Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning. The central term in this definition is connections. It adopts a relational stance in which learning takes place both in relation to others and in relation to learning resources.[1] In design and practice, networked learning is intended to facilitate evolving sets of connections between learners and their interpersonal communities, knowledge contexts, and digital technologies.[2]
Networked learning can offer educational institutions more functional efficiency, in that the curriculum can be more tightly managed centrally, or in the case of vocational learning, it can reduce costs to employers and tax payers.[3] However, it is also argued that networked learning is too often considered within the presumption of institutionalised or educationalised learning, thereby omitting awareness of the benefits that networked learning has to informal or situated learning.[4]
History
Network and networked learning theories can be traced back into the 19th Century, when commentators were considering the social implications of networked infrastructure such as the railways and the telegraph.[5] More recently, networked learning has its roots in the 1970s, with the likes of Ivan Illich's book, Deschooling Society, through to more recent commentary in the early 2000s, largely inspired by the Internet and social media.
1970s
In 1971, Ivan Illich envisioned 'learning webs' as a model for people to network the learning they needed:
I will use the words "opportunity web" for "network" to designate specific ways to provide access to each of four sets of resources. "Network" is often used, unfortunately, to designate the channels reserved to material selected by others for indoctrination, instruction, and entertainment. But it can also be used for the telephone or the postal service, which are primarily accessible to individuals who want to send messages to one another. I wish we had another word to designate such reticular structures for mutual access, a word less evocative of entrapment, less degraded by current usage and more suggestive of the fact that any such arrangement includes legal, organizational, and technical aspects. Not having found such a term, I will try to redeem the one which is available, using it as a synonym of "educational web." Ivan Illich, 1971[6]
In 1977 Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel wrote and published A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. In this seminal text, mostly referred to by architects, lists a "Network of Learning" as the 18th pattern,[7] and cites Illich's earlier book as "the most penetrating analysis and proposal for an alternative framework for education." Alexander et al. go on to advise builders and town planners interested in establishing learning networks with:
"...work in piecemeal ways to decentralize the process of learning and enrich it through contact with many places and people all over the city: workshops, teachers at home or walking through the city, professionals willing to take on the young as helpers, older children teaching younger children, museums, youth groups travelling, scholarly seminars, industrial workshops, old people, and so on. Conceive of all these situations as forming the backbone of the learning process; survey all these situations, describe them, and publish them as the city's "curriculum"; then let students, children, their families and neighborhoods weave together for themselves the situations that comprise their "school" paying as they go with standard vouchers, raised by community tax. Build new educational facilities in a way which extends and enriches this network."
In the 1970s, The Institute For The Future at Menlo Park in California experimented with networked learning practices based on the Internet and computer conferencing.[8][9][10] Soon after their reports were published two educational pioneers in the use of Internet technologies, Hiltz and Turoff, linked education directly with this pioneering work.[11]
1980s
In the late 1980s Dr. Charles A. Findley headed the Collaborative Networked Learning project at Digital Equipment Corporation on the East Coast of the United States.[12] Findley's project conducted trend analysis and developed prototypes of collaborative learning environments, which became the basis for their further research and development of what they called Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL),[13] and Collaborative Learning-Work (CLW).[14][15][16]
1990s
Since the development of the Internet as a significant medium for access to information and communication, the practice of networked learning has tended to focus on its use. In the first phase of the Internet its use for networked learning was restricted by low bandwidth and the emphasis was largely on written and text based interactions between people and the text based resources they referred to. This textual form of interaction was a familiar academic medium, even though there was recognition of the unique qualities hypertext emerging in the online form.[17][18]
In 1991, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger published Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, in which they cited numerous examples of networked learning within a wide range of settings for informal learning and within communities of practice.[19]
In the later half of the 1990s, open, interactive, situated and networked views of learning were marginalised by educational institutions as they tended to develop or deploy content and practice through proprietary learning management systems (e.g. Blackboard Inc, WebCT), and collaborative work tools such as IBM Lotus Notes/Learning Space and Quick Place), generally following concepts around "e-learning". These systems enabled the restriction of access and the management of students for the administrative concerns of educational institutions.[20]
Since 1998, an international Networked Learning Conference has been held biannually. The conference proceedings from all the conferences since 2002 are available via the conference web site.[21]
CSALT, a research group at Lancaster University, UK, associated with the Networked Learning Conference series and several edited collections, defined networked learning as "learning in which information and communication technology is used to promote connections: between one learner and other learners, between learners and tutors; between a learning community and its learning resources".[22] This definition seems to ignore historical use of the term however, where computing was not of central importance.
