Social networked learning in complex information environments

George SiemensJanuary 13, 2012

Presented to: American University

Washington, D.C.

The context of changeWhat are complex information environments?CoherenceArtifacts and collaborative sensemakingSocial networks

Global message

Higher education is broken

It risks losing relevance

Scope of learning in HE is too narrow

Universities as reluctant innovators

Fear of losing students to other online providers

Allen, Seaman (2011)

US taxpayer support of education (2004-2005):

K-12: $536 billionHigher Ed: $373 billion

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/10facts/index.html

Ed-tech startups

With transformations already underway in news, music, videos/movies, startup gold rush now turning focus to education

Openness

Open education resourcesOpen teachingOpen coursesOpen accreditation

2008, 2009, 2011

Open online courses

“MIT will make the MITx open learning software available free of cost, so that others — whether other universities or different educational institutions, such as K-12 school systems — can leverage the same software for their online education offerings.”

MIT (2011)

Personalization and adaptive learning at a large scale

Mobiles blur physical/virtual worlds

Jasleen Kaur, 2010

The context of changeWhat are complex information environments?CoherenceArtifacts and collaborative sensemakingSocial networks

Barry Kade, 2009

Complexity (dynamic connectedness) of knowledge and knowledge spaces

Education systems track the architecture of information of an era

To understand what tomorrow’s education system will look like, we have to understand the architecture of information today:how is it createdhow is it sharedhow is it iterated

Our education system faces information and conversations that are:

OpenAccessibleDistributedScalableSocialNetworkedSelf-organizingDerivative and iterative improvementsAdaptiveGlobalMultimedia-based

The context of changeWhat are complex information environments?CoherenceArtifacts and collaborative sensemakingSocial networks

Information fragmentation produces loss of coherence

Existing coherence forming systems

BooksNewspapersTV news programsMagazinesCoursesPrograms

(anything that is structured and that the end user can’t speak into and alter)

Structures formed in advance versus structures that emerge and are created by individuals

Fragmentation of information requires that we weave together elements into some type of coherent framework

YoutubeBlogsTwitterFacebookTEDtalksKahn AcademyOnline news/information sitesTraditional coherence frameworksBlogsTraining and developmentClient feedback

The context of changeWhat are complex information environments?CoherenceArtifacts and collaborative sensemakingSocial networks

Networked information doesn’t have a centre

So we (socially) create temporary centres:

#Temporary Centres

Artifacts re-center the learning conversation

Sharing personal sensemakingartifacts

http://x28newblog.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/2008/09/06/cck08-first-impressions/

Image of course structure created by course participant

The context of changeWhat are complex information environments?CoherenceArtifacts and collaborative sensemakingSocial networks

Wellman (2002)

Social and academic connection to the universityBoyer (1987), Tinto (1993)

Psychological sense of community:“Acknowledged interdependence”

Sarason (1974)

Place without spaceNegroponte (1995)

Current generation of learning tools mirror a priori content and planned conversations

Next generation tools will mirror the information,power relationships,

and fluid social structure

of networks

Reeds Law

Utility of a (social) network scales exponentially with the overall size of a network

When a network is large enough, sub-groups and individual-controlled formations emerge

What are the principles that influence education in open settings and

social networks?

Learner autonomySelf-organizationTransparent learning=teachingParticipatory pedagogySensemaking artifactsShareable learning paths

Network opportunities and frictionless sharing in higher education

Giving individuals control of information filters and structure

i.e. if structure doesn’t exist a priori, learners need tools to create and share structure

change.mooc.ca

Twitter: gsiemens

www.elearnspace.org/blog

http://www.solaresearch.org/

Learning Analytics & Knowledge 2012: Vancouver

http://lak12.sites.olt.ubc.ca/