Musings on the Nature of Online Community

I think I have finally come to a better understanding of what Web 2.0 and Elearning 2.0 are thanks to:

Stepehn Downes’ “Web 2.0″ [Click to view link]
George Siemens’s “Connectivism” [Click to view link]

Downes discusses many of the technological aspects of Web 2.0 but makes it clear that it is the social/communicative aspect that differentiates the “read/write” web from its predecessor.

I also like what Seimens has to say about patterns and connectivism. Not being one of those people who can keep reams of information in my head at all times I often wondered what really differentiates my learning abilities or patterns from others.

Here are a few quotes that jumped out at me -

Downes makes the following clarifying point: “For all this technology, what is important to recognize is that the emergence of the Web 2.0 is not a technological revolution, it is a social revolution. “Here’s my take on it: Web 2.0 is an attitude not a technology. It’s about enabling and encouraging participation through open applications and services. By open I mean technically open with appropriate APIs but also, more importantly, socially open, with rights granted to use the content in new and exciting contexts” Davis (2005 [Click to view link])

Seimens also explains his learning theory, connectivism, with the following:

“Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories.”
“…chaos states that the meaning exists – the learner’s challenge is to recognize the patterns which appear to be hidden. Meaning-making and forming connections between specialized communities are important activities.”
“Principles of connectivism:
• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.”

Still so much to learn… 

Well, it is 3:55 am and officially the beginning of the end (even if the end is still very, very, very far off!)  I start my first thesis credit this week through Athabasca.  Planning to focus on some aspect of social software and/or blogging in education but still a bit fuzzy.  Seems at this point that I have plenty of time to figure it out as I still have four credits to complete but I suppose time will while itself away as it always does.  I must admit that when I was totally ignorant about the possibilty of blogs I thought they were a self-indulgent waste of time.  Thank goodness parenting has taught me to admit and embrace your mistakes and here I am blogging away and having a good time of it so far - hee, hee, hee.  Hopefully I will still be laughing in a year or so when this is finally done :-)

This is the third night I have tried to stay awake to get started on my course.  The teething one year old did me in the other two nights but I seem to be getting a reprieve for the moment.

This is written in response to Terry Anderson’s post called PLE’s versus LMS: Are PLEs ready for Prime time? James Farmer does a good job of answering some of the questions I have in The Inevitable Personal Learning Environment Post

I find it hard to conceptualize how PLE’s would actually function on the larger scale - ie for every student engaged in some form of online learning. Who/what would provide the space for a student’s PLE, would they be free, would direction be given on how to set one up, would the development of one be the sole responsibility of the learner and would the incentive simply be the fact that a PLE would be a requirement, like a notebook and pen, for formal learning? Or is it time to get past these ideas from traditional/formal education and really visualize a new paradigm?

All those questions aside, the idea of a PLE becomes extremely appealing when I break it down to the level of the masters program I am currently working on. I have completed over 3/4 of the program and all I really have to show for it are numerous bits of writing scattered through the folders of the three computers in my house, 9 very large binders full of course material that I’ve dragged with me through 3 major moves in the past year and a list of marks that I can access through the university LMS.  Gone are the collaborative web sites I worked on in a few courses.

If I had ability to compile work through blogs and e-portfolios that were connected through my PLE I would probably have developed, if nothing else, a stronger sense of accomplishment with regards to my degree.

I am just trying to get my head around the uses of blogs in education. Really appreciate the discussion that this post has generated as well as all the other mind expanding ideas that are out there on ESS, blogs, PLE’s etc.

Still a lot to learn….

I am doing reading/research/writing into the use of blogs in education and will be including some thoughts and reactions relating to this topic over the next while. Keep in mind that these are just reflections on readings and a way to air out my ideas so please do comment but do not get too excited if you do not agree. And don’t hold me to all of these ideas in the future! I am new to blogging and really just want to figure this out and see how blogs can work in education.

The following is in response to an excellent blog posting by Leigh Blackall called “Die LMS die! You too PLE!”

On the need to “keep” the writing done as part of a course discussion - I really think that the use of a discussion board or a blog should be examined in terms of the purpose for each and the role each plays. DB’s and blogs are different tools and should be applied as such. DB’s should be used to generate discussion and, just like in verbal discussion, the information generated should be allowed to ‘disappear’ when the discussion ends at the end of the unit, course or program. During a face-to-face discussion we do not usually feel the need to transcribe or retain everything that was said. Instead we put the important stuff in a journal, diary, include it as part of a book or publishable paper and carry on. The human memory works in such a way that even if we tell ourselves that this piece of information is something we never want to forget we will invariably forget it. That is why humans have used various methods to pass on important information throughout history – verbal story telling, writing/publishing books, mass media, the Internet.

So use discussion boards to get ideas out there – to ‘throw them around’, ‘air them out’ – and then if you really want to hang on to them, copy and paste them into your blog and you will have them forever (and you can access them again or your great-great-great grandkids can blow the dust off them in 100+ years). So, in summary, use DB’s to discuss course related topics and use your blogs to weave stories of everything relating to school or the personal that interests you enough to record for future use or for posterity.