And one thing I’ve learned is that everything is interesting if looked at at the appropriate level of detail.
Now, it used to be that you’d have to seek out places to plunge in over your head. But now, in the age of the Internets, all we have to do is stand still and the flood waters rise over our heads. We usually call this “information overload,” and we’re told to fear it. But I think that’s based on an old idea we need to get rid of.
Here’s what I mean. So, you know Flickr, the photo sharing site? If you go there and search for photos tagged “vista,” you’ll get two million photos, more vistas than you could look at if you made it your full time job.
If you go to Google and search for apple pie recipes, you’ll get over 1.3 million of them. Want to try them all out to find the best one. Not gonna happen.
If you go to Google Images and search for “cute cats,” you’ll get over seven million photos of the most adorable kittens ever, as well as some ads and porn, of course, because Internet.
So that’s two million vista photos. 1.3 million apple pie recipes. 7.6 million cute cat photos. We’re constantly warned about information overload, yet we never hear one word single word about the dangers of Vista Overload, Apple Pie Overload, or Cute Kitten overload. How have the media missed these overloads! It’s a scandal!
Contents contributed and discussions participated by paul_size
1More
Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education: Will... - 3 views
-
Review Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli have created an essential book for educators, students, and anyone concerned about the future of education. Personal Learning Networks provides the perspectives and the processes we need to use personal learning networks to become educated, empowered and ready for the global economy. --Jason Ohler, Professor Emeritus, Educational Technology, University of Alaska, Juneau This book presents an innovative, comprehensive strategy for reinventing education to meet the needs of 21st century students and society. Much more than familiar rhetoric on what is wrong with education, the authors provide a compelling vision for education as it could and should be and a road map to help get us there. Mancabelli & Will Richardson have provided us with a step-by-step guide to create globally-connected classrooms, implement powerful project-based curriculum, and introduce our students to tools and technologies with transformative potential. --Angela Maiers, President of Maiers Educational Services, Clive, Iowa This book is chock-full of useful information and highlights numerous practitioners who are walking the walk. A fantastic resource for administrators, teachers, policymakers, and others who are trying to lead their organizations into the digital, global world in which we now live. --Scott McLeod, Director at UCEA Center for Advanced Study of Technical Leadership in Education, Ames, Iowa
1More
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/stonerm/blogging_to_learn.pdf - 3 views
-
There is no doubt that pedagogical practices are being swamped with new technology options. While accessibility to these new technologies and cautious uptake may be slowing integration into teaching strategies, educators in the current market would be wise to consider the following question before embracing the options presented to them: How will this new technology enhance learning in my context?
1More
The Challenges (and Future) of Networked Learning ~ Stephen's Web - 2 views
1More
Deutsche Post DHL | Partnership Teach For All - 0 views
-
"As part of our commitment, we provide support to the worldwide Teach For All parent organization as well as to seven national organizations in Germany, India, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Spain and the Philippines. " As part of our commitment, we provide support to the worldwide Teach For All parent organization as well as to seven national organizations in Germany, India, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Spain and the Philippines.
1More
Welcome to the School of YouTube: #LaughLearnGive - YouTube - 1 views
6More
May « 2014 « Too Big to Know - 0 views
-
-
For example, in the old days if you watched the daily half hour broadcast news or spent twenty minutes with a newspaper, you had done your civic duty: you had kept up with The News. Now we can see before our eyes what an illusion that sense of mastery was. There’s too much happening on our diverse and too-interesting planet to master it, and we can see it all happening within our browsers
-
t Wikipedia, the articles are often relatively short, but they typically have dozens or even hundreds of links. So rather than trying to get everything about, say, Shakespeare into a couple of thousand words, Wikipedia lets you click on links to other articles about what it mention — to Stratford-on-Avon, or iambic pentameter, or about the history of women in the theater.
- ...2 more annotations...
-
And it’s not just the quantity of information that makes true mastery impossible in the Age of the I
-
And just one more thing about these messy webs. They’re full of disagreement, contradiction, argument, differences in perspective. Just a few minutes on the Web reveals a fundamental truth: We don’t agree about anything. And we never will. My proof of that broad statement is all of human history. How do you master a field, even if you could define its edges, when the field doesn’t agree with itself?
13More
David Weinberger: Too Big To Know | ... My heart's in Accra - 1 views
-
David warns, we still tend to think of knowledge in the ways we did when books had to sit on a single place on the shelf, when knowledge had a single, possible, right form, rather than multiple forms.
