Network Literacy & the
Tools of Engagement
Alec Couros
MICDS - June 2009

#micds

Who is this guy?

Winners

Heroes

Open Courses

Who are you?
Thoughts & experience re:
on technology & learning?
What do you feel have been the
big changes wrt education?

Knowledge

Knowledge & Computing

Shifts in Education
Group growth
Individual growth
Objectivism
Cognitivism
Constructivism
(Leinonen) (Schwier) Social Learning

Power & Control

Power & Control

A Connected Reality

Key Questions
• what is k?
• how is k acquired?
• how do we know what
we know?
• why do we know what
we know?
• what do humans know?
• who controls k?
• how is k controlled?

Forms of Openness
open education
free software
open source software
open educational resources
open content
open access publication
open access courses open teaching
open accreditation

Influences

Available Tools

open content, access, Accessible Knowledge
publication, accreditation
how we view learning -
institutional & informal

Social Reading

Toward Web 3.0

How do learners deal
with the reliability of
information? How do we
verify what is ‘true’?
How do we manage the
ever increasing flow of
information?

Social Networks

Social Networks
• redefine communities,
friends, citizenship,
identity, presence, privacy,
publics, geography.
• enable learning,
communication, sharing,
connections, collaboration,
community.
• networks formed around
shared interests & objects.

Human Network

Netbooks - 1:1

Microblogging

Nearly Now

As we approach a reality of reduced physical
boundaries & greater connectedness, what
are the professional & pedagogical challenges
faced by teachers? How do we overcome these?

Personal Learning Networks

The Way We Were

Rise of the PLN

My Blog, My Hub

Photo Sharing

Video Sharing

Spontaneous PD

Social Network Services

Slide Decks

Copyleft

How should schools deal with
content ownership, student
publishing, & sharing? Also,
what are the benefits and/or
drawbacks of sharing &
openness in schools?

Media Literacy

Media Literacy
• Accessing, analyzing,
evaluating, and creating
messages in a variety of
forms.
• Enable skillful creators,
consumers, and
disseminators of media.
• Facilitate an
understanding of
strengths, weaknesses,
and influences of media
forms.

Offensive Content

Offensive Content

Offensive Content
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/searchspy

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking

Cyberbullying

Each technology
creates a new
environment.
The old environment
becomes content for
the new environment.
The effects of media
come from their form
not their content.

Spread of Media

Viral Videos

Spread of Choice
Control & Media

Sociality

Disruptive Forms

Surveillance Society

Transmedia

What are strategies for
understanding new &
emerging media? How do
we become participants?
How do we encourage and
assess new forms of
creativity in our
classroom?

In Practice

Grade One - Expert Visits

Grade Five - Choir on Youtube

Grade Seven/Eight - Classroom Studio

High School Math - Scribe Posts

University History - Twitter

Virtual Office Hours

Field Experience

Mindsets, Skills, Perspectives

lightbulb
vs.
ipod
Understanding Media

Impact of Learning Environment

Small Tools, Loosely Joined

Distributed Conversations

Open Intent

Sharing by Default

Expert Visits

Support
Private Public
Closed Open

Professional Learning

New Roles for Educators

Outreach

sustained community Benefits
transformative experiences
gained technical skills
media literacies
move toward openness
empathy toward new literacies
greater community

“I was able to go out and learn
throughout the entire week,
the entire year, and I’m still
learning with everyone.”
“The best part of the course
is that it’s not ending. With
the connections we’ve built,
it never has to end.”

“The course ... has been the most profound pd experience
I’ve ever had. It forced me to critique & review my
practice. I never knew how important social networks
were. Now, I couldn’t be a teacher without being
connected. It’s drastically changed my view of education.”

What do you want
to learn today?

Don’t limit a child to your
own learning, for he was born
in another time. ~Tagore
web: couros.ca
twitter: courosa
google: couros
alec.couros@uregina.ca