Presentation at the University of Oslo, July 1, 2011.

1. Academic Collaboration & Learning
in a Networked Age
Dr. Alec Couros
University of Regina
July 2011

2. bit.ly/oslo2011

3. me

4. Faculty Profile

6. The Blur

7. Photo-A-Day

9. Open CV

10. Open Access Journal

11. Open Teaching

12. “Web 2.0 tools exist that might allow academics to reflect
and reimagine what they do as scholars. Such tools might
positively affect -- even transform - research, teaching, and
service responsibilities - only if scholars choose to build
serious academic lives online, presenting semi-public
selves and becoming invested in and connected to the
work of their peers and students.”
(Greenhow, Robelia, & Hughes, 2009)

13. journey
(quick version)

14. Knowledge

15. knowledge
• what is k?
• how is k acquired?
• how do we know what
we know?
• why do we know what
we know?
• what do humans know?
• who controls k?
• how is k controlled?

16. human thought/ideas
human language
source code
high-level language
(e.g. C++, Java, PERL)
low-level language
(assembly language)
code irretrievable
machine code
(binary)

18. @jonmott

19. Collaboration

20. “given enough eyeballs,
all bugs are shallow”
(Linusʼ Law, Raymond 1997)

21. “A key to transformation is for the
teaching profession to establish
innovation networks that capture
the spirit and culture of hackers -
the passion, the can-do, collective
sharing.”
~ Hargreaves, 2003

25. Openness

26. • philosophical stance
• power & control
open(ness) • access
(short version)
• design attributes
- privacy/publics
- transparency
- accountability

27. open(ness)
(short version)
open education
free software
open source software
open educational resources
open content
open access publication
open access courses
open teaching
open scholarship
open accreditation

28. • pedagogical & pragmatic
stance
• knowledge exchange,
networked curation, wayfinding,
crowdsourcing,
learning collaboration, problem
(short version)
solving
• facilitated through
personal learning
networks/environments
(PLNs/PLEs)

30. Free/Open Content
“describes any kind of creative work in a
format that explicitly allows copying and
modifying of its information by anyone, not
exclusively by a closed organization, firm, or
individual.” (Wikipedia)

33. “...the power of the new software
movement stems from the ʻgift cultureʼ....
The Internet is a quintessential example of
a gift culture. People are willing to make
all sorts of useful information available for
free, in defiance of orthodox economic
ʻrulesʼ that claim such voluntary behavior
can occur only with financial incentives.”
(Bollier, 1999)

34. early lessons
• knowledge needs to be free.
• relationships trump content.
• transparency & openness are powerful
conditions for knowledge building.
• distributed, weak-tie communities can help
to solve complex problems.
• education can greatly benefit from the
experiences of open (source) communities
(i.e., networked communities of practice).

35. participatory media

38. media stats (2010)
• 107 trillion emails (89% spam), from 1.04 billion users.
• 255 million websites
• 1.97 billion Internet users
• 152 millions blogs
• 600 million Facebook users (sharing 30 billion pieces of
content per month)
• 2 billion videos watched on Youtube daily
• 5 billion photos hosted on Flickr
Stats as of January 2011 via Royal Pingdom

46. “Privacy is no longer
possible ...”

47. “Privacy is no longer
possible ...”
“... the technical infrastructure for
creating and sharing content has
been simplified to the point where
anyone with even limited
technical skills can participate.”

48. “Privacy is no longer
possible ...”
“... the technical infrastructure for
creating and sharing content has
been simplified to the point where
anyone with even limited
technical skills can participate.”
“Social spaces and the process of
identity creation and growing up
require some “forgivability”.”

49. Text

50. Easily Copied Instantly Shared
Easily Edited Viewable by Millions

51. PRIVATE by DEFAULT
PUBLIC with EFFORT

52. PUBLIC by DEFAULT
PRIVATE with EFFORT

53. Best Job in the World

54. On Digital Video
• “Ten years ago, not one student in
a hundred, nay, one in a thousand,
could have produced videos like
this. It’s a whole new skill, a vital
and important skill, and one
utterly necessary not simply from
the perspective of creating but
also of comprehending video
Stephen Downes communication today.

55. implications

56. Changes
Early Day of PC in Schools Todayʼs Social/Mobile Reality

59. Informal Learning
• “Informal learning is a
significant aspect of our
learning experience.
Formal education no
longer comprises the
majority of our learning.”
•
George Siemens
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

60. Network Literacies
• “Understanding how
networks work is one of
the most important
literacies of the 21st
century.” (2010)
Howard Rheingold

62. Services

65. Human
Connections

74. Crowdsourcing
Example #1:
Deconstructed

75. Crowdsourcing
Example #2:
Deconstructed

76. Crowdsourcing
Example #2:
Deconstructed

77. Crowdsourcing
Example #3:
Deconstructed

78. Crowdsourcing
Example #4:
Deconstructed

79. additional lessons
• growing modes of access and the
ability to publish & disseminate to wide
audiences are key affordances.
• (digital) citizenship & (digital) identity
are emerging content areas that
heavily implicate emerging
pedagogies.
• crowdsourcing & social curation of
content will prove transformational for
learning experiences.

80. practice

85. open teaching

86. network mentors

87. non-credit students

88. student-controlled spaces

89. aggregation

90. microblogging

91. shared resources

92. daily updates

93. What We Learned
• Open access, low-cost, high impact.
• Courses become shared, non-local, learning events.
• Students immersed in a greater learning community.
• Rethinking of space/interaction (walled gardens, open spaces)
• Learning spaces controlled and/or owned by students.
• Development of emerging literacies, relevant for other courses.
• Pedagogy focused more on connecting & interactions; content
important, but secondary.
• Development of sustainable, long-term, learning connections.

94. conclusion

95. Sharing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dolmansaxlil/4802611949/

96. On Sharing ...
“itʼs about overcoming
the inner 2 year old in
you that screams
mine, mine, itʼs mine.”
(Wiley, TEDxNYED, 2010)

100. Openness
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/4396467701/sizes/l/in/photostream/

103. Identity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaumedurgell/740880616/sizes/l/in/photostream/

105. http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/3356252350/

107. Relationships

111. “My student was delighted by the attention her blog
post had received; it gave her confidence in her
writing and bolstered her enthusiasm for our class....
We were no longer studying an important work of
20th century literature within the narrow context of my
syllabus; instead we had become part of a
conversation that involved the broader reading public.
As a professor, I was displaced from the centre of the
conversation, which became more open, distributed
and student-driven than it had been before.”

112. http://www.flickr.com/photos/admitchell08/2574455073

113. Don’t limit a child to your
own learning, for he was born
in another time. ~Tagore
http://couros.ca
couros@gmail.com
@courosa