According to Jonassen (2000), there are four different categories of cognitive tools (or mindtools):
* Semantic organization tools
* Dynamic modeling tools * Information interpretation tools * Knowledge construction tools
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Example 3: Eldershield Plans
More information about the Eldershield Plans (MyCare (plus) can be found here.
Download the following Excel Spreadsheet, and try how much premium you need to pay from now in order to get a certain amount (e.g. S$1000) of benefit.
![](http://www.weebly.com/weebly/images/file_icons/xls.png)
avivia_gh_mycare_mycare_plus_premium_calculator_v3.0.xlsm | |
File Size: | 493 kb |
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Example 4: Applet
This example is about traffic moving. It shows the dynamic relationships among the number of cars, the speed of cars, the setting of traffic lights, etc...
You may try running the program on the following web site:
http://modelingcommons.org/browse/one_model/1482#model_tabs_browse_applet
or
http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
If it is not working on the web site, you may have to download it and run it on your local computer.
3. Information Interpretation Tools
Very often, learners need tools to help them process and make sense of the information they receive. But sometimes the information may contain complex relationships of elements that make it difficult for the learners to comprehend without help. For instance, in a social network, user A has some friends on Facebook, and his friends have additional friends and so on. In the end, the friends and their friends-of-friends form a huge human network in Facebook. This intertwined relationship makes it very hard to exam the social dynamics of the members in the network without any external help.
But the task can be made easier with the help of an Information Interpretation tool. The following map visually presents the relationships between the friends. The tool is a Visualization Tool called NodeXL. You may download NodeXL from the web site (http://nodexl.codeplex.com/) and explore it. NodeXL is a free software program. (for direct downloading, try https://www.nodexlgraphgallery.org/Pages/DownloadBasic.aspx?d=537EA8863BED62B92889312BF48CB745)
Here is a sample data set of NodeXL. Download and try
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Many tools can be used for knowledge construction. One of which is the Knowledge Forum, it is an online group workspace designed to support the process of knowledge building. With Knowledge Forum, individuals and groups can share information, launch collaborative investigations, and build networks of new ideas together. Below is a video about Knowledge forum:
Most social media tools such as Facebook or WhatsApp can also be used as knowledge construction tools. Students can use them to share information, discuss ideas, negotiate meaning, and construct knowledge.
I read the paper "Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking" by Jonassen,Carr & Yueh, The most important message I get from this article is that we learn WITH technology, not FROM it. Traditionally, the technologies are just a medium to instruct students. It is more like a passive learning process where the learners get the stimuli, and they respond, and the technology program evaluate learns’ response. The authors argue that technology functions as a cognitive tools by support learning and scaffolding learning.
Take the Graph mindtool for example. Graphing is one great mind tool to organize learning because graphs and charts visually present the information which in many case worth a thousand words. Sometimes, complicated information is difficult to understand and needs an illustration. Other times, a graph or chart helps impress people by getting your point across quickly and visually.
Today, I learnt about the various categories of cognitive tools. Many of the tools Dr Wang have introduced in class are widely used by me and I am glad to be able to put a name / type of tool to it.
The semantic organisation tool is widely used by English teachers (including myself) in the planning stage for composition writing. Using a concept map, my students are able to develop representations of the relationships among big ideas. I have made use of tools like Padlet to produce such concept maps.
I am quite inclined to create an excel file (similar to the one on the radius of the circle) and allow students to learnt inductively on the ratio of the sides of triangles. (Fingers crossed!)
in the modeling session, we will explore a bit how to create a simple model using Excel
I am particularly intrigued about the affordances that information interpretation tools can bring to education. These tools are especially powerful when we, as educators, successfully make abstract information become concrete for learners, thereby helping them to understand better.
I can imagine the possibility of guiding students to analyse a piece of text using Wordcloud. Wordcloud enables ease in spotting word frequencies, thereby revealing trends, themes and patterns which would be impossible to unravel if we read the text in the conventional format. This would be useful in other sectors as well: middle managers in companies can conclude impactful initiatives from the responses of employees, marketing researchers can also conclude customers’ needs and market trends.
