This document discusses the philosophical implications of recognizing the changing nature of knowledge creation and learning in the digital age. It notes the emergence of connectivism and theories about knowledge being created through social networking. It argues that what constitutes authoritative knowledge is changing, with socially constructed knowledge through chat and other informal means now playing a role. It calls for recognition that learning is a community enterprise, with students and peers now valid knowledge creators. It discusses implications for education systems, including teachers no longer being the sole disseminators of knowledge and the need for new pedagogies and platforms to bridge formal and informal learning.

2. S. Downes

3. Philosophical implications Need for recognition of role in knowledge creation by social networking ( knowledge networking/ ) Emerging theories of ‘connectivism’ Changing nature of information & knowledge creation-what constitutes authoritative ‘knowledge’ (does chat?/ other forms of socially constructed knowledge) Critique of the value chain-data/information/to knowledge (which is more useful) Content is subservient to the communities (prime driver) Recognition of changing nature of knowledge creation (formal vs informal /VLEs /PLEs) Speed of knowledge creation, can’t be matched by traditional publishing methodologies (QA/Mdata/standrds/copyright etc) Learning can’t be relegated to the classroom-Global (more tech in bag) Students, peers are valid knowledge creators (publishing is a democratic activity-decentralised creativity)

4. Need to recognise changing profile of learners Digital natives Culture of collaboration and sharing Natural engagement with social networking tools Immediacy/currency Traditional media is increasingly irrelevant Motivation Personalisation Need to create and explore New cool (opensource)tools

5. For any education system obligations in terms of: Authority Autonomy Access Accountability Attribution/Acknowledgement Affordances

6. Practical implications Duty of care: Guaranteeing ‘safety’ (identity /filtering) Guaranteeing validity Reassessing education systems as ‘gateways’ of knowledge Teachers are no longer the centre of knowledge dissemination Revisit notions of learning Value of socially constructed knowledge ( or is it just ‘chat’ ?) VLE’s to PLE’s Licensing implications

7. What we need to do (Urgently): Recognise learning is a community enterprise (with all responsible-obligations) Students as meta learners (skills for C21 st learning) Platforms such as TaLe to bridge the formal and informal knowledge economies Teacher & community prof. development (teach social responsibility/information skills/new pedagogies) More flexible licensing and copyright (what is sharing?) Have capacity to exercise judgement & responsibility in matters of morality, ethics and social justice and accept responsibility for their own actions ( The Adelaide declaration 1.3) . Radical trust