Colchester2010 101022181201-phpapp01

Communities, spaces and
pedagogies for the digital age
Steve Wheeler
University of Plymouth, UK
http://www.cbc.ca

Knowledge
or wisdom?
ccSteveWheeler,UniversityofPlymouth,2010
http://slated.org
You can easily teach
knowledge, but wisdom
can only be acquired
through experience

“We need diversity
of thought in the
world to face the
new challenges.”
~ Sir Tim Berners-Lee
www.topnews.in

Join all nine dots
Using four straight
Lines. Do not take
Your pen from the
Paper and do not
Go back over any
Lines.
Try solving this problem...

a man enters a field with an unopened
package and dies. Why?
Another problem to solve...

a man enters a field with an unopened
package and dies. Why?

What is community?

Community...
...has been defined as a group of interacting
people living in a common location.
http://www.psfk.com
In the digital age, common
location is not so important.
Digital Tribes

http://www.zimbio.com
Celebration
One tribe or many?

Connection
http://i.imwx.com

Online, En masse
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com
Communication

The goal of education
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
“The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students
while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and
lifelong learners that are socially responsible, resilient,
and active citizens of the world. Education is about
teaching students, not subjects.”
– Dave Truss

Formal and Informal learning
Formal Learning Informal Learning
20%
80%
Source: Cofer, D. (2000). Informal Workplace Learning.
The new blended learning challenge will be to try to harness the
excitement of self organised learning within formal learning contexts

Funnels
or Webs?
Ivan Illich
http://zumu.com
The ‘walled garden’ of
the institutional LMS.
Are we in danger of
turning the web back
into a funnel again?

Human activities are
mediated by
culturally established
instruments such as
tools and language.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society:
The development of higher
psychological processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press
http://www.phillwebb.net
Social learning

Can we use
technology to scaffold
learning?
Computers have
better memories than
students. Use them as
mind extensions.
http://www.phillwebb.net
Mind Tools

What is the Social Web?

http://www.eastone.co.uk/

http://www.eastone.co.uk/
Web 2.0

http://www.uksmallbusinesswebsites.co.uk
Social Media gives everyone
a voice in the community
Shy students can contribute

Learning
2.0
Tools
Collaborating
Sharing
Voting
Networking
User
generated
content
Architecture of Participation
Tagging

Source: George Siemens www.connectivism.ca/
http://www.sciencedaily.com
Connectivism
We live in a techno-social world
Learning occurs inside and outside of
people – we store our knowledge in
computers and in other people –
George Siemens

Making connections
In connectivism, learning involves creating
connections and developing a network. It is
a theory for the digital age drawing upon
chaos, emergent properties, and self
organised learning.
(It’s not what you know but who
you know)
Source: Wikipedia
http://www.pestproducts.com

Since we cannot experience everything, other
people’s experiences, and hence other people,
become the surrogate for knowledge.
http://bradley.chattablogs.com
‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an
axiom for collecting knowledge through
collecting people. - Karen Stephenson

My ten top Web 2.0 tools
• Blog
• Wiki
• Podcasting
• Slide sharing
• Photo sharing
• Social Tagging
• Video sharing
• URL Shortening
• Aggregator
• Microblog
• Blogger; Wordpress
• Wetpaint; PBwiki
• Audacity; Podbean
• Slideshare
• Flickr; Picassa
• Delicious, Diigo
• Youtube; Vimeo
• bit.ly; ow.ly
• iGoogle; Pageflakes
• Twitter; Tumblr

Think...
• How can you create social spaces for your
own students?
• What tools/services could you use?
• How would this transform your teaching?
• What problems might there be?

Wisdom of Crowds...
vs
Stupidity of Mobs

Digital cultural capital –
membership of ‘the Tribe’
“Where digital
communication has
fractured the tyranny of
distance and computers
have become pervasive and
ubiquitous, identification
through digital mediation
has become the new
cultural capital”.
-Wheeler (2009)
http://www.coreideas.com.au/

Social ‘tagging’
Using your
post-its...
...label 3 or 4
things in the
room you
consider to be
significant
http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Taxonomies are defined by
the community
Folksonomies define a
community

Think...
• What would you use them for?
• How would your learners use them?
• What added value would they bring?
• What might be the problems?

All learning
begins when our
comfortable
ideas turn out to
be inadequate.
- John Dewey
http://www.dancinghearts.org
ccSteveWheeler,UniversityofPlymouth,2010ccSteveWheeler,UniversityofPlymouth,2010

Thank
you!
E: swheeler@plymouth.ac.uk
B: steve-wheeler.blogspot.com
T: @timbuckteeth
Picture by Helen Keegan

Colchester2010 101022181201-phpapp01

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