I feel optimistic about the development of technology as cognitive tools. With the rapid advancement of technology, I can foresee a higher degree of infusion. However, as educators, we must always be cautious about the lack of social interactivity in technology enhanced learning experiences
Hi Wen Shan,
I thought it was interesting insight where you stated “ as educators, we must always be cautious about the lack of social interactivity in technology enhanced learning experiences”. One would think there is more social interaction since the tools encourage collaborative learning. Many a times educators take it for granted that students will know and successfully interact because the educators have provided the right environment to use the technology. On reflection, yes, the empathy and the emotional aspect of building relations are somewhat diminished in technology enhanced learning experiences. Hence the educators have to be cautious about the psychological component in the social interactions leading to how groups develop in a classroom setting. Otherwise it will also hinder learning.
Hi Sumanthi,
I completely agree with you that educators tend to focus on collaborative learning but seems to neglect the fact that the learning environment that the students are placed in is very vital to their learning process as well. Although I am very supportive of using technology as cognitive tools, I feel that as an educator, our role is not to only educate but to identify students with difficulties in learning and guide them as well. This can be achieved in a face-to-face session where we can easily spot students who have difficulty constructing knowledge on their own and provide the relevant help. However, if we were to bring technology into the picture to help students construct knowledge, these students might face an additional difficulty in trying to first learn how the technology functions before they can begin constructing knowledge and educators may not be able to notice this in technology enhanced learning environment.
Hi Sumathi,
I totally agree with you on this. Hence, I feel that as educators, we should be competent enough to identify such "at-risk" students whenever someone is lagging behind. Though technology seems to "divide" us more than ever, the onus is on educators to patch the link between technology as a tool to enhance learning than to use technology as a tool to create learning. I have experienced students lagging behind and afraid to ask for help as their peers are already way ahead of them. It pains me as an educator that sometimes I happen to oversee this mishap as we assume that it is a simple task and everyone should be on par with the task. As such, we need to use technology cautiously and use the age-old human interaction to develop and construct the fundamentals of learning, relevant to the subject matter (or even beyond). It is vital to always ensure that all learners are competent in using the tools, before moving on to using it as a tool to enhance learning.
In class I learnt about about the classification of cognitive tools a and how they are put to use in real life applications. Semantic Organisation tools allow students to do a visual presentation of their understanding of what they have learnt. This can be in a form of concept map. We also learnt of dynamic modelling tools such as spreadsheets and expert systems. In spreadsheets we can change a value and instantly see the result, allowing us to evaluate and make decisions. It was interesting that with the expert systems humans not only have a partner to compete, computers can also be used for one to learn the strategies. As cognitive tools, technologies can be used in various ways to support and enhance thinking.
I think that the different categories of cognitive tools, though separate in function, can be made to complement each other. The fact that there are different kinds of ICT cognitive tools to support thinking highlights how thinking is a rich process that engages various parts of the brain, from reorganization to the interpretations and construction of knowledge. It would be a shame if we as educators, do not seek to activate that for pupils’ to realise their best learning potential. Therefore, we could perhaps combine the different categories of cognitive tools to enhance their learning process in various stages. For example, for a science lesson, a dynamic modelling tool such as the sample model website (Netlogo) could be used for pupils to test ‘what if’ scenarios on what causes lightning as a lesson trigger. After which, they can use a knowledge construction tool such as Edmodo to share and discuss their initial ideas/hypothesis before the teacher consolidates their discussions. Finally, they can use a semantic organization tool (concept mapping) to present their own final constructed knowledge. This way, pupils have the opportunity to really embrace the cognitive tools in both the individual and social aspect.
The differences in function that the different categories of cognitive tools encompasses leave room for the various tools to complement others to help students facilitate their construction of knowledge. For example, semantic networking (concept mapping) tools can help develop representations of the relationships among concepts. However, concept mapping is considered a 2-dimensional tools which is limited to usually only the start or the end of the learning process as students can only relate better when the concepts (big picture) are present at such intervals. To fill up the gap that semantic networking tools, educators can employ knowledge construction tools such as the Knowledge Forum where students can engage in discussion during the construction process to facilitate their learning. Educators have to also know the context and the learning environment that this tools contain and make sure that they are appropriate for knowledge construction. Educators do not necessarily have to use the tools individually but could try marrying different tools together to bring out the maximum learning capabilities of the students.
In this first week of lesson, I have learnt a crucial point that even a cognitive cool can be doubled as a productive tool. It is all a matter of how each of them complement each other and how a learner views them separately or interdependently to allow a higher learning potential. The lesson had helped me to further jog my memory of constructing instructional tools which allow learners to learn with these tools.
