Group items tagged

A blog by Kirsten Olson on her new book, Wounded by School. Really like the Learner's Bill of Rights she has here: A Learner's Bill of Rights Every learner has the right to know why they are learning something, why it is important now, or may be important to them someday. Every learner has the right to engage in questioning or interrogating the idea of "importance" above. Every learner has the right to be confused and to express this confusion openly, honestly, and without shame. Every learner has the right to multiple paths to understanding a concept, an idea, a set of facts, or a series of constructs. Every learner has the right to understand his or her own mind, brain wiring, and intellectual inclinations as completely as possible. Every learner has the right to interrogate and question the means through which his or her learning is assessed. Every learner is entitled to some privacy in their imagination and thoughts. Every learner has the right to take their own imagination and thinking seriously. -From Wounded By School

blog by George Siemens reflecting on his first week of a dual-layer MOOC, October 28, 2014. "I'm biased toward learners owning their own content and owning the spaces where they learn. My reason is simple: knowledge institutions mirror the architecture of knowledge in the era in which they exist. Today, knowledge is diverse, messy, partial, complex, and rapidly changing. What learners need today is not instructivism but rather a process of personal sensemaking and wayfinding where they learn to identify what is important, what matters, and what can be ignored. Most courses assume that the instructor and designer should sensemake for learners. The instructor chooses the important pieces, sets it in a structured path, and feeds content to learners. Essentially, in this model, we take away the sweet spot of learning. Making sense of topic areas through social and exploratory processes is the heart of learning needs in complex knowledge environments. " Though I am biased toward learner-in-control, I do recognize the value of formal instruction, particularly when the topic area is new to a learner. Even then, I would like to see rapid transitions from content provision to having learners create artifacts that reflect their understanding. These artifacts can be images, audio, video, simulations, blog posts, or any other resource that can be created and shared with other learners. Learning transparently is an act of teaching.

excellent explanation by Tom Vander Ark on why parent-managed learner profiles are becoming more important all the time for young people.  Is the corollary true for adults owning their learning in portable, digital carry-alongs for sharing with potential employers, etc.  

This page focuses on the Towards Maturity Learning Landscape Audit (LLA)--survey tool to help businesses understand how their staff learn, both formally and informally. The few bullet points contrast the views of 2,000 randomly selected learners from the private sector with 500 L & D professionals--a wide gap exists with regard to how learners are learning and like to learn with what L & D professionals are doing. For instance, 80% of learners prefer work in collaboration with other team members whereas only 1 in five L & D managers surveyed actively encourage staff to help each other solve problems using social media.

excellent points for us to stress in our work, too.

Absolutely fabulous video (6 minutes) on Connected Learning and how we must change the outcomes based focus of education to awaken the curiosity of each learner and engage with them in learning how to learn given the distribution of resources, ideas, experts, etc. while preserving the learners' autonomy, access to diversity, openness to others for learning, interactivity with similar and diverse co-learners, etc. Film by Nic Askew at Soulbiographies.com interviewing McArthur Foundation person and two professors of education

Blog post by Jeff Cobb, February 2011, Tagoras site, on adults' self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions and how this is as odds with their frequent relapse into their K-12 expectations/habits/behaviors in adult learning situations. Explanation of Malcolm Knowles's concepts of the Adult Learner: 1. Adults need to know why they need to learn. 2. Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions - they have a psychological need to be seen by others as capable of self-direction. 3. Experience is often the best foundation for adult learning activities - often the "richest resources for learning reside in the adult learners themselves." [66] 4. Adults tend to be most interested in learning that has immediate relevance to their jobs or personal lives. 5. Adult learners tend to be life-centered (or task-centered, or problem-centered) rather than subject or content-centered. 6. Adults are typically more responsive to internal motivators (job satisfaction, self esteem, quality of life, etc.) than external motivators (promotions, higher salaries, etc.). Excerpt on how online learning environments are not always recognized as such and how facilitation of learning networks is critical: "Finally - something I have been arguing in one way or another for years - the problematic side of "self-concept" pretty much flies out the window if you remove the obvious, traditional labels like "seminar" or "Webinar." This is a key reason why social networks are so powerful as learning environments - people tend not to consciously acknowledge them as such even though learning is typically the key social object in any professional community that survives and thrives over time. Educators must recognize this and learn to facilitate learning within networks if they want to truly lead learning in their fields and industries."

