Online Learning in a Networked Age

Dr. Alec CourosSLN SOL SummitSyracuse, New YorkFebruary 28, 2013

Online Learning in a Networked Age

#slnsolsummit

me

The Blur

Personal Open Spaces

“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)

changes

current context - new affordancestools, content, networks

tools

Early Days of PCs in Schools Today’s Social/Mobile Reality

Mobile

Convergence

atoms <---> bitsscarcity <---> abundanceconsuming <---> creating

standardization <---> personalizationindividuals <---> networks

significant shifts in media

“in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000”

“More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month that the 3 major US networks created in 60 years.”

“72 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to Youtube every second.”

Objectivism

Group growth

(Schwier)(Leinonen)

Individual growth

CognitivismConstructivism

Social Learning

shifts in edtech

content

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

17-Year-Old Heather Traska

86 days, 30+ characters, 13 songsrecorded, edited, produced

arranged by ear

@drtonywagner

“Today knowledge is free. It’s like air, it’s like water...

There’s no competitive advantage in knowing

more than the person next to you. The world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is

what you can do with what you know.” (2012)

networks

NOT WHAT’S

IMPORTANT

Six Degrees of Separation“the idea that everyone is on average six steps away, by way of introduction, from

another person in the world.”

Strength of Weak Ties“There is strength in weak ties. Our

acquaintances, not our friends, are potentially our greatest source of new ideas and

information.” (paraphrased from Gladwell, 2010)

Where Good Ideas Come From“The trick to having good ideas is not to sit

around in glorious isolation and try to think big thoughts. The trick is to get more parts on the

table.” (Steven Johnson, 2010)

“Chance favors the connected mind” ~ Stephen Johnson

networks provide ...1. affordances: enable communication, collaboration

& cooperation in ways that were once impossible with people who were once unreachable.

2. inspiration: connect us to new ideas & expand our thinking & potential for innovation.

* ‘us’ meaning those who have access.

affordances & inspirationsvalue of free, crowdsourcing, visible learning

value of free

@esrtweet

“Gift cultures are adaptations not to scarcity but to abundance .... In gift cultures, social status is determined not by what you control, but by what you give

away. (1997)

“the song intentionally lacked a copyright so that people would be encouraged to create their

own online parodies, in essence their own "XYZ Style"”

21st Century Learning Networks

21st Century Learning Networks

crowdsourcing

@dlnorman

@giuliaforsythe

@noiseprofessor

@noiseprofessor

@noiseprofessor

@timlauer

making learning visible

MYOB Learning

“To answer your question, I did use Youtube to learn how to dance. I

consider it my ‘main’ 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 ‘exclusive’ dance styles.”

How are you making your learning visible?

How are you contributing to the learning of others?

cMOOCs

#eci831 (open-boundary)

network mentors

non-credit students

course trailer

@jonmott

student-controlled spaces

learned to love the hashtag

What We Learned

• Open access be low-cost, high impact.

• ‘Courses’ as shared, global, learning events.

• Openness as a way of connecting students to a greater, authentic learning community.

• Amazing serendipity in open spaces vs. walled gardens.

• Importance of student-controlled learning spaces.

• Connectivist pedagogy first focus on connecting & interactions; content important, but secondary.

• Development of sustainable, long-term, learning connections.

#etmooc

origins

~2000 participants from ~70 countries

spaces

/tweets

random artefacts

#lipdub

concluding thoughts

Private Public

Closed Open

(Joichi Ito)

@barrywellman

“The developed world is in the midst of a paradigm shift both in the ways in

which people and institutions are connected.

It is a shift from being bound up in homogenous “little boxes” to surfing life through diffuse, variegated

social networks.” (2002)

http://couros.cacouros@gmail.com

@courosa

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born

in another time.” ~Tagore