An outsider looking in

Seeing myself as a bit of an "optimist," somebody who likes to think about what could be or how to make things better than they were before, much like David has recently posted about being motivated by an optimistic view to make things better. I'm often listening to speakers on TED or even rummaging through Reddit's education forums for discussions on education. Recent posts by peers about the need for reform or change in the existing models of education has sparked thoughts on being in a system, and how much our thinking is shaped while we are in it and how different it begins to look once one is on the outside looking in.

   by  opethpainter 

Although I still see myself as part of the discourse in educational communities, and always will be (once an educator, always an educator) I'm no longer teaching as a high school teacher or university lecturer, engaging in the institutional practices of everyday structure, order and control. Well, this is how I experienced it. I'm now on the outside, providing tutoring and coaching to high school and university students, listening to their experiences in a whole variety of schools, from public to private, from schools of humble means to ones with swimming pools, and even golf courses. What has been most interesting is using the different learning platforms that high schools and universities are delivering their learning resources through. Most are using LMSs, certainly not the "menu-like" approach that Anne highlights in her discussion about offering a more individualised experience of learning for students.

Recently I was offered by a long-time colleague friend who is also has her Doctorate in Education at a major university about creating a training organisation that provides literacy and numeracy certificates for teachers, particularly ones that prepare them for the mandated literacy and numeracy tests that teachers will have to undertake to obtain their degrees. I was initially interested in the idea until I gave it some thought. My major concern was doing more of the same and eventually turning into a system that supports the very system that is far too long and outdated. Do I want to perpetuate that system, being a pawn in the system I thought to myself. No.

However, I admire individuals like David, Anne, Brendon, Mari and many others in NGL who remain a part of the system and still hope to make things better from within. As Anne writes how she is trying to "nurture communities of practice" in the "highly traditional structures" within which she works. This is indeed noble but I think as David highlighted it can be depressing, leading to a "pessimism" that I think permeates secondary and higher education, and something in the end that I, and many of my colleagues who left to other areas, some even leaving teaching for good, did not want to be a part of. What I learnt and fundamentally believe is that negativity arises when one is not living according to their values. When this happens it is only natural to feel pessimistic, frustrated and hopeless.

When reading my peers posts it is as clear as day that we are all passionate educators who went into the profession because of our love of learning, particularly of the potential of learning to transform individuals in who they have the potential to be. When there are so many constraining forces, it is inevitable that the participants are going to feel frustrated. This is why Sir Ken Robinson and Sugra Mitra, as Anne highlights, are getting so much attention online, I don't think I haven't seen a forum on education that has not highlighted their speeches in way or another about the systemic issues in education. They are all speaking about a fundamental reality, our education systems are archaic and have to change. However, my concern is that teachers are targeted as the creators of the problems, as I think their powerlessness invites them to becoming scapegoats far too easily. In my opinion the issue is far more complex.

There is a really good analogy shared by Derek Stivers in his post, "Fish don't know they're in water." He uses the fish in the tank analogy. When the fish is in the tank he or she cannot see the water because that is all he or she has ever known. It is not until the fish jumps out that he or she sees a whole new world, a new way of looking at things. I came across Derek after Brendon reshared a video by David, the lecturer of NGL. I then proceeded to watch all his videos - all with the theme of living a life on your terms, but also the importance of learning new things and seeing things from a different perspective.

I've noticed that it was not until I left the "system" until I really could start thinking of other potentialities. While I was in there, regardless of type, the institutional factors permeated my entire being, I was like the fish in water. It was only through leaping out of the water, particularly through my interaction with individuals in other areas of education, such as teachers at progressive schools like Steiner or Big Picture, or other fields, such as coaching, that I began to see there are other ways of being educated.

How to start writing

Series 1.3 - How to start writing

Now that I have found my writing network, am actively engaging with their ideas and even sharing some of my thoughts, I'm ready to begin writing. I have read many times from the likes of Steven Pressfield, Stephen King, Dani Shapiro and Stewart Ferris that the blank page" is the most foreboding part of writing, once you begin it's all free flow from there because you get into what's dubbed as "The Zone." However, you have to begin ....

Bloggers of all ages and backgrounds in writing have also expressed the same sentiment, everything from the challenges of facing the blank screen, to Jeff Goins, one of the most prolific bloggers on writing, who says that a writer must begin with conflict - 'without conflict, you don't have a story." Within these groups I've found endless support for writers, everything from the proverbial pat on the back to writing workshops and free Skype sessions if I would like to talk to other writers whilst being guided by an already published writer.

If it were not for these writers eloquently sharing their ideas I don't think I would have progressed to this stage (the beginning writing phase), as they all illustrated their humanness by sharing their own struggles to begin writing, everything from the very early stages, where one contemplates writing a novel, and is plagued by fears and uncertainty, with the odd am I mad or bad for wanting to go this way. However, as many of you will have also realised, there is no choice because we have to do what we do best, it is a part of us, just as it is for some to play sport, build houses, explore the world, anything that they feel drawn to do they have to do.

A really good quote I have beside my bed says do not live the life that other's want you to live because they do not have to live with the consequences (author unknown). As a parent I've been very mindful of this advice with my two sons, careful not to make them feel compelled to follow a path that is not in accordance with who they are, hence one is studying film and television and working on this own YouTube channel and the other also has a YouTube channel but is also a comedian, and is about to start an acting course as he wants his videos to make people laugh. I can see how they both love what they do and do not see it as work, more like an extension of themselves.

I detracted but another thing the writers have shared with me is the harshness of the "white, blank page" that does not provide any hints on how to begin, and can cause immense existential angst, yikes! Nevertheless, when they fight their inner demons and let themselves be guided by their "muse" they begin writing and all their ideas flow from there, much like writing this post on a Saturday morning. I opened up a new page, looked at it for a moment, did not experience the angst but I'm guessing it is because I already knew what I was going to write and the task was nowhere near as challenging, it's just a 500 word post rather than a 60,000 word or more magnum opus.

I'm thinking of writing only 16,000 to 20,000 words as the novel I'm intending on writing is for both children and adults, a combination of ideas from The Lion King, Braveheart, and The Never Ending Story. When I say ideas I mean really broadly defined. King, in On Writing, gives the advice to not worry about plotting out your story as it can ruin its magic and prevent other powerful ideas from coming in. I think his advice is most sage and have therefore decided to just begin at the beginning, where a girl's father returns from military service, only to have him and her family whisked away, finding herself trying to survive and accompanied by a cat.

Predicting where learning is heading

I cannot seem to get enough of George Siemens lately, his ideas are profound and, I believe, worth knowing as we progress into the future, thinking about where and how education is changing. I recently viewed "Changing Schools, Changing Knowledge" where Siemens talks about how the "student" has become the "centre of learning," in contrast to the past, where the "university was needed to do a lot of knowledge mediating." Students, like I have discussed in a previous post, are "organising without an organisation," meaning they are finding their own information, they can go "direct to the source." What does this mean and how will learning look like in the future?

