learning in the open: networked student identities

Learning in the Open: Networked Student Identities

University of Prince Edward Island February 2013

Bonnie Stewart

What is a networked learner?

h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/rofi/2647699204/  

Networked Identities

•  Engaged within networked publics (boyd, 2011) and digital sociality (Thompson & Cupples, 2008)

•  Participatory (Jenkins, 2006) •  Performative (Butler, 1990) •  Producing & consuming content within networks =

produsage (Bruns, 2007) / prosumption (Ritzer, 2010) •  Partial membership in multiple networks, less

reliance on belonging structures of settled groups (Wellman, 2011)

•  Convergence between online & offline (McEwan & Mease, 2013)

Higher Ed = change on multiple axes

knowledge scarcity

knowledge abundance

open

public funding

neoliberal corporatism

closed

Newly emerging species: open, public learner/scholars

We are cyborg

h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/russell-­‐higgs/75598487/  

Networks & the Academy: trends in ways of knowing

Openness as practice

•  No techno-utopia or determinism •  Long-term immersion & work •  Not just broadcasting but engagement •  Vulnerability •  Context collapse •  Blurring of public & private

My local cohort

•  2 active students in my year •  9 active Ph.D students total •  2 other local friends pursuing

Ph.Ds from other institutions

My cohort on Twitter  

learners, teachers, professors, writers – of

books I love & research I cite ! – bloggers, geeks, friends, parents,

students

scale = greater access, diversity, visibility… also increased noise & time.

Benefits as thinker: just-in-time emergent, choral

conversation

Benefits as learner & scholar: access, engagement, profile

Challenges: Legitimacy Practices

Academic Learning Networked Learning

product-focused process-focused institutionally-directed self-directed mastery participation bounded by time/space always accessible hierarchical ties peer-to-peer ties plagiarism crowdsourcing authority in role authority in reputation audience = teacher audience = world

Thank you.

@bonstewart