This paper written by George Siemens in 2008 on Learning in Networks raises issues very similar to those we are raising in our discussion at CPSquare. This paper also has implications for how the Women's Learning Studio is launched into practice in its discussion of teacher as learning atelier, concierge, etc. Google Scholar, Scopus, and open access journals offer increased access to academic resources; an extension to more informal approaches such as regular internet search and Wikipedia. Social software (blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, instant messaging, Skype, Ning) provide opportunities for learners to create, dialogue about, and disseminate information. But what becomes of the teacher? How do the practices of the educator change in networked environments, where information is readily accessible? How do we design learning when learners may adopt multiple paths and approaches to content and curriculum? How can we achieve centralized learning aims in decentralized environments? This paper will explore the shifting role of educators in networked learning, with particular emphasis on curatorial, atelier, concierge, and networked roles of educators, in order to assist learners in forming diverse personal learning networks for deep understanding of complex fields.

HASTAC discussion by badge designers, 10/2012 Note this excerpt: Include badge earners in the design process of your program. Understand their motivation, what drives their involvement, and what they hope to get out of the program you are creating. Consider the diversity of your learners; they are likely to be driven by different goals. Assessment is just as important in a badge-based learning system as it is in more traditional learning environments. In order for badges to have value to the earner and to those who would consider using the badge to impute the skills or competencies of an individual, appropriate assessment practices need to back up the process by which the badge was awarded. Craft a badge system that is flexible enough to accommodate a range of learning styles, motivations and pedagogies. Some contexts call for more proscribed badging opportunities, where experts set up gauntlets which learners pass successfully before earning badges. Other systems call for a more grassroots approach, in which learners set their own goals and pursue less well-defined pathways that get them where they want to go as individuals, with badges in hand to show for their efforts. Creating a badge system that can adapt to a variety of contexts and audiences is a worthy challenge. Break up complex requirements into simpler steps and attach a badge to each step (so the badges act like waypoints on the overall path).

Excellent exploration of a PLE and how it may or may not integrate with a formal institutionally based and managed VLE (through a school or employer perhaps?) and how the learner needs to own his/her PLE for lifelong and portable learning. Acknowledges the eportfolio that a school might provide a learner (but this can be set up and managed by learner as a formative and summative device).

Blog post on flipping PD into a process starting with coaching to help the educator/learner plan and document goals. by Kristin Daniels in EdSurge, April 18, 2014. subtitle is How to use 'Flipped PD' to build personal learning plans STEPS: "Planning and Documentation "--learner and coach talk about learning goals and create a learning plan Personalized digital content--coach provides just-in-time resources to motivate, inform, engage learner Regularly scheduled PD--ongoing embedded PD Personalization through coaching Communities of learning Could this be adapted as a learning concierge pathway service?

great blog post on how skilled learners create more success for themselves to learn, Saga Briggs, October 11, 2014 on InformED

Nice explication of five things successful learners do by Kevin Daum, Inc. 1. Imagine the outcome (have purpose!) 2. Think of text as a starting point (create additional opportunities for experiental learning--talk it through with others, watch it being done, do it) 3. Learn in your language(visual, auditory, tactile) 4. Make failure fun (test and push the boundaries) 5. Make accountability exhilarating (impact of tests, display your new skills or knowledge)

Harold Jarche blog, 11.16.12 Excerpt: summary by participant of keynote that Harold delivered in Denmark "Moving from local to global We live in a less barriered world: self-publication, group forming across the world, unlimited information. In the past we linked up with people with similar interests locally, due to simply physical realities… now we can link up with people from around the world. So from a learning perspective our learning group grows (personal addition: this also means that the group that lives inside the personal zone of proximal development grows, as more people can potentially be in this). Groupforming is now becoming networks. This has an effect on mentorship: per mentor you can only have so many learners, but with the growing group more mentors can stand up and the learners themselves can become mentors."

