Global learning collectives

This is part 7 in a series of posts on the future of learning and technology. I spent the last two years of my school life at AFCENT* International School, in Brunssum, Holland. There was one word to describe AFCENT School - diversity. I remember how culturally rich the experience was, because children from all of the NATO** countries attended, and I often sat alongside American, German, Canadian, French, Norwegian and Swedish classmates.

I discovered that this school's education was far more than just the three 'R's. We learnt phrases from each other's languages (slang and swear words were particularly good fun to practice), heard about unfamiliar customs and practices, and sampled strange and wonderful food and drink from other countries. I should point out that in the 1970s Britain was far less multi-cultural than it is today. This was the age of the cold-war and our parents were serving in the military. We took part in multi-national games that went on all day, where we played the roles of politicians and generals, as we tried to avert a nuclear war. We produced and performed in musicals such as Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof in the school assembly hall. We learnt to play the games of other countries. It turned out that Baseball and American Football were less of a mystery for us Brits than Cricket was for our American counterparts. Who knew?

We learnt traditional songs and stories we would never otherwise have encountered, because each child could not avoid bringing their own personal stories, history and culture into the classroom. German Christmas, Canadian Bring 'n' Buy sales, and American cheerleaders were not something I had encountered in any English school. Believe me, if we'd had American cheer leaders at school in England, I would never have missed a lesson. At AFCENT School we literally had the best of both worlds by attending an international school. Not many school students are as privileged.

Some years ago, I saw several schools try to replicate this cultural richness through the use of video links to connect two (or more) classrooms together across distance. It was a great step beyond the pen pal letters we used to write when I was in secondary school in the 1960s. Then we had to wait for days or weeks for a reply. Now whole groups can meet and converse with each other in real time without travel. Language learning, cultural exchanges, personal stories, preparation for overseas school exchange visits and a whole host of other benefits can be realised when children collaborate and share their learning across language and cultural divides. The excitement of connecting with children in schools in other countries was tangible. Some schools who connected using videoconferencing manage to project the live video images onto big screens so that large groups could participate, and the kids loved it.

Video conferencing was just the start. We now have several alternative technologies that will allow schools to connect cheaply and easily with school children in other countries. One of the futures of education will be greater connectivity between schools around the world. Through the use of social media meeting tools such as Google Hangouts, video sharing tools such as Skype, and even massive online open games, students around the world already enjoy better chances to learn from each other and with each other, regardless of their geographical location. How will this develop? I foresee the emergence of global learning collectives where children will learn together across schools and time zones, collaborating on projects and other joint activities, and where technology will help us to once and for all bridge the great divides of geography, culture, creed and ethnicity.

*AFCENT = Allied Forces Central Europe. NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

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Global learning collectives by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Community really is the curriculum

I'm in Tallinn, one of the most beautiful of the old Hanseatic cities dotted along the Baltic coast. It is the capital of Estonia, a small country with a population of around 1.3 million, 400,000 of whom live in Tallinn. In Estonia, runs the publicity, free wifi access is a human right, and it certainly seems to be true. No matter where I have been today throughout the city, I have been able to get free access to the internet on my iPod Touch. It's such a refreshing change from the pinch penny airports and city centres I usually frequent. Estonia is also famous as the home of Skype, which although now a Microsoft acquisition, was funded by Tallinn boy Niklas Zennström. Skype still operates out of Tartu, Estonia's second largest city in the south of the country. What a fitting place then, to hold an e-Learning Conference.

And that's why I'm here. I'm in Tallinn to give the opening keynote for the Estonian e-Learning Conference which takes place over 3 days in the city. I spent a great afternoon meeting with Sebastian Fiedler who just happened to be paying a fleeting visit to Tallinn, and emailed me for a meet up. This all happened because of Facebook and Twitter - tools the e-learning community uses with exceptional effect across the globe to keep in touch and share ideas. We had a great time over a few drinks discussing many of the burning issues surrounding digital media and learning, and we both left having learnt something new from each other. Later this evening I enjoyed the company of Stephen Downes and Allison Littlejohn, who have also been invited to keynote the Tallinn Conference. Again we all learnt a lot from each other in conversation around the dinner table.

On the walk back to the hotel I got into a conversation with Stephen and inevitably the talk turned to open access publishing, a subject that is close to both our hearts. I don't publish much in conventional journals anymore, and neither admitted Stephen, does he. He actually made a profound comment about this. The e-Learning community is very small, and those of us in it tend to cross paths frequently he pointed out. Perhaps that's why, he said that many of us don't need to publish that much anymore. Most of our ideas come out in conversation, whether face to face or online. And that I guess, pretty much sums it up. Community really is the curriculum these days.

