Connected Learning: A Preliminary Understanding

Though I did not know what it was called before last week, from the videos we watched last class and the discussion that followed, I realized that my childhood was full of connected learning.

I was lucky enough to have parents and grandparents that really inspired in me a hunger for education through experiential learning. As I showed interest in various subjects, my parents would do their best to give me hands-on experience in that field. Whether they fostered my interest by books, at-home science experiments, or a trip to the local zoo or museum, they sought to show me that learning was about so much more than memorizing facts or studying for a test. Rather my parents encouraged in me a true desire to learn more about the world at a deeper level, and taught me to never stop asking questions. I truly believe that it is this curiosity, that which developed out of my extracurricular activities and hands-on learning experiences as a child, that has inspired and allowed me to pursue a career in higher education.

This is my personal understanding of connected learning, at least at the grade school level, as it stands now. In honor of my parents and grandparents, and all the connected learning opportunities with which they provided me as a child, I have included the following sites that list hands-on learning activities for children of all ages:

http://www.jumpstart.com/parents/activities

http://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/kids-activities

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/science-projects

These experiences may not be what everyone thinks of as “connected” since, in these examples, there is no connection to the network of people and information available on the World Wide Web. But insomuch as these learning experiences inspired in me a desire to dig deeper into the world around me by connecting me deeper with a subject, I think that they truly can be considered connected learning experiences. I believe that the Internet, and all it has to offer in this digital age, is just another tool parents can offer their children so they may dig deeper into their academic interests, another way for children to gain that hunger for learning.

I’m looking forward to learning more and broadening my understanding to connected learning in higher education! And if anyone had a “hands-on” connected learning experience in a university course, I would love to hear about it!


Do we need technology to be connected? A critique of the so called “digital age”

John Taylor Gatto, in his famous polemic “Against School” (http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm), articulated his experience of over 25 years teaching in New York City’s public school system and the failures the system has for fostering genuine curiosity for students. Yet no where in his essay does he claim that a need for more technology is needed for children to obtain this curiosity. One fundamental problem that we can flesh out of obtaining information from digital sources is not only authenticity, but the over-abundance of information. Ibn Khaldun, the famous historian of the rise-and-fall narrative of societies, once said to the effect that in his times, the proliferation of books was causing people to learn less. The well known axiom “less is more” can and should be applied to the concept of connected learning. Indeed one could claim that the narrative of the “digital age” leads to more information does not necessarily lead to the same conclusion that more learning occurs. This known experiential reality by most people was probably best articulated in Nicholas Carr’s piece “Is Google Making Us Stupid” (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/) where Carr argues how Internet jumping from one site to another has altered the brains capacity for depth. While we may have accumulated more information, it is a very shallow information at best. I would finally like to push-back somewhat against this assumed “digital age” that we all seemed to have ushered into; as a historian, the naming of “epochs” “eras” and “moments” is problematic because they imply a universal narrative that is actually contextual. Often the contextual masquerades as a universal. The videos presented here on connected learning assume to much weight as to what technology can afford us without observing the negativity that can come around with new technologies. But more problematically, it assumes that connected learning can happen the world over. Access to running water is a far reality let alone the internet in the world, and the wealth gap is only widening in the very societies that promise universal (actually national) education for all. Are we really living in a digital age? Or are the privileged living in it? I in no way am a luddite (someone who hates all new forms of technology), but I would echo Gatto, Carr and Khaldun that too much of anything is a bad thing; and that with new forms of technology, there are always people who lose out.

See also (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W86P_FX6PdI)

Connected Learning Principles

A report on connected learning introduces focus on learners, individual interest, continuity in learning, and the future of the learners as principles of connected learning. By Focusing on the learners we will allow them to develop life-long skills which would allow them to succeed in today’s economy. As this report states that learning is powered by individual interests and supported by peers, connected learning can also be achieved through digital media by connecting academics to the learner’s interest and therefore inspiring both mentors and mentees.  Moreover due to the fact that learning is continuous, digital tools facilitate this process in various settings in home, school, and the community. Last but not least this process will transform the learners to future producers which can be successful in today’s global environment.

