The document discusses the changing nature of education with the rise of internet and new technologies. It argues that traditional educational institutions may no longer be needed in the future. Instead, personalized learning environments enabled by web technologies can empower learners to pursue knowledge more freely and collaboratively through connections in online networks and communities. A few examples mentioned are personal learning environments, massive open online courses, and open learning resources on platforms like Wikiversity and P2PU.

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3. It's interesting how much the internet has changed education. It has
changed the way we learn. I wonder how far it will go? Maybe there will
be no need for institutions in the future...just a computer?
Comment on the Metaverse Journal blogpost, 6 Oct 2010 by Sparax88
http://www.metaversejournal.com/2010/10/06/why-second-life-is-already-second-best-for-education/
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4. Is this a learning
environment?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:5th_Floor_Lecture_Hall.jpg
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5. Or is it a learning factory?
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6. "This is a time of crisis in the institution of the school, a crisis
which may mark the end of the 'age of schooling' in the Western
world.”
Illich, I. (1971). Celebration of awareness: A call for institutional revolution. London: Calder &
Boyars, p. 123
“The institution, the form in which we have managed education
and society in general, has ultimately come to failure.”
Downes, S. (Nov 3, 2010). Deinstitutionalising education. Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-downes/deinstitutionalizing-educ_b_777132.html
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7. “A good educational system should have three purposes:
1. it should provide all who want to learn with access to
available resources at any time in their lives;
2. empower all who want to share what they know to find
those who want to learn it from them; and, finally,
3. furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with
the opportunity to make their challenge known.”
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society. London: Calder & Boyars, p.
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8. “If in place of the educational institution we create our own
form of learning through free association with each other,
then we create an educational system that cannot be
abridged, cannot be held hostage, cannot be sacrificed to
corporate or proprietary interests.”
Downes, S. (2010). Deinstitutionalising education. Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-downes/deinstitutionalizing-educ_b_777132.html
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9. “Technology is available to develop either independence
and learning or bureaucracy and teaching.”
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling society. London: Calder & Boyars, p.
Nothing good will come of these technologies if we do not
first confront the crisis of significance and bring relevance
back into education.
Wesch, M. (2009b). From knowledgable to knowledge-able: Learning in new media
environments. Academic Commons Retrieved 24 February 2009, from
http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/knowledgable-knowledge-able
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10. Web technologies enable emergent
“learning webs” and new pedagogies
Learning webs
 Distributed learning
communities of practice
 Personal and social learning
environments (P/SLEs)
 Personal knowledge
networks (PKNs)
 Massive open online
courses (MOOCs)
Pedagogies
 Social constructivism
 Connectivism (Siemens)
 Rhizomatic education
(Cormier)
 Collaborative learning
 New media literacies and
participatory learning
(Henry Jenkins, et al.)
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11. Literacy Description
Play The capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-
solving
Simulation The` ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real world
processes
Performance The ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation
and discovery
Appropriation The ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
Multi-tasking The ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus onto salient details on
an ad hoc basis
Distributed cognition The ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand our mental
capacities
Collective intelligence The ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others towards a
common goal
Judgment The ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information
sources
Transmedia navigation The ability to deal with the flow of stories and information across multiple
modalities
Networking The ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
Negotiation The ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting
multiple perspectives and grasping and following alternative sets of norms
Core competencies for participatory learning (New media literacies, Jenkins, et al.)
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12. Personal Learning
Environment (PLE)
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13. My netvibes platform
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14. Mike Wesch’s Netvibes
platform for learning
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15. Downes’ PLENK: a MOOC
– aggregating student input
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16. Edupunk
“Education is
fundamentally about the
exchange of ideas and
possibilities of thinking the
world anew again and
again, it is not about a
corporate mandate to
compete—however inanely
or nefariously—for market
share and/or power. I don’t
believe in technology, I
believe in people. “
--Jim Groom
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17. Edupunks networking at
the SL unsymposium
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18. Places to go for
open learning
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19. Welcome to Wikiversity
‘set learning free’
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20. P2PU
‘Learning for everyone’
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21. Western Governors University
the teacherless university
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22. References 1
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (2009). New Media
Literacies Retrieved October 26, 2010, from
http://www.newmedialiteracies.org/the-literacies.php
Cormier, D. (2008). Rhizomatic education: Community as curriculum. Innovate,
4(5). Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info/
Downes, S. (2010a). Deinstitutionalising education. Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-downes/deinstitutionalizing-
educ_b_777132.html
Downes, S. (2010b). Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge ~
PLENK 2010 Retrieved October 26, 2010, from http://connect.downes.ca/
Illich, I. (1971a). Celebration of awareness: A call for institutional revolution. London:
Calder & Boyars.
Illich, I. (1971b). Deschooling society. London: Calder & Boyars.
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23. References 2
Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., & Robison, A. J. (2009).
Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st
century. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. elearnspace.
Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Wesch, M. (2008). Anti-teaching: Confronting the crisis of significance. Education
Canada, 48(2), 4-7.
Wesch, M. (2009b). From knowledgable to knowledge-able: Learning in new media
environments. Academic Commons Retrieved 24 February 2009, from
http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/knowledgable-
knowledge-able
Wesch, M. (2010). Mediated Cultures: Digital Ethnography at Kansas State
University Retrieved 26 October, 2010, from
http://www.netvibes.com/wesch#Digital_Ethnography
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24. Keith Kirkwood
School of Languages and Learning
Victoria University
Melbourne, Australia
Email: keith.kirkwood [at] vu.edu.au
http://www.snap.vu.edu.au
http://sitchensis.wordpress.com/
Contact details
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