Dear reader, I have to step up my blogging. It appears no one was interested in my musings in the first entry. There was only one like which was from a colleague of mine out of pity. The only comment he gave me was “it comes across as passive aggressive”. It is painfully clear I have not succeeded in adopting the ethos of the learning blogger yet. Today begins my path to redemption… or my fall further down.

I promised in the end of my first entry that I would read 5 articles about learning blogs and write my second entry based on them. I did download five articles that were accessible on Google Scholar and read through all of them, but I will zoom in on the article that I found the most interesting, Garcia et al.’s (2015) The implications of a connectivist learning blog model and the changing role of teaching and learning. One starting point for arguing for a connectivist model of learning is that we are experiencing in the digital age an exponential growth in what can be considered relevant knowledge, at the same time as much shorter time spans for how long knowledge remains relevant. It is thus argued that what we call knowledge today is something that is increasingly interconnected and person-dependent. In such context, learners need to be more agile, adapt to the changing relevant knowledge, as well as understand what makes knowledge relevant or irrelevant. No one can do this independently, we are told; knowledge can only be acquired by forming connections with others. And ‘acquired’ might in fact not be an appropriate term, as knowledge cannot be seen as a ‘commodity’ or even a ‘thing’ but rather what becomes important is the ‘know-where’ which includes a notion of in what context a particular piece of knowledge is particularly relevant.

Thus, within this model, a key skill of learners is that of being able to evaluate the validity of the knowledge transmitted through connections with other learners. Another key ability is that of being able to construct and navigate learning networks. Supposedly then, the better learners are at connecting with others and assessing the validity of various knowledge claims, the more rewarding their learning will be. The learning environment becomes highly learner-centred, “which can at times even result in individuals holding contradictory views of knowledge” (Garcia et al., 2015: 879).

I can see how the above is supposed to be representative of our contemporary times, both for better and for worse. For better, because if all learners were excellent in terms of connection skills and evaluation of validity of knowledge claims, then networked learning could make it possible for learners to keep abreast of relevant learning, drawing on exchanges of expertise both among peers and through connecting with theme-specific experts when appropriate. This sounds like a (rather remote) utopia of a radical learning society, able to face emergent challenges and seize opportunities through collaborative learning and adjustment ability. For worse, because this also resonates with the issue of ‘echo chambers’ in social media, enhanced by confirmation bias and incentivized algorithmic selection of information for the purpose of maximizing the benefit of various platforms whose business models rely on advertising. This sounds like an all too familiar dystopia, depicted by authors like Shoshanna Zuboff (2019) and recent documentaries like ‘The Social Dilemma’. Unfortunately, outside of some academic ‘network islands’ (or are they echo chambers too?), we appear to be living in a world that is closer to dystopia than utopia.

But surely, a course like ONL will take us closer to utopia? I wager it is up to us to make it a rewarding experience. What I’ve noticed in my limited involvement until now is that there have been a great deal of encouraging comments, commenting other people’s and groups’ output with relatively generic appraisals like ‘very interesting’, ‘excellent way to represent the issues’, etc. I understand that encouragement is needed, but if the course requirement of people commenting on other blogs and other groups’ work leads only or mostly to very generic appraisals of people who go through the motions quickly since they have no time for more meaningful engagement, then we might be missing out on realizing the more rewarding learning promised by connectivism. Of course, my own contribution to the course so far has been one of the least valuable among all participants, so my point is not to question the value of supportive appraisals or take a ‘knowledge high ground’ as my own. Rather, in the developmental spirit that I will strive to keep up in this learning blog, I now vouch that whenever I engage with someone else’s posts or some other group’s work, I will seek to write something that I find at least somewhat meaningful. It remains to be seen whether I succeed at all in this…

References

Garcia, E., Elbeltagi, I., Brown, M., & Dungay, K. (2015). The implications of a connectivist learning blog model and the changing role of teaching and learning. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(4), 877-894.

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.