Technology enabled learning communitiesPaul TreadwellOctober 7, 2011

Defining our terms

• Technology enabled• Employs technology to facilitate social learning• Is a group/collaborative tool• Potentially exclusionary

• Learning community• Social space created with shared intent to learn• Sponsored• Self forming

Boundaries of learning

• Learning• acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge,

behaviors, skills, values, or preferences. may involve synthesizing different types of information

• Social learning• “social learning may be defined as a change in

understanding that goes beyond the individual to become situated within wider social units or communities of practice through social interactions between actors within social networks.” (Reed, et al. 2010)

Varieties of community

• Physical• Town/city/village• Workplace• Etc.

• Virtual• Social media• Structured distance learning

• Hybrid• Combines elements of physical and virtual to amplify inputs and

impacts. • The global/local connection

Aspects of community

• Boundaries• Defines the commonality• Distinguishes from “others”

• May exclude

• Norms and habits• Tolerance (?)• Reciprocity• Trust

• Network / social system• Duration

Learning

• Sponsored• Schools, universities• Trade unions, associations• More vertical

• Self forming• Interest groups• More horizontal

Information or learning

• Anyone (with access) can “just google it”• Technology cannot magically transmute

information into learning• Interaction transmutes info to learning

Examples/case studies

• Forest Connect• OLPC-Uruguay• HWWFF• TecNica Learning exchange• Ithaca-Afghanistan

Supporting and growing existing learning communities• Technology can capture, archive and re-use

learning moments• Ability to connect , or enter into, dialog, that has

history and trajectory• Increase in type and number of platform options

distributes accessibility more broadly.

ForestConnect• Uses Adobe Connect• Expand on previous

communication and education systems • provide real time

interaction and learning with participants and instructors

OLPC - Uruguay• One laptop per child• Used in schools and

at home• Laptops have

integrated social aspects that allow peer connections.

Facilitating new learning communities• Bridging distance, crossing “borders”• Opening new pathways for connection and

content• Connecting the real and the virtual

HWWFF• The How, When and

why of Forest Farming• Tied to physical

locations• Emerging field of

knowledge

TecNica Learning Exchange

• Cross cultural learning• Engages technology

as tool and medium• Sustains connections

Ithaca-Afghanistan

• Videoconferencing connecting extension faculty to nomadic farmers.• Impossible to imagine 15

years ago

It’s not all wine and roses

• It’s not so simple• Educational intent and tools selection can have

negative impacts• New skills are needed to engage technology with

fidelity

Exclusion

• Universal access is not a reality• Intent and attention have to be paid to who is

excluded when we chose to use technology• Creativity is essential to developing inclusive,

technology enabled, learning communities.

The façade of participation

• Calling something participation does not make it so.• The tools and technologies of participatory

learning , with technology’ can replicate and reinforce existing power dynamics

New literacies for participation

• Digital • Multicultural• Civic

Democratic communities, democratic technologies

• Learning communities should be dialogic spaces,• The tools and technologies we choose to use

should reflect our values• Participatory, democratizing, education needs to

be supported by equivalent technologies

Expanding learning

References• Reed, M. S., A. C. Evely, G. Cundill, I. Fazey, J. Glass, A. Laing, J. Newig, B. Parrish, C.

Prell, C. Raymond, and L. C. Stringer. 2010. What is social learning? Ecology and Society 15(4): r1. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/resp1/

Contact

• Paul Treadwell• pt36@cornell.edu• @ptreadwell• Pt36.posterous.com