Communities, spaces and pedagogies for the digital age

Steve WheelerUniversity of Plymouth, UK

http://www.cbc.ca

Knowledge or wisdom?

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http://slated.org

You can easily teach knowledge, but wisdom can only be acquired through experience

“We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.”

~ Sir Tim Berners-Lee

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www.topnews.in

“We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.”

~ Sir Tim Berners-Lee

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www.topnews.inProblem based learning

Join all nine dotsUsing four straight Lines. Do not takeYour pen from the Paper and do not Go back over any Lines.

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Try solving this problem...

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a man enters a field with an unopened package and dies. Why?

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Another problem to solve...

a man enters a field with an unopened package and dies. Why?

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What is community?

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Community......has been defined as a group of interacting

people living in a common location.

http://www.psfk.com

In the digital age, common location is not so important.

Digital Tribes

http://www.zimbio.com

Celebration

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One tribe or many?

Connection

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http://i.imwx.com

Online, En massehttp://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

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Communication

The goal of education

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk

“The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners that are socially responsible, resilient, and active citizens of the world. Education is about teaching students, not subjects.”

– Dave Truss

Formal and Informal learning

Formal Learning Informal Learning

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20% 80%Source: Cofer, D. (2000). Informal Workplace Learning.

The new blended learning challenge will be to try to harness the excitement of self organised learning within formal learning contexts

Funnels or Webs?

Ivan Illich

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http://zumu.com

The ‘walled garden’ of the institutional LMS. Are we in danger of turning the web back into a funnel again?

Human activities are mediated by

culturally established instruments such as tools and language.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society: The development of higher

psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

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Social learning

Can we use technology to scaffold

learning?

Computers have better memories than students. Use them as

mind extensions. http://www.phillwebb.net cc

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Mind Tools

What is the Social Web?

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http://www.eastone.co.uk/

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http://www.eastone.co.uk/

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From ‘sticky’ to participative

The ‘Architecture of Participation’

Web 2.0

http://www.uksmallbusinesswebsites.co.uk

Social Media gives everyone a voice in the community

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Shy students can contribute

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Learning 2.0

ToolsCollaborating

Sharing

Voting

Networking

User generated

content

Architecture of Participation

Tagging

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Source: George Siemens www.connectivism.ca/http://www.sciencedaily.com

Connectivism

We live in a techno-social world

Learning occurs inside and outside of people – we store our knowledge in

computers and in other people – George Siemens

Making connections

In connectivism, learning involves creating connections and developing a network. It is

a theory for the digital age drawing upon chaos, emergent properties, and self

organised learning.

(It’s not what you know but who you know)

Source: Wikipedia

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http://www.pestproducts.com

Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people,

become the surrogate for knowledge.

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http://bradley.chattablogs.com

‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people. - Karen Stephenson

Web Tools?

My ten top Web 2.0 tools• Blog• Wiki• Podcasting• Slide sharing• Photo sharing• Social Tagging• Video sharing• URL Shortening• Aggregator• Microblog

• Blogger; Wordpress • Wetpaint; PBwiki• Audacity; Podbean• Slideshare• Flickr; Picassa• Delicious, Diigo• Youtube; Vimeo• bit.ly; ow.ly• iGoogle; Pageflakes• Twitter; Tumblr

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Think...

• How can you create social spaces for your own students?

• What tools/services could you use?• How would this transform your teaching?• What problems might there be?

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Wisdom of Crowds...

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vs

Stupidity of Mobs

Digital cultural capital – membership of ‘the Tribe’

“Where digital communication has

fractured the tyranny of distance and computers

have become pervasive and ubiquitous, identification through digital mediation

has become the new cultural capital”.

- Wheeler (2009)

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http://www.coreideas.com.au/

Social ‘tagging’

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Using your post-its... ...label 3 or 4 things in the room you consider to be significant

http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Taxonomies are defined by the community

Folksonomies define a community cc

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tools could you use?

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Think...

• What would you use them for?• How would your learners use them?• What added value would they bring?• What might be the problems?

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All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate. - John Dewey

http://www.dancinghearts.org

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Thank you!

E: swheeler@plymouth.ac.ukB: steve-wheeler.blogspot.comT: @timbuckteeth

Picture by Helen Keegan

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