It seems to me that learning is either establishing a memory bank of concepts or skills either through exposure or practice. It is becoming familiar with what works and doesn’t work through experience. I believe that many learning theories (e.g. Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, and Connectivism), cannot stand alone but each has a certain aspect of learning that it focuses on. If we were to see learning as fundamentally a product of knowing where to access information through networks and people with the necessary skills and qualifications, then where would those skilled “experts” be? We would all rely on “experts” out there yet none of us would be the “experts.” Often these theories can be oversimplified. I’ve heard some say, “if we can get it on the internet, then why bother learning it?” However, my thoughts are: Would you want a neurosurgeon surfing the web to find a good You-tube on how to remove a brain tumour while operating on you?
There are certainly benefits to learning in a network. Networks open up a variety of possible resources previously not known to the learner. It also allows for rapid feedback and a means for quality control checks on our own ideas and thoughts. Using the analogy of the neural network, the combined information is far greater than the individual pieces. One can process the information in light of the contributions from other parts of the network, each possessing their own unique characteristics. It also provides a constant check for us to remain current as we receive updates from our networks from a range of cultural perspectives. A network continues to evolve and remain current whereas what we have learned in the past becomes obsolete quickly as knowledge changes more and more rapidly.
At present, my network consists of:
- Internet tools: Blogs, wikis and other websites
- Other educators
- Other students (LTT)
- My students
- Research experts
- Libraries (Online or other)
- Popular media (TV, books, etc.)
- Family and Friends who are good at thinking through ideas and giving feedback.
I use these to varying degrees. The use of blogs and wikis is particularly new for me.
To know something is to be confident in its accuracy or reliability or to have the skill to effectively accomplish some task. I believe knowledge is different than information. Information resides in a network while knowledge must reside in a person or people. Information can be processed, revised, refined, and modified to better suit the context it is being used in when residing in a network. It is the sum of various perspectives and has the quality achieved by the scrutiny of many.
In traditional teaching, it is expected that students learn in very isolated conditions where they demonstrate that what they produce is entirely their own work. Networking involves much more collaboration and sharing of thoughts, ideas and products. Collectivism encourages a variety of resources including people to obtain the desired information and product. In order to allow this kind of learning to occur, one must loosen the expectations and definitions of what is considered a student’s “own work.” This raises a number of questions around how we can know that learning has truly occurred. Has the student merely made the right connections to obtain the necessary products? Is this really learning or just good networking? How does plagiarism fit into the concept of networking? The lines can become much less clear as to who the author of a work is when there are many “contributors.” What degree of referencing and crediting should be expected?