The core properties for a connected learning experience can be defined as production centered, shared purpose, and open networked environments . It is also worth mentioning that as higher education is moving towards globalization, connected learning has the ability to cross the boundaries which have separated cultures, universities, and the community.

“CONNECTED LEARNING IS NOT ABOUT A SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY, TOOL, PLATFORM, OR TECHNIQUE, BUT INSTEAD SEEKS TO DESIGN EXPERIENCES FOR LEARNERS THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TODAY’S ABUNDANT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES.”

 

CL_Macarthur_r03_FINAL_outlined.ai

 

Connected learning: Reconciling the old with the new?

Up until the first class, I had never heard of connected learning. Though I wouldn’t consider myself “old” per se, I would consider myself old-fashioned.  I use a computer when I have to, I really don’t care for blogging, and I do not have a Twitter account.  For me, a technologically inept person, the learning curve is just too steep for me to see a lot of reward in it.  However, the introduction of the connected learning concept really reminded me of how important the internet is and how much I take it for granted; especially the accessibility of information.  In the not so distant past, the best way to access academic knowledge was to go to a library.  Now, especially with open access, we can sit at our computers and have almost anything at our fingertips.  And the students of today (and yesterday too) have benefitted greatly from this technology.  But this has also made their learning experiences a little different.  Sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher (or professor) provide knowledge on a subject in which they were experienced used to be the best way to gain skills and knowledge in a particular topic.  Now, students have access to knowledge in just as many (arguably more) subject areas at the touch of a button.  So how do we reconcile this in a classroom?  It seems this is where the connected learning comes into play.  As I understand it, the idea is to get students interested and excited to go out and experience knowledge the way in which they would like as opposed to sitting in a classroom being lectured.  I think this is a really interesting concept and could really change the way people learn and get excited about learning.

Is connected learning the efficient way to go?

The emerging impact of the Internet are changing the way we live, work and entertain continuously. And education is no exception. In the past, our learning environment consists only one teacher, one classroom and one textbook. But now the Internet offers much more. We can learn whenever we want, wherever we are, and whatever we want. Connected learning, as I learn from our reading materials this week, is based on this. The idea is to use the Internet to stay connected and keep sharing information by blogging, tweeting and commenting, which is believed by a lot of people to be smart and informative.

However, is this really the efficient way to go? With so many blogs and so many posts that probably contain a large number of repetitive information, are we able to go through most of them within a limited time and get the best out of it? Wouldn’t this cause information explosion in our minds that gets us to lose the focus through the way? Take myself as an example, I always prefer to learn from real books and conduct equation derivations with a pencil and a piece of paper rather than getting on the Internet and get the answer out of it, if possible, since the former will make me focused and help me remember, while the latter can easily gets me extracted. Am I the only one?

After asking myself about these questions, further thoughts come into my mind. Maybe this specific problem is what I need to solve through connected learning, and what can be solved by connected learning. With years of research going on, I should understand by now how important the ability to search and learn is. If I stay too traditional and don’t improve this capability, I can’t take a qualitative leap in improving my efficiency at work. I need to learn more about connected learning to determine what I can get from it.

Blogs: essential for education?

Blogging has become a popular and exciting activity in education. Teachers encourage students to write blogs or assignments, read and post comments on each others postings. It is a good way for communication and sharing ideas. Students will improve their writing and narrative skills with this activity. For seminar courses or courses in humanities and social science, blogging, instead of other traditional ways, may enhance students’ learning. However, for courses in natural science such as math or lab courses, I don’t think blogging is necessary or even useful. When teachers consider to use blogging for education purpose, they should think about the reason to use it, not just because it is popular and fancy. W. Gardner Campbell, Scott Rosenberg,  Tim Hitchcock, Seth Godin and Tom Peters who only emphasize on the goodness of blogging are all from humanities and social science, I think people from natural science probably have different voices.

