Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education

Bonnie Stewart
Bonnie StewartAssistant Professor of Online Pedagogy & Workplace Learning at University of Windsor
BEYOND THE INSTITUTION:
Networked professionals & digital
engagement in higher education
	
Bonnie Stewart
@bonstewart
University of Prince Edward Island
Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians
Congress 2016
Going beyond?
Or…did we ever really leave?
A Caveat.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adriensifre/10193979686/
Higher Education Professionals
knowledge scarcity
knowledge abundance
open practices
public models
market models
closed practices
Tensions in Higher Education
http://orig05.deviantart.net/c98f/f/2012/105/9/3/spare_change_by_noflowerinmyhair-d4w9ss3.jpg
“If you fear change, leave it here”
"For the first time in human history, two related
propositions are true. One, it no longer is possible to
store within the human brain all of the information that
a human needs.
Second, it no longer is necessary to store within the
human brain all of the information that humans need.
Education needs to be geared toward the handling of
data rather than the accumulation of data.”
Context for Communication, Berlo, 1975
Abundance ≠ Tech
http://www.telecomtv.com/articles/tablets/retro-chic-apples-original-macintosh-reimagined-12100
Abundance = Tree of Knowledge?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Anvar_saifutdinov_Abundance_tree.jpg
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education
Abundance = Overload. And possibility.
The exceeding of boundaries
http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/2191408271/
Abundance = Strange directions?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jessiewhittle/2619583364/
Abundance = Potential for abuse of
traditional formats
https://svpow.com/2012/01/13/the-obscene-profits-of-commercial-scholarly-publishers/
+ New governance visions/divisions
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education
https://www.flickr.com/photos/94342662@N00/3869483214/
…So. We are already “beyond libraries”
& “beyond the institution.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longship#/media/File:Tapisserie_bato1.jpg
Higher ed is over.
Everybody go home.
WAIT.
Structure of Abundance = Networks
https://plus.google.com/+DaveGray/posts/CQRVeKEsUvF?pid=5751686447270321954&oid=117373186752666867801
NETWORKS = many-to-many
communications
Networks are not just for consuming, but
connecting
https://www.flickr.com/photos/baggyjumper/6635779085/
Many-to-many
communications make
communicators into network nodes,
forming webs of visible (& invisible)
connections
So what visions do we have for “going
beyond” into networked practice?
What do professional identities *look
like* beyond the boundaries?
¤ Abundance is not a deterministic system, but a
complexification of systems
¤ Higher ed is not over, just complexified
¤ Important to work towards new
systems that operate on logics of learning, not just
business or media
Networked practice beyond the boundaries:
1.  Opening up identity
2.  Opening up engagement & contribution
3.  Opening up publics
VISION 1: IDENTITY
In institutional
structures, an individual
has a role.
In a networked culture,
an individual
has an identity, which it
is his/her job to
differentiate.
Networked education looks like THIS
https://www.flickr.com/photos/122135325@N06/15117809516/in/dateposted/
Price of admission = public identity
You need to work on digital identity
before it will work for you
Digital identity can offer control…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theeerin/331217199/
But where are the other controls?
Networked platforms can reduce
identity to algorithms
Networked identities can be difficult to
contain & compartmentalize
Networked identities can amplify
vulnerability
via commodification + re-inscription of societal biases
…can we just go back in the
schoolhouse?
•  76.4% of instructional staff in US higher ed are contingent
(AAUP, 2014)
•  67.5% of instructional staff in ON colleges are p/t (Colleges
Ontario, 2013)
•  StatsCan stopped tracking full-time faculty in 2011 L
Cyborg identities
Non-binary, subversive, & unfaithful to their origins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13521837@N00/2577665727/
“The dichotomies
between mind &
body, animal &
human, organism &
machine, public &
private, nature &
culture, men &
women, primitive &
civilized are all in
question ideologically”
- Haraway,1991
“Deviant trajectories” – Costa, 2014
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Love_your_country,_not_government.jpg
“Cyborg writing is
about the power to
survive, not on the
basis of original
innocence but on the
basis of seizing the
tools to mark the
world that marked
them as other.”
- Haraway, 1991
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rizzato/2342959844/
VISION 2: ENGAGEMENT &
CONTRIBUTION
In institutional structures,
gatekeeping is a hallmark of
official communication &
contribution.
In a networked culture, the
means/modes are open, but
the communicator must
cultivate his/her audience.
https://thestateofchange.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/water.jpg
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education
How might “getting beyond” matter to
scholarly engagement/contribution?
Destabilizes hierarchies
Can extend conversations,
resource-sharing, & visibility of work
https://www.flickr.com/photos/legends2k/3473962847
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education
Can open new conversations
Can enable multi-mode contributions
@hypothes_is!
Cannot be directed top down.
VISION 3: PUBLICS
How to navigate many-to-many
communications with minimal
harm / damage?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooocha/2632434274/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education
Call-out culture
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/conversation-smoosh-twitter-decay/412867/
Speech-based
expectations
Call Out Culture = Collapsed Publics
Print-based
interpretations
https://www.flickr.com/photos/seandavis/16528463225/
Hashtag activism = cyborg engagement?
“Bodies are maps of power and
identity.
A cyborg body is not innocent; it was
not born in a garden; it does not seek
unitary identity and so generate
antagonistic dualisms without end (or
until the world ends).
The machine is us, our processes, an
aspect of our embodiment.”
- A Cyborg Manifesto, Haraway, 1991
Can open new relationships
…And bring care.
Networked practices = scholarship
¤ Scholarship of discovery
¤ Scholarship of integration
¤ Scholarship of application
¤ Scholarship of teaching
!
(Boyer, 1990)
But a scholarship of abundance
https://www.flickr.com/photos/92998734@N03/8466586880/
Do our professional identities, engagement
& publics reflect the networked complexity
of contemporary higher ed?
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8013/7464195058_24f7388dc3_b.jpg
Our schoolhouse of “getting beyond”
Join in...?
THANK YOU.
@bonstewart
bstewart@upei.ca
http://giphy.com/gifs/flirting-charlie-chaplin-film-G3ywhC6eNDVew
1 of 62

