Archive for November, 2010
Tallinn in winter
Kadriorg Park in Tallinn, shot last Saturday afternoon during a moment of slowing snowfall.
On understanding
“We understand only when we understand the question to which something is the answer…”
Hans-Georg Gadamer
On exactness
“The educated person seeks exactness in each area to the extent that the nature of the subject allows.”
Aristotele
Is there a new (media-)historical type of learning emerging?
In my recent live presentation/session for PLENK2010 I was trying to argue that if we want to get any further with the notion of Personal Learning Environments (PLE), we need to stop staring exclusively at the current (and transient) level of technological (Web) development. Instead, we need to analyse the “personal learning” side more seriously.
One possible perspective to take here is a (socio-)historical one. What types of learning have emerged over time and coupled to what (media-)historical developments? Personally, I find it rather useless to talk about environments for personal learning (or Personal Learning Environments) without an exploration of the types of learning (or the types of learning activity) these, so called, environments are supposed to constitute, support, or facilitate (you name it).
In their recent book chapter “Lernkultur oder Lernkulturen – was ist neu an der ,Kultur des Lernens’?” Erdmann & Rückriem (2010) discuss, among other things, the emergence of new types of learning (Lernformen). In this context they provide a short and simplified overview of three central (media)-historical types of learning that they distinguish:
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Contextualised, experience-based learning
(kontextualisierts erfahrungsbasiertes Lernen)“Learning” is coupled to the body and (mostly local) social practice. Think: observation, co-ordinated action, apprenticeship, and so forth.
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De-contextualised, knowledge-based taught-learning
(dekontextualisiertes wissensbasiertes Lehr-Lernen)Book- & text-culture allow for the emergence of a new media-historical from of “knowledge”. The book (text) becomes the new leading medium. In this context “learning” emerges as “activity” (Lerntätigkeit). De-contextualised, systematic taucht-learning becomes the dominant format and gets institutionalised in “school”. Contextualised, experience-based learning is gradually de-valued in society and taught-learning is treated as “learning” par excellence.
- Re-contextualised, sense-constituting, reflexive learning
(rekontextualisiertes sinnkonstituierendes reflexives Lernen)what gets on centre-stage is the learning of sense-constituting. Erdmann & Rückriem acknowledge that the former (media-)historical types of learning were also “sense-based”, of course. However, sense was either coupled with the actual contextualised personal (and social) experience, or the de-contextualised (book-)knowledge. What the authors see emerging is the de-coupling of knowledge (generating?) system(s) and meaning (generating/constituting?) systems(s) in the information society. Learning how to constitute sense becomes thus an important individual and societal task. This new type of learning can be (should be?) characterised as net-worked (I spare me a more detailed description of the “networkedness” as it is understood by Erdmann & Rückriem).
Erdmann & Rückriem prosose that these historical types of learning have emerged and developed in a successive, irreversible manner. However, they co-exist largely unconnected (which is really to be expected in the early stage of the ongoing cultural transformation).
I am not trying to say that Erdmann & Rückriem (2010) are drawing the one and only meaningful distinctions here. Nevertheless, they point us in an increasingly important direction for analysis and discourse:
…if we want to theorise about “learning” what boundaries do we want to draw? … and why?
…do we want to model individuals, groups, networks, organisations, etc. as the agents (of learning)?
…if we choose to model “personal learning” … what types of learning (Lernform) do we want to (or should we) focus on in the light of the ongoing (digital) transformation?
…if there is really a new (media-historical) type of learning emerging, how would a “personal learning environment” for such type of learning have to look like?
… and so on…
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Reference:
Erdmann, J. W., & Rückriem, G. (2010). Lernkultur oder Lernkulturen – was ist neu an der ,Kultur des Lernens’? In G. Rückriem & H. Giest (Eds.), Tätitgkeitsteorie und (Wissens-)Gesellschaft (pp. 15-52). Berlin: Lehmans Media.
CSEDU 2011 conference – 6-9 May, 2011 – Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands
CSEDU 2011, the International Conference on Computer Supported Education, aims at becoming a yearly meeting place for presenting and discussing new educational environments, best practices and case studies on innovative technology-based learning strategies, institutional policies on computer supported education including open and distance education, using computers. In particular, the Web is currently a preferred medium for distance learning and the learning practice in this context is usually referred to as e-learning. CSEDU 2011 is expected to give an overview of the state of the art as well as upcoming trends, and to promote discussion about the pedagogical potential of new learning and educational technologies in the academic and corporate world…
[CSEDU 2011 conference website]
Deadline for submitting position papers: January 4, 2011
Ed-Media 2011 – June 27-July 1, Lisbon, Portugal
ED-MEDIA–World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications is an international conference, organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
This annual conference serves as a multi-disciplinary forum for the discussion and exchange of information on the research, development, and applications on all topics related to multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications/distance education…
The submission deadline for this first call is: December 17. 2010
Teaching that facilitates development
Teaching facilitates development if it creates the conditions for the
formation of the kind of activity that is new to the individual and whose
agent she is to become.Repkin, 2003
Starting my research sabbatical
I am finally out of project work and will dedicate the next 12 months to reading, thinking, and writing. Enough of EU funded R&D for a while!
It was really about time to re-focus on my personal educational and academic interests. Naturally the move forces me to go through yet another “transition” phase, requiring considerable adjustments of all kinds. Tiring.. and refreshing at the same time.
Alle fühlen sich auf dem richtigen Weg, weil alle dasselbe tun
Die Sprache der Managementelite lässt bereits heute erkennen, welche Art von Führungskräfte mit lebenslangen Trainingskursen erzeugt wird. Diese Rhetorik ist inzwischen zum Vorbild für alle Funktionsbereiche der Gesellschaft geworden, sodass sich das Sprechen, Denken und Handeln von Universitätspräsidenten, Universitätskanzlern, Caritas-Vorständen und Schuldirektoren nicht mehr von der allseits präsenten Managementphraseologie unterscheidet. Vokabeln wie “Excellenz”, “Profilbildung”, “Kernkompetenzten”, “Qualitätsmanagement” und “Qualitätssicherung” sind allgegenwärtig. Dabei fühlen sich alle auf dem richtigen Weg, weil alle dasselbe tun.”
Richard Münch
2009 Globale Eliten, lokale Autoriäten: Bildung und Wissenschaft unter dem Regime von PISA, McKinsey & Co.