Judging from my own behaviour, where I spend a lot of time using my laptop and phone, using Google, Blogger, gmail, YouTube, and many other web-based tools and programs, I can see how Siemen's claims is reflecting my own reality. Rather than relying on the traditional nodes of learning, such as reading books and newspapers, watching television news and documentaries (the staples of my childhood), I'm now experiencing the competing nodes of information giving, including social media.

As students are interacting with information different than the past, what is important now is not the acquisition of facts and data but rather knowing how to access the facts and data. Rather, as Siemens says that the "knowledge is in the connections" we make between facts. Through the connections we make between nodes we are able to think creatively and critically, we are not just knowing things, we are making abstractions - the purpose of education.

This poses the question, what will happen to the traditional "bricks and mortar" university? Will course providers, such as Udacity or Coursera, provide cheap courses (7,000 dollars as opposed to $30,000+ masters degrees) and universities will cease being the "fountain of all knowledge," or at least, "play the mediating role," as Siemens says. A quick glimpse on Udacity and it is not hard to tell which courses are viewed as most important in our future - computer science is definitely prevalent. I don't see any humanities courses there. Coursera, in contrast, seems to offer everything and anything, although the sciences are prevalent. I love the sciences, do not get me wrong, but I see the fields of Linguistics, Sociology, English Literature and History as gold mines for providing insight into the human condition, much more than the sciences, in my opinion, could ever deliver. This is a concern and something that I will follow with interest.

What is exciting is a MOOC course that a fellow peer, Anne, has completed through EdX. The course, 'Leaders of Learning,' enables the learner to identify and develop their own "personal theory of learning, and explore how it "fits into the shifting landscape of learning." At the end, if the learner completes the course to a "satisfactory" standard, they will receive a "personalised Honor Code Certificate to showcase [their] achievement." There is an upcoming course that helps learners identity where they are sitting in terms of their preferred mode of learning. For lifelong learners, who are always looking to update their knowledge and skills, like my peers in NGL, MOOCs clearly provide unprecedented opportunities.

Although Siemens says that "it is impossible to predict" what learning will look like in the future, what is clear is that students are definitely interacting with information differently and wanting something more.

Does our "filter bubble" narrow our learning online?

In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century I was so excited about the potential of the Internet. I saw it as offering an endless array of information, for any interest area and as I was learning about freedom of speech during my undergraduate years, I saw the Internet as a great democratising force, a platform where anyone could share their opinion. However, after reading an article that cites The Filter Bubble, a book by Eli Pariser in 2011, I am now beginning to think whether what I anticipated has "backfired." Rather than being a democratising force it is largely "controlled through personalisation" (Pariser, (2011) as cited in Menchaca, 2012)."

   by  Ali Smiles :) 

An article by Menchaca (2012) outlines a study by librarians and publishers in the networked learning of the 21st century and outline how when students research for information they do not consider the "library resources" as students had in the past, but "overwhelmingly use social networking sites, such as Facebook (Head & Eisenberg, 2011, p.36 as cited in Menchaca, 2012). By "liking and commenting" on their friends' posts and websites, through Facebook's algorithms, and this occurs for YouTube as well, the individual encounters "more of the same," in other words, more information that already confirms or reaffirms what he or she is interested in or wants to know about. As a learner I know I am certainly doing this.

Gone are the human filters (i.e. editors and publishers), who decided what was printed, and had peers that would "call them out." A consequence of the "filter bubble" is that individuals will only seek what they like (Menchaca, 2012). We will seek out those friends whose "online behaviour mimics and reinforces our own (Menchaca, 2012). Pariser in The Filter Bubble describes how the "socially constructed information" of our "circle of association contracts tighter and tighter," to the point that we become "locked" inside a "bubble," that is "tailored" on our preferences.

This is one of the reasons why I have always thought a formal education to be necessary. When I was completing my undergraduate in Education and the Arts, where I studied History, Political Science, Sociology, English Literature and Law, I was "forced," for want of a better word, to go into realms that I had not ventured before and that I was highly unlikely to have discovered on my own. I also saw academics as having "checks" and "balances" on their writing, in contrast to how I perceived the information sharing on the web. I have since learned that the Internet has its own accountability mechanisms built in but, as George Siemens, in his talk that I wrote about a few weeks ago, outlines that although "networks are great ... they still need to be augmented with systems of control," without it, I believe, we may only learn what we like rather than what we "need to learn" (Menchaca, 2012)."

Brown and Thomas (2011), as cited in Menchaca (2012), argue that "networked digital information has altered education by keeping the information "unfinished and unfinishable." This means that in contrast to 20th-century education, where information was linearly transferred from teacher to pupil, the "new culture of learning" is where students are engaged in networked communication but are living by the "law of least effort" (Menchaca, 2012).

The consequence of this was outlined by Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and 2002 Nobel Prize winner in economics, in his Thinking, Fast and Slow, that "humans solves new problems in a manner quite opposite to how the filter bubble operates." He outlines that studies have revealed that as humans we "gravitate" to what is easier, and the Internet, inadvertently, has enabled us to acquire information (always a hunger in us aa a species) but we will take the course that demands the least cost (Kahneman, 2011, p. 35 as cited in Menchaca, 2012), thus resulting in learning that does not effect "cognitive dissonance, surprise, or doubt," the elements nurtured by "contrariety" (research that reveals the opposite side or difference), something that I have always believed was nurtured in my undergraduate education.

New understandings like this, such as the filter bubble and the consequences of social media and more widely the Internet, impacts not only my future as a teacher and learner but the future of us all. The question that I initially posed as the title of this post is something that I will continue to seek to answer.

References:

Menchaca, F. (2012). The Future Is in Doubt: Librarians, Publishers, and Networked Learning in the 21st Century, Journal of Library Administration, 52(5), 396-410.

The least likely to learn online

If someone had asked me only one year ago whether I would consider studying my masters online I would have had said a steadfast "No." My engagement with online learning was researching information on the web and watching videos (i.e. YouTube, TED, Vimeo, etc.), like Clare, but not enrolling in an entire degree online. (Clare's "Growing definition of networked learning" reveals that I wasn't alone). Forward a year and here I am, amazingly, quite enjoying it, even ... seeing it as the way things are.

It was not only my experience as a university lecturer that caused my reservations, as I believed, and still do to some degree, that the learning online can be very impersonal (as many of my clients have expressed) but my nostalgic recollections of being an undergraduate, thinking and believing that one had to interact with their peers in a real space is what confined my thinking. However, what I'm finding in the virtual space is that I'm not only saving a lot of time (not having to drive to lectures and tutorials and not even having to view them) but I am feeling connected to a community of learners.

