Connect (edu) Learning Within Groups and Networks.

Well well :)

Teemu came in on Skype this morning with an enquiry as to whether I'd seen Leigh's entry for 'Networked Learning' over at Wikiversity.

Structured as a course ? lesson ? free-content ?

"....It is based on the principles of networked learning where individuals establish an online identity and formulate relationships with other people and information to communicate and develop knowledge."

My answer was that indeed I had...as well as keeping an eye on George Siemen's premise of 'connectivism' over at Wikipedia.

"......Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing. Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical...."

So which one is the buzz-word and which one is the core concept for online learning and offline connection making ? Or is it both ? Neither ? Nor ?

Teemu and I will be engaging with whomever has a grasp on the notions of network (ed) learning migrating from the informal to non-formal perhaps even looking at the move from networks to groups back to the singular and the necessary transitory modality to sustain all three in time.

Without losing the individual what do we become when we engage beyond our own petty boundaries ? What's a risk ?

I'm hoping that Alan Levine will pick up the ping and offer us a two hour block in the main NMC arena ( colosseum ? ) on January 16th at UTC 00:00 .....

Unstructured.

Slides perhaps and if your game to come back on Leigh's retort that providing some semblance of order via a web form only confuses people.

Bring your dancing scripts.