why networked learning matters
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Slides from a keynote presentation I gave at #ece11 at the University of Salford.TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Alec CourosUniversity of ReginaJuly 2011
Why Networked Learning Matters
#ece11
bit.ly/ece11couros
me
Faculty Profile
The Blur
Photo-A-Day
Open CV
Open Access Journal
Open Teaching
“Web 2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect and reimagine what they do as scholars. Such tools might positively affect -- even transform - research, teaching, and
service responsibilities - only if scholars choose to build serious academic lives online, presenting semi-public selves and becoming invested in and connected to the
work of their peers and students.” (Greenhow, Robelia, & Hughes, 2009)
journey(quick version)
Knowledge
knowledge
• what is k?
• how is k acquired?
• how do we know what we know?
• why do we know what we know?
• what do humans know?
• who controls k?
• how is k controlled?
human thought/ideas
human language
high-level language(e.g. C++, Java, PERL)
low-level language(assembly language)
machine code(binary)
source code
code irretrievable
@jonmott
Collaboration
“given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”
(Linusʼ Law, Raymond 1997)
“A key to transformation is for the teaching profession to establish innovation networks that capture the spirit and culture of hackers -
the passion, the can-do, collective sharing.”
~ Hargreaves, 2003
Openness
“Open Education is the simple and powerful idea that the worldʼs knowledge is a public good and that technology in
general and the Worldwide Web in particular provide an extraordinary
opportunity for everyone to share, use, and reuse knowledge.”(William & Flora Hewlett Foundation)
open source software
open contentopen access publication
open accreditation
open education
open access coursesopen teaching
free software
open educational resources
open(ness)(short version)
open scholarship
connected(ness)(short version)
• pedagogical affordance.
• knowledge exchange, curation, wayfinding, crowdsourcing, collaboration, problem solving
• facilitated through personal learning networks/environments (PLNs/PLEs)
Free/Open Content“describes any kind of creative work in a format that explicitly allows copying and
modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organization, firm, or
individual.” (Wikipedia)
Why Do Students Go to University?
Content
Social Life
Degrees
Support Services
(Wiley, 2010)
Why Do Students Go to University?
Content
Support ServicesSocial Life
Degrees
WikipediaPLoS
OCW
Open Courses
Google Scholar
arXiv.orgFlatworld K
MCSEGCT
ACT
CCNACNE
MMOGsMySpace
Yahoo! AnswersQuora
Skype
(Wiley, 2010)
ChaCha
• knowledge needs to be free.• relationships trump content.• transparency & openness are powerful
conditions for knowledge building.• distributed, weak-tie communities can help
to solve complex problems.• education can greatly benefit from the
experiences of open (source) communities (i.e., networked communities of practice).
early lessons
participatory media
Changes
Early Day of PC in Schools Todayʼs Social/Mobile Reality
Stats as of January 2011 via Royal Pingdom
media stats (2010)
• 107 trillion emails (89% spam), from 1.04 billion users.
• 255 million websites
• 1.97 billion Internet users
• 152 millions blogs
• 600 million Facebook users (sharing 30 billion pieces of content per month)
• 2 billion videos watched on Youtube daily
• 5 billion photos hosted on Flickr
“The average digital birth of children happens at about 6 months.”
“The average digital birth of children happens at about 6 months.”
“In Canada, US, UK, France Italy, Germany & Spain ... 81% of children under the age of two have some kind
of digital profile or footprint.”
cautions
Easily Copied
Viewable by MillionsEasily Edited
Instantly Shared
by DEFAULT
with EFFORT
PRIVATE
PUBLIC
by DEFAULT
with EFFORTPRIVATE
PUBLIC
Best Job in the World
Stephen Downes
• “Ten years ago, not one student in a hundred, nay, one in a thousand, could have produced videos like this. It’s a whole new skill, a vital and important skill, and one utterly necessary not simply from the perspective of creating but also of comprehending video communication today.
On Digital Video
unlikely inspirations
“Dear Photograph:Thank you for everything we had.”
George Siemens
• “Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning.”
•
Informal Learning
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Shared Activities
Leveraging Networks
Leveraging Networks
Crowdsourcing Content
Unintentional Teaching
“To answer your question, I did use Youtube to learn how to dance. I consider it my ʻmainʼ teacher.”
“To answer your question, I did use Youtube to learn how to dance. I consider it my ʻmainʼ teacher.”
“10 years ago, street dance was very exclusive, especially rare dances like popping
(the one I teach and do). You either had to learn it from a friend that knew it or get VHS
tapes which were hard to get. Now with Youtube, anyone, anywhere in the world can
learn previously ʻexclusiveʼ dance styles.”
Rethinking Content/Originality
• growing modes of access and the ability to publish & disseminate to wide audiences are key affordances.
• (digital) citizenship & (digital) identity are emerging content areas that heavily implicate emerging pedagogies.
• crowdsourcing & social curation of content will prove transformational for learning experiences.
additional lessons
practice
open teaching
network mentors
non-credit students
course trailers
course trailers
student-controlled spaces
aggregation
microblogging
shared resources
daily social digest
What We Learned
• Open access, low-cost, high impact.
• Courses become shared, non-local, learning events.
• Students immersed in a greater learning community.
• Rethinking of space/interaction (walled gardens, open spaces)
• Learning spaces controlled and/or owned by students.
• Development of emerging literacies, relevant for other courses.
• Pedagogy focused more on connecting & interactions; content important, but secondary.
• Development of sustainable, long-term, learning connections.
conclusion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolmansaxlil/4802611949/
Sharing
“itʼs about overcoming the inner 2 year old in
you that screams mine, mine, itʼs mine.”
(Wiley, TEDxNYED, 2010)
On Sharing ...
Openness
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/4396467701/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Audience
Identity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaumedurgell/740880616/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/3356252350/
Relationships
“My student was delighted by the attention her blog post had received; it gave her confidence in her
writing and bolstered her enthusiasm for our class.... We were no longer studying an important work of
20th century literature within the narrow context of my syllabus; instead we had become part of a
conversation that involved the broader reading public. As a professor, I was displaced from the centre of the conversation, which became more open, distributed
and student-driven than it had been before.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/admitchell08/2574455073
http://[email protected]
@courosa
Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born
in another time. ~Tagore