The Medium and the Message

Having done some interesting reading on connectivism, emergent curriculum and chaos/orderliness, I'm now trying to figure out how to move ideas into practice. Some very useful principles are starting to gel:

- the idea of "flow", in which students are so deeply engaged in their task that they don't learn consciously

- the idea of "nodes" and "bridges", which are taking shape in my mind as conceptual and activity clusters linked by known and/or comprehensible elements (referring back to Krashen's "comprehensible input plus 1" language learning theory).

- the necessity for "large" and "small" workspaces (big picture ruminations and small picture detail work)

- the systems approach concept that unifies the part and the whole ... reminds me of Pi, the golden rule

- the concept of "foraging" which would allow students to rummage through related information and materials at their own pace and in their own order, while still contributing to the larger task at hand.

- the need for a home base and a unifying task (ultimate goal) with occasional "resting spots" to regroup, assess and determine next steps.

HOWEVER ...

I'm trying to find a technology that allows me to do this. I want a website that works in a circular fashion like the Prezi presentation software (although that's been frustrating to work with), so that I can build "nodes" and "bridges" but allow students to roam through information clusters, apply their new learning and then move on to the next information cluster in their own way. It's so clear in my mind ... why can't I find the software to do it?!

Paper and pen are linear. Most learning management systems are linear. WebCT, Angel and Desire2Learn are all linear. MySpace has an interesting notion of being able to add on pieces, but they're still linear and chronological. It appears that Moodle is as close as I can get. But Moodle doesn't allow me to form bridges. Or even to allow bridges to form on their own by frequency of student use. I need to be able to create initial "paths" through the content, in the way that the Prezi presentation software does. I want random entry points. I want to be able to place "doors" on a large "canvas", almost in the way that a computer desktop allows multiple entry points into files and subfiles. I just want them to be linked by bridges.

It makes me think of Jane Jacobs and her discussions about city planning. It reminds me of parks where people's feet carve the most logical walkways into the grass regardless of there the cement has been poured. NOT straight lines, but curved paths that are the closest, most logical distance between two points.