Networked and Global Learning

With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started. (Hint: it takes two.)

Video for symposium debate on Digital Natives - excellent video on joining a movement.

Stephen Heppell talking to Marc Prensky about the role of the teacher in todays world.

Video for symposium debate - Digital natives

The recent generations have been bathed in connecting technology from birth, says futurist Don Tapscott, and as a result the world is transforming into one that is far more open and transparent. In this inspiring talk, he lists the four core principles that show how this open world can be a far better place.

video for syposium discussion - The digital native debate

We are living in a historical moment of transformation and realignment in the creation and sharing of knowledge, in social, political and economic life, and in global connectedness. There is wide agreement that we need new models of education suited to this historic moment, and not simply new models of schooling, but entirely new visions of learning better suited to the increasing complexity, connectivity, and velocity of our new knowledge society. Fortunately, we are also able to harness the same technologies and social processes that have powered these transformations in order to provide the next generation with learning experiences that open doors to academic achievement, economic opportunity, and civic engagement.

Good post gathering various insights around "networked" learning and trying to shape them into how they might inform a vision of democratic learning.

Abstract This paper is a critical review of some recent literature around the 'literacies of the digital' in schools and higher education. It discusses the question: 'what does the conjoining of the terms "digital" and "literacy" add to our understanding of teaching and learning in higher education'? It explores the continuing role of critical literacy in relation to the idea that digital literacies are transformative for pedagogy in this sector.

Book possibly of interest to a few people 

A follow up to the first TED talk in 2006. Sir Ken Robinson discusses changing education from an 'industrial' model to an 'agricultural' model where we nurture learning not manufacture it.

Eric Mazur, Harvard physics professor and Learning Catalytics

http://www.ted.com At TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.

http://www.ted.com Indian education scientist Sugata Mitra tackles one of the greatest problems of education -- the best teachers and schools don't exist where they're needed most. In a series of real-life experiments from New Delhi to South Africa to Italy, he gave kids self-supervised access to the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we think about teaching.

Salman Khan talks about Khan Academy

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson

A page of resource links around activity theory

Describing some methods being used to create communication/socialisation opportunities in MOOCs.

A book chapter describing the design of a 2008 open access, graduate level, educational technology course (a fairly close fit for EDU8117). This course was a direct influence on the MOOC work of Siemens and Downes and a potential model for EDU8117 (and my other courses).

A good brief overview of MOOCs with an argument connecting them to CoPs.