Connections

In A New Culture of Learning  Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). The New Culture of Learning, the authors extol the benefits rather than the difficulties of the relentless pace of change that we are all experiencing.   In their eyes, A growing digital, networked infrastructure is amplifying our ability to access and use nearly unlimited resources and incredible instruments while connecting with one another at the same time (p. 17).

Two essential elements they focus on for purposes of learning are collectives and imagination. I'm going to comment a little on collectives and save imagination/play for another day.

In collectives constant interaction among group members, with their varying skills and talents, functions as a kind of peer amplifier, providing numerous outlets, resources, and aids to further an individual's learning (p. 51). ... But equally important is the ability to add one's own knowledge to the general mix.  That contribution may be large, such as a new website, or it may be a series of smaller offerings, such as comments on a blog or a forum post.  It may even be something as trivial as simply visiting a website.  But in each case, the participation has an effect, both in terms of what the individual is able to draw from it and how it shapes and augments the stream of information (p. 52).

This concept of learning through a collective sounds similar to George Siemen's theory of Connectivism which he posits in A Learning Theory for the Digital Age.  In this 2005 article Siemen's says, The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual. This cycle of knowledge development (personal to network to organization) allows learners to remain current in their field through the connections they have formed.

In rereading Siemen's article I discovered that Siemen's actually refers to John Seely Brown.  He comments that John Seely Brown presents an interesting notion that the internet leverages the small efforts of many with the large efforts of few. The central premise is that connections created with unusual nodes supports and intensifies existing large effort activities.  And Siemens concludes, This amplification of learning, knowledge and understanding through the extension of a personal network is the epitome of connectivism.

As I participate in several of the courses offered by Electronic Village Online (EVO) 2012, I find that I am learning through interacting with the participants in each course.  I can see that the participants in each are eagerly forming collectives.  As Thomas and Brown say, Unlike a classroom where a teacher controls the lecture, the organic communities that emerge through collectives produce meaningful learning because the inquiry that arises comes from the collective  itself (p. 54).

The Shape of Knowledge

 In Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder,  David Weinberger tells us that knowledge doesn't have a shape.  There are just too many useful, powerful and beautiful ways to make sense of our world (p.83)   In a very entertaining way, Weinberger takes us on a historical journey through time to show how the basis for categorizing knowledge has shifted from "experts" to "us".  For example, he compares the Dewey Decimal classification system which is limited by the physcs of paper to give each book a spot on the shelf (p. 62) to Amazon which likes a friendly disorder, stuffing its pages with alternative ways of browsing and offbeat offers peculiar to each person's behavior(p.6).

 In chapter 7, Social Knowing, Weinberger contrasts the intransience of the entries in the Encyclopedia Britannica with those of Wikipedia which are in a constant state of beta.  This chapter also gives insight into how the citizen journalists of Wikipedia work to achieve accuracy and neutality.   His behind the scene peek at the workings of Wikipedia are well worth the read.  In closing this chapter, he offers a view of knowledge quite similar to George Siemen's concept of connectivism when he comments that we can see for ourselves that knowledge isn't in our heads:It's between us.  It emerges from public and social thought, and it stays there, because social knowing, like the global conversations that give rise to it, is never finished (p147).

Weinberger provides us with a conceptual framework to view how knowledge today is digitally organized on business sites like iTunes and social bookmarking sites such as Delicious.  He explains how folksonomy gives people more control over knowledge by making it relevant to them as individuals.  According to Weinberger, Reality is multifaceted.  There are lots of ways to slice it up.  How we choose to slice it up depends on why we're slicing it up (p.82).

Disrupting Class and the Future of Education

I am currently reading Disrupting Class by Clayton M. Christensen., Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson. You can get a quick synopsis of the book by listening to this interview with one of the authors.  According to the authors, If we acknowledge that all children  [and adults] learn differently, then the way schooling is currently arranged-in a monolithic batch mode system where all students are taught the same things on the same day in the same way-won't ever allow us to educate children in customized ways. 

My interpretation of the view of education in the book is to have each student accrue knowledge  through his/her best learning style for that subject matter.  This means that teachers will piece together an array of modules containing different ways of learning the same material based on various learning styles.  These modules will have been created over time through online networks with teacher and user input.  When enough modules have been developed, then teachers can start piecing together enough ... modules to create entire course designed for each type of learner.  In this view teachers will serve as content architects and learning coaches supporting students in their choice and interpretation of online modules.

As I see it, some of this is currently being done.  For example, the number of online networks where teachers share their insights and expertise now exist and are growing exponentially.  Here are some examples:

• Open source courseware through Wikieducator,
• Nings  such as  are Classroom 2.0, EdubloggerWorld, School 2.0, NextGen Teachers, Educational Technology, EFL Classroom 2.0 , Teachers 2.0,  Computer Mediated Communication

And here is a snapshot of a present day classroom that may foreshadow classrooms of the future, This is Our Classroom .  There are also currently projects such as NYCDOE One to One project http://vimeo.com/7416500 which incorporate some of  ideas of teaching students through their best learning styles.

The future of education  is the topic of an open course  beginning on April 19, 2010 and being facilitated by George Siemens   and Dave Cormier  through the University of Manitoba.  I'm sure many of the ideas presented in Disrupting Class will be discussed.  I'm really looking forward to the course!