-
This doesn’t mean there are no facts – but it does mean that people are going to insist on being wrong.”
-
David is actually quite concerned about difference, and just how much difference we can tolerate and still interact and function.
- ...9 more annotations...
-
He acknowledges that there’s a human tendency towards homophily, flocking together in groups united by race, gender, belief, socioeconomic status, etc.
-
This can lead to a serious challenge to public discourse – echo chambers that can solidify beliefs, making them more extreme and
-
When data.gov released sets of government information, they didn’t clean or normalize it ahead of time – they released raw data. They concluded that it was better to put the data out there than to constrain themselves to information that was consistent and known, for the simple reason that this constraint would have slowed them down badly. Darwin would not have agreed – he spent seven years on one fact.
-
hese systems assumed knowledge was bounded, settled, orderly and proceeded step by step. But that’s not what knowledge feels like in the age of the internet. It feels unbounded, overwhelming, unsettled, messy, linked and governed by our interests. And those properties are the properties of what it means to be human in the world.
75More
New structures of learning: The systemic impact of connective knowledge, connectivism, ... - 5 views
-
The limitation of physical classrooms and existing information structures in education play a similar role in delaying innovation as the centralized power source in multi-story buildings did during the adoption of electrical engines.
-
almost all technological advancements related to information and communication have influenced three dimensions: 1. Our ability to create and share information and content 2. Our ability to connect and dialogue with others, a progressive minimization of the tyranny of space and time 3. Our ability to experience a simulated reality
- ...70 more annotations...
-
This timeline has enabled anyone with access to an internet connection to create and share information.
-
The barriers of expense and technical expertise - such as printing presses - are now lowered to the ease of creating a blog or podcast.
-
in both real and delayed time, on a global level. Through tools such as mobile phones, Skype[2], video conferencing, instant message, and microblogging tools such as Twitter[3], conversations are no longer confined by space and time
-
For many individuals, the reduced cost of information communication technologies reduces the economic barrier of participating in global conversations.
-
While technology is the undercurrent that has influenced much of the development in society and our ability to communicate, share, and create content, technology creates a different dimension not fully reflected in those advancements.
-
What we have here is a transition from a stable, settled world of knowledge produced by authority/authors, to a world of instability, flux, of knowledge produced by the individual. (p. 207)
-
Border-less education - such as is evident by global universities like Open University (UK) and Athabasca University (Canada) Private for-profit - as defined by organizations such as University of Phoenix and Laureate Education Corporate universities - such as Defense Acquisition University. (Scott, 2002, pp. 4 - 5)
-
his era of complexity, or as defined by Barnett (2004) - supercomplexity - requires a transition from an epistemological to an ontological emphasis. The development of specific skills and mindsets becomes as critical as, or even more so, than the possession of existing knowledge.
-
The ability to continue to learn and develop new knowledge replaces the importance of existing knowledge, or, what is known today is less important than the capacity to continue to know more. The development of a certain type of person with certain mindsets exceeds the importance of being in possession of a particular type of knowledge - becoming in contrast with knowing.
-
A view of change is required that moves beyond Christensen's (1997), Moore's (1999), and Senge et al.'s (1999) models and begins to addresses the impact of trends and innovations on the spaces and structures of learning.
-
Yet, in spite of small-scale innovation, new methods typically do not result in new spaces and structures of learning. As noted by David (1990), new innovations are adopted in the context of existing physical spaces.
-
Given the opportunities of technology to extend access to content, experts, and peer learners, does an existing classroom model still make sense? Do one-instructor classrooms need to give way to more diverse approaches of many instructors and many peer learners? How should curriculum be developed? How much structure needs to be applied to this type of model in the development of curricula and in the planning of instruction? Does instructional design similarly need to be rethought?
-
complex problem solving through collaboration, and new relationships between educational institutions and society are all possible as systems ch
-
n addition to formal education, learning occurs through games and simulations, mentoring and apprenticing, performance support at the point of a learning need, self-learning that arises through critical and creative thinking, communities of practice and personal learning networks, as well as the many informal learning situations that arise through conferences, reading, volunteering, and hobbies.
-
(a) long-term trends influencing information creation, interaction, and technological change; (b) the nature of systemic change; and (c) the multi-faceted, dimension-less nature of learning. Consideration can now be given to a creative exploration of what educational structures might look like if created on the premises presented thus far.
