Universities provide access to communities of scholars and testimony for a student's experience among these communities
"Central to higher education is the way universities provide access to communities of scholars and testimony for a student's experience among these communities. Consequently, universities should explore resources for bringing people together, not, as some interpretations of 'distance education' suggest, for reinforcing their isolation."
(John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, 1995, p.4)
1). Brown, J. S. and P. Duguid (1996). The University in the Digital Age. Times Higher Education Supplement (THES). London: 1-4.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Individual output would be no more than that-an individual output
"The social demassification of newspapers-targeting an audience of one-is made possible by physical demassification, and it is no less problematic. The immutability and mobility of print on paper across a society (ensuring that the 'same' news is available to everyone at roughly the same time) turns items into 'social facts'-common to a broad readership, not merely selected by individuals. If news items were gathered individually out of a vast data base, even if the resulting copy looked like a conventional newspaper, imitating its fold and front page headlines, it would lack the social significance that arises from editorial juxtaposition. A senator is disturbed to find his or her scandalous behavior splashed across the front page not because the story is news to him or her, but because it has become front-page news to 100,000 other people. The newspaper is essentially, as Anderson (1991) described it, a 'one-day best seller' (p. 35)-and, as with a best seller, the point is that 'everyone' is reading it. The personally tailored, genuinely unique 'newspaper' selected privately from a data base-the ultimate outcome of the social and physical demassification of the newspaper as we now know it-offers neither physical, nor social continuity. Each individual output would be no more than that-an individual output. The juxtaposition of the senator and the pork bellies would then be not a composite, if oblique, social fact, but merely a result of personal serendipity."
(John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, p.24-25)
1). 'Lionel Luthor Reading Newspaper'
2). Brown, J. S. and P. Duguid (1994). "Borderline Issues: Social and Material Aspects of Design." Human-Computer Interaction 9: pp. 3-36.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network
"Institutions, teachers, and learners are increasingly turning to the open architecture and customizability of the web. In doing so, they are leveraging the tools and resources of the larger PLE to create their own personal learning networks (PLNs) to manage information, create content, and connect with others. Whether termed PLEs or PLNs, these approaches 'represent a shift away from the model in which students consume information through independent channels such as the library, a textbook, or an LMS, moving instead to a model where students draw connections from a growing matrix of resources that they select and organize.' Scott Leslie's impressive collection of PLE diagrams reminds us that PLNs are infinitely configurable to meet individual needs and preferences. They are, after all, 'personal.'
The vision of individually constructed PLNs and their potential to transform learning extends beyond merely aggregating and using a smorgasbord of web-based tools and content. Gardner Campbell advocated the cultivation of 'personal cyberinfrastructures' that teachers and learners can leverage to become the 'system administrators of their own digital lives.' Instead of implementing tools that simply help instructors 'manage learning,' Campbell argued that we should embrace technologies that enable co-learners to frame, curate, share, and direct learning 'engagement streams.' John Seely Brown and Richard Adler argued that learning with Web 2.0 tools is so different that we ought to call it 'learning 2.0.' They asserted that, unlike old passive forms of learning, the new learner-centric paradigm (facilitated and reinforced by new tools) emphasizes participation over presentation, encourages focused conversation over traditional publication, and 'facilitates innovative explorations, experimentations, and purposeful tinkerings that often form the basis of a situated understanding emerging from action, not passivity.' The net result is an 'open participatory learning ecosystem.'"
(Jonathan Mott, 2010)
Mott, J. (2010). 'Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network.' Educause Quarterly 33(1).
Fig.1 Vahid Masrour 'synthetic view of what a PLN/E is, and what it enables'.
Fig.2 Scott Leslie 'collection of PLE diagrams'.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
The 2009 Shift Index: Measuring the forces of long-term change
"Corporate returns are under pressure from far more than the recession. The patterns we've uncovered span decades and deeply affect even the highest performing companies, with the single greatest driver of these challenges, and indeed future opportunities, being our underlying digital infrastructure. Regardless of when the economy shifts back to an upturn, the long-term implications for continued erosion of return-on-assets will continue.
We developed the 'Shift Index,' a new economic indicator that suggests the current recession is masking long-term competitive challenges for U.S. businesses."
(John Hagel III and John Seely Brown)
J. H. III, Brown, J. S., et al. (2009). Measuring the forces of long-term change The 2009 Shift Index, Deloitte Center for the Edge.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Moodle and Social Constructionism: Looking for the Individual in the Community
"[John Seely] Brown also suggests that we should re-conceive how we learn a profession. In Brown’s view, it is less “learning about” a body of knowledge and much more a process of “learning to be” a doctor or a lawyer or whatever else a student is trying to become. Learning conceived in this way becomes an activity which is facilitated by means other than didactic lecture. Brown’s views resonate with those who suggest that we put away the “sage on the stage” and embrace “the guide on the side.” But given that Brown’s keynote takes place on a stage, in reality he’s envisioning something a bit more nuanced, embodied in the idea of learning through apprenticeship. In language that resonates very strongly with constructionism, Brown suggests that we learn especially well not only when we do it in collaboration with others (as apprentices do), but when we think of learning as an opportunity to produce and share knowledge rather than to merely consume."
(Luke Fernandez)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