In one of the chapters to know how people are connected through Whatsapp and Facebook, I could not continue but to ponder upon this statement – “technology connects us more than ever” but are we truly connected? We seem more disintegrated now with technology than without it. As such, using such cognitive tools in class, will it further divide students as they are more concerned with learning the tool and getting on with their tasks than to actually work together to solve a problem, or could this just be a logistics issue of allowing just 1 ICT tool to be shared within a group of students?
Nevertheless, as Singapore becomes a technological hub, I know that using such tools in class will be an enhanced factor to stepping up in terms of learning and teaching which would attract parents to enrol their child in that particular institution but it is imperative to understand that such tools should only be used to further develop understanding and not use this tool to be learnt from.
Categorization of the cognitive tools brings about clearer understanding on how we, as teachers, can better make use of ICT tools in various aspects of the learning process to better support learners. In recent years, the rise in popularity of ICT tools has also caused more and more to warn others of the dangers of the Internet, specifically regarding its attributes of “free speech” and “user-generated content”. The Internet is being known widely as an information mother-lode, however just as it produces crystallizations of knowledge, it also gathers “impurities” (or misrepresented data in this case) for the world to uncover. Similarly, when we direct our learners to retrieve information using Semantic Organization tools, get them to analyse data collated by Information Interpretation tools or results generated by Dynamic Modelling tools, we need to be aware of its limitations and make sure our learners do too. Take for example, when we were using Zuji (Semantic Organization tool) we need to keep in mind that such sites are powered by profit and rely on commissions and advertisements to sustain. As such, can we truly trust their recommendations as the “best deal” or is there a further need to consult third party sites? It is crucial to explicitly explain to our learners the rationale for our choice of ICT tool for a certain task and as Prof Wang mentioned “Computers are good at calculating but it is the human that is good at thinking.” It is equally important for learners to understand that it is the mind that leads the tool/machine and not vice versa, in this way technologies will then act as support in their learning journey, not mislead them instead.
Most of the ICT tools we commonly use (not limited to teaching and learning) are the Semantic Organization tools such as knowledge bases like Encyclopaedia Britannica and online dictionaries (Oxford, Collins), and Semantic Networking tools such as Popplet, Mindomo. In fact, learners themselves self-teach the use of more popular tools like Wikipedia and Youtube, even at the young age of 7 where half the time they misspell search words. This is mainly brought about by their peers and an abundance of curiosity, for example learning the ‘what’ and ‘how’ in making slime. As for knowledge building tools, teachers tend to tap on these types of tools more due to the aforementioned inherent inclined nature of those tools. Thus, the highlight of the lesson (for me) was the introduction of Dynamic Modelling tools, tools which simulate possible situations and consequences arising from intentional decisions of the user. It is an interesting tool as it taps on the natural curiosity of humans and captures the attention of the user as it presents information visually. What I particularly like is that the user has to interpret and make meaning of the information shown, hence pushing his/her thinking process. The user also has to consider the inter-dependant relationships between the various factors which frame the situation and form his own solution. This correlates to most of the steps in critical thinking (reflection, analysis, acquisition of information etc.) as such there is much to explore regarding the learning potential in usage of the Dynamic Modelling tools.
My take away from todays session is related to the affordances of cognitive tools in enhancing critical thinking and problems solving with the outcome of learning. I was introduced to the idea of cognitive tools not only to enhance an individuals learning process but the affordances of group or shared cognitive processes (Distributed cognition) in achieving a more comprehensive meaning making process leveraging on the experiences of the individuals within the group in achieving complex tasks. In my practice at the tertiary education level, cognitive tools that leverage on the experiences of individuals within a group provides collaborative learning opportunities for learners with diverse backgrounds to work together to achieve a common goal. A good example of this is the use of video conferencing not only to share expert content but to facilitate learning through a collaborative session as a class. The use of semantic organizational tools such as concept mapping that allows the learner to create a visual representation of an idea and how it relates to a bigger concept (bacteria in relation to an infection) and understanding of the overall relationship would be useful in reviewing individual cognition of what has been explored in a collaborative discourse. I like this idea, but my concern is how do I design my lessons to factor in the cognitive tool if I have limited resources? Any thoughts?