Each day I'm checking to see what my peers are posting, as well as reading the posts of bloggers within my writing networks.The benefits of blogging has far exceeded my expectations, becoming a tool, as Brendon highlights in his post, that "leads to better learning." He cites MacBride (2008) who has identified the potential of blogs to "support learning" as they are an effective tool to "promote reflective thinking" and "nurture collaboration and relationship-building," amongst many other benefits. I, like Brendon, did not keep a reflective journal during my undergraduate experience and have realised the "benefits of reflection and consolidation of understanding" through blogging.

Through being connected in an online network, I find myself thinking a lot about how I can contribute to my networks, where the future of learning is heading, what my role is going to be in that future, can I even think about the future, particularly considering how rapidly technology has changed since even just five years ago, and so forth. As it turns out my peers are also thinking about these things. Anne is asking questions about where "education might be heading?" Philip is thinking about the "Next Generation of on-line learning pedagogy and instructional design," but also "career development." I'm now following his posts with particular interest as his working thesis is:

if it can be expected that, in the future, any employee, student, or participant in the global economy needs to be a technology-savant, ‘communication-ready’, open, autonomous, creative, ready for the challenge of giving and sharing’ online – THEN it’s almost like giving a job seeker a passport to find jobs in Finland, Georgia or Timbujtu!

His thesis expresses the way of the future and I agree with Philip, it is very exciting.

Although I'm still at the early stages, I certainly feel that my identity as a learner is changing. I no longer see myself as the least likely to learn online, or at least engage in formal learning.

Flaming your enemies online

   by  Muffet 

I recently commented on a post, perhaps not in the most polite way possible, which is definitely not my usual approach, and it got me thinking about the whole phenomenon of "flaming" online, and how it begins. Although my situation is nowhere near as extreme, and I really am talking extreme polarities here, the issue of flaming is certainly fascinating, and if one was involved, disturbing.

After I posted, and reflected, I realised that I perhaps should have said nothing but it was too late and I was prepared to live with the consequences. Nothing untoward happened but the issue, despite not even remotely illustrating the vitriolic verbal war that happens in some online forums, blogs and comment sections, did make me realise how easy it is to offend online.

As the Internet is a platform where individuals do not need to speak to each other face-to-face, and many will not even see the people that they are responding to, they are much more likely to say things that they would not normally say in real-world encounters. Would I have responded how I did if I was speaking directly to the person, regardless of my role, probably not, or I may have joked about it, trying to be as subtle as I can.

A recent video on YouTube, that was forwarded to me by a friend via Skype illustrates a "flame war," where two people start verbally attacking each each other, often times leading to 200 comments later and no end in sight. The video is a satire of two teenage girls who flame each other over who loves One Direction more. There are a heap of these videos on YouTube making fun of individuals who engage in flaming, but I can imagine that it causes a lot of unnecessary suffering, on both sides.

The popular understanding is that there are some individuals, who have been dubbed "Flamers" - as they "cannot be stamped out," and "just want to kill, to flame and are out for blood." This is the language that I have often heard my sons usingt, particularly when I first voiced my concerns about leaving feedback on online comment sections, such as TED or Youtube. They also talk about "trolls," who literally navigate through forums deliberately trying to stir up trouble, and thriving off the attention.

My sons also tell me how flamers, most of the time, are "not think logically" and are out to create "cesspools," where nothing good comes out of the interchange, they are only "out to flame," mostly due to being very angry. In fact, my sons also say that they even avoid commenting, unless it is to give an up-and-coming YouTuber some positive feedback, such as "Keep it up dude, I love your videos!"

In hindsight I would have followed the advice of a blog post I had shared with my fellow peers in NGL a few days earlier. Writer's Unboxed shared a post about Networking for Writers and how to connect with people that you want to communicate with, more than just reading their posts. The guest poster outlined how it is always important to comment in a "friendly and funny way on their posts and blogs" and to only say things that promote interaction. Sage advice that I will follow, not only as a teacher and learner but also as a member of an online teaching community of practice.

Being a part of a community of practice

One of the concepts that I come across a lot in the literature in NGL and another subject Learning Futures is the notion of "communities of practice." Recalling my undergraduate days I do not remember reading about the phrase. However, it has intrigued me as it illustrates my purpose and role as a student, learner and teacher.

According to Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave, the original founders of the "situated learning" model, what distinguishes a community of practice from other groups and communities is the domain, community and practice. When the members of the community share a domain of interest (i.e. writing novels) and are committed to the domain, their "shared competence" is what distinguishes them from other people. By "pursuing their interest" and engaging in joint activities and discussions, the members are able to "build relationships that enable them to learn from each other" and share information. Lastly, through practising their craft and sharing their resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems, through "time and sustained interaction" the members become a community of practice (Wenger, 2007 as cited in Smith, 2009).

Knowledge of how to engage in a community of practice is powerful knowledge as when one learns, just as I did when learning about Discourses (Gee, 1996), and their power to include and exclude insiders and outsiders. I now know how communities of practice develop and what is involved in becoming a member, particularly if one is wanting to join a particular community of practice. Through building relationships, becoming involved in the activities and sharing one's own knowledge and skills with the community, an individual, such as an aspiring writer can join the community, starting from the "periphery," as I am, and eventually to "full participation" (Lave and Wenger, 1991:37 as cited in Smith, 2009).

There are issues with Lave and Wenger's (1991:108-9) conception of "situated learning," a concept that refers to learners becoming "full participants in the world and generating meaning" as members of a community. Some claim that it "makes no sense to talk of knowledge that is decontexualised, abstract or general" if it is not a part of a community of practice - that there is too much focus on the group rather than the individual, thus making individual pursuits not worthwhile as they do not require interaction with a group (Smith, 2009). Others also claim that communities of practice can sometimes develop "power relationships that seriously inhibit entry and participation" (Smith, 2009). This can be seen in many fields that require cultural capital, such as medicine, law and business. I think these critiques have validity and is something I need to research further to gain a deeper understanding.

Another issue with the idea of community of practice is how the "communities" are based on authentic contexts and some have questioned formalised structures, such as schooling and other institutions for learning, as being a community of practice that does not prepare its participants to become full participants (Smith, 2009) in a real-world context. For example, children at school are taught how to do school but cannot become teachers when they graduate. Whereas, historically, a young person who worked within a community of craftsmen, would become a member of that craft when he (or she, although unlikely) finished their apprenticeship. I think it certainly does illustrate how important it is to learn in authentic contexts, and this does pose a challenge for schools, which in my experience, can have many learning experiences that are divorced from the real-world.

The idea of authenticity is what appeals to me most about the notion of community of practice. It emphasises that "learning is in the relationships between people" (Murphy, 1999:17 as cited in Smith, 2009) in a real-world context. Rather than learning being seen as something an individual acquires on their own, divorced from context, it illustrates how knowledge and activity are interdependent, and in order to learn effectively learning must include the social context, particularly the experience of being in the practice. This means that educators, or pedagogues, as I prefer to call anyone who is involved in the "process of accompanying learners; caring for and about them; and bringing learning into life" (Smith, 2012), need to focus on enabling their learners to become participants in communities of practice. I can see this is what the course NGL is doing. It is not just encouraging learners to repeat and regurgitate what is already there but to become participants in communities of practice.

