Replacing Teachers with Crowds

Replacing teachers with crowds TENCompetence Winter School ‘09 Jon Dron Athabasca University, University of Brighton http://www.coﬁnd.net - jond@athabascau.ca

loose plan Intelligent crowds and candy Groups, Networks and Collectives and play time Ten principles and more play time

“We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape our lives” Winston Churchill

Some inﬂuences on learning external learner drivers proﬁle VLEs tools emergent other people behaviours pedagogies subject formalisms environment planned and context institutional behaviours logistic rules/norms community processes ethos

Some inﬂuences on learning external learner drivers proﬁle VLEs tools emergent other people behaviours pedagogies subject formalisms environment planned and context institutional behaviours logistic rules/norms community processes ethos Technologies Contexts of use

Web 2.0, proper noun The name given to the social and technical sophistication and maturity that mark the- Oh, screw it. Money! Money money money! Money! The money’s back! Ha ha! Money! From The Devil’s Dictionary (2.0) http://www.eod.com/devil/archive/web_20.html

Intelligent Crowds

Once upon a time...

There is a new organising principle...

Groups, Networks and Collectives

Once upon a time... teacher content learner (after Terry Anderson)

There is a new view of learning teacher many learner content

What kind of Many? collective network me group

New view of learning Learner Negotiated Teacher control control control autonomy structure dialogue

New view of learning Collective control Learner Negotiated Teacher control control control autonomy structure dialogue

What is a collective? algorithm feeds crowd behaviour drives inﬂuences or controls interface

play time! • think of/visit social sites you know • identify collective processes • algorithm • interface

Ten Design Principles Adaptability 1. Sociability 6. Stigmergy 2. 7. Constraint Evolvability 8. Context 3. 9. Connectivity Parcellation 4. 10. Scale Trust 5.

Adaptability • build from small parts and mash-up • rapid development methodologies • use standards like OpenSocial, RSS, FOAF, OpenID, OAuth, JSON etc.... • Control with individuals, not teachers/ administrators/programmers

A bit of my Personal Learning Environment

A bit of my Personal Learning Environment Mashup

Stigmergy

Stigmergy • It will happen - use it • Signposts, not fence-posts

Evolvability • Deferred design • Different scales • Exaptions • Replication with variation • Death as a great teacher

Many other processes . uses gs.. ellin y imar w . D ture of pr 1 Mix 2. hort blocks d and new people . S ture of ol tration of 3 Mix ncen e.g.4. ense co .D 5 • city dynamics • market-based systems Sit Lim e Ma Att ited a rket ent tten ion t me ion ans size and rep utatio n

Parcellation Photo by Kerry Lannert:: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/stirwise/ 2675405956/

evolvability ﬂickr tags over 2 years apart

parcellation

play time! • how can we put texture in our learning landscapes?

the problem of evil

trust and privacy

Trust • Soft security vs hard security • Systems security • Controllable security • Who’s who? • How does it work?

Sociability • Awareness of others • Multiple channels • Not necessarily in the same piece of software

Pedagogy • Meaningful signposts • If you design a mountain you will get mountain goats • If you design an ocean you will get ﬁsh • What is the shape and physics of an educational environment?

Context • A truly self-organised environment can evolve into anything • Institutional contexts • The broader environment • People wishing to learn

Meta-principles • Scale • connectivity • Connectivity

Big and things small

Things that change context

Things that come ﬁrst

Cool tools but...

del.icio.us is cool but... • single dimension of metadata • limited interoperability • commercial monolith • limited parcellation • very limited trust model

Facebook is cool but... • single layer of hierarchy (the group) • extendible but not very interoperable • simple one-dimensional metadata • limited trust model • everyone is a friend or not • commercial monolith

Ning is brilliant but... • not distributed - single site • relatively coarse privacy/trust control

Elgg is a bit better... • richer trust model • educational context • institutional control (?) • why does everyone have to be your friend?

Using them all... • NetVibes • Sniperoo • Grazr • iGoogle • Widgets and Gadgets

Read the book... Control and Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing When to Choose jond@athabascau.ca http://www.coﬁnd.net

jond@athabascau.ca http://www.coﬁnd.net

jond@athabascau.ca http://www.coﬁnd.net http://www.igi-pub.com/books/details.asp?ID=6732

Replacing Teachers with Crowds

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