LDT467

Week 4: Introduction (1 of 2)

Week 4: Introduction

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.

Resources for Week 4 (2 of 2)

Resources for Week 4

Refer to the Course Schedule ► Engage, to review this week’s required and/or optional resources.

All the required resources this week are related to connected learning, a framework that suggests how to engage and support learners by connecting them with networks of peers, adults, and resources related to their interests. Athough this work is based on research conducted with youth, the concepts can apply to learning more generally. As you read the texts and watch the videos, note how the learner's intentions and interests help to connect them across different contexts and spaces. Also notice how the role of teachers and peers is articulated.

This week, you are also being asked to explore two technologies to explore how they are being used by indivdiuals to learn. Make sure to pick some examples from each of the tools that you want to share in your post as you explore!