As I'm now venturing off into the world of writing my first novel I am definitely on the periphery of the writing community, looking in, communicating through email or forums, but only dabbling. These communities are not "formal in organisation" and are "very fluid and informal" (Smith, 2009), encouraging active participation with like-minded individuals. It is these communities permeability and interactivity that enables individuals like myself, an extrovert, as Brendon highlights who have more difficulty than the introvert online, to have a chance of becoming active and full participants.

References:

Gee, J. P. (,1996, 2009). Disourse Analysis: What makes It Critical? Retrieved August 27 from http://www.jamespaulgee.com/node/11

Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009) ‘Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice’the encyclopedia of informal education, Retrieved from www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm

Smith, M. K. (2012). ‘What is pedagogy?’, the encyclopaedia of informal education, Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-pedagogy/

My PKM routine revamped!

In an earlier post about establishing a PKM routine and modifying it as I went along I wrote about the importance of having a routine that I followed so I would not get lost in a "sea of information." I wish I could say that I have been following the routine and modifying it as I go along but in reality, or my perception of it, I have been taking a more adhoc approach, doing things as I need to, trying to stay afloat.

I have been using Feedly as my aggregator for the blogs of NGL course participants but for other blogs, such as writing blogs, I am still using Blogger's feed section. This is because I have found Feedly to not recognise some blog's urls, whereas Blogger will recognise most. David, the course lecturer, has said that he uses it as his main "seeking" mechanism but I have found it to be too unreliable. Nevertheless, I am sticking with it and am hoping that it may just be an issue on my end. 

To be more active with my peers is one of my greatest challenges. As I will read what many have posted using Feedly but then when I go to write future blogs I will forget which blog has the relevant ideas that I need to link back to. David offers the idea to "jot down rough ideas and links to what sparked those ideas." I like this approach and some of my former posts did do this. At one stage I had ten drafts sitting with ideas and questions ready to go. 

Sharing what I find via Diigo is also another major challenge as I'm finding myself flat-out with all the other requirements of NGL and another course that I am taking, Theories of Learning Futures. 

I have come to the realisation that in order to make further progress I need to start committing quick "mind dumps" of my working ideas and thoughts, as David suggests. I can see that this is a much more valuable tool, particularly if one wants to really learn what he or she is learning, and not only see the blog as a way to share the learning process. If some individuals do connect with what I write, or at least comment, then it can be seen as an opportunity for an "unexpected bit of learning."

What sparked this realisation was a reading on situated learning - a theory about how we learn in social contexts. Goel et al., writes that when individuals "externalise their mental models, making [them] explicit in order for [their thoughts] to be amenable to change," it is only then will they be able to change. This was an epiphany for me and elucidated the reason why blogging is such a powerful tool in the learning process. It is through writing our ideas down that we make what we learn explicit, thus enabling us to "reflect upon it, and reanalyse it in light of new and sometimes conflicting information" (Goal et all., 2008).

As with any routine I have found that I need to continually adapt my routine, whether it is for writing a novel, or participating in the NGL course. As David says, it is a "process that works for me and where I'm at right now." This is indeed where I am at right now.

References:

Goel, L. et al., (2010). Situated Learning: Conceptualisation and Measurement, Journal of Innovative Education, 8(1), 215–240. 

Joining a writing network

Series 1.2 - Joining a writing network

Once upon a time I wanted to complete a Creative Writing degree as I believed that I needed to be taught the knowledge and skills on how to write a novel in a formal setting, amongst a community of established writers with formal writing degrees. As my knowledge of novelists, and how they acquired their skills began to evolve, many not even having a formal degree, I began to realise that a formalised setting was not essential. What was necessary was active collaboration with a community of practitioners, all who were learning and sharing their experiences of not only how to write effectively but also how to navigate through the challenges of writing.

   by  Walt Stoneburner 

To find that community of writers I first had to establish what type of writer I was, as within the writing community there are so many different writing communities. I have realised, and this is mostly due to the novels I read, and the short stories that I have constructed in the past that I am a realist writer (with all the ambiguities that the genre entails) that likes to incorporate fantastical elements into my writing. Sounds like an oxymoron but I find that fantasy and even science fiction tend to illustrate powerful ideas about life and human nature often better than realist fiction. I also believe that including fantastical elements, such as talking animals (anthropomorphism) is an effective technique for illustrating fundamental human truths. It is our relationships to animals, or other species, that allow us to be who we are. My toy poodle Sirius Black, seal-point ragdoll Jasmyne and tabby Persian Thorin reveal this to me every day. If they could talk they would no doubt be full of insight.

What does one do when they want to join a community of writer bloggers? Well, of course he or she types into Google "best writing blogs." This is what I did. I decided I was going to check out each blog and if I liked them, particularly if they included authors that wrote novels that I was interested in, I copied and pasted their url into my blogger feed and began reading whichever posts I thought were important for the beginning of my journey. As I began reading blog posts I began to frequent some blogger posts more than others and found the writers that I identified with the most. They provide not only fruitful advice on how to begin writing but also information on how to publish one's novel and become active within the community of writers.

Now that I have found my community of writers I need to begin the writer process but how does one go about it. Do I just begin typing, like I have in the past with short stories? Or does one outline the plot first, something that I do have a rough idea of but have not plotted anything substantial. Or does one do character outlines, and work from there? These are my thoughts as I begin writing my first novel.

Fully engaged and feeling connected!

I woke up this morning to check my email and found many posts by fellow peers who have been actively engaging with the discussions, even referring to my posts (Yeah!) and provided links for me to check out! Thank you Anne. A link by Anne is of an educator who consults through her practice called Learning 4 Learning Professionals. I found the blog to be amazing, with entire sections devoted to my area of interest - consulting! :D

What this experience highlights for me is the importance of interaction for me. David expresses how the blog is a "space to make random thinking a little more explicit," and I agree with this, as it helps me conceptualise my ideas and gain further understanding and even insight. This is invaluable and something that I will persist with indefinitely. It also means I am already a "writer" rather than waiting to be magically bestowed with the label, which I was doing for a long time.

However, what I feel I know to be true is that disposition, how one interprets the world, definitely influences his or her interaction in the blogosphere. I love the "comments" and "input from others." I thrive on it. What this means is that I do "care" whether I am engaging with my audience. Maybe this is the teacher in me, with many years of writing things that did directly engage with my audience. Even using Edmodo was a way to do this. I loved that students used the comment section to directly engage with the ideas. My Year 12s found it the most useful, as it was a safeplace to do this.