There are many cognitive tools out there which are free. To answer your question, perhaps you can share what kind of lesson would you like to conduct and what kinds of resources are you interested in? For example, is it an issue of not having the hardware such as an ipad or laptop for the students? There are many tools that is readily available and has affordances as a cognitive tool. The example given on using excel as a dynamic modeling tool is one that I have used for my Math class on the topic of graphs. I have also used Google Slides for collaborative work with students where they can put up their work and others can also comment.
There are so many cognitive tools out there which belongs to at least one of the four categories: Semantic Organisation Tool, Dynamic Modeling Tool, Information Interpretation Tool and Knowledge Construction Tool. In fact, one tool can be used for more than one category stated above. For example the use of Mindmeister (similar to Bubbl.us) can be used to organise information and at the same time can be used as a Knowledge Construction tool when you share your mind map by adding collaborators and in the same platform, you could also add links to other cognitive tools such as Phet simulations website which is dynamic modeling tool. As a result, what you get is a comprehensive learning resource package which hopefully will engage the learner better. Teachers, as designers of learning experience can have fun exploring the multiple cognitive tools available and 'stitching' them together to create a rich learning resource.
We learnt four different types of cognitive tools this week. I concur that cognitive tools use technology to enhance thinking. After learning about dynamic modelling tools, which can win the world chess champion, I’m intrigued by how technology can facilitate higher order thinking and stimulate different situations. In classroom context, teachers are usually constraint by time and the mixed profile of students in a class. I’m interested to explore more on how we can leverage on technology to give differentiated instructions to help stretch students of higher ability to do higher order thinking/critical thinking (rather than being complacent with what they already know). And also, how we can use technology to help scaffold students of lower ability in their learning (by stimulation? I’m not sure).
I think it's a great idea to leverage on cognitive tools to help students of different abilities. I would like to suggest that if you are doing it for Math for the HA, you can consider getting your students to come up with simple dynamic modelling based on number patterns. For the lower ability, I find that personal interactions works much better than interacting with technology as it provides a 2-way communication for one to check for understanding and clarify doubts.
Hi Sean, thank you for your suggestion. I'm teaching Science(Pri) only, used to teach Math but you know, school needs come first. I was thinking about your suggestion and was reading your individual post, I agree with you that LA students require more hands-on approach for better learning. Science process skills is an important concept but it is not even mentioned in textbook. Teachers have to explicitly teach these skills when conducting experiments. I have tried to use SLS video (experiment) to replace my lab activities, but I found out that the understanding is not as deep as when the students conduct the actual experiment.
After learning more about cognitive tools this week, I think I have a clearer understanding of whether cognitive tools must be generalizable tools or not. With reference to my last week’s comment, I feel that it is necessary for cognitive tool to be generalised, I somehow have a differing view now. I feel that cognitive tools may not have to be generalised as some tools are designed to target specific topics to facilitate understanding in certain subject discipline. If a cognitive tool is too generalised, it may not value add to teaching for some cases. There are many definitions of cognition tools by different individuals. In my opinion, if the tool does help to facilitate thinking using technology, it can be considered as a cognition tool whether generalizable or not.
I agree with you. If a tool is tool general, it does not serve the effect for the level of cognition that we want to see. Especially in the area of science, we don't just want to teach them the concepts, but we want our pupils to apply the concept in a new or ill-defined situations. Many times, it hard to decide the right cognitive tools. A semantic tool or concept map would be short of finding out how well that are able to apply the concept learn.
I like all the cognitive tools available, especially the ones in Phet website that allow learners to manipulate the given physics, bio and chemistry contexts to try out the simulations. These simulations allow learner to test out their ideas, to see the effect when they manipulate one or two variables and learn the concepts. I prefer them over the semantic tools (concept mapping) because they are interactive and can be done alone. I have tried some of these simulations (dynamic modeling) tools since studying in polytechnic and found them intriguing. Even companies in the manufacturing industry I know in the 1990s used them to help process influx of items in shopfloor or managing machining processes to reduce idle time. Its very useful for actual work and for teaching. I'll be using some of these for my classroom teaching and home assignment, mainly for exploratory purposes of certain science concepts.
I agree. The dynamic modelling tools are very interactive and I think students would love it more too.
It is also easy to use and students could comprehence the effect from the different inputs. It is direct to see and to conclude. So students could concentrate on the concept and thinking process, not much on technical issues which really adding credits.
