Presentation for IT Research Series seminar at NUI Galway, February 2014.
Related blog post: http://catherinecronin.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/openeducation-and-identities/
3. Academic coordinator - IT Online
Lecturer - #ct231
Open and networked educator
CC image: Laenulfean
4. “I don’t think
education is about
centralized instruction
anymore; rather, it is
the process [of]
establishing oneself
as a node in a broad
network of distributed
creativity.”
– Joi Ito @joi
Quote: Joi Ito
Image: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 yo
6. The higher education sector has reached a
critical point where it must address the
innovations that have changed the way its
learners, and the rest of society, seek and
engage with knowledge.
http://www.nmc.org/publications
17. The Daily Divide
Individuals with abundant access to ICTs
who have habits of effective use of these
technologies in information-seeking and
problem-solving activities are unable to
make effective use of these technologies
in higher education settings.
David Wiley & John Hilton III (2009)
21. As studies become more contextualised it
seems that the real lesson of online identity is
not that it transforms identity but that it makes
us more aware that offline identity was already
more multiple, culturally contingent and
contextual than we had appreciated.
Danny Miller (2013)
Future Identities report
http://www.bis.gov.uk/foresight/our-work/policy-futures/identity
24. “If institutions of learning are going to help
learners with the real challenges they face...
[they] will have to shift their focus from
imparting curriculum to supporting the
negotiation of productive identities
through landscapes of practices.”
Etienne Wenger (2010)
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
choconancy1
28. Learners need to practice and experiment with
different ways of enacting their identities, and adopt
subject positions through different social
technologies and media.
These opportunities can only be supported by
academic staff who are themselves engaged in
digital practices and questioning their own
relationship with knowledge.
- Keri Facer & Neil Selwyn (2010)
29. open education and digital identity:
issues to explore
Created vs. ascribed identities
Development of new identities (social,
pedagogical, civic, professional)
Crossing boundaries (temporal & spatial
as well as institution, education sector,
geography, culture, power level)
Power relationships between educators
and students
31. References
boyd, dana (2010). Social network sites as networked publics:
Affordances, dynamics, and implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), Self: Identity, Community, and
Culture on Social Network Sites. (pp. 39-58).
Facer, Keri & Selwyn, Neil (2010). Social networking: Key messages from the research. In R. Sharpe,
H. Beetham & S. de Freitas (Eds.) Rethinking Learning For A Digital Age.
Gutiérrez, Kris D. (2008). Developing a sociocritical literacy in the Third Space. Reading Research
Quarterly, 43(2), 148-164.
Ito, J. (2011, December 5). In an open-source society, innovating by the seat of our pants. The New
York Times.
Miller, Danny (2013). Future Identities report. Foresight Project, DR2.
Pew Research Center (2013) Internet and American Life Project
Rainie, Lee & Wellman, Barry (2012). Networked: The new social operating system. MIT Press.
Stewart, Bonnie (2013). Massiveness + openness = new literacies of participation? MERLOT Journal
of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(2).
Wenger, Etienne (2010) Knowledgeability in Landscapes of Practice SRHE Conference 2010. In
deFreitas & Jameson, Eds. (2012) The e-Learning Reader
Wiley, David & Hilton III, John (2009). Openness, dynamic specialization,
and the disaggregated future of higher education. The International Review Of Research In Open And
Distance Learning, 10(5).
Notes de l'éditeur
For those here who are tweeting… here’s my Twitter name, conf hashtag & my slides!So you can tweet to summarise points that interest you, but also to share with otheres…. I encourage you to tweet away!
I work at NUI Galway…
I read this quote by Joi Ito in NYT (Dec. 2011) & created this slide (using a CC-licensed photograph) I have probably shared it in every presentation I’ve given since. I think it says so much about where learning is already going… and where education has the potential to go.Not connected/limited by geography, space, time... but connected by our own ideas, passion, commitment via open practices & social media. This is one of the best definitions I’ve seen of Open Education… and its future possibilities.
The paradigm that has worked for over a century, is becoming obsolete.Universities must renovate, or rebuild.Q: How will formal learning institutions remain relevant when quality learning materials are freely available?
Fastest growing? 45-54 year-olds on FB/G+ and 55-64 on Twitter (Fast Company study)95% CT231 studentsOnline ADULTS:72% (Pew, 2013) 80% in Ireland67% use Facebook 18% use Twitter & 13% use InstagramCreate (not just Consume) content (Produce, Comment, Classify & Curate)Relationships are the lifeblook of social media
Visualisation of network connections around hashtag #icollab.#icollab = community of practice students & lecturers in 6 HE courses, at 6 different institutions, across 6 countries, who are studying – and creating -- mobile & social media)The tool is TAGS Explorer, created by Martin Hawksey – enables visualisation of network connections. Using both static & dynamic graph analysis tools, e.g. Node-and-Edge graphs and Entity Interaction Network model… can measure:Information diffusionInteraction activityRelationship or tie strengthSocial influence
danahboyd defined NETWORKED PUBLICS… networked, open, online spaces (a new kind of public space)Global networks, different audiences… data is PERSISTENT _ REPLICABLE _ SCALABLE _ SEARCHABLE The audience is unknown… Context Collapse.
