Networked Learning

April 1st, 2008 by alexanderhayes in Uncategorized

[ image : wikipedia ]

We live in age that connects things semantically – that is, we are now living in a networked learning environment within which technology surrounds us everywhere.

If we carefully conduct a technology audit ( a great starting point with learners ) we can see that these technology systems are inter-dependent and work together to produce the result.

The result being cohesion in the community, access to facilities, an equitable range of resources and ways to communicate with others. The same results apply for learning environments.

With the onset of new and emergent technologoies our roles as educators are up for a huge challenge and likewise our organisations and the systems that support engaging with clients. The architectures that govern our particpation are changing and learning is not limited to a physical proximity to an educator…..the buildings are dissolving and the manner in which ‘deliver’ is becoming markedly affected by these changes in the way people access information.

The term ‘open education‘ seems to be synonomous with the principles governing knowledge in a networked learning and globally connected world acquisition as is ‘ ‘connectivism‘ to better explain the transition from a constructivist learning model to that of connectivism.

So, what are we to do now that the internet affords us access to technologies which allow for education facilitation to occur from a distance ?

I’m currently employed to assist in this capacity developing training for educators who are looking to find the best solutions for facilitating online. What I intend to do with this blog and the SIT wiki will demonstrate ways to use some of these open ( to the web ) networked learning tools in this delivery and develop this training in a protected ( log-in required ) environment which invites particpation as comment and better still, with a login, some direct contributions to an ever evolving range of resources to support teachers.

The blog here will be used for my journey into this area with SIT and the wiki will be used to collaboratively engage, plan and articulate the learning journey.

I look forward to you joining me in this journey