replacing teachers with crowds

Replacing teachers with crowds

TENCompetence Winter School ‘09Jon Dron

Athabasca University, University of Brighton

http://www.cofind.net - jond@athabascau.ca

loose plan

Intelligent crowds and candy

Groups, Networks and Collectives and play time

Ten principles and more play time

“We shape our dwellings and afterwards our dwellings shape our lives”Winston Churchill

Some influences on learning

tools

environment and context

pedagogies

external drivers

emergent behaviours

learner profile

institutional rules/norms

subject formalisms

community ethos

planned behaviourslogistic

processes

other people

VLEs

Some influences on learning

tools

environment and context

pedagogies

external drivers

emergent behaviours

learner profile

institutional rules/norms

subject formalisms

community ethos

Contexts of useTechnologies

planned behaviourslogistic

processes

other people

VLEs

Web 2.0, proper noun

The name given to the social and technical sophistication and maturity that mark the- Oh, screw it. Money! Money money money! Money! The money’s back! Ha ha! Money!

From The Devil’s Dictionary (2.0)

http://www.eod.com/devil/archive/web_20.html

Intelligent Crowds

Once upon a time...

There is a new organising principle...

There is a new organising principle...

There is a new organising principle...

There is a new organising principle...

Groups, Networks and Collectives

Once upon a time...

teacher

learner content

(after Terry Anderson)

There is a new view of learning

teacher

learner contentmany

What kind of Many?

group

network collective

me

What kind of Many?

group

network collective

me

New view of learning

Learner control

Teacher control

Negotiated control

structuredialogueautonomy

New view of learning

Learner control

Teacher control

Negotiated control

structuredialogueautonomy

Collective control

What is a collective?

crowd behaviour

algorithm

interface

feeds

drives

influencesor controls

play time!

• think of/visit social sites you know

• identify collective processes

• algorithm

• interface

Ten Design Principles

1. Adaptability2. Stigmergy3. Evolvability4. Parcellation5. Trust

6. Sociability7. Constraint8. Context9. Connectivity10. Scale

Adaptability

• build from small parts and mash-up

• rapid development methodologies

• use standards like OpenSocial, RSS, FOAF, OpenID, OAuth, JSON etc....

• Control with individuals, not teachers/administrators/programmers

A bit of my Personal Learning Environment

A bit of my Personal Learning Environment Mashup

Stigmergy

Stigmergy

• It will happen - use it

• Signposts, not fence-posts

Evolvability

• Deferred design

• Different scales

• Exaptions

• Replication with variation

• Death as a great teacher

Many other processes

e.g.

• city dynamics

• market-based systems

1. Dwellings...

2. Mixture of primary uses

3. Short blocks

4. Mixture of old and new

5. Dense concentration of people

Site MarketLimited attention

Attention means size and reputation

Parcellation

Photo by Kerry Lannert:: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stirwise/2675405956/

evolvability

flickr tags over 2 years apart

evolvability

flickr tags over 2 years apart

parcellation

play time!

• how can we put texture in our learning landscapes?

the problem of evil

trust and privacy

Trust

• Soft security vs hard security

• Systems security

• Controllable security

• Who’s who?

• How does it work?

Sociability

• Awareness of others

• Multiple channels

• Not necessarily in the same piece of software

Pedagogy

• Meaningful signposts

• If you design a mountain you will get mountain goats

• If you design an ocean you will get fish

• What is the shape and physics of an educational environment?

Context

• A truly self-organised environment can evolve into anything

• Institutional contexts

• The broader environment

• People wishing to learn

Meta-principles

• Connectivity

• Scale• connectivity

Big and small things

Things that change context

Things that come first

Cool tools but...

del.icio.us is cool but...

• single dimension of metadata

• limited interoperability

• commercial monolith

• limited parcellation

• very limited trust model

del.icio.us is cool but...

• single dimension of metadata

• limited interoperability

• commercial monolith

• limited parcellation

• very limited trust model

Facebook is cool but...

• single layer of hierarchy (the group)

• extendible but not very interoperable

• simple one-dimensional metadata

• limited trust model

• everyone is a friend or not

• commercial monolith

Ning is brilliant but...

• not distributed - single site

• relatively coarse privacy/trust control

Elgg is a bit better...

• richer trust model

• educational context

• institutional control (?)

• why does everyone have to be your friend?

Using them all...

• NetVibes

• Sniperoo

• Grazr

• iGoogle

• Widgets and Gadgets

Read the book...

Control and Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing

When to Choose

jond@athabascau.ca

http://www.cofind.net

Read the book...

Control and Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing

When to Choose

jond@athabascau.ca

http://www.cofind.net

jond@athabascau.ca

http://www.cofind.net

jond@athabascau.ca

http://www.cofind.net http://www.igi-pub.com/books/details.asp?ID=6732