Blogs are also used in middle and high school. Middle and high school blogging is like a web-based course site (blackboard, scholar, instructure canvas, etc) to provide information to students, parents, administration, or other teachers. Their blogs may include announcements, assignments, and discussion forum. Students can use blogs to discuss various topics and to interact with their teachers. Parents can use blogs to understand what is occurring in the class. The idea sounds great but I am not sure whether effective or not. Because the publicity of blogs may contain information from wrong points of view or extreme points of view which are harmful to young learners.

In order to keep pace with the times, teachers should improve their teaching strategies with new technologies, but they need to be careful, especially for teachers of young learners.

Learning in the information age: Let’s Connect!

No doubt we have heard this statement before “We are now living in the information age”. Yes, this is the age of information in which knowledge is available everywhere and can be easily acquired from a tremendous variety of sources wherever we are. The corner stone of these sources is no doubt the internet. Of course being able to collect information about politics, economy, or any other field of specialization has changed our lives. In addition, being able to connect together and share information through social media, has also a great impact on our lives. All these changes have an inevitable impact on learning and education. According to [1], there is a wide agreement that new models of education are needed to suit this information age, and not simply new models of schooling, but entirely new visions of learning better suited to the increasing complexity, connectivity, and pace of our new knowledge society.

According to Wikipedia [2], connected learning is an approach to education centered around the abundance of information and social connections brought by networked and digital media. According to [3] it is not a learning theory and it is not a specific set of learning techniques, it is just a set of principles that allow students to be engaged, empowered, and equipped to learn effectively and continuously through their lives.

According to [1], there are three values that forms the core of connected learning.

  • Equity: Within connected learning, all students should have the same opportunity for learning in terms of finding information and joining institutes. This aligns with the principle of diversity and inclusion in which underrepresented groups are encouraged to have a good education opportunity.
  • Full participation: When learners are actively engaged in education, the community, learning environment, and the civic life all will thrive.
  • Social connection: The learning experience is better when the learning process is part of a valued social interconnection with shared practices, culture and identities.

According to [1, 3, 4], connected learning has six principles in order to realize the previously defined values. These principles are:

  • Interest-powered: Intuitively speaking, when a student is more interested to study a specific subject, his learning outcome is expected to be better as compared to other subjects that he is not interested in. Connected learning relies on the innate interests of the learner and it also views interests and passions as something to be actively developed through the learning process. In addition, learners better engage when they connect what they learn to their short-term and long term goals.
  • Peer-supported: Powerful engaging learning can be achieved in the context of peer interactions between individual learners contributing to each other, sharing information, and give feedback to one another.
  • Academically oriented: Learning outcomes should be linked and directed towards some academic achievements and excellence. Connected learning recognizes the importance of academic success for intellectual growth.
  • Shared purpose: Connected learning environments are populated with learner peers who share common interests and are contributing to a shared goal. Today’s social media provide exceptional means for common interest learners to connect together, share knowledge, and engage in common projects and inquiry.
  • Production-centered: Connected learning environments are designed around production relying on new digital media as tools for sharing products with wider audience.
  • Openly-networked: Connected learning environments are created around networks of institutions and learning groups in which learning resources, tools, and materials are abundant.

References

[1] http://connectedlearning.tv/connected-learning-principles

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connected_Learning

[3] http://altlab.vcu.edu/showcase/defining-connected-learning/

[4] http://clalliance.org/why-connected-learning/

Intrinsic Motivation through Connected Learning

Self-determination theory posits that humans have a natural tendency towards growth and development but it does not happen automatically. A nurturing environment is necessary to help people to grow.

For a student to be able to make the most of the learning environment and opportunity, he/she should be motivated. Intrinsic motivation, in particular, is necessary for sustained effort and deeper learning. Each student is a different individual and their interests may differ widely. To connect the subject content to each of the varied interests of the student is not an easy task. Hence, it may be difficult and require lengthy preparations to foster intrinsic motivation in students.