This week’s lesson has opened my eyes to the power of technology. I see the first 2 tools, ie semantics organization tools and information interpretation tools highly relevant for data analysis and impact studies that will help to enhance productivity. Dynamic modelling is definitely a good resource for teachers, especially for experiments that may not be successful all the time. It also allows users to manipulate data repeated. However, I personally feel that actual hands on practices should always complement the use of these tools in Science education. Students learnt process skills as they carry out experiments based on experimental procedures. They learn from the mistakes they made during the conduct of experiment, understand the nuances used in Science, including fair tests, human errors and controls. They learn to observe failed experiments and compare data and develop hypothesis and reasoning when things do not go as planned. Hence, while we encourage the use of technology to facilitate collaborative learning and enhance productivity, we should not forget that to see for oneself far surpassed “watching” them online.
Lee Chean, I agree with you that “ to see for oneself far surpassed “watching” them online”. However, we must also be mindful that it is not always possible to try everything due to the nature of some of the experiments. i.e. safety, scale of the experiment. This is where I feel ICT tools can help bridge the gap. The Phet website that Hang Chuan mentioned is one very good example. I would suggest that after going through certain demonstration, be it ICT enabled or teacher demo, it will be good to plan for some form of student discourse to enrich the learning.
I think the knowledge of the various indicators that show how much our learners are cognitively engaged is something that I did not think of previously. It becomes a language that we can use in our conversation with our colleagues. Very often, we may feel happy when we stepped out of a particular classroom as there is a lot of classroom discussions. This form of classroom discourse is actually an indicator showing that students are cognitively engaged. By knowing the different indicators available to gauge cognitive engagement, we can also try to plan our lesson in a way that will sift out such responses. i.e. getting students to verbalise their thinking or solve problem in class. Knowing the different mode of cognitive engagement also enables us to plan our lesson based on the mode of engagement that we want to achieve. It does not need to be always collaborative in nature, sometimes students can also be passive receiver of knowledge.
Through this session, the various types of cognitive tools are introduced. This is very helpful as I now have a better understanding of the categories that are available and can narrow down my search if needed. When we want to find ICT tools to facilitate the cognitive engagement, it will be easier to find the right match for the different types of facilitations that we want to achieve. i.e. if we want to increase the level of interactions between the learners, we can semantic networking tools such as Mindmeister for the learners to work on the same mindmap collaboratively. Understanding the characteristics of cognitive tools is equally important. We must be mindful of how we use the cognitive tools. The tools should be able to help take the cognitive load off the learners and allow our learners think and generate ideas for themselves and with each other, resulting in knowledge creation that is of higher standard.
I started to use Zoom for my music theory group class for grade 5 ABRSM theory test a few months ago without knoiwing that it is considered as a knowledge construction tool!
After this session, I realised I could do even more with the help of the other cognitive tools.
Here I’d like to share some beneficial points using Zoom for conducting lessons from my experience:
1. students saved time from travelling;
2. being comfortable at home and yet, their parents could keep an eye on them to make sure they really paid attention and even the parents could learn at the same time;
3. Great sound quality, even the expression in tone captured very well; we made lots of jokes and the atmosphere was very lively; there was no chance for worrying about connection or the interruption in sound;
4. Students could ask and respond anytime and the atmosphere was very lively, and teacher could check on any student for answering questions, or respond just like face to face;
5. They can see the teacher’s side very clearly, with bigger screen on the laptop, less efforts as comparing to sitting at the rear of a classroom; everyone has a best seat.
6. Teacher can record the lesson for students who missed the class.
They learnt really well, and I still would like to make opportunities to meet students in the end like a party, to really meet the students who I just taught on line. Meeting the people is still very important for the social purpose, and I’d like to let students know that too.
Hi Jing Jing, thank you for sharing your experience with Zoom. I am interested to conduct lessons online as I think that this is the direction that education is heading towards. Nowadays, students learn mostly everything online, whether it is through Youtube, Google or webinars. I'm keen to know what is the age of your students that you conducted the zoom session with, what are some of the difficulties you face in this session and how do find the balance between offline and online teaching?
Cognitive tools refer to learning with the use of computer based tools, technologies or mind tools and have the intention to engage or help in facilitating the cognitive process. Being in an environment where it is necessary to equip students with the 21st CC Skills, the help of technology or the external assistance is needed to us in higher order or critical thinking and learning.
