Review of Allison Littlejohn, Jimmy Jaldemark, Emmy Vrieling-Tuenter, Femke Nijland (Eds.) (2019). Networked professional learning: Emerging and equitable discourses for professional development (original) (raw)
Related papers
Networked Learning In Higher Education: Practitioners' Perspectives
ALT-J, 2000
There is a growing use of a variety of communications media to provide networked learning in higher education. The practitioners in the field vary from experienced educators who have many years' experience to early adopters who have begun to use networked technology for teaching and learning recently. Using interviews informed by a phenomenographic approach, this paper investigates the varieties of experience of practitioners of networked learning. It reports initial findings that represent an early stage of analysis. The findings point towards a common philosophy held by current practitioners of networked learning but a lack of 'rules of thumb'. Practitioners expressed ideas close to a new paradigm in education but were cautious about specific design outcomes meeting expectations. This finding raises questions about design and whether networked learning is yet stable enough a field to provide guidance on best practice. The paper also reflects on criticisms of the phenomenographic method, in particular its reliance on interview data, and offers some possible ways of dealing with the criticisms.
Unraveling networked learning initiatives: an analytic framework
Unraveling networked learning initiatives: an analytic framework, 2016
Networked learning happens naturally within the social systems of which we are all part. However, in certain circumstances individuals may want to actively take initiative to initiate interaction with others they are not yet regularly in exchange with. This may be the case when external influences and societal changes require innovation of existing practices. This paper proposes a framework with relevant dimensions providing insight into precipitated characteristics of designed as well as ‘fostered or grown’ networked learning initiatives. Networked learning initiatives are characterized as “goal-directed, interest-, or needs based activities of a group of (at least three) individuals that initiate interaction across the boundaries of their regular social systems”. The proposed framework is based on two existing research traditions, namely 'networked learning' and 'learning networks', comparing, integrating and building upon knowledge from both perspectives. We uncover some interesting differences between definitions, but also similarities in the way they describe what ‘networked’ means and how learning is conceptualized. We think it is productive to combine both research perspectives, since they both study the process of learning in networks extensively, albeit from different points of view, and their combination can provide valuable insights in networked learning initiatives. We uncover important features of networked learning initiatives, characterize actors and connections of which they are comprised and conditions which facilitate and support them. The resulting framework could be used both for analytic purposes and (partly) as a design framework. In this framework it is acknowledged that not all successful networks have the same characteristics: there is no standard ‘constellation’ of people, roles, rules, tools and artefacts, although there are indications that some network structures work better than others. Interactions of individuals can only be designed and fostered till a certain degree: the type of network and its ‘growth’ (e.g. in terms of the quantity of people involved, or the quality and relevance of co-created concepts, ideas, artefacts and solutions to its inhabitants’) is in the hand of the people involved. Therefore, the framework consists of dimensions on a sliding scale. It introduces a structured and analytic way to look at the precipitation of networked learning initiatives: learning networks. Successive research on the application of this framework and feedback from the networked learning community is needed to further validate it’s usability and value to both research as well as practice.
Educational Research Review, 2006
In this paper, we have attempted two ambitious tasks. We have undertaken a wide-ranging survey of the Network learning (NL) literature, and tried to identify the emerging themes of this work. We have selected three of these themes, and in each case tried to identify the main theoretical perspectives in use, the main directions of the studies, and the key ideas being addressed and researched. We have also tried to indicate where the main research effort might be directed in order to help to 'fill in the gaps' and achieve some coherence for the theme. Our second major task has arisen from our assertion that the field of Networked Learning research is theoretically fragmented. We have argued that this situation arises because Networked Learning research is a new field, and is drawing upon a wide range of theoretical perspectives. However, unless we can achieve some synthesis of these perspectives we may find it difficult to establish a coherent research programme in the field. We argue that one way of developing some coherence is to make theory and praxis interact explicitly, in other words, to 'converse' with each other in our research. By this we mean, to use theory to interrogate praxis, and use praxis to modify and develop theory, thus moving towards perspectives that are changing theory, modifying and improving it. As part of this argument, we have briefly surveyed the current level of Theory-Praxis Conversation, either explicit, or implicit, in the thematic research we have described. It is clear that some outstanding work is being done to make theory work, and to modify it in the light of research into praxis. However, it is also the case that much current Networked Learning research does not interrogate the theory that it uses to contextualise it. We see Theory-Praxis Conversation as a way of thinking explicitly about how we might make the work of interrogating theory in our research more explicit and systematic. In this way, our 'Quest for Coherence' may, we hope, help Networked Learning research to climb up to the higher ground, and give us a wider ranging view of learning in networked environments.
Engaging in Networked Learning: Innovating at the Intersection of Technology and Pedagogy
This paper reports on a case study of university lecturers' professional learning about digital technologies over four years, and their development of associated innovative teaching practices. During the first year, new hardware and software, as well as planned professional development (PD) opportunities, were made available to assist lecturers involved in initial teacher education in a Faculty of Education at an Australian university to integrate digital technologies into their teaching. Over the 2011-2014 period, some transformed their teaching practices substantially. It turned out that the provision of formal PD was only a trigger – much unplanned and unanticipated professional learning occurred through informal interaction, with lecturers co-learning with colleagues, and indeed with students, in an environment of enthusiastic experimentation. Formal learning was thus complemented by a networked model of the spread of knowledge and skills among colleagues, students, and wider educational communities. This paper, which focuses on the learning of two staff members who changed their practices considerably, suggests that educators benefit from a combination of formal and informal professional learning strategies when it comes to integrating digital technologies into their practices in pedagogically innovative ways.