The discussion on Edmodo has been interesting. Anne commented on how, although she can see some "limitations to working with Edmodo" she finds it to be a "useful tool in developing learning community within [her] class." She highlights how although much of the learning is "task-based" the use of Edmodo has been great for creating "professional groups" at her school. I also had the same experience. I was just leaving high school teaching when other teachers came on board but it was my involvement in workshops, showing colleagues how I had used the tool in my classes that made a change. At first I was looked at as a "technology" junkie, probably due to the influence of my teenage sons, both prolific in their use of ICT, but then teachers slowly began asking questions and using the tool themselves.

In using Edmodo I did have many teething problems, but unlike the problems that David highlights with LMS. As Edmodo is a platform that is modelled on the Facebook platform, it is very user-friendly and a "safe" option for students. I had some parental concern but I issued them with the advice provided for parents on the Edmodo help page. The parents even had access to the content as I was totally transparent with how I taught, and this is a value that I still hold deeply.

The issues with technology within the schools I worked was the main issue that prevented the most effective utilisation of Edmodo and other online learning platforms that I used to engage students actively with content. This included laptop and connectivity issues, with many occasions having to revert to more traditional methods of teaching as the Internet was down or too slow, or many students had problems with their laptops, either connecting to the Internet, or even just functioning. It made me annoyed with the laptops as I felt they were heavy, cumbersome and unreliable.

In using Edmodo and Moodle to deliver course materials I found them both to be the most effective way to deliver learning materials and to actively engage my students. However, I also found a lot of resistance, and not only from some fellow teachers but also, most surprisingly, from some of my students. I emphasise some as there were many who actively embraced it and believed it to be much more convenient (they could access their learning from anywhere) and accessible (it was all in the same spot in the cloud). This is how I promoted the use of Edmodo, I would say that if they went for a holiday in Russia, they would still be able to access their learning materials and connect directly with me, as I would receive notifications on my mobile that they have asked a question or made a comment.

I could totally relate with Anne's experience of being informed that the use of Edmodo "did not meet with the Technology Committee's vision for the school." There was a "Technology Committee" at my last school and I found it ironic that the people on the board were not the most active users of digital technologies. I think it is like in politics, where you have people as a minister of a department but they have limited experience, or sometimes none, in that area.

What Anne is experiencing is very much an institutional issue where you to feel, for very valid reasons, like you are not "consulted" or given any "choice." So, no Anne, you're right, your situation is definitely not "an isolated one." It is also true that the people that work in schools do have the best intentions and "genuinely believe they are making the right decisions for the right reasons." I'm going to right a future post about the misconception that I think exists about teachers and their engagement with technology.

It certainly does feel great to be fully engaged and feeling connected though. :)

Transformation in an NGL community

NGL, as informed by theorists like Vygotsky, Dewey, and Bruner (as cited in Riel & Polin, 2004), reveals how my teaching is influenced by "socio-cultural tools, signs and symbols" that allow my students and I to "make sense and produce work." In fact, it is the "co-construct[ion]" of knowledge, where we "build on the ideas and practices" of those who have gone before us and those within our networks that enables us to learn (Riel & Polin, 2004). This is why being in a networked learning community appeals so much to me. It enables individuals to not only learn in a community of practice, but also transform as they contribute to a knowledge-based network.

This knowledge has slowly evolved, and began when I was an undergraduate. Learning about Vygotsky's theory of  social development was most appealing as it illustrated to me how we learn. I was intrigued by the idea that "social interaction precedes development." This effectively meant that in order to learn anything the student must be in a social context, particularly as it is through social interaction that they create meaning. As both an educator and writer, Vygotsky's ideas shape my teaching and learning practice today.

I have found this to be particularly applicable to how my identity is transforming as I further engage in online networks. Rather than remaining "static" due to being on the web in a "scattered and isolated" sense, in my former identity (although I was an active user), I certainly was not linked with other networks. As I began interacting with my peers, my first network, consisting of my role as a lecturer with James Cook University, where I constructed Youtube videos to share with colleagues and students (i.e. Teaching and Learning channel and Language and Literacy channel), I began to feel as a member of a "community or activity system" that was "developing [my] knowledge," and propelling me in areas I had not ventured before.

As a classroom teacher I was mostly engaged in what Riel and Polin (2004) refer to as "task-based learning." I would work with other teachers for a specific period of time to produce resources, a unit outline or some other curricular product. In this community I did feel a "strong sense of identification" with my peers, as we were employed to engage in the task and the organisation that employed us and expected the behaviour. I was also engaged in Riel and Polin's (2004) notion of practice-based communities." This meant that the knowledge was "embedded in the performance and the organisational culture in which it occurs" (Lave & Wenger, 1991 in Riel and Polin, 2004). As a teacher and director of a tutoring business I participated in the community, actualising knowledge through my interaction with colleagues, practices and stories of best practice, but not creating any new knowledge or going beyond the context.

What I am experiencing now as a networked learner is being a member of "knowledge-based learning communities." These are communities that share many of the elements of "communities of practice" but "focus on the deliberate and formal production of external knowledge about the practice (Riel & Polin (2004)." I am achieving this through being a member of the writing community, and actively producing knowledge about the practice, and sharing it with my peers. This is in contrast to the two other learning approaches that both are confined by a time frame and have clearly delineated boundaries. There are no rule or boundaries in being part of a knowledge-based learning community. Sounds like my kind of community.

What particularly appeals about knowledge-building learning communities is how the learning is not confined to moments in time or to any particular organisation. The learning, indeed, is "co-created" by members who "work on living documents or databases of ideas." It is these real-time documents that illustrate a "changing record" of "shared minds" (Riel & Polin, 2004). This is most illustrated by the notion of gaining academic credentials "informally." In a networked world, as espoused by leading contributors like Siemens (2005), individuals can use networked learning methods to collaborate and support each other's research.

This idea has only recently been illuminated through an experience of complaining about NGL with my peers. As I shared my experiencing of drowning in the course requirements my peers were sharing their ways of coping. Paul shared how he was feeling "overwhelmed," and then Musette contributed her approach to handling the subject. She shared how setting "boundaries" and logging onto Feedly daily but only for 30 minutes to check "what's new." She also records her ideas, as they come across to her, on a "voice memo" app on her phone. I found this invaluable and incorporated her ideas into my practice.

Another peer, Brendon, ironically, one that I had said that I identified with the least, referred to one of my posts where he posed the question, "Are our teens becoming de-sensitised to ... significant issues, given the abundance of information present?" He highlights that there are many positives to NGL but also reminds us of the negatives, even though they are outweighed. Here we are commenting on how we see the networked learning environment impacting on our teaching and learning practice, and not only sharing our ideas but also contributing to the knowledge-base that exists on the practice.

