By: John Seely Brown Presented: OpenLearn2007 30-31 October 2007 More: http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/document.cfm?docid=10605 Video/audio: http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?whichevent=1063&s=31

1. Open Learning Broadly Construed.
I feel like I am bringing
coals to Newcastle
An Approach to Sustainability
Leverage and build on
the kind of learning
that always happens
(even without our trying)
trying).
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2. Cartesian View of Learning
Knowledge as substance
And pedagogy as knowledge transfer
Leading us to think of learning like this...
“The delivery model: “Cultivate the neat rows
I teach - you learn” of disciplinary knowledge”
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3. The Social View of Learning
we participate
therefore we are
understanding is socially constructed
Suggesting we view learning more like this
“We learn in and through our interactions
with others and the world”
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4. Nothing Beats Collaborative Study Groups –
especially around homework & exam preparation.
The social construction of understanding is real.
And this works virtually as well -IMing or Second Life
The social life of learning on campus
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5. And in virtual worlds on/off campus
Second Life
And in social networks
across communities/friends
Blogs – Facebook – MySpace – LinkedIn, …
Now study groups or just plain bull sessions
can naturally extend to peer groups galore
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6. Can we turn everyone into being
both a learner & a teacher?
Nothing clarifies ideas better
than explaining them to others.
Learning as supported through
participatory architectures
we participate
therefore we are
th f
understanding is socially constructed
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7. The architecture studio--
the atelier form of learning
a powerful social learning environment
learning as
where work
enculturation
in progress
is made public. into a practice.
Beyond textbook learning:
learning-about ====> learning-to-be
Explicit
Learning about
Tacit
Learning to be
dimensions of knowledge
(Michael Polanyi)
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8. Reversing the Flow
Explicit
Learning about
Tacit
Learning to be
Key: unleashing productive inquiry
MIT’s studio for 8.02 electricity and magnetism --
technology enabled active learning (teal)
following RPI’s & NCSU’s studio physics courses.
moving seamlessly between lecture, experiment & discussion
and addressing the drop out rate
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9. And, of course, the
sage on the stage
model
m d won’t work here!
n
Nor, marking on a curve!
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10. Faulkes Telescope Project
Physical Location -- Maui
Students get remote access – run real experiments
d l
pool and analyze their results with a master.
New kind of learning/scholarship platform:
the specialized scholar’s portal
(allows for mini-papers as well)
New ways for students to engage in research
New f
N forms of peer review – a view into a practice
f i i it ti
Brown Univ.
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11. ‘Modern’ kids from the global world
growing up with mobile phones and internet
Do We Understand Them?
What creates meaning for them?
Or even for Us?
The Ancients
theory hacker converses with theory tinkerer
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12. Tinkering as a learning platform
and its death and rebirth
as remix, mashups, etc
New Forms of Tinkering for
the Born Digital Generation
Open Source
You Tube
Second L f
S d Life
Game modding
Civilization I – IV
Lego kits meet computing
Amateur Anime
Your Truman Show
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-
-
-
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13. Life in the Digital Age –
A culture of participation:
Tinkering, Building, Remixing & Sharing
Creating meaning by what I produce
and others build on – a remix, open
source culture.
Open Source as a
Participatory Learning Platform
The Open Source Movements:
• writing code to be read
g
• engagement thru useful additions
• social capital matters
A form of distributed situated learning
(cognitive ‘apprenticeship’)
enculturating to a virtual
lt t t tl
community of practice
open code, open system, open community discussion
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14. Remix & Mashup
creative tinkering & the play of imagination
But it is also ‘creative reading like in
creative reading’
fandom – fans filling in the back story
in highly imaginative ways.
Ah,
Ah creating meaning by integrating
their imagination with that of the
‘author’ in remix.
sometimes seen on YouTube
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15. A new kind of participatory
media/medium
for students/teachers/parents/producers/consumers
The Brewing Perfect Storm of Opportunity
Tying it all
Transformative Initiatives
together:
g
OER …
content/tools/activities
l
eScience
Open Participatory Learning
eHumanities
Ecosystem -
with feedback/loops galore
Web 2.0 & beyond
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Creating a new kind of ecosystems for
intertwining
knowledge creation, learning & mentoring
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16. Fundamental Trend
Scarcity ===> Abundance
Creator
Consumer
=> => Economy:
Manufacturing
Society
Economy
Culture of
Co-creation
&
Participation
Doesn’t this lead to niche communities,
the Long Tail and suggest that
learning-on-demand is now possible/ideal?
Tapping the Abundant Digital Resources
for formal/Informal & collateral learning
Games and game design – Civilization III,…
Simulations – Climate models,…
Remote instrumentations – telescopes sem, ..
telescopes, sem
Scholarly websites -
Open source movements
Open courseware – OpenLearn, OCW, Connections, …
Digital story telling – iMovie,…
Creating & remixing music – Garage Band …
Band,
Writing – blogs galore…
Access – Goggle Scholar…
Yahoo! Groups around communities of interest/practice
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17. The long tail distribution of the networked age
(circumventing scarce ‘shelf space’)
niche markets, niche genres, niche interest groups.
Now documentaries can reach the market on demand.
The Long Tail in Learning
leveraging and supporting each segment differently
Supporting the rise of an ecology of
learning/doing niches
Ah, I am passionate about this niche topic.
I want to learn/do more!
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18. The Bigger Picture
in three slides
Active Blending –
beyond just taping resources
Researching, re-searching & learning meld
into a new kind of distributed
learning/knowledge ecosystem with mentors:
peer based, masters & intelligent tutors
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19. A Radical Change of Point of View
Stocks Flows
(demand pull)
(supply push)
( l h)
Building inventory Participating in
of skills to be productive inquiry
deployed later.
Authority based Situational based
Explicit Tacit
for a rapidly changing
for a stable world based
world
on an old factory model
Learning 2.0 - learning on demand
When recreation becomes
an act of
re-creation/remix & productive inquiry
Culture of Learning
a culture that thrives on
participatory life long learning
and perhaps
the ultimate sustainability model .
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20. Thank You
Toru Iiyoshi
Dan Atkins
Hewlett Foundation:
(cathy/mike)
Richard Adler
Connie Yowell
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