my fuzzy ideas and after some reading and help from our tutor I realised that what I am interested in looking at is augmented cognition. I even started brainstorming about it on bubbl.us but haven't connected it to the group wiki yet due to technical issues when I tried to do so last week.

As a group we are still getting to know one another - although several people had already participated together in earlier modules. I feel that I have done my share of collective work - suggesting how we might work together through the discussion threads. Most people haven't decided on their topic areas yet but it is early days.

Reasons for this blog

My immediate reason for writing this blog is that I am currently taking part in a module for an MSc in E-learning where the main assessment is a collaborative wiki which course members will develop around the topic Psychological and Social Contexts of E-Learning. 70% of our grade on the course will be based on this activity. We will be assessed as a group NOT individually. We are also responsible collectively to come up with the content of this course. The purpose of this blog is to reflect on this collective activity (20% of our grade will be on a reflective account on this experience of online collaborative learning).

I am also interested in online collaboration in academic writing. So far I have had two experiences of this. I have written a chapter with co-author Judy Davidson for Denzin and Lincoln (2011) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, Los Angeles: Sage. I am currently writing a chapter for another book with co-authors Linda Gilbert and Kristi Jackson. The chapter I wrote with Judy was done mainly in a PBWorks wiki with occasional face to face meetings - I am based in London, UK and Judy is based in Lowell, MA USA. The work I am doing with Linda and Kristi is done by writing drafts and posting them in Dropbox and very regular Skype conversations - Linda is in Georgia, USA and Kristi in Denver, CO USA.