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.

And so it all begins ...

THE IDEA

Chaos and order, complexity, emergence, connectivism … what is it about these concepts that intrigues me so much? And why do I believe that deepening my understanding of these concepts will have a powerful effect on my work as a curriculum developer and program planner? Maybe even on my understanding of what it takes to encourage/accelerate/support learning in myself or others?

It would be impossible now to retrace the steps of my enticement into the tangled web of these topics, but I do know that when I finally realized that I had arrived in the “web” I found other great topics that intrigued me: quantum physics and Buddhism, the magic of pi, the golden rule and its presence in musical harmonies, architecture and biology. Even Jane Jacobs’ ideas about city planning and economics ended up there. I read about anthills and electronic “flocks”, heard about the Butterfly Effect and wondered about string theory, listened to monks and checked out the “perfect” dimensions of the Parthenon. And somehow the interwoven nature of it all made some kind of intuitive sense to me. The delicate balance between delicious chaos and comforting patterns appealed to me. And certainly, my mind felt most awake when it was straining to catch a glimpse of the connection – connectedness – connectivity of it all.

At some point I began to wonder if this was how I learned. How other people learned. Not school learning, but the kind of learning that humans do when they’re left to their own devices and need to figure something out. When they explore and observe and try out things, falling down and getting up and trying again. It seemed to me that this kind of learning, the effort to have meaning emerge out of chaotic not-yet-knowns, was particularly rejuvenating and deeply relevant. It felt “true”, and I wanted to be part of it and wanted to help create it.

That in turn began to lead me to musings about programs and courses that I was developing in the world of adult education. Some of them were for language and literacy learners, but others were for teachers or program planners. Didn't they all deserve to be treated as if they could be in charge of their own learning? It began to occur to me that the way I worked while planning programs also needed to shift to reflect my views as much as the content and activities of my programs did. I needed to let go of outcomes more often, accept the rising and falling of group efforts, leave breathing room for erring and correcting, for finding and connecting. In short, I wanted to live and work what I believed.

Trying to gradually articulate - through praxis - what I believed about learning and program planning, I arrived again and again at the notion of “learner-centred”. But there I got stuck, because I could not reconcile the fact that I, as teacher or planner, was still deciding who was learner and who was teacher/planner. I still had control, and it seemed to me that to really be true to my beliefs, I needed to give up that control completely … or at least to a much greater degree. When I go about my life and experience those lovely moments of connection-making between previously-disconnected ideas that have been rumbling around in my head, I certainly didn’t have a teacher or program planner telling me what to do next to reach that juicy conclusion. So, what was making me think that I needed to provide that to others?

That remains an unresolved question for me. However, this much has become clear and will be explored in this blog: I think that understanding chaos and order, complexity, emergence, connectivism will lead me to some new understandings about learning and program planning. By understanding how things connect, and by developing faith in that interconnection, I will learn how to stop seeing myself as a “teacher” and planner of programs “for” people, and begin to move more firmly into the direction of … what? I’m not sure yet what that would be called. But I’ll find out. And I having a hunch I’ll be more “learning-centred” at the end of it.

THE PROCESS

I’m going to look up, read or re-read articles and websites and other sources of inspiration about the topics I’ve loved.

I’m going to create a repository of links to what I find on this blog, so that other educators who are interested in exploring this can dig around in it.

I’m going to open the blog to other people’s ideas.

I’m going to try to apply what I read to what I do.

I'm going to "muse on the butterfly" and watch where the musings take me and any other people along on the journey.

I welcome you to join me.