2000s
In 2000, John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid released The Social Life of Information and introduced the concept of Networks of Practice (NoP's), an informal and emergent social network that supports the sharing of information between individuals clustered around a practice. Building on the work done by Jean Lave and Étienne Wenger on community of practice (CoP's), Seely Brown and Duguid argued that a network differed from a community in that the relationships among members were more informal and fluid when compared to communities. While CoP's were often localized with strong inter-personal relationships providing group cohesion, NoPs were more global with relationships that were both strong tie and weak tie relationships.[23]
Salmon (2001) wrote "learning is built around learning communities & interaction, extending access beyond the bounds of time and space, but offering the promise of efficiency and widening access. Think of individuals as nodes on a network!"[24]
George Siemens is a theorist on learning in a digitally based society. He is the author of the article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book Knowing Knowledge - an exploration of the impact of the changed context and characteristics of knowledge.
In 2005, George Siemens published a paper in the International Journal for Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, called Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age[27] in which he argued the need for a new learning theory, one that captured the essence and represented the process of networked knowledge creation and learning. In 2011, the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning published the first peer reviewed collection of scholarly articles on Connectivism. This special issue was edited by George Siemens (Athabasca University and Grainne Conole (Open University, UK).[28]
In 2007, Starke-Meyerring, Duin, & Palvetzian first described Globally Networked Learning Environments (GNLE)- networked learning environments which are specifically designed to connect students from different parts of the world.[29] GNLEs are designed to facilitate dialogue and collaboration across and within groups of students, to develop greater understanding and competencies for global work and citizenship. GNLEs take many different shapes and forms.[30]
Models
Connectivist MOOC
Success in a MOOC, by Neal Gillis and Dave Cormier
A massive open online course (MOOC) engages networked learning methods within the typical structure of a course.[31] The first such course so named was Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008, hosted by Stephen Downes and George Siemens.[32] More like an online event, MOOCs invite open online participation around a schedule or agenda, facilitated by people with reputation or expertise in the topics, relying on successful formations of learning networks to assist people studying the topics.
Earlier examples of online courses using networked learning methods:
DS106: Digital Storytelling – 2010/2011 by Jim Groom, took the MOOC concepts into new dimensions with people creating celebratory media for the course, and the course itself breaking course like structure.
Globaloria – Started in 2006 by Idit Harel Caperton and World Wide Workshop as the first and largest social learning network where students develop digital literacy, STEM and Computing knowledge and global citizenship through game design.
Open and networked research
A brief animation of the core aspects of what makes research open.
Some researchers have used networked learning methods to collaborate and support each other's research. The Wikiversity page for Doctor of Philosophy is supporting a small group interested in pursuing a PhD title informally. They name their practice OpenPhD or Open and Networked PhD.
Studies
Architecture of productive learning networks
Academics at the CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney, have been carrying out an extensive analysis of examples of networked learning, in collaboration with the developers and organisers of learning networks in various parts of the world. Their work has focussed on the architecture of learning networks - aiming to identify arrangements of tasks, tools and people that contribute to successful learning networks. Some conclusions from this work have been published in The architecture of productive learning networks, which also includes a chapter on the history of networked learning.[34]
Situated learning
Some have argued that using formal education as a setting for researching networked learning misses most if not all of the value proposition of networked learning.[35] Instead, Fox proposes situated learning and actor-network theory as the better approach for research.[36]
↑ Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Jones, C., and Lindström, B. (2009) Analysing Networked Learning Practices in Higher Education and Continuing Professional Development. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, BV
↑ "The first of these, the old Saint-Simonian 'cult of networks', feeds the contemporary desire for a horizontality of social links. The 19th century was characterized by the building of many network infrastructures – telegraph, railway, electricity – and a corresponding egalitarian ideology. Applying the French Revolution ideology to an industrial ground, Saint-Simon, who was both engineer and philosopher, built a theory of the network as the best means to connect people and to strengthen citizenship (Musso, 2003)." Musso, P. (2003) Critique des réseaux. Paris: PUF in Rebillard, Franck & Touboul, Annelise. (2010). Promises unfulfilled? 'Journalism 2.0', user participation and editorial policy on newspaper websites. Media, Culture & Society Volume 32
↑ Vallee, J., Johansen, R., Lipinski, H., Spangler, K., Wilson, T., & Hardy, A. (1975). Group communication through computers: Pragmatics and dynamics. Menlo Park, CA: Institute for the Future.