-
Many of the assumptions that influence current school design are challenged when learners and educators have the ability to form global learning networks outside of the realm of traditional education. As we create "space and place, we create ourselves" (Cannatella, 2007, p. 632). Our ability to learn, grow, and adapt to change pressures is directly linked to the nature of our learning environments. Oblinger (2006) addressed the link between space design and opportunities for learning:
-
Space - whether physical or virtual - can have an impact on learning. It can bring people together; it can encourage exploration, collaboration, and discussion. Or, space can carry an unspoken message of silence and disconnectedness. More and more we see the power of built pedagogy (the ability of space to define how one teaches) in colleges and universities. (para 1)
-
The multi-faceted aspects of learning - the criticality of context, the importance of social interaction and negotiation, the need for active "doing" - are all of such nebulous character that they fail to avail themselves to classification
-
The limitations of hierarchy in capturing interconnectedness of information and the failure of classrooms to reflect technological developments permitting multi-perspective interactions and networked learning establish a need for different metaphors to guide learning design.
-
They arise in a space that both supports and confines their creation. The last decade has generated much thought on networks. A range of researchers from physics, mathematics, and sociology (Barabasi, 2002; Watts, 2003; Wellman, 1999) have explored the nature of networks and how they are a central component in all aspects of society, biology, and physics. The centrality of networks as an organizing scheme is also reflected in education, teaching, and learning (Siemens, 2006) under the concept of connectivism. Connectivism is essentially the assertion that knowledge is networked and distributed, and the act of learning is the creation and navigation of networks. The distributed nature of knowledge and the growing complexification of all aspects of society require increased utilization of technology to assist our ability to stay current, manage information abundance, and solve highly complex problems.
-
Davidovitch (2007) suggested, "The call for a new pedagogy to accompany new instructional technologies, however, has largely remained unanswered."
-
The slow pace at which educational institutions have reacted to technological developments through the creation of new pedagogies can be traced to the physical structures of existing classrooms.
-
Multiple perspectives, opinions, and active creation on the part of learners all contribute to the final content of the learner experience.
-
When a transition is made to networked models of learning, learners are able to form relationships with peers and experts from around
-
learner has sufficiently engaged with the knowledge of a domain to be worthy of a particular designation
-
The motivation of peer-contact and schedule of learning activities and events may provide critical support to ensure learners do not drop out of their
-
Existing services like Diigo[8], Amazon[9], Digg[10], and StumbleUpon[11] provide a glimpse of what a rating system might
-
societies to participate in the information and knowledge age. The critical challenges facing humanity are many. A highly connected and well educated populace appears to hold the greatest prospect for meeting these challenges.
1More
Learning CPR from YouTube: maybe not a great idea | Ars Technica - 0 views
1More
Digg - What the Internet is talking about right now - 0 views
1More
Educators as Social Networked Learners | User Generated Education - 3 views
-
A nice blog about another Social Networked Learning course being run at Boise State University. This course explores collaborative and emergent pedagogies, tools, and theory related to the use of social networks in learning environments. Participants gain hands-on experience with a variety social networking tools, create their own personal learning networks, and have an opportunity to develop a MOOC-inspired course for their learners.
2More
Education in the information age: is technology making us stupid? - 2 views
-
Kahneman’s research on dual process theory suggests we mostly rely on what he calls “system one” thinking. That is thinking that is fast, efficient, mostly automated, and very good at detecting patterns, relying on short cuts or heuristics wherever possible. “System two”, on the other hand, requires slow, deliberate thought and is much more taxing of cognitive resources. System two is where the heavy lifting is done.
2More
Research Paper, Networked Learning Conference 2014 - NLC2014 - 0 views
-
Over the years, there has been much discussion of the impact of the internet and new forms of data sourcing and communication for education and the ways in which networked learning breaks down the bounded the institution, classroom, and curriculum.
4More
What is Networked Learning? - 0 views
-
Another colleague was explaining how they had found that holding tutorials in Second Life helped students to express themselves. If education is fundamentally conversational then conversations are useful to that end. However if education is fundamentally about collaboration (I think Andy Blunden makes this point but need to read more!) then evidently you need to be building something together, a conversation can certainly be supportive of that, wherever/however it happens but talking will only get you so far.
-
Where the academic practices of the given discipline or field are primarily text-based, that is really where the focus should be, around developing confidence, style and sophistication (even epistemic fluency!) with that mode of communication. When 'voice-to-voice', it is easy to enter into almost a therapeutic relationship with students and talk with them and to them for hours, whereby they may indeed reveal all manner of interesting details and walk away having had a lovely time.
1More