‘Does it Make Sense’ or ‘What Does it Mean’?

Abstract

This conceptual paper problematizes a distinction between meaning-making and sense-making as activities that support learning. In framing this distinction, various theoretical perspectives on sense-making are introduced from a range of disciplines that have direct implication for the ongoing development of the digital environment designed specifically to support learning. The digital environment is replete with choices that enable communication, information-seeking, knowledge sharing, computation, and learning – all made possible by a diversity of technologies. Semantics have a significant computational role in this environment and making sense of it, amidst constantly emerging capabilities, represents opportunities for innovation as well as challenges for digital learning. While meaning-making has a pivotal role in knowledge construction in this environment it is argued that sense-making often precedes it, thereby indicating a specific role for sense-making technologies.