Presentation at Galway Symposium on Higher Education 2013 http://www.nuigalway.ie/celt/conference/conference13.html Here, I offer to relate my learning story, about how I discovered Twitter as a tool for professional networking and development and how I subsequently went on to discover open education, take advantage of the new ways of learning online in networks and communities, and to develop as a digitally literate learner/practitioner.    It  is  thought  that  an  autobiographical  narrative,  such  as  this,  will  serve  to  bring  the  lived experience  to  the  discussion  and  make  concepts  regarding  change  and  “thinking  differently” within  Higher  Education  real.  This  story  encompasses  a  range  of  new  theories  and  practices: social  media/  social  networking  for  teaching  and learning,  personal  learning  networks  [PLNs],  digital literacies ‐ tools, practices and identity, blogging for reflecting and learning, MOOCs, open education, digital age learning theories ‐ connectivism, rhizomatic learning, heutagogy and open badges.    Biographical  information:  Helen  Crump  is  a  literacies  practitioner  and  a  recent  graduate  of  St. Angela’s College, Sligo where she completed an M.A. in Technology, Learning, Innovation and Change. Her dissertation, “To tweet or not to tweet?”, took a New LiteracyStudies perspective to position  the  use  of  Twitter  as  a  social  practice  and  enquire  into  the  disposition of Higher Education lecturers towards the adoption of Twitter practices.  Helen can be found online at www.learningcreep.wordpress.com or @crumphelen (Twitter). 

1. Beyond the walled garden.
The story of how one learner used social media for professional learning
and development.
Helen Crump
@crumphelen
7th June, 2013
#celt13

2. Introductions.
I live in Co. Leitrim in the North West of
Ireland.
I work in the community, supporting and
helping people with their literacy practices.
I’m a recent graduate of St. Angela’s College,
Sligo where I completed an M.A. in
Technology, Learning, Innovation and Change.
Literacy as a social and situated practice
Literacy as meaning making
Literacy as learning technology
I’m a literacies practitioner and a learner.

3. Literacy practices are changing.
…becoming more digital and connected.

4. eLearning: institutional VLE or Web 2.0?
Source: Conole et al., 2006, p. 95
students have “marked lack of enthusiasm” for institutional VLE.

5. Social media.
Source: Goodfellow and Lea, 2007, p.50
participatory; “sites of practice”, not “tools”.

6. Microblogging and social networking.
Twitter, a tool for professional development.

7. #justsaying
opportunities arise through trivial and terrific tweets.

8. Open education.
Welcome!
The Program for Online
Teaching Certificate Class,
an open online class, will
begin again in September
2013.. The class is free,
offered by the Program for
Online Teaching (not an
accredited institution), run
by volunteer faculty and
participants, and open to
everyone. We offer a
certificate for those who
fulfil the syllabus
requirements, and open
participation for anyone
not interested in the
certificate.
Learningcreep is born, a blog to take my learning forward.

9. Communities of Practice [CoPs].
The Social Learning Centre is a joint initiative between the Centre for Learning & Performance
Technologies and Jarche Consulting.
A new Community of
Practice intended for
those interested in the
use of social media to
work and learn
smarter. This is a place
where you can join
discussions, ask
questions, share
links, experiences and
events with others about
social learning – whether
it be in education or in
the workplace. Jay Cross
calls it “the living room
for social learning
conversations”!
Jane Hart
Founder of the Centre for Learning &
Performance Technologies (C4LPT).
Harold Jarche
Co-author of The Working Smarter
Fieldbook.
a shared passion, and a desire to learn how to do it better.

10. MOOCs.
•
•
•
•
•
•
MOOC MOOC #moocmooc Jan 6th to 12th, an examination of the MOOC phenomenon offered by Hybrid Pedagogy.
Open Learning Design Studio’s MOOC – “Learning Design for a 21st Century Curriculum” #OLDSMOOC Jan 10th to Mar 13th, offered by JISC.
Educational Technology & Media #ETMOOC Jan 13th to Mar 30th, offered by Alex Couros @courosa and ‘conspirators’.
eLearning and Digital Cultures #EDCMOOC Jan 28th to Mar 3rd, offered on the Coursera platform by a team from Edinburgh University.
Social Media #CNSoMe Feb 25th to May 5th, offered on the Canvas Network.
Open Course in Technology Enhanced Learning #ocTEL April 3rd to June 21st, offered by The Association for Learning Technology (ALT).
my MOOCs (so far).

