Presentation given at SUNY Learning Networks SOLSummit in Syracuse, New York on February 28, 2013

1. Online Learning in a Networked Age
Dr. Alec Couros
SLN SOL Summit
Syracuse, New York
February 28, 2013

2. #slnsolsummit

3. me

5. The Blur

7. Personal Open Spaces

11. “Web 2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect
and reimagine what they do as scholars. Such tools might
positively affect -- even transform - research, teaching,
and service responsibilities - only if scholars choose to
build serious academic lives online, presenting semi-
public selves and becoming invested in and connected
to the work of their peers and students.” (Greenhow,
Robelia, & Hughes, 2009)

12. changes

14. current context - new affordances
tools, content, networks

15. tools

16. Mobile
Early Days of PCs in Schools Today’s Social/Mobile Reality

18. Convergence

19. significant shifts in media
atoms <---> bits
scarcity <---> abundance
consuming <---> creating
standardization <---> personalization
individuals <---> networks

21. “in 2007 YouTube consumed as much
bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000”
“72 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one
hour of video is uploaded to Youtube every second.”
“More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month
that the 3 major US networks created in 60 years.”

26. shifts in edtech Group growth
Individual growth
Objectivism
Cognitivism
Constructivism
(Leinonen) (Schwier) Social Learning

27. content

31. Informal Learning
• “Informal learning is a
significant aspect of our
learning experience.
Formal education no
longer comprises the
majority of our learning.”
•
George Siemens
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

33. 17-Year-Old Heather Traska
86 days, 30+ characters, 13 songs
recorded, edited, produced
arranged by ear

35. “Today knowledge is free.
It’s like air, it’s like water...
There’s no competitive
advantage in knowing
more than the person next
to you. The world doesn’t
care what you know. What
the world cares about is
what you can do with what
you know.” (2012)
@drtonywagner

36. networks

37. HAT’S
NO T W
AN T
P O RT
IM

38. Six Degrees of Separation
“the idea that everyone is on average six
steps away, by way of introduction, from
another person in the world.”

39. Strength of Weak Ties
“There is strength in weak ties. Our
acquaintances, not our friends, are potentially
our greatest source of new ideas and
information.” (paraphrased from Gladwell, 2010)

40. Where Good Ideas Come From
“The trick to having good ideas is not to sit
around in glorious isolation and try to think big
thoughts. The trick is to get more parts on the
table.” (Steven Johnson, 2010)
“Chance favors the connected mind”
~ Stephen Johnson

41. networks provide ...
1. affordances: enable communication, collaboration
& cooperation in ways that were once impossible
with people who were once unreachable.
2. inspiration: connect us to new ideas & expand our
thinking & potential for innovation.
* ‘us’ meaning those who have access.

42. affordances & inspirations
value of free, crowdsourcing, visible learning

43. value of free

44. “Gift cultures are adaptations not
to scarcity but to abundance ....
In gift cultures, social status is
determined not by what you
control, but by what you give
away. (1997)
@esrtweet

48. “the song intentionally lacked a
copyright so that people would
be encouraged to create their
own online parodies, in essence
their own "XYZ Style"”

50. 21st Century Learning Networks

51. 21st Century Learning Networks

53. crowdsourcing

57. @dlnorman

58. @giuliaforsythe

59. @noiseprofessor
@noiseprofessor

60. @noiseprofessor

61. @timlauer

63. making learning visible

64. MYOB Learning

66. “To answer your question, I did use
Youtube to learn how to dance. I
consider it my ‘main’ teacher.”
“10 years ago, street dance was very
exclusive, especially rare dances like popping
(the one I teach and do). You either had to
learn it from a friend that knew it or get VHS
tapes which were hard to get. Now with
Youtube, anyone, anywhere in the world can
learn previously ‘exclusive’ dance styles.”

72. How are you making
your learning visible?

73. How are you contributing
to the learning of others?

74. cMOOCs

75. #eci831 (open-boundary)

77. network mentors

78. non-credit students

79. course trailer

80. student-controlled spaces
@jonmott

81. learned to love the hashtag

82. What We Learned
• Open access be low-cost, high impact.
• ‘Courses’ as shared, global, learning events.
• Openness as a way of connecting students to a greater,
authentic learning community.
• Amazing serendipity in open spaces vs. walled gardens.
• Importance of student-controlled learning spaces.
• Connectivist pedagogy first focus on connecting &
interactions; content important, but secondary.
• Development of sustainable, long-term, learning
connections.

83. #etmooc

84. origins

87. ~2000 participants from
~70 countries

88. spaces

91. /tweets

100. random artefacts

109. #lipdub

113. concluding thoughts

114. Private Public
Closed Open

115. (Joichi Ito)

116. “The developed world is in
the midst of a paradigm
shift both in the ways in
which people and
institutions are connected.
It is a shift from being
bound up in homogenous
“little boxes” to surfing life
through diffuse, variegated
@barrywellman social networks.” (2002)

119. “Don’t limit a child to your
own learning, for he was born
in another time.” ~Tagore
http://couros.ca
couros@gmail.com
@courosa