↑ Findley, Charles A. 1988. Collaborative Networked Learning: On-line Facilitation and Software Support, Digital Equipment Corporation. Burlington, MA. and Collaborative learning-work
↑ Wright, Kieth C. and Davie, Judith (1999) Forecasting the Future: School Media Programs in an Age of Change. Scarecrow Press: Maryland, pps.33,106.
↑ Findley, Charles A. 1989. Collaborative Learning-work. Presentation at the Pacific Telecommunications Council 1989 Conference, January 15–20, Honolulu, Hawaii.
↑ Findley, Charles A. 1987. Integrated Learning and Information Support Systems for the Information Age Worker. Presentation at World Future Society Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 1987.
↑ Harasim, L. (Ed.). (1990). Online education; perspectives on a new environment. New York: Praeger.
↑ Mason, R., & Kaye, A. (1990). Towards a new paradigm for distance education. In L. Harasim (Eds.), Online education: Perspectives on a new environment. New York: Praeger.
↑ Watson, W. & Watson, S. (2007). An argument for clarity: what are learning management systems, what are they not, and what should they become? TechTrends, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2007, 51(2), pp.28-34. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00692067/document
↑ Siemens, G., Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age, International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning 2 (10), 2005.
↑ Starke-Meyerring, D., Duin, A. H., & Palvetzian, T. (2007). Global partnerships: Positioning technical communication programs in the context of globalization. Technical Communication Quarterly, 16(2), 139-174.
↑ Starke-Meyerring, D., & Wilson, M. (Eds.) (2008). Designing globally networked learning environments: Visionary partnerships, policies, and pedagogies. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Carvalho, L. & Goodyear, P. (Eds.) (2014) The architecture of productive learning networks. New York: Routledge.
Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., Hodgson, V., and McConnell, D. (2011) Exploring the Theory, Pedagogy and Practice of Networked Learning. New York, NY: Springer.
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the school via mail. Distance education is a technology-mediated modality and has evolved with the evolution of technologies such as video conferencing, TV, and the Internet. Today, it usually involves online education and the learning is usually mediated by some form of technology. A distance learning program can either be completely a remote learning, or a combination of both online learning and traditional offline classroom instruction. Other modalities include distance learning with complementary virtual environment or teaching in virtual environment (e-learning).
Educational technology is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech", it often refers to the industry of companies that create educational technology. In EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age, Tanner Mirrlees and Shahid Alvi (2019) argue "EdTech is no exception to industry ownership and market rules" and "define the EdTech industries as all the privately owned companies currently involved in the financing, production and distribution of commercial hardware, software, cultural goods, services and platforms for the educational market with the goal of turning a profit. Many of these companies are US-based and rapidly expanding into educational markets across North America, and increasingly growing all over the world."
Stephen Downes is a Canadian philosopher and commentator in the fields of online learning and new media. He has explored and promoted the educational use of computer and online technologies since 1995. He gave the 2004 Buntine Oration and was a presenter at the February 2007 Online Connectivism Conference. In 2008, Downes and George Siemens designed and taught an online, open course reported as a "landmark in the small but growing push toward 'open teaching'" - widely considered the first massive open online course (MOOC).
Idit R. Harel is an Israeli-American entrepreneur and CEO of Globaloria. She is researcher of learning sciences and of constructionist learning-based EdTech interventions.
Linda Marie Harasim, is a "leading teacher, scholar and speaker on the theories and practices of online education, contributing knowledge, technologies, and practices to the field of technology-enabled learning," is a pioneer leading theorist of online education. She is a professor emerita in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her six books and hundreds of articles about Computer-supported collaborative learning have been acknowledged as seminal works in the field.
George Siemens is a Canadian expatriate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington and professor and director of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning at the University of South Australia. He is known for his theory of connectivism, which seeks to understand learning in the digital age. He played a role in the early development of massive online open courses (MOOCs).
Deschooling Society is a 1971 book written by Austrian priest Ivan Illich that critiques the role and practice of education in the modern world.
