Jon Dron discusses the evolving landscape of education through technology and social networks, emphasizing the shift from traditional universities to more distributed forms of learning. He highlights the importance of social forms, networks, and the role of platforms like Athabasca Landing, which foster self-organized learning. The document raises questions about ownership, control, and the value that educational institutions provide in an age where knowledge is widely accessible.

1. Not just about
networks
Jon Dron
Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute
Professor & Chair, SCIS, Athabasca University, Canada
jond@athabascau.ca
http://jondron.athabascau.ca
11
3rd International Seminar on Online Higher Education in Management
11
Santiago de Chile, 17 - 18 October, 2016
3rd International Seminar on Online Higher Education in Management
Título
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2. What’s the first thing you
do when you want to
learn something?

3. me too
etc

4. The two most successful
learning technologies in a
thousand years?

5. Online, we are swimming
in a sea of teachers

6. Distributed
content

7. Distributed
support
📧

8. Distributed
accreditation

9. Personal sense-
making

10. So, why bother with
universities?

11. setnet
group
Universi(es,
Departments,
Companies,
Na(ons,
professional bodies
Tribes
Social networks -
Friends, Work,
Community
Subject areas,
Geographically
collocated people,
People with shared
characteris(cs,
abili(es, etc
Classes,
Tutorial groups,
Seminars,
Project teams
Ad-hoc learning
networks,
Clubs & socie(es,
Communities of
practice
Wiki editors,
Alumni networks,
Communi(es of interest
Framework: Social forms
http://teachingcrowds.ca

12. Traditional education
is all about groups,
mostly closed

13. rulesnames
hierarchies
norms
pace
sequence
power relationshipsstructure
collaboration and contest
membership
duration
joining and leaving
exclusion
leaders
ritualsGroups
identity
processes

14. All groups are
designed

15. Trust
Belonging
Safety
Efficiency
Effectiveness
Value in groups?

16. other social
forms
the setthe net

17. networks
people you know
not designed
I store my knowledge in my friends (Karen Stephenson)

18. designed networks

19. network dangers
preferential attachment
inefficient paths
echo chambers
connection trumps wisdom
lack of structure
lack of process
lack of direction/control
Matthew Effect
distraction
narcissismownership?
blurred contexts

20. sets
people like you (interests or attributes)

21. designed sets

22. Set dangers
anonymity lack of process
weak social ties
stupid people
lack of caring
bad people
lack of structure
reliability
lack of trust
trolls
blind leading the blind
cultural conflict

23. The collective
capture processing
presentation

24. Wise crowds (stupid
mobs?)

25. You are the
product/
you rent
the
product
You use the
product
You
(co-)create
the product
You own
the
product
Ownership and control
AthabascaLanding

26. The owner’s purpose is
rarely to support learning,
rarely to support you.
EdgeRank algorithm: you see
less than 3% of ‘friends’
shared contentYou are the product

27. Athabasca Landing
https://landing.athabascau.ca/

28. A safe space
~
A social learning commons
~
A social construction kit
~
No one in control, no hierarchies, few rules
~
Persistent - boundary-crossing - beyond
the course
The Landing

29. much learning
8,700 users
26,000 blog posts
14,000 shared files
7,500 shared bookmarks
4,500 microblog posts
10,000 wiki pages
3,300 discussions530 groups
>20,000 unique visitors a month (>2,000 internal)
~30 courses
~20 research groups
~30 committees/working groups
self-organized

30. Using nets and sets
• Can we/should we let go?
• Who owns the network/set?
• What should our algorithms do?
• How should we teach/research/learn in an
age of plenty?
• What value do we add?
• What is the role of the university when
everyone is a teacher?

31. thank you/
gracias!
Landing: https://landing.athabascau.ca/profile/jond
Home page: http://jondron.athabascau.ca
Aggregation page: http://jondron.org
email: jond@athabascau.ca
Twitter: @jondron
More or less any social medium: jondron http://teachingcrowds.ca