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Week 4: Learning in Participatory Cultures

Week 4: Learning in Participatory Cultures

Link to a text description:http://oudigitools.blogspot.com/2014/09/connected-learning-infographic.html
Figure 4.1. Connected learning and its characteristics.

This week, we'll focus on how social media and internet tools support new learning ecologies that enable different roles for learners and teachers/facilitators. Figure 4.1 was created (by the MacArthur Foundation) to represent the key processes and ideas that are part of connected learning. As represented in the graphic, multiple communities, individuals, resources, contexts, tools, and processes combine to support connected learning. The OU Digital Teaching website provides a detailed explaination of the infographic.

This week, the texts introduce new perspectives that help to reconceptualize the learner's role. Based on what we see digital learners doing, the learner is networked, entrepreneurial, a maker, a tinkerer, and passionately involved in topics of interest. We'll also attend to what learners can do across different settings—school, home, and community—and how those might contribute to learning. This week, we will focus on how learner interest, passion, and goals can help connect them with other like-minded individuals and how that supports learning informally and formally. 

You will also be exploring some of the current tools that make these kinds of connected, participatory cultures possible. I urge you to use one of those technologies to present your thoughts on the texts and post the link in Slack.


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