This is where I felt that connected learning environment could play a vital role. When we let students to work on ideas that they value, allow them to set goal(s) on their own, and provide support to help them achieve those goal(s), we could potentially help them foster a deep sense of motivation to master the skills necessary to achieve their goals. There are three main aspects that needs to be paid attention to:

  1. Personalization: Students should pick up the topic that they are interested in. This should be personal and should not be enforced upon them based on the syllabus/standards. Allowing students to work on projects and ideas that they value will encourage students to learn in a greater depth and will also help them imbibe the idea of learning being a lifelong process.
  2. Autonomy: Studies have found that autonomy leads to greater motivation and hence allowing students to determine goal(s) on their own is highly important. Some learning goals may not be as ambitious as a teacher may want to have, but teachers should not try to change the goals. Instead, they could help students learn more during the process, or encourage them to add goals once the earlier goal is achieved.
  3. Teacher and Peer Involvement: In the digital world, there is a plethora of information available. It is easy to lose ones way within the pile of information. There are also issues with privacy and security in the digital world. Hence, teacher’s support and guidance, is imperative to enhance students’ learning experience.  The guidance should be of the “right amount” – not so much that the student feel being spoon-fed or become heavily dependent but also not so less that students are overwhelmed.
    Additionally, students should be encouraged to collaborate with their peers. Learning from peers, working in collaboration, seeking support and feedback, and providing support and feedback are valuable skills. However, considering student’s autonomic choices, collaborative and peer learning should not be enforced.

If we create such an environment, students will be highly motivated to learn. Connected learning environment, as discussed in this video, if executed well, promotes such an environment.

 

 

Connected Learning: is it good for elementary schools?

During past eight years, I have passed around sixty courses in three different universities. Each time I think about those courses, I find I only remember and apply six or seven of them! Only seven of sixty courses! The question is why only seven and what happened to other courses? I have asked this question more than one hundred times from myself. Why do I only remember and use seven of them?

I think the answer is that I was only passionate about those seven courses. As an engineer, I liked to solve problems in real life and those courses taught me techniques and tools to solve real problems.

I have no doubt that we need a better education system and the traditional education system is not effective enough. However, is the connected learning the solution?

Honestly, I do not know much about the learning process and last week was the first time I heard about the connected learning approach. I think the connected learning is ideal for university students, especially at the graduate level. The reason is simple: the university students almost know how to learn by themselves and they know the grades are not important (especially at Ph.D. level). However, I am not sure that the connected learning approach can be effective by itself for other lower levels. Although the traditional system is not good enough, it has a lot of benefits and advantages.  For example, the grading system may have some negative impacts but it increases the competition spirit and push students to spend enough time to learn some basics that they will never become interested about them! These basics are almost needed for everyone and without pushing some students to learn them, they will not learn. Generally, I believe the connected learning should be used to improve the learning process along with the traditional educational system and the use of connected learning approach should be proportional to the grade and age (and the person).  I may change my mind when I learn more about the connected learning approach.

Connected Learning: Grade School vs. College

I love the idea of connected learning. I think that too much of our education from grade school to college is kept completely separate from the rest of our lives. Students put in their time with classes and homework, but are rarely excited enough about the material to explore it outside of that. Especially at the grade and high school level, the emphasis on standardized testing is a big part of that. The “facts that all students should know” are taught, but they never really get to engage with the subject and delve deep into it. I would love to see a system where a second grade class spends an entire period talking about the sun, or raptors, or pandas, just because someone asked an interesting question and started a discussion.

On the college level, at least in some subjects, I think connected learning would be more difficult to implement. In a philosophy class or an English class, a student might blog about an interesting book they read and invite comments from their classmates. In a class about database management, no one is going to blog about the interesting database they saw or tweet out the exciting article they read about databasing. Even for those students who want to delve deeper, they won’t have the requisite skills to do so until they’ve completed the course. I just don’t know how the students could engage with the material outside of class while they’re still taking it. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d love to hear them!

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