Networked Learning in 2021: A Community Definition
Postdigital Science and Education, 2021
Since the turn of this century, much of the world has undergone tectonic sociotechnological change. Computers have left the isolated basements of research institutes and entered people's homes. Network connectivity has advanced from slow and unreliable modems to high-speed broadband. Devices have evolved: from stationary desktop computers to ever-present, always-connected smartphones. These developments have been accompanied by new digital practices, and changing expectations, not least in education, where enthusiasm for digital technologies has been kindled by quite contrasting sets of values. For example, some critical pedagogues working in the traditions of Freire and Illich have understood computers as novel tools for political and social emancipation, while opportunistic managers in cashstrapped universities have seen new opportunities for saving money and/or growing revenues. Irrespective of their ideological leanings, many of the early attempts at marrying technology and education had some features in common: instrumentalist understandings of human relationships with technologies, with a strong emphasis on practice and 'what works'.
Networked Teaching and Learning for Life-Long Professional Development
A Companion to Research in Teacher Education
Our societies are in the midst of intense economic, social, and technological change, and around the world educators and policymakers are being challenged to ensure that education systems are cognizant of these changes and that education is relevant for the demands of twenty-first-century citizenship. In particular, the democratization and changing understandings of knowledge; the growing connectedness and diversity of societies; the need for lifelong and life-wide learning; and the critical role that technology will play, have been shown to be some of the important considerations in the planning of twenty-first-century learning environments. These changes have significant implications for teacher education and ongoing teacher professional learning. A reconceptualization of the design and delivery of teaching programs is required to prepare teachers for learning environments that are interconnected, technology-enabled, and information-rich. In a 2012 OECD report into preparing teachers and school leaders for the twenty-first century, Schleicher (2012) highlighted that, along with in-depth subject knowledge and a rich repertoire of teaching and learning strategies, twenty-first-century teachers will require strong skills in technology; the ability to be able to work in highly collaborative ways with other teachers, professionals, and organizations; and the skills and dispositions to be reflective practitioners. They will also need to be able to take responsibility for developing themselves professionally and be instruments of innovation. This chapter provides a case study of a professional learning program that responds to these challenges by using a networked teaching and learning approach in
Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 2016
As an experienced face-to-face teacher, working in a small Crown Dependency with no Higher Education Institute (HEI) to call its own, the subsequent geographical and professional isolation in the context of Networked Learning (NL), as a sub-set of eLearning, calls for innovative ways in which to develop self-reliant methods of professional development. Jones and De Laat (2016, p.43) claim that NL is different from other eLearning sub-sets, for example, Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Computer-Supported-Collaborative-Learning (CSCL) because of its “focus on pedagogy and understanding how social relationships (and networked practices) influence learning rather than having a predominantly technical agenda for change in education”. NL, rather than TEL or CSL, therefore, locates the context for this paper. My intent was to develop a bespoke professional development framework to facilitate independent and self-directed NL teaching development. To scaffold my professional developmen...
Informal networked learning; a network in the wild
In shifting work predicated on talking to the very small screen of mobile phones, a space approximately 3cm by 3cm space, with a 160 characters imposed on each utterance, and where no-one gets seen or heard, a significant challenge is generated. This is the challenge faced by Youthline, New Zealand (NZ), a youth oriented telephone helpline. There is no evidence-base for such a practice; there never is for new practice. How then is new practice learned? One of the teaching and learning challenges that becomes apparent is that something cannot be taught until it is known, and in not knowing how the practice would develop there could be little preparation for those involved. They had to learn from each other. What evolves provides a unique opportunity for studying processes of informal networked learning, a network in the wild. This paper draws on conceptual and analytical tools drawn from actor-network theory (ANT). In tracing the detailed activities of those involved it becomes possible to see that practice might have been, and still could be otherwise. The networked learning that occurs is a reflection of the interactions between those involved. In working the technology to suit human needs, it becomes apparent that the technology simultaneously shapes those involved. The technology in this network is demonstrably not a passive carrier of conversation, nor are the young people making use of the service passive recipients, the counsellors do not move in untroubled ways from one medium to another, and counselling does not remain the same. In observing practice development it becomes evident that things happen due to contingent relationships rather than individually held agency. Recognizing agency as distributed disrupts conceptions of who leads and who follows, of who teaches or learns, and who gets to define whom. An attribution error is made when agency is located individually; young people are cast as choosing text for pathological reasons that spans being developmentally challenged through to being a member of the thumb generation. Such errors that create barriers to empowerment are challenged by the new configurations that occur. Studying networks in the wild brings to the fore concerns associated, obviously, with what is mainstream or not. What is seen as different, edgy, acceptable or unacceptable, desirable or abhorrent will of course depend on the vantage point one has. Looking at networks in the wild provides a further vantage point. There is potential that other educators might learn from network learning spaces where the borders on innovation and of literacy practices are less firm. Keywords Actor-network theory, networked learning, distributed agency, telephone helpline
Learning in a networked world: New roles and responsibilties
Distance Learners in Higher …, 1998
Developments in communications technology are having a profound effect on both distance education and higher education in general. Technologies such as computer-mediated communication and learning networks are making collaborative and personalized learning experiences, at a distance, a reality. These same technologies and the growing pressure to provide quality learning experiences on-campus are also transforming higher education, particularly with regard to the dominance of the lecture.
Differences in Understandings of Networked Learning Theory: Connectivity or Collaboration?
2011
With the popularisation of web 2.0 practices and technologies, we have also witnessed a re-vitalisation or renaissance of terms such as collaboration, sharing, dialogue, participation, student-centred learning, and the need to position students as producers, rather than consumers of knowledge. These are, however, pedagogical ideals, which have been prominent within research areas such as Networked Learning, CSCL and CMC-research well before the emergence of web 2.0.