“Networked Individualism”CONTEXT = 3 Revolutions:SOCIAL NETWORKS – (more than FB!) existed for a long time… fluid changing networks, not groups, sometimes communitiesINTERNET… baked-in ethic of OPENNESS, freedom & innovationMOBILE… affects our sense of Time and Place… Presence… Social Connectedness… “hyperconnectivity”We (people & institutions) exist now in Information & Communication Ecologies that are strikingly different from the ones that existed just a generation ago.We live in a different media landscape than the one we lived in and were educated in. (learn anything, anywhere, any time)
2006 diagram created by Alec Couros…. (when uptake of SM was much lower & mobile not as widespread).
81% [94%] of online teens use social networking sites (Pew, 2013)94% [90%] use Facebook 24% [60%] use Twitter 11% [23%] use Instagram[40%] use WhatsApp[35%] use Snapchat
3 main spaces where we encounter one another…Physical classroomsLMS / VLE (e.g. Blackboard, or other members-only communities)On the web, using open tools, open source, open access… e.g. social media (Twitter, Facebook, G+, Flickr), blogs, wikis, etc.
David Wiley & John Hilton have called this the Daily Divide.The well-known phrase “digital divide” describes the gulf between individuals who have access to information technology and individuals who do not.Also a Daily Divide…Connected students may, of course, choose to “go rogue” outside of class and usetechnologies and their skills outside of class, but this only serves to reinforce the feeling of disconnection and disorientation on in-class exams.
Some educators are seeking to make this connection, to cross this boundary between formal and informal learning. This is the area of my study.Open Online Spaces or Networked Publics (= blogs, wikis, social networks such as Twitter, G+, etc.) = enableNeworked or Connected LearningWhat are the affordances of OOS?Organising principle is the NETWORK (fleeting membership, weak ties) rather than the GROUP (designed, strong ties)Enables Cooperative networked dependencies, not just collaborative group dependenciesOpen, DiversityFlexibility & Nonlinearity
Educators & students can share their networks.Kris Gutiérrez-“Third Spaces” of Learning. Informal learning spaces, Formal learning spaces, and a combined space.Although the research by Gutiérrez et al relates to children learning across languages & cultures, concept of “third space” is helpful in thinking about the affordances and possibilities of open online spaces for students and staff. KEY!!! Not limited by rigid identities in Open Online Spaces, or third spaces…
The paradigm that has worked for over a century, is becoming obsolete.Universities must renovate, or rebuild.Q: How will formal learning institutions remain relevant when quality learning materials are freely available?
Giddens (1991) examines identity as a constantly re-worked personal narrative we continually create/develop our identities, in interactions with othersGoffman (1975) emphasised multiple identities equated with differentiated roles, framed by contextIn classrooms & BOS, our identies are our real-name identities, our roles are ascribed to a great extent.e.g. in Blackboard, students & lecturers have different privileges. In grading this is right! Is it necessary for all learning activities?In OOS, each individual creates their own online persona digital identityReal name (@catherinecronin)Pseudonym or alter ego Students are creating and experessing their DI’s every day… using SM & SNS such as FB, Tw, SnapChat… Many students already have a confidence social digital identity, but developing an identitiy as a learner, a writer, a scholar, a citizen…. these are the important tasks as part of education. Many educators feel that we have a role in supporting students in developing their digital identities, to support lifelong learning, to model good practices in these online spaces.
PERFORMATIVE – constituted through practicesQUANTIFIED – clicks, follows, @s, likes, Klout, etc…. Like it or not!PARTICIPATORY – merging of production and consumptionASYNCHRONOUS – beautiful thing of creating your own moment, your own space to respond to othersAUGMENTED – atoms and bits, Nathan JurgensonSURVEILED – Internet: we reveal ouselves to fully enjoy it “TV is watching you” – Edward SnowdenBRANDED – ME, Inc. to what extent are we a brand?
Knowledge NOT= CurriculumKnowledge = “a living landscape of communities of practice that contribute in various ways” to our learning and to our identitiesSo… HOW do we do this?!
Open Online Spaces:Educators & students encounter one another online, outside formal academic structuresPotential to be “social peers”Develop new identities – social & civic identities, as well as learner identitiesAffordances of Learning in Open Spaces:Establish new connections, based on our interests & passionsCross boundaries geography, culture, instititution, education sector, community/ies, and POWERBuild trust, build relationshipsSolutions are likely to be multimodal and multi-access