Developing Learning Networks - Significance and Practice
Consider this a mental brain dump. I want to come back to this and compose a more coherent blog post when time permits, but in lieu of this I’d like to present the following thoughts for discussion.
In the wake of my preliminary thoughts as expressed in the above clip, I’ve begun to explore the following ideas:
Establishing your personal networks
One of the key tasks to tackle during the initial days of a course like this is establishing your own personal network. In the case of the CCK08 course, some people began doing this several months before the start of session - with language-cohorts developing, as well as SecondLife user groups.
In my case my approach will be slightly different. As I posted earlier, the first task we’ve been asked to undertake is to discuss our background, location, motives for taking the course, and measures of success. Many have posted their contributions to the Moodle forum, which I’ve found to be particularly useful.
As a result of establishing my own personal goals, I will now be able to go through the forums in search of others with similar personal backgrounds and/or objectives. This can in turn lead to the early inception of personal learning communities that help to tackle the deluge of upcoming information that we’re all sure to face as the course progresses.
In terms of my initial thoughts from the Seesmic clip, this process has continued to empower the learner by enabling me to establish my own learning networks based upon my own needs, values, and personal goals. This has lead to a far greater sense of vested interest in the network than activities I’ve participated in historically where groups have been established by a third party. Effectively, this preserves the learner-centred control of the learning experience.
In terms of the facilitating technical framework, Moodle has been quite helpful. Unlike Google Groups instances that I’ve seen used elsewhere I’ve personally found it much easier to browse and keep track of specific threads. This has made the network establishing process very easy.
What do I mean by network?
At this point I’ve realised I’ve made several references to network but haven’t provided much indication of what I mean by that. When I say network I refer to a collection of people whose activities, insights, and reflections I pay close attention to, and whom I make a great effort to keep in regular contact with - either via asynchronous discussion (forums, email, Seesmic, Twitter, blog commenting), synchronous discussion (IM, Skype, webconference), or perhaps SecondLife.
My network is composed of people who’s opinions and judgment I value and trust, and who contribute to my learning experience in a very positive way.
Network filtering of information
The “filtering of information” I spoke of earlier directly involves the contributions of and interaction with the members of my network. I’m not able to track all the information or news that flows down the ongoing river of data, and neither can they. By working together, and remaining in close contact with one another, we are collectively able to cover far more territory as a connective than we could as individuals. This serves to empower and contribute to the learning experiences of all parties involved.
I’ll add more to this post as this process continues.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:21 am
You know, Mike, there are shopping centres in Australia where it is illegal to wear caps and hoodies. You look like a crim.
BTW: Thoughtful post.
[Reply]
Mike Bogle reply on September 8th, 2008 2:02 am:
The hat was to protect the innocent - I was having a seriously bad hair day that morning
[Reply]