You’ve probably heard the buzzwords bandied about — Networked Learning, Connected Learning — and wondered what these terms really mean. Take a look at this video
or this chart for an idea of how these terms are being defined. Again, the subtext is all about the “new breed” of learner who is able to sift through infinite amounts of information easily, connect with kindly (and available) scholars and experts from around the world in a snap, pull together a plethora of rich media content on his/her topic of choice, and readily create compelling, unique digital masterpieces reflecting his/her understanding of a topic. And this new learner doesn’t need a teacher either. A Learning Architect, maybe. A Connected Learning Incubator, perhaps. But an actual teacher? Nah.
If you’ve ever had to wade through mounds of less-than-stellar videos on YouTube when you’re trying to find out how to fix a flat tire or use a flat iron on your hair, you know that there’s quite a gap out there between the ideal learner we assume should exist given the incredible amount of resources available and the learners that actually do exist. There are plenty of people out there who still want and need our help to learn.
Sure, we all know about the wiz kids, the tech stars, and the uber geeks. But they’ve always been out there and I’m betting they exist in the same proportion of the population that they’ve always inhabited. It just seems like there are so many more of them, in epidemic numbers even, because we don’t just hear about the ones in our own neighborhoods, churches, or schools any more. We hear about the ones in everybody’s neighborhoods, churches, and schools.
I’m sure lots of people thought there would be a learning explosion fueled by public libraries, which made mountains of information free to all, available for anyone who had the willingness to put forth the effort to learn on his/her own. But how many people became self-taught experts on the topics of their own choosing because they had access to a library?
Access to information is no longer a barrier to learning for a lot of people (that’s a good thing), but information overload presents a new kind of barrier. One that requires a pathway through the chaos to dissolve.
Connected Learners are supposedly a new type of learner who likes to learn in groups, from peers, in a social context. I’ve always been this type of learner. I’ve always liked to learn in groups, on teams, and to work on projects with a partner. But I’ve also needed to do a certain amount of learning on my own. So do a lot of people. Facebook isn’t suddenly going to enable us to read someone else’s mind instead of reading an article or book for ourselves. And it won’t make us want to connect to our friends, families, and other people any more than we already do. It makes some things much easier. And it makes other things (like maintaining privacy) much more difficult.
Didn’t we used to learn everything in social settings anyway? Didn’t we used to learn from our families, our communities, our tribes, and each other? Learning was intergenerational by its nature. We are connected learners by our nature. We have a few more tools at our disposal to make connections around learning easier and more efficient.
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