Connecting learners

From Stellar Deliverable 1.1

'With the increasing possibilities of using computers as communication tools, they play an important role in rethinking and advancing our current perspectives on learning and instruction, knowledge management and creation, etc. In society, schools and organizations people are more and more sharing, discussing, and negotiating knowledge through computer networks, therefore stressing the social nature of learning'. (De Laat & Simons, 2002) p.1

People are at the heart of learning and knowledge construction and a crucially important role for information and communications technologies is to connect learners with other learners and teachers, trainers, experts in a particular field or more knowledgeable others. The Internet (Web) is increasingly being used to connect learners and new tools are continually being developed to enhance processes of connecting and communicating. On the Web, we can see that self‐directed, self‐managed and self‐maintained communities create successful new forms of collaboration (Wikipedia provides a well‐known example). Within successful communities, inherent incentive mechanisms to motivate and encourage participation exist. Wide‐ranging tools are used by these communities for knowledge sharing and building, communication, collaboration and networking. Knowledge sharing and building is facilitated by open and closed forums, Wiki pages and personal or shared blogs. Multimedia material is shared using popular tools such as FlickR and YouTube. Communication takes place using forums, annotation, tagging, chat rooms, instant messaging and video conferences. Collaboration is facilitated by shared media repositories, version management systems and collaborative text editing systems such as Google Docs. Networking portals, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, allow professionals to find, contact and keep in touch with like‐minded people.

These technologies are beginning to replace centralized, static technology‐push models with new interactive models that reflect the continuous, social nature of learning and this shifts the focus from knowing what to a focus on knowing how and knowing who.

Research questions include:

• What design principles should underpin tools and mechanisms to encourage online participation in communities? Why?

• How can the use of digital technologies take advantage of what we know about the social nature of learning?

    Networked Learning

    Key enabling success factors for learner networks