10 Years of Working and Playing on the Web

Learning by building

Over the past 10 years we have been slowly building an online world that reflects more closely the real world. This has helped us develop the first rumblings of a supported and different way of learning, sharing and building things online. We’ve uncovered the first little square of understanding how to utilize these tools and this little piece of understanding is for some people growing into a fuller understanding of how to ‘be online‘ and a quickly growing broader awareness of the potential of the tools available. This groundswell is laying the groundwork for a shift in the societal way of ‘being’ and possibly jumps forward in innovation.

Particularly over the past year we seem to be jumping forward a little faster than before. The web is starting to feel more usable, more human and we are taking notice. Faster connection speeds and breakthroughs in technology are key contributors to this. For many people it is possible to use their computers or phones to make a video call. For lots and lots of people it is now possible to post your knowledge, processes, procedures, stories, videos and software for free and get instant feedback from a variety of channels.

In the article Working and Playing on the Web Brown, clearly articulates why the web is a great place for learning. You can talk to other people and it records your conversation so you and others can read them reflect on them and build upon them. Good ingredients for learning. Rich learning experiences are created. The traditional roles of practitioner, student and teacher can often be blurred. Students can create knowledge that can be used by other students as the subject matter for example this video can be created by a student, analysed by other students, assessed by a teacher, viewed by an industry expert or government official, other view points can be added to the discussion and so on… until… we need to discuss something else.

Although this evolving, iterative development of our knowledge both in terms of society and individual learning is clearly a rational progression for our society it will take hard work to establish. Collaboration isn’t just a learning technique it’s a very productive way of life and learning. But it’s organic and it requires a different skill set to be successful, it requires you to trust in yourself and others. It takes a long time to establish those relationships. I think that’s where we are right now. Re-establishing the rules for our relationships online and offline. Parent/teacher, student/parent, friend/friend and all the other permutations. Bringing things closer together and sometimes further apart. It’s all part of the learning experience finding out what’s valuable.

Working online reflects good pedagogy

Most learning occurs little by little by interacting with a number of different people and experiences. Peers, textbooks, teachers, practitioners all provide a different piece of the puzzle to help me learn what I need to know. Sometimes it’s spontaneous, you leap forward with one interaction. Having more choice over how will learn usually means having a greater chance of success. The Web is giving us more and more options for learning.

Using both different types of media and the combined intelligence of many means that I can tailor the learning to suit my learning need at the time.
• Not sure where to start – I might strike up a chat with someone I know who has experience in the field and who can give me a few pointers
• Learning something completely new – I might choose to watch an instructional video
• Learning to help me solve a specific problem – I might choose to use a forum and type the question into my web browser
• Trying to create a meaningful world view of how to apply digital literacy in the classroom I might read an article from an experienced practitioner

Five years ago when I was classroom teaching there was a real focus on reflective pedagogy – both learners and students reflecting on their learning at every opportunity. One of the limitations at the time was that it was difficult to share your reflective practice with other teachers. There may have been group sessions to discuss practice, but often the time was limited or it was difficult to find another person who was really interested or needed to share in the lessons learned. The web solves some of those problems, we can participate in reflective practice by living it. Using a class or teaching blogs and websites we are more easily able to connect with teachers who are having similiar experiences and learn from them. Additionally the ease of use of the tools make it easier for those with a passing interest or different perspective to contribute to the learning. For example as a teacher I can view a post on a technology forum and use that information to learn to do something new in my classroom. Or not. I have more choice. Providing a broader and more tailored learning experience.

What are the limitations?

Completing these readings did get me thinking that with all these rich learning experiences and people feeding into the pot of knowledge that knowledge is becoming obsolete so quickly that it isn’t really useful anymore to teach or document ‘one version of the truth’. That is a big perceptual shift. George Seimens discussed this in his blog “One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete.’ To me this means a couple of challenging new concepts to ‘building understanding’:

• It’s important for me to build a thread of understanding over time an watch as other people and myself build our knowledge
• For students and teachers it is becoming increasingly important to focus on the skills to be able to watch those threads of knowledge being built and torn down and rebuilt with insight, critical literacy and a questioning mind

I think so far we’ve been building the things we need to move into a more collaborative phase of development. Infrastructure, skills, relationships. I’ve had many discussions with people about the way for example an intranet doesn’t work, about why we don’t keep things up to date, about why we aren’t teaching student how to ‘be’ online. I feel that this is all preparation for the real work, working on new ways of working and being so that we can be comfortable and productive in these collaborative environments online. People in so many fields are having really meaningful conversations about what it means to collaborate. Who to trust? Who to share with? What are the guidelines for doing this? Asking these questions is just as much a part of the open participative web as participating in the forum.

But we can’t expect to ask this of teachers, mentors, ceo’s and leaders without giving something back. I’m not sure what that is yet but perhaps it’s about those with understanding going that little step further – inviting those with less experience into the communities you belong to. Take their hand. Show them it’s not just metal and plastic but there are people in there. Give them a reason to be part of the conversation. Help the communities become more well rounded, more informative, more authentic.