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Keynote for NWeLearn Conference 2010 - Vancouver, Washington by Dr. Alec Couros
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Online Learning in a Networked Age
NWeLearn 2010Vancouver, WA
By Dr. Alec CourosUniversity of Regina
#nwelearn
me
The Blur
“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, Robella, & Hughes, 2009)
influences
“given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”
(Linusʼ Law, Raymond 1997)
“Open source software communities are one of the most
successful -- and least understood -- examples of high performance collaboration and
community building on the Internet today.”
(Kim, 2003)
“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)
• philosophical stance
• power & control
• access
• design attributes
- privacy/publics
- audience
- transparency
- accountability
open(ness)(short version)
open source software
open contentopen access publication
open accreditation
open education
open access coursesopen teaching
free software
open educational resources
open(ness)(short version)
connected(ness)(short version)
• pedagogical & pragmatic stance
• knowledge exchange, curating, wayfinding, crowdsourcing, collaboration, problem solving
• personal learning network/environment (PLN/PLE)
context
“Tell me ... what it is I am educating and what sort of world we live in, and I will tell you what I
am aiming at.”(Garforth, 1962)
David Weinberger
@dweinberger
The Web is “a world of pure connection, free
of the arbitrary constraints of matter, distance and time.”
connected reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImAD8BOBOhw
conditions ...
Social Tools
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9119028@N05/591163479/
@jonmott
Free/Open Content
Access
Age of Networks
http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-2010-social-networking-map
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scriptingnews/2699829038/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scriptingnews/2699829038/sizes/l/
quick stats (2009)
• 90 trillion emails sent annually from 1.4 billion email users
• 234 million websites
• 1.73 billion Internet users
• 126 millions blogs
• 350 million Facebook users
• 4 billion images on Flickr
• 1 billion Youtube videos served daily.
Stats as of Jan 22/10 via Royal Pingdom
Youtube & other social media mitigate “connection without constraint”. Often, this leads to the development of “tremendously deep communities”.
@mwesch
Michael Wesch
possibilities ...
Networked Learning
Personalization
http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/3974469907/
Owing a domain name is about claiming your pieceof the internet. You’re no longer renting, you’re a home owner.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35723943@N00/2379057597/
Visitors vs. Residents
Shifting Roles
Private Public
Closed Open
“Understanding how networks work is one of the most important
literacies of the 21st century.”(Rheingold, 2010)
Ze Frank
@zefrank
“any individual entity that pretends to
understand the rules that guide this space is
under an illusion”
crowd sourcing content
real time collaboration
practice
Guiding Principles
• Open access, low-cost.
• Rethink space/interaction (walled gardens, open spaces)
• Learning spaces controlled and/or owned by students.
• Tagging, aggregation, & other info literacies.
• Advocacy/integration/use/creation of/for FOSS & open content wherever possible & when beneficial to learning.
• Pedagogy focused more on connecting & interactions; content important, but secondary.
• Development of sustainable, long-term, learning connections.
location of mentors
“I was able to go out and learn throughout the entire week, the entire year, and Iʼm still
learning with everyone.”
“The best part of the course is that itʼs not ending. With the connections weʼve built, it
never has to end.”
“The course ... has been the most profound pd experience Iʼve ever had. It forced me to critique & review my practice. I never knew how important social networks
were. Now, I couldnʼt be a teacher without being connected. Itʼs drastically changed my view of education.”
moving forward
Suggestions
• Begin or continue to explore social tools that can replace or augment the CMS/LMS experience.
• Explore the concept/implications of PLE/PLN - dive in.
• Find online learning opportunities that are right for you. If there arenʼt any, create them.
• Understand, promote, teach Creative Commons.
• Learn about OER/Openness initiatives in your state - participate, advocate, create, share.
• Take charge of your own learning - and get your institutions to support self-directed PD.
• Continue to reinvent, reshape, retool your role as educator.
“We need to move beyond the idea that education is something
that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education
is something that we create ourselves.”
(Downes, 2010)