The question that has arisen from my knowledge of networked learning-based communities of practice is whether people will be achieving credentials in a non-formal environment. Like I posed in an earlier post about the "badging" system of showing an individuals self-acquired knowledge and skills, and how individuals are now "identifying, adding, annotating, modifying, or extending" within a networked system where they are "making connections ... [as they are] searching, retrieving, and unpacking contributions" (Riel & Polin, 2004). Some are even acquiring informal PhDs! These communities, like I mentioned are not constrained by time or imposed institutional structures, making them organic, evolving communities.

Where does this knowledge leave me know? It propels me further in my journey from novice writer to becoming the master that I aspire to be. I now know that for me to become that master I must be engaged in a knowledge-based community in the real-world of writers who are further developing their craft. Perhaps, in my special way, I will contribute to this knowledge. It will also propel my efforts further as an educator, particularly in the role of learning coach, a field that I have been travelling along, absorbing information and applying in my own context but certainly not contributing to until now. :)

References:

Riel, M., & Polin, L. (2004). Online learning communities: Common ground and critical differences in designing technical environments. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. Gray (Eds.), Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning (pp. 16–50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

How can CLEM help a learning coach?

I've being making conceptual shifts in how I see my role as a teacher. For many years I saw it as being either as a "teacher" or as a "tutor." I taught in a classroom setting where I was a "teacher" and owned and operated a tutoring centre where I was "tutor" as well as "teacher." All these labels come to define me (regardless of how much one tries to resist labelling). Applying the CLEM model helped me articulate who I was.

As I began searching for "communities, literature, examples and the "models" that connect with [my] context" I found "learning coaches" who were providing an educational service that is informed by the latest literature of learning theory and pedagogy but also revolutionising what it means to be educated. I found this to be tremendously liberating as up until that point of realisation, I felt undefined, knowing what my skills and talents were, but not sure how to articulate how they informed who I was. What I'm grateful for is having a network where I could find my "tribe." As Seth Godin, a leading marketer and author of "Tribes," articulates so well - the importance of finding "like-minded" people and connecting with them, as the course NGL encourages its participants to do.

The CLEM model, as applied to my context, enables an educator, regardless of their background to explore new approaches to teaching and learning. I found this possibility most intriguing so I thought, okay, I'll give it a go. Firstly, one must have some idea of what community they are looking for and then look at "what, where and how active" is the "community of teachers/practitioners." I found that they are very active, sharing their ideas via blogs and websites, even inviting followers to attend workshops and meetings to share ideas or to make connections with Facebook or LinkedIn.

Once one has access to the community and is effectively networking with them, the second thing to do as part of the CLEM approach is to find literature that illustrates learning coaching and how ICT can be used to enhance the practice, for both the teacher and student. As coaching is a personalised approach and involves a lot of face-to-face interaction the use of ICTs in my approach was a challenge. This pointed to a fork in the road, where I began to question my role in NGL, compounded by the second assessment that initially appeared to be targeted towards people working in an organisation of some sort. Nevertheless, it was through the literature of NGL, and some major contributors, that I found my answers.

Reading George Siemens original paper on "connectivism" highlighted how making "connections" with "social networks" will enable me to "create an integrated whole." What this meant to me was that by being connected to other participants within a community of learning coaches I would be using ICT to inform and improve my practice. It is through these "weak ties" that I have the opportunity to develop notions of "serendipity, innovation and creativity." This revelation on how to use ICT was exciting to say the least. There are limitations, however, I feel that these are due to my limited framework at this time. By being in the network, including the "cross-pollination of learning communities," my conceptual framework on how ICT can be used in my practice will evolve.

The third component of CLEM is finding examples of the ICT that improves one's practice. Within my practice I use a Samsung Ultrabook to research the web and write my blogs. It is my primary tool for accessing anything on the web and for creating all my teaching and learning resources. My students also bring their laptops, about 80% of the time, to work on their assignments. What I am finding is that although the use of computers does make learning more efficient, when it comes to handwriting, many find the art difficult. This includes my sons who have spent a lot of their life typing rather than writing. This issue is of little concern as most write legibly and are prolific with the tool that will be dominant in their futures.

The final component of the model is identifying how the use of ICT works within one's teaching practice and what language is used to describe it. It also encourages the comparison of different approaches to using ICT and what issues and solutions may exist. This section is something I will need to return to as my understanding of what these tools can offer my practice.

What I do know at this stage is that when one finds their community, it is like coming home.

References:

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm

Work-life balance in a networked world?

One of the issues that has become paramount for me is the importance of having some "work-life" balance. This is the reason why I have chosen to work for myself, as friends and family are very important to me, and I've seen too many people leave this world with the regret of not spending time with those they love. I no longer believe that only working is going to lead to a life of fulfilment. However, I am wondering whether one can achieve balance, or at least some level of balance, if one is going to be active in an online world.

I began voicing my concerns about NGL and how the subject feels like I am enrolled full-time, when my son, who has his own Youtube channel, and spends an inordinate amount of time editing and creating videos, said: "Maybe the lecturer is trying to show you how the real-world of blogging is like. To keep on doing it without reward, and how you need to be persistent."

I had a think about this and yes, the real-world of blogging, or youtubing is a full-time affair, and if this was all that was being asked it would be okay as everyone would have their own approach on how active they were and how much time they would spend on each post, and how active they were in networks. I know I am not alone on this as some other course participants are also sharing how they are snowed under. On smart education network Mari writes that she is "desperately falling behind" and on Networked for Global Learning for Cystic Fibrosis the author writes that he or she (not sure of the gender as there is no name) is "feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information."

It is clear why this is happening. The course requirement is to not only create a blog and become an active blogger, it is also asking for students to read all the course materials, write blog posts about them, link with other bloggers, both within the course and outside of the course, and share any materials that he or she may have found on networked and global learning. All this and teach something the student wants to learn about it. The estimated time to be spent on each course is supposed to be 13 hours. However, even in my undergraduate degree this could be very skewed, particularly if you've got large projects to complete. Nevertheless, NGL is far beyond anything I have experienced before.

I am wondering whether this is an education degree phenomena. As a lecturer of first and second year Education students I noticed that the courses were overloaded. Many of my students were working either part-time or full-time and had a very difficult time keeping up with the course requirements. I spent the majority of my time answering emails or speaking to students over Skype trying to appease the situation. There was little I could do to change the workload, other than show what was most important, as I was not the core lecturer of the course, I merely delivered, designed some course materials and completed the majority of the marking.

As a student of NGL I am now experiencing what my students were going through. What is funny is that I chose to put myself in the same situation. What this experience poses for me is the question: Can one complete a Masters in education and still be a parent, partner, friend, business owner, runner, pet owner, ... and all the other things that we do other than our study?

What is the future of work?

Brendon on iTeach, iThink, iTeens writes about how education needs to prepare students for an uncertain future, and that conventional learning cannot continue as it has been, particularly in a world that is changing at an unprecedented pace.

... we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist yet and our students will be solving problems that we do not even know are problems. We need to be adaptable to change and learning is such a fast paced industry that is becoming technologically-rich ...