I'm looking forward to the next two days here in Estonia. There are some interesting papers in the programme. Some of these will be live streamed, so if you want to watch those presentations over the next two days, go to the Estonian eLearning Conference website for further details.

Image by Steve Wheeler


Community really is the curriculum by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at steve-wheeler.blogspot.com.

The Emperor's new clothes?

I'm grateful to all those who have commented on my recent 'Monkey Business' post. I also seem to have stirred up some passion from the edublogging community, judging by some of the blog responses to my Edupunk rant on VLEs. Felix Grant (on his delightfully named 'The Growlery' blog) wrote a couple of posts agreeing with much of my argument that VLEs are overpriced, restricted in their functionality and poorly designed, and made the point that:

"My own (frequent!) contention is that every (yes, every) benefit of the institutional VLE for the learner can be obtained elsewhere with a little thought, using combinations of other information and communication technology tools which are freely and publicly available and already transparent to the target learner. Also, conversely, that most (not all, but most) of the disadvantages of the institutional VLE can thus be avoided".

These are interesting views, espousing a similar approach to my own. James Clay over at e-Learning Stuff was a little more circumspect with his post entitled: 'A bad workman always blames his tools'. He urged users esssentially to make the best of what is available, and reminded us that VLEs are only tools, used well or badly depending on those who wield them. He also advocated a hybrid approach:

"Using a VLE does not preclude you using other web based tools, it can be the cayalyst. With RSS it is possible to use the VLE as a focus for other web based services".

I agree - I use wikis as a central portal to link to other tools and resources, but it might just as well be a VLE (albeit an expensive option). As for bad workmen - can I respectfully point out that the skills of good workmen are often constrained by poor tools. Helen Whitehead over at Periodic Fable responded by posting 'VLEs - A boon or a bust?" She argued from a similar perspective, in a very much 'wait and see', don't 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' stance:

"Designed for learning, they keep everything in one place and provide for a variety of ways to teach and learn, at a variety of levels of expertise. Recent discussions about the future of learning, e.g., at the Learning Futures Festival and JISC online 08 have shown that there are new more personalised and flexible technologies coming along for learners to manage their own learning. Until then, the VLEs are our familiar territory and it's up to us to find creative ways to use them".

I agree they keep everything in one place, but aggregators can do that and so can wikis - for significantly less cost.

The week culminated in a very enjoyable Skype panel discussion facilitated by James Clay where Dave Sugden, Rob Englebright and Dave Foord and I all held forth about our opinions on the future of the VLE. One of the conclusions from the discussion was that the choice of tool may reflect the learning philosophy of the user. A podcast of this discussion will be posted up onto e-Learning Stuff next Sunday, 30th November.

So, the jury is still out on VLEs. Not everyone wants to ditch them in favour of a patch-work, do-it-yourself approach to using social software, even if it could ultimately benefit learners more. I concede that VLEs have their place in the panoply of learning technology tools, but to consider them the only institutional solution for e-learning would be folly. Look to the horizon, and the rapid advances being made in new social software tools, and we may begin to realise that the status quo cannot be sustained for ever. We need transparent systems that teachers and learners can use easily, without having to think too hard about anything other than the content they are learning.

One final word - I still suspect that the 'one size fits all' approach and the poorly designed VLE systems most universities and colleges have lumbered themselves with, are being covered over by the respectability of huge subscription charges and corporate branding. I hope though that it won't be long before the Emperor's new clothes are seen for exactly what they are.

Emerging Mondays

I'm taking part in a live podcast on Monday evening for Pontydysgu using Skype direct from my new wireless laptop, if I can get the blasted software to download.

I'm going to be talking about social software and open content for e-learning, and will be in conversation with the show's host, Graham Attwell. This was a session I agreed to do with Graham earlier this week whilst attending the Edumedia conference in Salzburg. Graham has already posted an invitation on his JISC Emerge site and I see the show will also feature Jay Cross from Internet Times who will be talking about informal learning, Hank Horkoff from Chinese Pod in Shanghai on personal Learning Environments and language teaching and learning and a 'culture spot' with the Last Poet in Oxford (I suspect it's George Roberts, but one can never be certain).

Just one thing though, Graham. I'm not from Plymouth College (it doesn't exist anymore and I left there over 12 years ago). I'm now working for the University of Plymouth.... Oh, it doesn't bode well at all.....