DLO vs. DLA

As a follow up to my post last week, I just want to add a note about some pieces that fell into place for me at last week's toolkit.

Before the 'Quality sharing on Blogs' toolkit, I was idly reading through some of the resources the presenter had linked into their slides. I noticed Woolf Fisher had mentioned DLO's vs. DLA's. I am a naturally curious person so I asked what the difference was. 

The presenter outlined it like so: A DLA is a digital learning artefact, something from a student's learning that they are proud of and want to show the world, but are not inviting further comment on. Whereas a DLO is a digital learning object, something that captures current learning and invites a conversation; or if I were to put it in knowledge building terms 'build on' the students work.

Wow. 

This is just a small titbit that may not have been of any interest to other people in the toolkit, but it has just triggered a connection for me. 

I can now see clear links between knowledge-building communities, which has been of huge interest to me in my teaching practice for the past four years, and learn-create-share which has formed the other string to my teaching inquiry.

I can see how I could leverage the affordances of blogging for knowledge building conversations with my students.

Oh, the possibilities.