Learning in the Digital Age
–Learning, Working & Playing in the Digital Age(1999) :http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/seelybrown/ Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learing 2.0(2008).http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20
After reading the articles noted above it seems that Web 2.0 learning can be achieved through a social community online between experts in a field who mentor novices who are interested in that field. Beginners start from a peripheral way of learning by watching and observing those with more experience. As experience develops then they become more active in contributing to the group. The traditional role of facilitator has changed from an authoritative “supply-push” mode of delivering information to a cooperative co-learner in a “demand-pull” swapping of information. The traditional learner has changed from an inactive student to a participatory member in a learning community. These roles are valid with my philosophy of learning as I agree with active participation for learning to occur. Do you think facilitators are in general uncomfortable with this new type of co-creation of knowledge?
Designing learning environments will be a challenge in establishing new modes of objectives, instructional methods, assessments, and evaluation. The old method of evaluating an individual on content knowledge will change to one where it will be more important to judge an individuals ability to apply that content within context. John Seely Brown who has published a lot on technology and learning as seen in his bibliography. Even though the articles are outdated, they are still relevant, attesting to his analogy of Web applications being slowly integrated into society as was electrification in the 19th century. Although I suspect this application has sped up recently due to Web 2.0 insurgence through mobile technology.
An interesting topic in Learning, Working, & Playing in the Digital Age article was about student thinking in the digital age by constantly multi-processing. Brown notes that students are multi-processors who simultaneously listen to music, view TV, talk on the cell phone, etc..(1).He found this impressive and idealistic for the corporate world, since he says that most of us seldom spend more than five minutes concentrating on one topic during the daytime. I disagree. I find it hard to believe that most of us don’t spend five minutes concentrating on something and what does the daytime have to do with it? I think multi-processing is distracting for students. Yes, it is a form of concentration, a divergent one with a lack of depth or long term memory processes. Recent support for this can be found in an article Students can’t resist multi-tasking, and it’s impairing their memory by Annie Murphy Paul. (Paul) What happens when our youth remembers nothing? I see it all the time; kids constantly looking up information because they do not remember. Does this create a tendency for an ADHD society?
Will students lack creativity or originality, in a sense create a “copy and paste” society? Another topic in Learning, Working& Playing in the Digital Age that is unsettling in my opinion is student reasoning with “bricolage” style logic.(1) This type of logic is discrete and literal interpretation of knowledge. As a scientific person I find this thought unsettling, since abstract thought is used for mathematics and science. While being concerned with those topics, I do see positive attributes in Brown’s thoughts on social learning through Web 2.0 technologies in the Minds on Fire article. Brown describes social learning as different then Cartesian learning by being a “demand-pull” system rather then a tradition “supply-push” system of knowledge in students’ heads. Shifting focus to actively participating in flows of action where one can be cultivated in a community of practicing knowledge (2).Social learning is part of my philosophy of learning as learning through activity. Personally I have seen this type of learning effective with Penn State Altoona students who perform research with professors. These students form their own social community together as they work together on research projects.
Brown notes that Web 2.0 can provide an ecosystem of “learning 2.0.” Where social communities can learn through participation on the Web 2.0 on common interests. “People engage with blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging systems, mashups, and content-sharing sites while mastering content.”(2) Obviously I consider this course a Learning 2.0 ecosystem since we are using blogs. Do you think Facebook a Web 2.0 or Learning 2.0 system? What is the line between learning and entertainment? Is there a definitive distinction between the two?
What are your thoughts about the future of learning with this YouTube video?John Seely Brown’s SMU Commencement Speech 2013 In summary he talks about the “big shift” of a predictable world to an exponential changing one, where “scalable efficiency” no longer works for our society. Instead we have to look at augmenting our capabilities using a team effort between human and machine to re-invent and design institutions to provide a “scalable learning” structure. This structure will focus on emerging systems that will always be changing and must constantly be scrutinized for secondary consequences (3). I believe this will change the way in which our future educational systems are going to provide instruction. Online education using learning 2.0 will become more significant in reaching and educating people around the world.
References:
(1). John Seely Brown: Learning, Working & Playing in the Digital Age. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2014, from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/seelybrown/
(2). Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2014, from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/minds-fire-open-education-long-tail-and-learning-20
(3). SMU Commencement 2013 The Big Shift From Scalable Efficiency to Scalable Learning, by JSB – YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h0G6wjH5Hk
(4). Students can’t resist multi-tasking, and it’s impairing their memory — Education — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2014, from http://bangordailynews.com/2013/05/07/education/students-cant-resist-multitasking-and-its-impairing-their-memory/
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