How NGL can inform my role as teacher

How does one enhance learning through technology? This is the question that guided my enquiry in the subject NGL with USQ. Through my journey in the course, I learnt that, regardless of the realm an educator may identify with, he or she needs to re-examine or redefine his or her practice in light of emerging technologies that have provided learners with an "explosion of resources" and options (Kop, 2012, p. 2). Educators, in contrast to their traditional role as "knowledge providers," are now required to help learners adapt in the changed environmental realities of the new information landscape, thus transforming into guides or coaches (Kop, 2012, p. 2). This is the fundamental realisation that will guide the redefinition of my practice.

These realisations about the transformation of my role - changing from a provider of information to a guide on how to find information - evolved as I progressed through NGL. As a learning coach, I was most interested in how my role would look like in the future, and in particular, whether there would be a need for educators (Kop, 2012), regardless of which institution or environment they traverse. If learners are able to engage in online networks and gather their own information, what role would an educator have. Like I highlighted in a fewposts about my concerns about what will happen to knowledge, embedded within this concern was my fears about what would happen to education providers, particularly as MOOCs were providing "free" education (Mackness et al., 2010 as cited in Goodyear, 2014). It was not until I came across the writings of David Weinberger, author of Too Big To Know, and others that I began to realise, as did Anne, one of my peers, that although learners have access to a plethora of information, they will always need help from "knowledgeable others," particularly those providing the skills they seek to obtain (Kop, 2012).

It is these knowledgeable others who have experience in navigating an environment that is "characterised by many technological variables and contexts," and are then able to help their students to make sense of the multitude of resources offered on the web (Kop, 2012), not to mention providing encouragement and mentoring along the way. In other words, it is one thing to offer "free" information (Mackness et al., 2000) but another to apply that information to the individual's life, perhaps illustrating why the completion rate for MOOCs or xMOOCs is very low (Goodyear, 2014, p. 42). I also know this from my undergraduate experience. Although I was curious and very enthusiastic about what I was learning, I needed guidance. I did not have the knowledge or skills to know where to look, how much to look and then to go through the process of having to articulate what I am learning into some coherent format. I could only do this with the guidance of teachers (i.e. historians, sociologists, lawyers, political scientists, anthropologists, English literature and Education teachers and tutors). Each of these individuals outlined pathways and the offered the guidance, as asserted by Siemens as even necessary, to seek, explore and consolidate knowledge.

As someone who now has experience in navigating the intricacies of networks, particularly how to negotiate within a "new culture of learning" (Menchaca, 2012) and not become overwhelmed by the vast disparate information networks that are available, I see my future role as providing my learners with the tools on how to navigate through the "sea of information" (Seitzinger, 2014) they face when even thinking about learning. Thus, through NGL I have realised that it is my role not to merely deliver information but to develop the "critical capabilities" in my students to access information and resources and then help them turn the "unfixed information" they find "into meaning that can be acted upon" (Menchaca, 2012). This is particularly so if I want to prepare them for success in the twenty-first century (Seitzinger, 2014, p. 412).

With the skills acquired through NGL I also see the potential to stimulate "serendipity" in the learning process, as espoused by Kop (2012), who highlights as essential to creativity and innovation. Through navigating extended online information networks I’ll encourage my learners to pursue "unexpected, surprising, interesting" (Kop, 2012) information rather than relying on what algorithm-based search engines and recommenders provide (Jarche, 2012). My learners will then apply this to what is already known, or what they already now, in order to produce novel or new ways of seeing the world. I believe this is pivotal to any transformation, whatever realm they belong to. For this reason, as a learning coach my role will be to help my learners with "information literacy" - that is the skills to analyse what is essential through advanced information gathering, and then applying that information in a format to develop knowledge, or in a novel way to transform the way they see the world.

In order to discern what is important and worthy of consideration, I, along with any educator, will need to develop in my learners the skills to view their learning through a critical lens. It is through the use of "ideology critique," a method espoused by Friesen (2008), that one is able to imagine alternative ways of knowing or being, a skill that is pivotal if one is to succeed in the twenty-first century, whether it is in the "knowledge" or "service" industries (Friesen, 2008), and perhaps most importantly, as an employee or entrepreneur (Preece, 2006). I illustrated this in a previous discussion about the importance of critical thinking, and how using a "historicising" and "denaturalising" technique the individual can question "common sense" ideas, even within the realm of technology, where ideas about technology can be used to perpetuate specific ideological agendas (Friesen, 2008). This can be seen in spheres that seek to perpetuate institutional paradigms, thus perpetuating pre-existing models, such as conventional educational institutions. Thus, it is critical thinking, and its demythologising potential, that enable the realisation of alternatives - the imagining of new realities - such as can be achieved through "progressive research design" (Friesen, 2008).

As an educator who is primarily concerned with how my students learn, I, as well as my peers, found that using new technologies in a networked world for teaching and learning not only enhances the acquisition of knowledge, but also the skills to locate information and then use that information to fulfil individual needs. NGL achieves this through providing learners with the opportunity to become active, self-regulated participants in a networked environment (Glastra et al. 2004). After participating in NGL I see learning, now more than ever, as not restricted to formal education courses but as encapsulating "informal, self-directed, vocational and/or interest-based learning" (Goodyear and Carvalho, 2014, p. 139), as well as learning that is required for individual transformation, particularly for individuals wanting to re-skill in a new area or even change their lives.

For this reason, in reference to the SAMR model that I have previously discussed in reference to my fourthcoming design-research project, I have been modifying my practice through applying what I have been learning about networked learning and encouraging my students to do the same. A few of my senior high school students have embraced creating their own blog as a way of writing about a subject they are interested in (i.e. I have a few gamers that have created gaming blogs) whereas some are not as interested in writing, and have expressed their desire to not engage in blogging. This is just one way that I am seeking to redefine what I do, and I can imagine will lead to all sorts of new possibilities, beyond just using technology just to substitute, augment or modify my practice.

At this stage of the teaching process I have realised that I am at the "integrative" stage of networked learning (Kligyte, 2009). I have transformed the way I live and work through the use of digital technologies and the online connections that I make or maintain, often blurring the line between my professional and personal identity. This is espoused by Harold Jarche, a personal knowledge management leader, who writes about his blog permeating both his professional and personal life (Jarche, 2012). This type of interaction is becoming more valued in a world where authenticity is the key to success (Glastra et al., 2004) rather than perpetuating the artificial professional/personal divide. Indeed, I have noticed how individuals who reveal their humanity through their practice are most alluring.

References:

Bell, A. et al. (2010). Undergraduate experiences of coping with networked learning: Difficulties now, possibilities for the future. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Networked Learning 2010. Retrieved from http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/organisations/netlc/past/nlc2010/abstracts/PDFs/Bell_2.pdf

Friesen, N. (2008). "Critical Theory Ideology Critique and the Myths of E-Learning," Ubiquity, 9(22), p. 1-12.

Glastra et al. (2004). Lifelong Learning as Transitional Learning, Adult Education Quarterly, 54, p. 291-307.

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.

Jarche, H. (2012). Seek Sense Share, Retrieved from http://www.jarche.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/seek_sense_share.pdf

Kop, R. (2012). The Unexpected Connection: Serendipity and Human Mediation in Networked Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (2), 2-11.

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.

Preece, J. (2006). Beyond the learning society: the learning world? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(3), 307-320.

Seitzinger, J. (2014). Curate Me! Exploring online identity through social curation in networked learning, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014, Retrieved from http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/abstracts/pdf/seitzinger.pdf