Introduction to Open& Networked Learning

Dr. Alec CourosUniversity of Regina

EC&I 831

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)

David Wiley

@opencontent

“openness is the only means of doing education”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0syrgsH6M

“if there is no sharing, there is no education”

Dean Shareski

@shareski

“the moment we focus on protecting our work

we are in someways the antithesis of a teacher”

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=610

connected(ness)(short version)

• pedagogical & pragmatic stance

• knowledge exchange, curating, wayfinding, crowdsourcing, collaboration, problem solving

• personal learning network/environment (PLN/PLE)

Personal Learning Environments

... systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to

• set their own learning goals

• manage their learning; managing both content and process

• communicate with others in the process of learning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environments

Challenges“An institution-controlled tool presents the user with a fixed interface of controls (instruments) that the user must learn to use effectively if they are to access the service provided. It is a feature of the current Web environment that the use of a large number of these interfaces creates an obstructive user experience, made worse by the lack of flexibility the user has for integrating the different services they access. To operate within this environment, the user must manage a number of different dispositions and skills required for different interfaces.

(Johnson et al, 2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environments

Challenges (continued)

“... the change from content that was developed by expert and/or teachers towards possibilities and challenges to make use of the bazaar of learning opportunities and content leads to the necessity of advanced self-organizing and searching in the Web - in other words: media competent learners.

(Schaffert & Hilzensauer, 2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_learning_environments

What are your thoughts, considerations or challenges on PLE/PLNs so far?

Are they important/necessary for present or future learning?

Do they potentially challenge or augment what we do in formal learning environments?

Is this all hype - some sort of corporate-driven, ʻtechno utopianismʼ?

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

affordances ...

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

Stats as of March 17/10 via Mashable

Youtube & other social media mitigate “connection without constraint”. Often, this leads to the development of “tremendously deep communities”.

@mwesch

Michael Wesch

@zittrain

• Technical infrastructure of the web.

• Wikipediaʼs content & form

• ʻHitchhikingʼ exists through Internet-facilitated kindness, collaboration, & sharing.

The Web as Random Acts of Kindness

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

@willrich4

standard based to interest basedplace/time to anytime/anywhereindividual to networked group

private to publicpaper to digital

linear to distributedsynchronous to asynchronous

Shifts

Have we seen a significant change in the media landscape? Is there

any truth to the often stated effects of the ʻdigital ageʼ (e.g., are kids

different?)

If these shifts are real, how do educators adapt to these changes?

“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”

a few affordances

@kathycassidy

Example #1 - Connecting to Experts

Example #2: Publishing in the Open

ps22chorus.blogspot.com

Example #3: Use of Public Content

@christianlong

Example #4: Portfolios

Example #5: Social Reading

Example #6: Global Mentoring

Example #7: Real-time Feedback

Example #8: PD Anytime/Anywhere

What can we learn from non-edu. culture (e.g., sub culture)?

Can you offer examples of exemplary networked practice?

Are there implications for teacher education or ProD?

Obsolescence never meant the end of anything, itʼs just the beginning.

~ Marshall McLuhan

web: couros.catwitter: courosagoogle: couros

couros@gmail.com