Networked Learning Ecologies Part 1

A Vision: Networked Learning Ecology: A mesh of open, free and participatory media (ICT's+) and situated learning that liberate humans to create networks for social, economic and ecological resilience. Voices: (Please add more in comments)

Leigh Blackall:

• On Illich

• On Networked Learning

Stephen Downes:

• Slideshare: Groups vs Networks: The Class Struggle Continues

• Stephen Downes identifies significant differences between networks and groups, along four major axes. Drawn but not discussed at the Future of Learning in a Networked World event in Aukland, New Zealand. This short video explains the drawing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen_downes/252157734

 

Florian Schneider:

• On Ekstitutions

Roberto Greco:

• Writings

More to come....

On Networked Learning

Leigh Blackall presents a new view of learning that is critical, open, networked and participatory through his research.  In a recent twitter stream and blog post he is asks for collective and open deliberation for a definition of networked learning.  As a participant involved in networked learning research and praxis I will offer the following as an entry into the collective imaging and deliberation.

Definitions

Open: Learning is free from institutions or understood to be actively participating in non-institutional learning.

Critical: learning does no harm or actively works for social, economic, and environmental sustainability and resilience.

Participatory: learning is integrative and inclusive of participants regardless of skill level or pre-determined social hierarchy.

Networked: learning happens in a blended mesh. Learners, pedagogues, and others are nodes that exchange information to different degrees, depths and forms both online and in the field.

The best defense of these definitions I have found is presented here by Steven Downes:



Image above: Watts and Strogatz model/small world network graph, credit: Arpad Horvath

Kenai Fjoirds National Park, AK....Pep Talk

Found this picture today of a conservation work crew of amazing young people I Co-Led with my wife in Alaska.  Everyone was quite uncertain about our pending 1500 foot assent in 1 mile with this 20 foot plank (to fix a bridge damaged in spring melt)....Que pep talk.

24/7 with young people in the back country of AK=ubiquitous learning.

Readings: UNESCO

UNESCO-Earth Charter Initiative

Hersch, J (1969) The Birthright of Man

A razor's edge

Listen closely to the "lesson I want to get across" at minute 6:31...."There is no opting out of new media....it changes a society as a whole....media mediates relationships....the whole structure of society can change....we are on a razor's edge between hopeful possibilities and more ominous futures...."

At min 8:14 Wesch describes what we need people to "be" to make our networked mediated culture work, and the barriers we are facing in schools.  Wesch is right on. Corporate curriculum, schedules, bells, borders, and "teaching/classroom management" are easily assisted by technology. Yet to open learning and deschool our educational system represents the hopeful possibilities Wesch imagines and has acted on.  What we accept from industrial schooling, how we proceed in our educational endeavors, and what we do, facilitate, witness, and promote in our actions in education mean so much to learners of today and the interconnected and interdependent systems we are all a part of.

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Young People, Action and Education

I was moved today by a video of young people taking action in support of indigenous rights, cultural rights and self determination:



This example of student driven action goes well beyond adult organized marches, or adult driven activity for social justice. Many of these young people show an enduring understanding of their interdependence and interconnection with a nation and the world. For example, at minute 11:00 in the video a young woman articulates a distinct article of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (More on the declaration and UNPFII here!)


For all of us who see open and free learning as a fundamental human right, it's important to recognize that there is global deliberation and decision making on issues well beyond neoliberalism happening in the UN and in other spaces....How we participate in these movements and with others around the world on these issues will shape the common bond we have as humans in the 21st century. As ecological and economic overshoot continues, understanding how to participate and network for education and global civic culture will increase in importance.

Note:

Since [UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] adoption, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States have all reversed their positions and now endorse the Declaration.

Collective Joy

I was inspired today reading through The Blended Lifestyle a blog linked to the Dark Mountain Project site.  One of the things that drew me to Dark Mountain was the hope that Dougald Hine (a project founder) exudes in his writing (site, blogs, Twitter). I have been digging into Dark Mountain and enjoying what I find. My research into the site took a pleasant and unexpected turn as I linked out, and perused the favorite movies and books at The Blended Lifestyle.  After my last post of yesterday (writing that temporarily pulled me into a short malaise) I am overjoyed to get present and breath deep of my life today. I also look forward to reading Ehrenreich (2006) Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy....

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