The question of how to prepare for the future of work has been something that I think about a lot. Like Brendon, I'm always interested in what leaders in the field are saying about the world of work and where it is heading. For this reason, in collaboration with members of the Envisioning Education group on Facebook, I purchased "The Future of Work" PSFK Labs report.

Through OwnMutually, a crowdfunded way to purchase things that can be shared, such as gifts, night outs, trips, and reports, I was able to access information about the trends driving change at work.  I felt it was particularly relevant to me as a designer of educational experiences, as it offered insights into the physical, mobile and web workspaces that I'm interested in using to create interactive experiences.

What I found most profound, and something that I had became increasingly aware of as a high school teacher, is the rise of free educational tools that allow individuals to be both the student and teacher, such as StudyRoom and Successfactors.  These physical and virtual spaces enable users to share their knowledge and assist one another, which is moving away from the teacher-led instruction of the past.

One area that proves to be most innovating, in my opinion, is the "Online Badges" system of allowing individuals to depict their skill set through the use of badges.  This had me intrigued as I can definitely see a need for a digital platform that displays the knowledge and skills that haven't been gained in a traditional setting (i.e. university), such as the ability to use designing tools, such as Adobe's Captivate or Illustrator, or the ability to communicate effectively in large teams.  Although these skills can be acquired in academic environments, they can also be acquired through an individual's own time, or through professional development in online learning programs or job training programs.  The badging system is still developing but it will be interesting to see if it really takes off.

The report also highlights the importance of using social media tools as a digital resume.  At the moment I am using Linkedin to illustrate my knowledge and skill set and what I particularly like is how the people that you connect with can vouch for your acquired skills or experience.  I find this to be quite authoritative as it is a professional platform and has credibility within the employer circle.  I have also began using Vizify and Resumup, online infographic tools that illustrate your personal and professional experience to employers.  They both draw on the user's Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and other profiles to create a summary of what he or she is engaged in and has achieved.  It is like a trendy online resume and something that I think is very useful.

Another tool that the report highlights is a platform that helps workers prove their skill set - Smarterer. It enables the user to complete skill tests that validate whether he or she has the skill set or not.  What I liked about it the most was the ability to see if you do possess the skills through answering multiple choice questions.  It will help you identify any gaps in knowledge and can provide employers with an avenue for testing skill sets. However, I think proving your skill set through actual digital artefacts and sample work in a portfolio would be more effective, such as using Pathbrite.  This platform allows the employer, or whoever is interested, to see what you are actually capable of producing.

Perhaps, most controversial, is the claim by Steve Faktor, Founder of the Idea-Factory, that the "current system of guaranteed renewal is what makes organisations and workers stagnate."  Permanence "forces" individuals to "rest on [their] laurels" rather than "anticipate the changes [he or she] needs to make to stay alive."  As a high school teacher I found there was very little incentive for teachers to "upskill." Only a few teachers that I encountered were taking the initiative to become better skilled, and, if they were, it was usually for leadership positions, not becoming more proficient in the use of ICTs. However, I think it is systemic rather than an individual fault.

What was really interesting was a claim by Faktor that we are "shifting from consumerism to ... producerism."  Essentially, although entire professions are being "eliminated by cheap digital tools," the use of these very tools are "empowering a producer or creator-driven economy." Through the use of blog posts, video and software, such as the above mentioned Linkedin or Resumup profiles, individuals can publicise their knowledge and skills in an innovative and current format and promote themselves to future employers or clients. Sounds good to me.

All in all, I found The Future of Work report to be informative and well worth the cost. On my own I don't think I would have investigated all the tools that are available for workers. However, I did expect more insight into what opportunities exist in the future workforce.

Who Killed Creativity?

A recent post by Brendon from iThink, iTeach, iTeens about whether "schools kill creativity" reminded me of a book I read recently about who or what is responsible for the demise of creativity.



The book "Who Killed Creativity?" by Andrew Grant and Gaia Grant is filled with snippets of insight, such as:

• We leave school believing it is important to be correct rather than be creative.

• Without creative thinking [individuals] cannot adapt to the future.

• The desire to appear knowledgeable can cut an individual off from learning.

• Reviving creative thinking often involves the humility of becoming a beginner.

• Innovation is no longer a luxury but a necessity.  

The first point is exactly what Ken Robinson is referring to in his speech. Like Brendon and Mari, who have both revealed their belief in the importance of "personalised learning" and how schools only emphasise grades (an issue that I have referred to in earlier posts), I believe that teaching and learning within schools need to change, particularly if we are going to prepare our learners for the global knowledge economies where they will have to be adaptable and innovative. 

Our schools, like Brendon proposes, are still based on the factory model of churning out compliant and trainable workers. Yes, we will always need people who can work in a factory, and to use a Seinfeld cliche, "there's nothing wrong with that." However, the reality is that the 21st century will require individuals who can "think outside the square." To do this they need an environment, as outlined in Brendon's shared video: Introducing 20% Time in Your Classroom. The classroom the video illustrates is an environment where it is okay to "fail" and difference is encouraged. 

I believe NGL encourages creativity as it provides the student with tool options and, although there are some parameters, such as the need to contribute with fellow learners, and to use what is created as a teaching and learning platform, there is so much scope for imagination and individuality. One can personalise the learning whilst also teaching others in an area of interest. I don't recall one assessment item in high schools, at least, that encourage students to take this approach. 

Something that will stay with me for a long time after reading Who Killed Creativity? is the idea that the majority of jobs available are what society deems as "safe" and "conventional."  These jobs are targeted by the majority of the population because they are easier to obtain, due to the vast amount of them.  However, due to the large amount of people who are willing to do them, these jobs are becoming increasingly demanding, with longer hours and expectations. Whereas, the jobs that are not as common, or more difficult to obtain, have a better work-life balance.  As a former high school teacher, I can see the validity in this argument as most "seasoned" teachers had informed me that the job was becoming increasingly complex and unmanageable. Is this a result of there being so many people willing to do them? Just a thought.

I would love to hear others ideas on this pivotal area of 21st century learning.

Commenting on assessment in NGL

As a student of NGL I was asked to take a look at the criteria for the first assessment task and "edit and comment upon" the criteria. The lecturer provided the course participants with the opportunity to "clarify and co-create how Assignment 1 is marked." As I've already mentioned in a previous article, I think this process is great. It encourages autonomy and a feeling that the assessment is authentic.

Taking a look at the criteria has elucidated for me the level of connection that needs to be established not only with my peers, but also with other networks as well as the course materials, and not to mention the thought-provoking posts by David, the lecturer of the course. I have hit the same issue that Goksu highlights about there being so much already shared via Diigo and Feedly. She writes:

On the flip side I worry about how much has already been shared via our NGL tools and how I will possibly keep across it all and still get all my reading and tasks completed. I just keep telling myself that I simply cant read everything that everyone has shared. Diigo actually claims to help people overcome information overload – so its ironic that I am viewing it as a source of information overload!