Open education is an educational movement founded on openness, with connections to other educational movements such as critical pedagogy, and with an educational stance which favours widening participation and inclusiveness in society. Open education broadens access to the learning and training traditionally offered through formal education systems and is typically offered through online and distance education. The qualifier "open" refers to the elimination of barriers that can preclude both opportunities and recognition for participation in institution-based learning. One aspect of openness or "opening up" education is the development and adoption of open educational resources in support of open educational practices.
Connectivism is a theoretical framework for understanding learning in a digital age. It emphasizes how internet technologies such as web browsers, search engines, wikis, online discussion forums, and social networks contributed to new avenues of learning. Technologies have enabled people to learn and share information across the World Wide Web and among themselves in ways that were not possible before the digital age. Learning does not simply happen within an individual, but within and across the networks.
The Microtraining method is an approach aimed at supporting informal learning processes in organizations and companies. Learning in this sense means that an active process of knowledge creation is taking place within social interactions, but outside of formal learning environments or training facilities. This process can be facilitated by well-designed and structured systems and by supporting ways of communication and collaboration, like the Microtraining method does. A Microtraining arrangement comprises a time span of 15–20 minutes for each learning session, which can activate and maintain learning processes for a longer period if bundled into series. A Microtraining session can be held face-to-face, online or embedded in an e-learning scenario.
A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.
Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. The growth of online learning since the 1990s, particularly in higher education, has contributed to the advancement of Learning Analytics as student data can be captured and made available for analysis. When learners use an LMS, social media, or similar online tools, their clicks, navigation patterns, time on task, social networks, information flow, and concept development through discussions can be tracked. The rapid development of massive open online courses (MOOCs) offers additional data for researchers to evaluate teaching and learning in online environments.
A massive open online course or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs), as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments. MOOCs are a widely researched development in distance education, first introduced in 2008, that emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012, a year called the "Year of the MOOC".
One of the most visible approaches to peer learning comes out of cognitive psychology, and is applied within a "mainstream" educational framework: "Peer learning is an educational practice in which students interact with other students to attain educational goals." Other authors including David Boud describe peer learning as a way of moving beyond independent to interdependent or mutual learning among peers. In this context, it can be compared to the practices that go by the name cooperative learning. However, other contemporary views on peer learning relax the constraints, and position "peer-to-peer learning" as a mode of "learning for everyone, by everyone, about almost anything." Whether it takes place in a formal or informal learning context, in small groups or online, peer learning manifests aspects of self-organization that are mostly absent from pedagogical models of teaching and learning.
This outline of open educational resources provides a way of navigating concepts and topics in relation to the open educational resources (OER) movement.
Rhizomatic learning is a variety of pedagogical practices informed by the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Explored initially as an application of post-structural thought to education, it has more recently been identified as methodology for net-enabled education. In contrast to goal-directed and hierarchical theories of learning, it posits that learning is most effective when it allows participants to react to evolving circumstances, preserving lines of flight that allow a fluid and continually evolving redefinition of the task at hand. In such a structure, "the community is the curriculum", subverting traditional notions of instructional design where objectives pre-exist student involvement.
Online learning involves courses offered by primary institutions that are 100% virtual. Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is a development in distance education that expanded in the 1990s with the spread of the commercial Internet and the World Wide Web. The learner experience is typically asynchronous but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a learning management system for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.
Language MOOCs are web-based online courses freely accessible for a limited period of time, created for those interested in developing their skills in a foreign language. As Sokolik (2014) states, enrolment is large, free and not restricted to students by age or geographic location. They have to follow the format of a course, i.e., include a syllabus and schedule and offer the guidance of one or several instructors. The MOOCs are not so new, since courses with such characteristics had been available online for quite a lot of time before Dave Cormier coined the term 'MOOC' in 2008. Furthermore, MOOCs are generally regarded as the natural evolution of OERs, which are freely accessible materials used in Education for teaching, learning and assessment.
Digital pedagogy is the study and use of contemporary digital technologies in teaching and learning. Digital pedagogy may be applied to online, hybrid, and face-to-face learning environments. Digital pedagogy also has roots in the theory of constructivism.
Open educational resources in Canada are the various initiatives related to open education, open educational resources (OER), open pedagogies (OEP), open educational practices (OEP), and open scholarship that are established nationally and provincially across Canadian K-12 and higher education sectors, and where Canadian based inititatives extend to international collaborations.
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