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Making sense of complexity in open information environments George Siemens October 26, 2011

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Openness is a control tradeoff And it means we have to do different things

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Where are our control points?

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Our curriculum?

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Our teaching?

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Fragmentary experience Conversations, content, context not (only) shaped by the school/educator Learners are in control Fragmentation is a new reality. Our learning models need to embrace (reflect) it.

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Coherence is an orientation about the meaning and value of information elements based on how they are connected, structured, and related Antonovsky 1993

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Existing coherence forming systems Books Newspapers TV news programs Magazines (anything that is structured and that the end user cant speak into and alter)

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Openness messes up coherence (and control)

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Fragmentation of information requires that we weave together elements into some type of coherent framework Youtube Blogs Twitter Facebook TEDtalks Kahn Academy Online news/information sites Traditional coherence frameworks

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Networked information doesnt have a centre

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Information fragmentationloss of narratives of coherence

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the rise of millions of fragmented discussions across the world tend instead to lead to fragmentation of audiences into isolated publics Habermas 2006

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Argument: we socialize to make sense of information i.e. it is our ability to work with information (abstraction, representation, point to) that defines humanity

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As information quantity and complexity increase We adopt two approaches: 1.Better technical systems 2.Better connected social systems

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setnet group collective Social forms Jon Dron & Terry Anderson

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... information foraging refers to activities associated with assessing, seeking, and handling information sources Piroli and Card, 1995

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What is sensemaking?

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Sensemaking is about labelling and categorizing to stabilize the streaming of experience Weick et al. 2005

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a motivated, continuous effort to understand connections... in order to anticipate their trajectories and act effectively Klein et al. 2006

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Cynefin Framework Dave Snowden

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Domains of Sensemaking

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Complicated is not complex.

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When an answer and path is known, but requires time and effort, it is complicated.

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When an answer is not known, or when agents interact in unpredictable ways, it is complex.

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Education system is treating a complex problem as a complicated one. Lessons #1 in Paths to Failure:

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Complex unknown problems require: 1.Mind of a scientist 2.Mind of an artist

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What is wayfinding?

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the process that takes place when people orient themselves and navigate through space Raubal and Winter 2002

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is the cognitive element of navigation it does not involve movement of any kind but only the tactical and strategic parts that guide movement. Darken and Peterson 2002

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The Landing

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2008, 2009, 2011 Finding complex information environments: research spaces

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The data set Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008 (CCK08)

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Tools used by learners http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/643/1402 Fini, 2009 Roughly anything.

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The methods 1. Social network and participation analysis 2. Corbin & Strauss (1990) version of grounded theory

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SNA & Participation Habits

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CCK08 Weekly Forum Posts

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CCK08: Introduction forum Limited interaction. Most are isolated

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Introduction forum posts: CCK08 Dialogue limited: Group too large?

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Week 12 forum posts: CCK08 More equitable distribution? Due to smaller #s of participants?

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Open coding using Cohere http://cohere.open.ac.uk

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Axial Coding

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Self-organization and sub-networks Sensegiving through artefact creation and sharing Sensemaking/giving through language games Knowledge domain expansion Wayfinding cues, symbols Social organization through creating sharing

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Coherence expression (sensegiving) Artifacts Narratives

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Participatory sensemaking: the coordination of intentional activity in interaction, whereby individual sense-making processes are affected and new domains of social sense-making can be generated that were not available to each individual on her own De Jaegher and Di Paolo 2007

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Artefacts re-centre the learning conversation

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Artifacts of sensemaking

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Organizing course content Dolors Capdet

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http://x28newblog.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/2008/09/06/cck08-first-impressions/ Image of course structure created by course participant

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Language/externalization reduces the occult character of mental images. Wittgenstein Language gives birth to thought Vygotsky

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Language games Storytelling Debate, dialogue Descriptions Clarification Metaphors Analogies Examples Resonance Narratives of sensemaking

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change.mooc.ca Twitter: gsiemens www.elearnspace.org/blog http://www.solaresearch.org/ Learning Analytics & Knowledge 2012: Vancouver http://lak12.sites.olt.ubc.ca/