Rhizomatic Learning, Student-Negotiated Curriculum,

and the Digital Tools That Support These Pedagogies

By Jarret Kronejkrone@csuchico.edu

June 20, 2013

My Essential Question

• How can I create more opportunities for student-created course content and organic, spontaneous direction via decentralized learning environments and student collaboration?

(Sorry it’s so wordy.)

Introduction

• My FYC class is inquiry-driven and is (very) loosely bounded under the umbrella topic of Digital Culture.

• My goal was to establish a course where the content is negotiated and determined by my students, their genuine interests, and their research.

Where my methods stem from:

• My interest in constructing a classroom environment where students control the content of our class stems from a few primary sources:

• 1. The “Rhizomatic Learning” Theory and• 2. My experience with offering course sub-

themes and ideas regarding digital culture, and students grasping tightly onto these limited ideas without using them as jumping off points for their own inquiry, as I had intended.

So… What is a ‘rhizome?’

Using a botanical analogy:“A rhizomatic plant has no center and no

defined boundary; rather, it is made up of a number of semi-independent nodes, each of which is capable of growing and spreading on its own, bounded only by the limits of its habitat” (Cormier 2008).

“Rhizomatic Learning Theory”

• “In the rhizomatic model of learning, curriculum is not driven by predefined inputs from experts; it is constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process. This community acts as the curriculum, spontaneously shaping, constructing, and reconstructing itself and the subject of its learning in the same way that the rhizome responds to changing environmental conditions” (Cormier 2008).

So, what does this mean to me (us)?

• Rhizomatic learning opposes the notion that knowledge and information is transferred in a hierarchical fashion, i.e. teacher student.

• Knowledge is created within social environments, in unpredictable and often spontaneous ways. Information stems outward from multiple nodes all at once. There is no centralized node where knowledge grows.

Activity 1

• Read Dave Cormier’s “Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum”

• Use the link on Twitter to locate his article.• Once you open the article, which is a

GoogleDoc with the the text embedded, start reading and have a conversation with the text by commenting in the margins. [Insert -> Comment]

Focus Questions for Cormier’s Blog Post

• Try to steer your margin comments towards these questions:

• 1. What are some moments that catch your attention, or passages that you find interesting? Identify “hotspots” in the text.

• 2. Which parts do you agree with? Which parts do you disagree with? Do these ideas and methods seem practical?

QW:

• What comments did you make in the margins of the text? What did you find most interesting or important? What did you agree or disagree with?

• What are some ways that you, as a teacher, create or build opportunities for spontaneity or organic direction in your classes? Does this method seem valuable or practical to you? Why or why not?

So, what are some methods and tools I use to support this ‘rhizomatic’ learning structure?

• First, methods.

• 1. Students seek texts.• 2. Meet with me during office hours.• 3. Discuss why they chose that text, why they found it

interesting, main claims, and how author supports claims.• 4. Develop Discussion Questions for the class. • 5. Research Presentations.• 6. Engage class in Discussion Activity

Digital Tools to support ‘rhizomatic’ learning structure

• Twitter

• I use Twitter as a backchannel for the class – an alternate or supplementary space for comments, conversations, and questions. It allows for a space for dialogue to continue after class gets out.

Twitter Feeds from my class

Activity 2

• Let’s live-tweet a Ted Talk that my class discovered and watched last semester.

• It’s called: • “After Your Final Status Update”

By Adam OstrowAs you watch the video, use Twitter to pose questions,

make comments, restate important ideas, etc. Try using #HASHTAGS so we can compile all of our comments easily. Let’s try using -- #finalstatus

After Your Final Status Update• http://www.ted.com/talks/adam_ostrow_afte

r_your_final_status_update.html

QW:

Use Twitter to answer the following questions:

1. What questions or problems does Ostrow address in his lecture? What are the implications of these possible ideas?

2. How could Twitter be re-imagined or adjusted to be used effectively in elementary, middle school, or high school?

Activity 3

• Read: “Twittering about Learning: Using Twitter in an Elementary School Classroom”

1. As you read, tweet about how Kurtz uses Twitter in the most effective, interesting, or promising ways in an elementary school class.

2. Would you experiment with any of these practices? Why or why not?

Student-Negotiated Assessment

• I have my students use GoogleSites (an e-portfolio creator) to collect and present their best work of the semester.

• Toward the end of the semester they take time to curate their e-portfolio to make their best work ready for assessment.

e-portfolio assessment pathways• I give students the opportunity to choose 4-5 pieces of

their work that they are most proud of. • On the “Home” page of their e-portfolio, they write to me

and tell me which pieces of their writing they are most proud of and want me to consider as I am piecing together final grades. I ONLY look at those pieces of writing when I give them a grade for their e-portfolio, which is worth a lot of points. I also let them try to persuade me as to what grade they believe they deserve. They can do this by pointing me to their most impressive passages and even quoting themselves.

It looks something like this:

The End

• Thank you all for listening and participating.