I've used simple cognitive tools with my students such as Excel spreadsheet and Survey Monkey but this module has expanded my knowledge on ICT. For example, we tried out a mind map software (bubbl.us) which is very convenient and simple to use even for primary students. I find it very effective as it enables students to create simple flowchart or work on assignments. This focuses on their creativity as they can have control over the colour, font and size of their mind map. It will also gives them the opportunity to work collaboratively with their peers and amplify their thinking processes through the use of IT. This will come handy for subjects such as Science, when they are required to create a mindmap after every topic.
In this session, I gained many insights into the types of cognitive tools that are available in the market. As a Science teacher, I mainly use the dynamic modelling tools in my Physics lessons to allow students to understand the dynamic relationships among the physical variables in a problem. I find that these tools greatly expanded their understanding as it is able to provide more affordances as compared to texts and explanations. I do look forward to applying the semantic organisation tool of concept mapping in my class so that the students are able to consolidate the concepts that they learnt. Although there are many benefits in using cognitive tools in education, some problems that I face in using cognitive tools would be time management and dealing with irrelevant content. I'm interested to find out the methods I can use to evaluate the cognitive tools, whether it is worth the time and effort to implement in a classroom setting.
I think there is a greater need to introduce the use of cognitive tools in classrooms. In the current world, the use of technology has already embedded our lives deeply. Most companies these days require their employees to possess the skills to use simple cognitive tools like Excel, or Microsoft word, yet in schools, we do not emphasize the teaching of these skills to the students. In Math, we are still teaching students how to plot graphs on paper. In Physics, instead of utilizing a software to help students keep track of data obtained from experiments, we are still teaching students how to manually record information using pen and paper. Hence, I feel that there is a need to step up on the use of cognitive tools in school so that our students are able to keep up to current trends and will have skills that stay relevant when they leave for the working industry.
Hi Tammy, i strongly agree that there is a need to expand the use of cognitive tool in schools. Although time has been allocated for IT learning, the knowledge that was taught should be put at use in their daily school work. In such way, they will be able to retain their skills and use it for their working life in future.
Imagine if we are at Chinatown, I have to find where to buy the love letters. I won't know where to find it. The cognitive tool probably should help me to navigate through the streets of Chinatown. Providing signposts of where it might lead me to different parts of Chinatown but not necessary towards the direct answer. The tool could also suggest other possible sites of interest, if I'm interested, I would pursue during my free time, but not necessary too directive as to point me straight to the goal. In fact. a good cognitive tool may not directly show you how to get to the answer straightaway.
A cognitive tool is used to facilitate and enhance one thinking. There are different type of cognitive tool such as semantic and dynamic. Example of dynamic cognitive tool would be to change the variables to see if a number gets bigger or smaller.
We also discussed on the types of affordances, which include perceived affordances, real affordances, false affordances and hidden affordances. Example of real affordances would be the use of Facebook for socialisation and at the same time, it can also be seen as perceived affordances as the app can also help in supporting teaching and learning. False affordances is when the function is stated clearly but the user did not abide to it and use the tool incorrectly.
Im more aware of the importance in looking into the different aspects of affordances that a cognitive tool has. When using a certain tool for teaching or learning, the 3 conditions that we should look into would be the pedagogical, social, and technical aspects. Besides the Gagne's 9 conditions of learning, pedagogical affordance
is a tool that will help to achieve the predetermined learning objectives.For example if I were to use Wisemapping tool with my students, I can ask the following set of questions to determine if the tool has pedagogical affordances.
1) Will this tool help in achieving my lesson objective?
2) Will it enhanced retention?
3) Is the tool more student centered or teacher centered?
Moving on to social affordances, a tool has to be safe, comfortable, and convenient for students especially. They should feel safe to share their thoughts and ideas when using the tool, the design and platform of the tool should provide a fair and friendly environment, and there should be various ways in which students can communicate (e.g, text, voice recording, video recording..)
Finally would be the technical affordance. The tool or browser should have a detailed tutorial on how to use the program, contact email or number the students can call or email when facing difficulties in using the tool, different versions in which the tool can provide (e.g free version, premium version) and the attractiveness of the tool which is important as it will definitely be on the factor that will capture students interest when using it.
From my perspective, a cognitive tool might not be able to meet all aspects of the 3 social affordances. However, as educators, we should ensure that a tool is able to meet majority of the conditions as much as possible.