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.