I agree as I feel like I am in the same situation as Goksu. It does feel like there is so much to keep tabs on, particularly engaging with peer's posts and reading some of the information that is shared via Diigo. It is a valuable tool, as Goksu highlights, but it does provide a lot of information that takes time to go through. The response by David was a relief. He says to "experiment with Diigo and see how it works" but not to feel that we would need to keep up with everything. That sounds realistic, and authentic, as in the real-world of networks, in contrast to traditional forms of assessment, it wouldn't be realistic to keep up with everything. It certainly looks like this is accounted for in the criteria.

One of the questions that I do have is how the automated analysis works. As I am mostly commenting on student work using my private email rather than university email. Will the system still recognise me?

Why is assessment so problematic?

Why do I hear you say? Well, I believe assessment as we know it today should reflect the real-world. In other words, it should be authentic. Authentic is the key word, and not just a buzz word used by entrepreneurs about the importance of being real with your customers. In the world of work when one creates a product or delivers a service, the individual is not formally assessed within a specific time framework, there are no rigid or strict boundaries. If one has provided a good service, the customer comes back or brags about it to their friends (the most powerful form of marketing, as I am only beginning to realise the power of.)

I believe NGL provides the opportunity to engage in this type of authentic assessment because it asks the student to create their own blog, teach their own interest area, and actively network with peers to gain further insight into the area of interest and the process of engaging in networked learning. This is in marked contrast to the assessment that I experienced at university or the assessment that I was responsible for delivering within the high school context. These assessments were mostly comprised of assessing specific material within a specific time period but not something the student would continue with after they finished the task.

What bothered me as a high school teacher was putting students on the spot to write about a topic or issue that they often had very little interest in. I realised this issue with my oldest son who loved to write stories but when placed in a "creative writing" class spent most of his time analysing the creative literature chosen by the teacher. Although there are benefits to this type of learning, a Year 9 student reading "Playing with Beattie Bow" only to write a critical analysis can be thwarting their perception of reading. As I have also mentioned in a previous article, the predominant focus on assessment, particularly essay writing, constrains the learning process and narrows it to what is going to be assessed.

David, the lecturer for NGL, highlights how assessment is one of the "most troubling aspects of a course being delivered" in a networked environment. The issue of innovative assessment, perhaps the type of assessment that I am referring to, is problematic, not because it is unrealistic, as we are effectively doing it, but because of the non-linear approach of this type of assessment. What I find most appealing though is how explicit the assessment process is, even inviting course participants to actively contribute input using Google Docs and making suggestions throughout. I have not seen this type of transparency in assessment. It makes me feel like I am playing a role in the assessment process, particularly what is deemed worthy of being assessed.

I have always found assessment to be problematic and one of the "downfalls" of learning. One of the things that appeals about informal learning is how it is all done on the basis of intrinsic motivation. I have seen this by just viewing the behaviour of my son and his friends. They are all creating videos on YouTube that require the mastery of several complicated programs, such as Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Premiere, and Dxtory to create videos that embed and reconfigure, amongst many other things, material for the pleasure of the viewing fans. These videos can take hundreds of hours but the perseverance behind them can be tasted in the air. I have seen them not sleep, eat or do anything else in the goal of completing the next video.

Nevertheless, in the world of education and grades, or at least as we know it, there is still the reality that something needs to be assessed, regardless of how much one does not like it. I'd be interested to hear others thoughts on this tumultuous area.

The uncertainty of networked learning

When I began NGL I thought the subject was going to be challenging but I did not anticipate the level that I am currently experiencing. The most challenging aspect is defeating the feelings of paralysis when I look at everything I have to do and how much I am behind. I feel like a cat that is being chased by a dog and has realised that there's no tree to run up, and therefore decides to lay down, play dead and let fate take its course. (Okay, dramatic, I know but the cat being chased metaphor is most powerful for me, partly because I chased them as a child, and witnessed many occasions a "playing dead" cat, but most of all because I now know how they felt.)

Although I have these feelings the ideals of the course and everything that I am learning and experiencing is propelling me forward. This is mostly due, I believe, because I have always been attracted to where the future of technology and innovation is heading. In fact, I've been navigating the Internet since 1998 and distinctly remember how exciting it was. I had purchased 40 megabytes of data and it was supposed to be "more than anyone would ever need." By day two I had already used it all up - $40 worth. The Internet usage wasn't due to reset for another twenty-eight days. It was only the days of dial-up but each page usually had at least one image. What I remember thinking was that I was only seeing the beginning of a phenomena where we would be eventually viewing everything on-line. However, I never envisaged that I would one day take an active role of contributing content on-line.

What I have learnt in NGL is that global networking, the type that emulates what is happening on the Internet, has not only been happening since the late 1990s. People have been networking in the "organisation of trade and innovation and in the development of ideas" for centuries (Goodyear, 2000). What this dispersion of ideas led to was the "reduction of the costs of access to useful knowledge." I think this is what I found most fascinating about the Internet when I first began using it, everything was mostly free to access and provided one with information that he or she could not find in his or her "strong ties" (Goodyear, 2000). What is now prevalent to me is that the sharing of ideas enables is the integration of theory and practice, without which there would have been no industrial revolution or technological era, and definitely no information era.

This is particularly due to the growth of Web 2.0 capabilities, tools and practices (Goodyear, 2000). There has been a shift from "consumption to production, remixing and sharing," something that I am even seeing myself do. This has proliferated due to the platforms being free. The trend I find most fascinating is the MOOC phenomenon. The offering of Massive Open Online Courses for free. At first I thought, oh no, if education is being offered for free, then what will happen to teachers and how will they get by if people can receive their education for free, particularly as I was working in the higher education sector at the time. However, learning that it is "rare for completion rates to exceed 10%" I realised that it was and still is at the very early stages. What I am interested in is the differences between the cMOOCs and xMOOCs. The former is distinguished by its emphasis on "knowledge creation and generation" whereas the latter emphasises the traditional "knowledge duplication" that has been so prevalent in conventional education. I do like the idea of creating your own knowledge in connection with others rather than being a passive recipient who merely emulates what is already there. I felt that my undergraduate degree in education definitely did the latter.

What I find amazing is the idea that "more will change in the next 10 years than has changed in the last 10" (Goodyear, 2000). It makes me realise that NGL is preparing me for this change, an era of uncertainty and unrivalled productivity. Rather than see a linear pathway, as I have experienced throughout education for most of my life, I am now navigating down a non-linear path that is the "road less travelled" but an exciting road nevertheless.

References:

Goodyear, P. (2014). Productive Learning Networks: The Evolution of Research and Practice. In L. Carvalho & P. Goodyear (Eds.), The Architecture of Productive Learning Networks (pp. 23–47). London: Routledge.