Facilitating Networked Learning—Opening the Conversation at AU

As pressure mounts for AU to move more of its teaching and learning activities online, we are all wondering how this is best done in unpaced undergraduate courses. You have heard about blogs and wikis, and you may already be using the learning management system Moodle, but have you figured out yet how to help students learn more or better with the new technologies? Have you considered how the continued fragmentation of content (from 60 minute evening news programs to 5 minute YouTube videos and, more recently, 140-character Twitter posts) impacts learning? What insight can be gleaned from the field of learning sciences to guide decisions on using emerging technologies?

On March 13, 2009, Educational Media Development, the School of Business and the Research Centre, co-sponsored a workshop on Facilitating Networked Learning in a Self-directed and Individualized Environment, where we discussed these issues.

You are welcome to join the ongoing conversation at AU by viewing the recorded presentation through the Elluminate link below, or by logging on to the Moodle course for the session, where you will find other resources.

Presenters: George Siemens with Terry Anderson

Some of the topics covered included:

  • What do we know about learning?
  • Trends impacting higher education
  • Cycles of change
  • What is online learning?
  • What is online teaching?
  • Planning technology use
  • Strategic considerations: Is Athabasca University prepared?

George Siemens is Associate Director, Research and Development, Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. His research focuses on evaluating learning tools, fostering learning networks for faculty, and assessing the global/emerging technology and social trends that are impacting learning. A prominent writer and researcher on learning, networks, technology and organizational effectiveness in digital environments, and a well-known theorist on the changing nature of learning in a digitally-based society, he is the author of Knowing Knowledge, an exploration of how the context and characteristics of knowledge have changed and what it means to organizations today. Siemens is also founder and President of Complexive Systems Inc., a learning lab focused on helping organizations develop integrated learning structures to meet the needs of global strategy execution. He is an international speaker and consultant, detailing the changes universities, colleges, and corporations must make in order to address the challenges of an increasingly complex world. Siemens maintains the elearnspace and Connectivism websites and writes several blogs. Additional background information is available here.

Terry Anderson is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education at Athabasca University. He is principal researcher in a variety of research and development initiatives, director of CIDER and editor of IRRODL. He teaches and advises students in AU’s Master of Distance Education program, and serves on advisory committees with the Alberta and Canadian governments.

 

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