More Related Content

Similar to Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education

Similar to Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education(20)

Recently uploaded(20)

231112 (WR) v1  ChatGPT OEB 2023.pdf231112 (WR) v1  ChatGPT OEB 2023.pdf
231112 (WR) v1 ChatGPT OEB 2023.pdf
WilfredRubens.com100 views
CWP_23995_2013_17_11_2023_FINAL_ORDER.pdfCWP_23995_2013_17_11_2023_FINAL_ORDER.pdf
CWP_23995_2013_17_11_2023_FINAL_ORDER.pdf
SukhwinderSingh895865467 views
ICANNICANN
ICANN
RajaulKarim2057 views
Education and Diversity.pptxEducation and Diversity.pptx
Education and Diversity.pptx
DrHafizKosar56 views
Structure and Functions of Cell.pdfStructure and Functions of Cell.pdf
Structure and Functions of Cell.pdf
Nithya Murugan142 views
discussion post.pdfdiscussion post.pdf
discussion post.pdf
jessemercerail70 views
2022 CAPE Merit List 2023 2022 CAPE Merit List 2023
2022 CAPE Merit List 2023
Caribbean Examinations Council3K views
Universe revised.pdfUniverse revised.pdf
Universe revised.pdf
DrHafizKosar84 views
Nico Baumbach IMR Media ComponentNico Baumbach IMR Media Component
Nico Baumbach IMR Media Component
InMediaRes1186 views
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY UNIT 1 { PART-1}ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY UNIT 1 { PART-1}
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY UNIT 1 { PART-1}
DR .PALLAVI PATHANIA156 views
Psychology KS5Psychology KS5
Psychology KS5
WestHatch53 views
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE_new.pptxSIMPLE PRESENT TENSE_new.pptx
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE_new.pptx
nisrinamadani2146 views
Sociology KS5Sociology KS5
Sociology KS5
WestHatch50 views
Chemistry of sex hormones.pptxChemistry of sex hormones.pptx
Chemistry of sex hormones.pptx
RAJ K. MAURYA97 views
NS3 Unit 2 Life processes of animals.pptxNS3 Unit 2 Life processes of animals.pptx
NS3 Unit 2 Life processes of animals.pptx
manuelaromero201389 views
ICS3211_lecture 08_2023.pdfICS3211_lecture 08_2023.pdf
ICS3211_lecture 08_2023.pdf
Vanessa Camilleri68 views

Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Higher Education