Setting the context: why we need new learning models
George Siemens, PhD
October 16, 2012
Complex problems
Knowledge problems
Social problems
“…the fundamental task of education is to enculturate youth into this knowledge-creating civilization and to help them find a place in it…traditional educational practices –with its emphasis on knowledge transmission – as well as newer constructivist methods both appear to be limited in scope if not entirely missing the point”
Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006, Cambridge Handbook of Learning Sciences)
The growing influence of networks as a model for understanding the world…
Hierarchy Edge Bundles3D File Manager
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/
Political blogosphere, 2004 Blue Brain
Recognition of complexity and networks as underpinning attributes
of social, science, education
http://drunks-and-lampposts.com/2012/06/13/graphing-the-history-of-philosophy/
http://drunks-and-lampposts.com/2012/06/13/graphing-the-history-of-philosophy/
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004803
Making the world’s knowledge relatable
http://linkeddata.org/
Wellman (2002)
http://research.uow.edu.au/learningnetworks/seeing/snapp/index.html
Weak ties
Empirical evidence that the stronger the tie connecting two individuals, the more similar they are, in various ways
Mark Granovetter (1973)
Our education system faces information that is:
OpenAccessibleDistributedScalableSocialNetworkedSelf-organizedAdaptiveGlobalMultimedia-based
“The world is one big data problem”Gilad Elbaz
“Social data is set to be surpassed in the data economy, though, by data published by physical, real-world objects like sensors, smart grids and connected devices.”
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/china_moves_to_dominate_the_next_stage_of_the_web_internet_of_things.php
Externalization of thought and concepts
…so that it can be analyzed, interpreted, tested, evaluate
d
MOOCs
Massive (maybe)
Open (sort of)
Online (yep)
Course (sort of)
A bit of (recent) history:
2007:
- David Wiley: open wiki-based course
- Alec Couros: Social media and Open Education
2008:
- CCK08
- Slew of other open courses
2011:
- Stanford AI births Coursera and Udacity
Phil Hill, 2012
gsiemens @gmailTwitterSkypeFBWherever
www.elearnspace.org
www.connectivism.ca
www.learninganalytics.net