11. Classification of MOOCs.
Grainne Conole, “the current discourse
around the concept of xMOOCs and cMOOCs
is an inadequate way of describing the variety
of MOOCs and the ways in which learners
engage with them.”
many ways to engage in a…
https://twitter.com/audreywatters/status/314119610851008512
Suggested twelve dimensions of MOOCs:
1. degree of openness
2. scale of participation (massification)
3. amount of use of multimedia
4. amount of communication
5. extent to which collaboration is included
6. type of learner pathway (from learner centred
to teacher-centred and highly structured)
7. level of quality assurance
8. extent to which reflection is encouraged
9. level of assessment
10. how informal or formal it is
11. autonomy
12. diversity

12. #justsaying
learner experience – coal mine or gold rush?

13. Connectivism.
Siemens, 2005
online and in networks, creating connections, making
meaning and learning to be.

14. Rhizomatic learning.
Deleuze & Guttari, 1980; Cormier,
2011
A rhizome has no beginning or end…
like the learning process
learn as a nomad, rhizomatically, growing and changing
ideas as you explore new contexts; making your own path.

15. Lurking and learning vicariously.
Lave and Wenger, 1991 ; Bandura, 1962
look and learn: lurk and learn.

16. Heutagogy.
Hase and Kenyon, 2000
“I’m convinced the best learning takes place when
the learner takes charge” – Seymour Papert
self-directed or self-determined learning.

17. #justsaying
similar to a pyro technician, design for the (learner) experience.

18. Continuous learning across contexts.
…it’s all learning.

19. #justsaying
…and possibly, educators don’t have a full view of the whole
learning ecosystem either.

20. Social learning.
Social learning - you’re
already doing it. It’s going on
all the time; it’s just that social
media helps enable it on a
much larger scale - Jane
Bozarth
learners are increasingly coming to expect a social experience.

21. Build your personal learning network [PLN].
You can use a PLN to:
•
•
•
•
organise links and sources
ask and answer questions
curate content
reflect on learning
A PLN is a filtering system to help you
to cope with ‘information overload’.
• technical algorithms (search
engines)
• personalised algorithms (RSS feeds)
• social algorithms (network
connections)
filter and collect knowledge through people.

22. Bring your learning together.
Learning as a narrative process.
(Clark and Rossiter, 2008)
When we learn something, we’re
essentially trying to make sense of
it, to discern its internal logic, and
figure out how it’s related to what
we already know.
In constructing a narrative we can
make diverse experiences cohere,
establish connections and make
sense out of chaos or complexity.
Narrative is how we make meaning.
It’s also how we craft our sense of
self, our identity.
make sense; narrate your learning by blogging.

23. #justsaying
Blogging makes learning visible; it’s
learning out loud.
Blogging is fun, but it’s not easy. Like
Seymour Papert says, the best fun is
often hard fun.
Every time I write a blog post I get
butterflies in my stomach. I type the
words and craft the sentences; I read
back over the post; I read again; I rephrase certain bits and change certain
words hoping that they convey my
precise meaning and tone, hoping
that I’m not saying anything too
stupid, too banal, inaccurate or
controversial before I finally hit the
publish button to experience the hard
fun that's like jumping off a zip-wire.
blogging – it’s hard fun; it’s zip-wire fun.

24. Present your learning and achievements (display badges).
a blog as portfolio and business card.

25. #justsaying
Open badges
(Belshaw, 2013)
Learning happens everywhere, but it's
often difficult to get recognition for
skills and achievements that happen
online or out of school.
[me] …or for skills that are embedded
in subjects and activities.
Badges are visual representations of
achievements, learning, skills,
interests and competencies. Open
badges can capture learning wherever
and however it happens.
?
Badges can be used for “stealth
assessment”. [me] Why assess by
stealth? It doesn’t half sound sneaky,
never mind “done to”. Why not be
more upfront? Why not call it “honour
assessment” instead?
open badges could be used to honour embedded skills.

26. #finally
It’s time to make
learning:
• learner-centred, or
self-directed
• connected
• social
• visible
• whole
learning practices are changing.

27. #andonelastthing
Blogging
Video
Tweeting
Podcast
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/timbuckteeth/learning-theories-for-the-digital-age
public performance of learning? Yep, sure feels like it.