Contextual • Cyclical • Connected
The Spaces of Learning
To Mimi Ito, I credit a change in my understanding of the spaces of learning. From a rather narrow definition of learning as a predominantly school-based activity, I see now that we all are participants in a learning ecology more broadly. Home, school, work, community — each environment privileges different kinds of knowledge, identity, and behavior, but each is a space for learning. Learning is a process that we enact in every aspect of our lives, in all of our modes and identities.
Learning does not need to be so highly focused and directed as a problem-solving process, as I had envisioned in my earlier philosophy of learning. It can also arise in more informal environments through play and social engagement. The learning that happens in the home environment, in the peer environment, in the community has important implications for the learning that happens in school.
I envision the role of a teacher to be like that of a trainer in a gym. Formal educational environments take students’ learning in informal settings and push it, introducing new challenges, problems, and conflicts that turbo-charge the learning process. We move and exercise, to some degree, constantly in our daily lives. Carrying bags or walking to the grocery store are diffuse, everyday forms of exercise. Informal environments prioritize efficiency, utility, and perhaps pleasure in movement. However, if we’re really looking to give ourselves a workout, to effect meaningful change in our bodies and minds, we need to practice in an context that is primed for that purpose. The dedicated workout environment of the gym provides the necessary tools (weights and machines), guidance (a trainer), and a culture of others working towards the same broad goals.
The Cycles of Learning
To George Siemens, I owe a developing understanding of cyclical, networked learning that has the individual as its starting point. Learning that exists only in the head is incomplete. The unending process of learning reaches the close of one cycle when it is reified, externalized, and entered into the collective knowledge. From there, the artifact of understanding can take a new life, spark learning in others, or invite discussion that raises new ideas, that in turn create new dissonances, that spark new accommodations or adjustments, and so on. Even though I think that the doing is key, the true value of externalizing learning lies not in the artifact’s production value, but rather in the process of creating as an iterative, playful practice.
To Siemens, and to my classmate Heidi Martin, I owe an attention to learning as a process of making discriminations. We decide what information has enough merit to enter into our understanding. We make these judgements based on authority, evidence, logic, style, and emotion. In an environment with abundant access to knowledge, assessing worthiness is key.
Also to Siemens, I owe an understanding that “self-organization on a personal level is a micro-process of the larger self-organizing knowledge constructs created within corporate or institutional environments.” Just kidding – I’m still not entirely sure what that means…
Learning and Participation
From John Seely Brown, I have seen a powerful definition for learning: flexibly navigating in the flow that is the ever-moving river of experiences, information, and interactions that constitute life in the 21st century. Learning arises from an instance of cognitive conflict — an unsustainable dissonance between new information and existing understanding. Life presents us with these conflicts, and it is how we choose to resolve them that is a marker of learning. The teacher’s role, then, is to give students practice engaging with these important conflicts by offering information, ideas, and questions that spark cognitive dissonance and lead to student-driven inquiry.
Finally, to Brown I owe my newfound mantra as a teacher and learner:
“You gotta feel it with your body. You’ve got to be a part of that. You’ve got to be in it, not just above it and learning about it.”
For my learning philosophy video, I wanted to try my hand at one of the 21st century skills we discussed this semester: remixing. Using videos from the Prelinger Archives, a collection of over 60,000 films in the public domain on Archive.org, I hoped to remix some 20th century ideas into a new framework. This video shows a progression from top-down, behaviorist learning toward a more holistic, playful, and social model that I explored in my learning philosophy. My goal was to show how our connected learning principles are not so different from what came before, but rather an evolution based on the new tools and technologies of our time: Remixing Education
Hello Maria,
Even though you are not in my blog group, I do visit and read your writings frequently. I find them deep, insightful, and you write in a very interesting and engaging way. So of course I was so looking forward to look at your video too. Alas, I can’t open open it!! waaaaaaa 🙁
And for the 1st time ever, I found out why I can’t watch any vimeo videos (I finally googled to troubleshoot the problem since you are not the 1st vimeo video I can’t open).
The Blocking of Vimeo in Indonesia:
– “Indeed, the country’s Ministry of Communications and Information (MICT) has been criticized for the opaque nature of its censorship regime in general, and the recent wholesale ban of video-sharing site Vimeo in particular.” (https://citizenlab.org/2014/05/blocking-vimeo-indonesia/)
– “Indonesia authorities have ordered a ban on popular video-sharing website Vimeo after accusing it of hosting pornographic content, sparking social media fury.” (http://www.3news.co.nz/world/indonesia-blocks-videosharing-site-vimeo-2014051320#ixzz3tVndRUub)
Maria,
As I have mentioned before, I so appreciate your reflections for their ability to push my thinking and challenge my assumptions. You have a gift of eloquence. I was reading your blog post to my 16 year old son and he commented on it’s poetic feeling. And what an engaging video! I found myself laughing out loud at times. We haven’t really changed much at all have we? Great work. I am so grateful for the opportunities to connect with you this semester. Good luck to you. I hope our paths cross again!
Wow! Awesome video Maria! It’s amusing to see that the same emerging issues and forthcoming revolutions to education are not new. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess. Sadly, it makes me a bit cynical (Me, cynical?!?! Never!!!) to think that fifty years from now the future EdTech-ers will be having similar discussions.
Again, great job!
Jeff
Hey Maria,
I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs this semester and consider myself lucky to have had you assigned to my group. I feel like I’m repeating a bit of Jeff, Heidi and Maura’s comments but I think that is to your credit.
When I read your comment above about your intention with the video I has some reservations if it would work. It’s a great idea and works on a number of levels. I am curious to know how you came to choose the videos you included and how many you had to watch to make your selection.
I was quite tickled by the statement (0:50) “complex and rapidly changing world” juxtaposed over the images of the old classroom and old computers. And I particularly liked the way you illustrated ‘communities’ from 2:00 to 2:40.
Following on from our earlier challenge, the one critical comment I would make is that it might be helpful to create a stronger or clearer linkage between the intelligent solutions you offer up and Web 2.0 technologies. But an argument can be made that your audience is already equipped with the knowledge necessary to make those linkages.
It has been a pleasure.
Best regards,
Sean
Maria,
Great video! I, like Jeff, found it humorous that a lot of the ideas presented in the videos were from decades ago yet relevant today. I suppose that also worries me because we haven’t seen much in the way of improvement from then until now. Heck, we even have some pretty lousy legislature binding educators to curriculum. I liked how you broke down each topic covered in the class. I too would like to know how many hours of video you had to watch in order to compile something so comprehensive. We connected on a lot of the same ideas like “failing and then trying again” as a means for learning. Also, the scenes describing student to teacher relationships was great as well.
I hope you have a great Holiday break Maria. I really enjoyed working with you this semester.
Maria,
It seems like most of us have taken on new perspectives about the learning process. I like how you discuss that learning can take place in a multitude of settings, both formal and informal. Also, great analogy of the role of a teacher being like that of a trainer!