Technology and Humanity: Finding Points of Harmony in Teaching and Learning

George SiemensNovember 12, 2010

What is at play here? What are the assumptions being made?

Source: Jon Dron, 2010: Learning Services Conference Presentation

Source: Jon Dron, 2010: Learning Services Conference Presentation

What does technology do well?

Technology: hard/structured/inflexible

Extends humanity physically

“Bicycle for the mind” (SteveJobs)

Sameness (reproducibility)

Scalability

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/11/great-scott-over-35-hours-of-video.html

Standardizes

Systematizes

Extract patterns form large-scale data

Breakups (via status changes)

Shifts control (democratizes & solidifies power)

Source: Jon Dron, 2010: Learning Services Conference Presentation

Removes barriers

Creates Barriers

$$

Skills

Mindsets

What do people (social/soft systems) do well?

Social systems: flexible/adaptive/self-organizing/

Trust, belonging

Fluidity

Serendipity

Incorporating technology into learning process requires harmonization of attributes of soft/social systems with those of technological/structured systems

Content

Can it be recorded? Repurposed?

Change focus of class time: information interaction, not information provision

Why is this important?

Control is valuable at certain stages and for certain tasks

Flexibility increases prospect of random connections that lead to innovation

Social systems

Permit flow, randomness, self-organization

Learning analytics

Learner digital identityProfileData trail

Interaction patterns

Mobiles

Physical world data

LMS/PLE/eportfolioSocial network sites

Activity Streams

Role & skills of the educator

TechnicalExperimentationAutonomyCreationPlayCapacity for complexity

Structure of classrooms

Global, open?

Open teaching & learning

2008, 2009,

(soon) 2011

Data trails

Explicitation of thoughts/our lives

:: signaling what we are going to do in the future

Future analysis

Connectivism & Connective Knowledge 2008Moodle Forum Analysis

Week

But this also applies to systems

Standardized of instruction

Complexity & adaptivity

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