#Rhizo15

Keith's Google Plus page for Rhizo14

HT @darrenmjones

Smoothness and Striation in Digital Learning Spaces by SIÂN BAYNE

Smoothness and Striation in Digital Learning Spaces by SIÂN BAYNE

Kop & Fournier 2010 paper on Self Directed Learning: Abstract New technologies have changed the educational landscape. It is now possible for self-directed learners to participate informally in learning events on open online networks, such as in Massive Open Online Courses. Our research analyzed the agency and level of autonomy required by learners participating in a course of this nature. Using Bouchard's four dimensional model of learner control, we found that there are new dimensions to self-directed learning in connectivist learning environments. The research also brought to light new challenges and opportunities for self directed learners who might not be able to call on trusted educators for support in their learning endeavors, but rely on the aggregation of information and informal communication and collaboration available through social media to advance their learning

Kop & Fournier 2010 paper on Self Directed Learning: Abstract New technologies have changed the educational landscape. It is now possible for self-directed learners to participate informally in learning events on open online networks, such as in Massive Open Online Courses. Our research analyzed the agency and level of autonomy required by learners participating in a course of this nature. Using Bouchard's four dimensional model of learner control, we found that there are new dimensions to self-directed learning in connectivist learning environments. The research also brought to light new challenges and opportunities for self directed learners who might not be able to call on trusted educators for support in their learning endeavors, but rely on the aggregation of information and informal communication and collaboration available through social media to advance their learning

What can the Grateful Dead teach adjuncts about organizing and community building? How is the Grateful Dead community like a rhizome?

What can the Grateful Dead teach adjuncts about organizing and community building? How is the Grateful Dead community like a rhizome?

Woodfield, Kandy and Morrell, Gareth and Metzler, Katie and Blank, Grant and Salmons, Janet and Finnegan, Jerome and Lucraft, Mithu (2013) Blurring the Boundaries? New social media, new social research: Developing a network to explore the issues faced by researchers negotiating the new research landscape of online social media platforms. NCRM Working Paper. "On a practical level, some of our network members were struggling with the constant stream of social media data, finding it difficult to keep pace with their participants as they moved on in their conversations and discussions. Digital overwhelm might become counter-productive to reflective social science if researchers are not skilled at managing data flows. Similarly, gathering massive datasets requires a computing power outside of the grasp of many independent researchers or students. The increasing emphasis on 'big data' runs the risk of access to datasets being increasingly concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority of researchers and organisations. An alternative perspective sees this as an opportunity for researchers to come together in creative, cross-disciplinary collaborations, Either way, social researchers will need to find ways of convincing those who own social media sites about the merits of extending, or at least continuing, some freely accessible datasets. The politics of social media research will become an increasingly important agenda for social scientists to engage with. Despite the strengths that social media offer in terms of providing an accessible platform for some marginalised groups, other hard-to-reach populations like the elderly, the poor and those with limited literacy remain more difficult to reach online." Page 12

List of reflective questions about the educational experience to help students find themselves in the conscious role of student / partner in their education. >"Jane Pizzolato writes that "if students were self-authored, they would be more likely to choose majors that were appropriate and interesting to them, engage in critical thinking about their choices, and develop healthy relationships with diverse others" (2008, 19). Becoming self-authored requires transformational learning that helps students "learn to negotiate and act on [their] own purposes, values, feelings, and meanings rather than those [they] have uncritically assimilated from others" (Mezirow 2000, 8)."< Additional information http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/ And here: http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2013/March-April%202013/wabash_full.html

There has been a model for this in Empire State College for 40 years. Individuals design their own degree programs with a mentor and are able to apply for credit for life experience. It has worked extremely well for the majority of the people who have obtained their bachelor's degrees in this manner The model was initially developed by Ernest Boyer: http://iwansyahril.blogspot.com/2010/12/reflection-on-ernest-l-boyers-article.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_College the scholarship of the educator and the integration of knowledge and practice are important: http://www.esc.edu/media/ocgr/publications-presentations/Boyer-Revisited-3-21-2011.pdf note the section on Mentoring and Uneasy Scholarliness in the previous document

Cathleen Nardi's Pinterest board for #rhizo14. Focus include links to posts and rhizome related links rather than primarily images of rhizomes (.e.g. rhizomes in nature). The page serves as a visual #rhizo14 aggregation I started a rhizome pinboard too but intend to focus more on images, including ones less course related one.

Found this paper useful for clarification of what makes good scaffolding. My original intro to the subject focused on the notion of threshold concepts which can reside too far into an expert domain for getting students engaged. Definition: "adult controlling those elements of the task that are essentially beyond the learner's capacity, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and complete only those elements that are within his range of competence" Do not defeat learning by going too far out into the unfamiliar. "Scaffolding is no longer restricted to interactions between individuals-artifacts, resources, and environments themselves are also being used as scaffolds." "...six types of support that an adult can provide: recruiting the child's interest, reducing the degrees of freedom by simplifying the task, maintaining direction, highlighting the critical task features, controlling frustration, and demonstrating ideal solution paths." "Central to successful scaffolding is the notion of a shared understanding of the goal of the activity. Although some elements of the activity may be beyond what the child could accomplish in working alone, intersubjectivity (Rogoff, 1990; Wertsch, 1985), or a shared understanding of the activity, is considered critical. Intersubjectivity is attained when the adult and child collaboratively redefine the task so that there is combined ownership of the task and the child shares an understanding of the goal that he or she needs to accomplish."

"Subsequently, the presence of electronic media for creating, distributing and communicating information, knowledge and meaning has grown more widely and more dramatically than perhaps even he could have foreseen. Within this context, I want to try to stitch together a few concepts, perspectives and examples with which I am more or less familiar and perhaps update the core implication of McLuhan's famous phrase."

Deals with the reality of distributing quality education to most of the people in the world. "DRIVERS OF CHANGE IN THE WAY WE TEACH AND LEARN The increasing recognition the world over of the central role that post- secondary education plays in social and economic success has resulted in many drivers for change, including the following which have been identified by Bates: 1) An increasing demand for college and university places 2) Changing demographics (more older and part-time students) and more learner diversity (broader intellectual, language and cultural ranges) 3) Growing numbers of students at ease with new technologies and social media who are demanding the same sort of flexibility and access from post-secondary education that they already enjoy in their daily business and social interactions. 4) Pressures on institutions to be more open and accountable 5) Recognition of society's needs for skilled knowledge-based workers and the associated focus on learning outcomes indicating the extent to which graduates have such requisite skills as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, independent learning, and the ability to work in a variety of contexts, to work in teams and to navigate cultural differences. 6) Research evidence of the effectiveness of more interactive approaches to learning that engage students more intensively 7) The continuing evolution of Web-based technologies which make knowledge much more accessible and bring learners together without the constraint of time or place..."

For several years, there has been a rule-of-thumb, called "90-9-1″, that 90% of online participation in groups/communities consists of "lurkers" or more politely, "passive participants", and only 1% are active creators. Jacob Nielsen's 2006 post on Participation Inequality provides a good overview of this phenomenon. A recent BBC survey of 7,500 people shows significantly different results. Here we see that passive lurkers make up only 23% of participants; active (intense) participants have increased to 17%; and there is now an "Easy" group in the middle who, " … respond largely to the activity of others. This includes replying, 'liking' and rating, all activities where there's little effort, exposure or risk."