Blog post by Jenny Mackness on April 24, 2012 announcing a MOOC on First Steps into Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, #fslt12, running from 5/21 to 6/22. Raises issues of how to engage with learners who may not be well-grounded in technology yet who might want to participate because of content, finding the right balance. Will offer certificate for "assessed" learners. Excerpt: "This is an exciting but rather daunting process. We have had lots of interest, with people from all over the world expressing interest in different aspects of learning and teaching in Higher Education. I am beginning to realize the amount of work that must go on behind the scenes in the other MOOCs I have attended. We have deliberately chosen to distribute the course across different platforms - WordPress (for the Home site), Moodle (for the course), Blackboard Collaborate (for the live synchronous sessions) and we are still discussing whether or not to have a separate wiki site, or to go with the wiki in Moodle. The reason for this decision (i.e. the different platforms) is that we hope to introduce participants new to teaching in HE to the idea that learning can take place in a variety of online spaces. Access to our WordPress site has been open pretty much from the word go, and now access to the Moodle site has been opened, despite the fact that neither of these is yet ready. For me, this is a new way of working and takes a bit of getting used to (heart in your mouth stuff!). Finally, we are conscious that the course has been designed to attract people for whom this way of working and the technology involved might be completely new -so we have to achieve the right balance between providing enough structure and support and encouraging open academic practice and independent learning - one of the many tensions involved in designing a MOOC."

Connected Learning, a new research-driven initiative was introduced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference 2012. This blog post by Jackie Gerstein discusses its essence and includes TED video of Henry Jenkins and separate video of Mimi Ito. See excerpt on core values and principals of connected learning: At the core of connected learning are three values: Equity - when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in. Full Participation - learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute. Social connection - learning is meaningful when it is part of valued social relationships and shared practice, culture, and identity (http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles). This initiative is being driven by the following design principles: Shared purpose - Connected learning environments are populated with adults and peers who share interests and are contributing to a common purpose. Today's social media and web-based communities provide exceptional opportunities for learners, parents, caring adults, teachers, and peers in diverse and specialized areas of interest to engage in shared projects and inquiry. Cross-generational learning and connection thrives when centered on common interests and goals. Production-centered - Connected learning environments are designed around production, providing tools and opportunities for learners to produce, circulate, curate, and comment on media. Learning that comes from actively creating, making, producing, experimenting, remixing, decoding, and designing, fosters skills and dispositions for lifelong learning and productive contributions to today's rapidly changing work and political conditions. Openly networked - Connected learning environments are designed around networks that link together institutions and groups across various sectors, including popula

I joined Sheryl N-B's Google circle and have wandered through her posts including her Connected Learner Manifesto (that I believe came from a Twitter request she made, subsequently summarized into Circle document). I wrote a couple of entries. Note that on this page advertising the PLP Live 2012 event, they stress the need to do "embedded job learning" with their learners. Makes me wonder if we need to be more specific about the types of transitions/situations we wish to help women with. Because all learning needs to be applied/reflected on/? to be owned and used as a springboard for the next phase? Writing reflections or doing representations of learning advance learning and certainly document waypoints but are they enough?

Pricing chart for year long Connected Learner Experience

Blog post by Kelsey Meyer on why the best leaders are full-time learners, 6.10.2013 on ForbesWoman blog. She recommends that we read, listen (to podcasts on how to learn everything), engage, act, and relearn to learn as much as possible.

Interview of Kio Stark by Howard Rheingold on interdependent learning, April 2013. See video (15 minutes). Kio Stark wrote a handbook on how to do in(ter)dependent learning--"Don't Go Back to School" From post: "But one important change has erupted in recent decades, enabled by the advent of digital media and networks, that alters the traditional power equation between holders and seekers of knowledge: schools no longer hold the monopoly on learning. When I want to learn how to do something, I can find a video, an Instructable, a blog post, a peer-learning platform. Schooling is still essential for many - perhaps for most - but for independent learners, tools we didn't dream of a generation ago are available through the nearest web-connected device." Excerpt: In our brief video interview, I talked with Stark about what she learned from independent (more properly, we should probably call them "interdependent") learners like "Cory Doctorow about learning to be a working writer, Dan Sinker about learning to code, Quinn Norton about learning neurology and psychology." I suspect that Anya Kamenetz, Kio Stark, and the Peeragogy Project are forerunners of an entire nascent genre about how to learn anything outside of formal schooling.""

article by Simone C. O. Conceicao, July 2014, on designing online learning for learners. Reviews book: Design Alchemy by Roderick Sims. Excerpt "The learner should be engaged in a learning activity at any point in the course. Sims recognizes the need to test assumptions, construct solutions, adjust variables, and/or introduce content within the online environment. "