Learning in the Open: Networked Student Identities
University of Prince Edward Island February 2013
Bonnie Stewart
What is a networked learner?
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/rofi/2647699204/
Networked Identities
• Engaged within networked publics (boyd, 2011) and digital sociality (Thompson & Cupples, 2008)
• Participatory (Jenkins, 2006) • Performative (Butler, 1990) • Producing & consuming content within networks =
produsage (Bruns, 2007) / prosumption (Ritzer, 2010) • Partial membership in multiple networks, less
reliance on belonging structures of settled groups (Wellman, 2011)
• Convergence between online & offline (McEwan & Mease, 2013)
Higher Ed = change on multiple axes
knowledge scarcity
knowledge abundance
open
public funding
neoliberal corporatism
closed
Newly emerging species: open, public learner/scholars
We are cyborg
h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/russell-‐higgs/75598487/
Networks & the Academy: trends in ways of knowing
Openness as practice
• No techno-utopia or determinism • Long-term immersion & work • Not just broadcasting but engagement • Vulnerability • Context collapse • Blurring of public & private
My local cohort
• 2 active students in my year • 9 active Ph.D students total • 2 other local friends pursuing
Ph.Ds from other institutions
My cohort on Twitter
learners, teachers, professors, writers – of
books I love & research I cite ! – bloggers, geeks, friends, parents,
students
scale = greater access, diversity, visibility… also increased noise & time.
Benefits as thinker: just-in-time emergent, choral
conversation
Benefits as learner & scholar: access, engagement, profile
Challenges: Legitimacy Practices
Academic Learning Networked Learning
product-focused process-focused institutionally-directed self-directed mastery participation bounded by time/space always accessible hierarchical ties peer-to-peer ties plagiarism crowdsourcing authority in role authority in reputation audience = teacher audience = world
Thank you.
@bonstewart
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