
Quote: "In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interests and opportunity. In this environment, the participants all stand on equal ground- no one is assigned to the traditional role of teacher or student."
Question: I like the idea of learning from the collective, however, what if the collective goes into a false direction? Using the fish example, how will people feed themselves if nobody in the collective can figure out how to fish? Shouldn't there be an expert figure, even within a collective?
Connection: The idea of learning from the collective is what we are doing a lot in our class. Yes, we have expert professors, however we seem to have taken a hold of our own learning. A great example of this is our initiative to do a sdedleadtech practice twitter chat so we could learn from each other.
Epiphany: I have made it no big secret that I am a nerd. I love Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and I am THAT GUY discussed in chapter three of our book who knows Harry Potter in and out. When discussing the collective I thought of the Borg from Star Trek the Next Generation. They have one collective mind and make decsions by the whole and for the whole. This led me to think of the Communist Manefesto, by Karl Marx. He discusses taking educational power from the ruling elites and giving it to the collective people. Let me please be plain, I am not saying that this book is an advocation of Communism, but it did make me think of Marx.
Chapter 5:
Quote: "Is public versus private really the best way to frame this distinction anymore? Perhaps the fact that the boundary between the two is becoming so permeable indicates a need for a new way to think about the differences between them. We suggest a framework that has elements of both but involves interwining and remixing-rather than opposing-domains: the personal combiined with the collective.
Question: When we use the collective to prove an individual accomplishment, such as verifying a Super-Nova, is it an individual event, or does the event become shared as an achievment of the collective?
Connection: This is like the dreded curse of the "group work." I can't tell you how many times I've been told by more experienced teachers that group work is useless because one or two students will "do" the work, while the others in the group "do nothing." Philisophical discussion of how a human can "do nothing" (won't we always be at the very minumum breathing?) aside, I've always wanted to ask, don't those who "do nothing" learn by being a member of the group? However, I never wanted to start that argument (discussion).
Epiphany: It was fascinating to learn that Ryerson University made a distinction between a virtual study group and one that occurs in person. This was in 2008, I wonder how many schools and teachers now (only 7 years later) still think along these lines?
Chapter 6:
Quote: "Different people, when presented with exactly the same information in exactly the same way, will learn different things."
Question: In our data driven educational realm, is it possible to truly quantify a student's tacit understanding of te course materials? Can we ever move away from the multiple guess bubble exams?
Connection: I am going to cheat and use a second quote for my connection to this chapter. "Students learn best when they are able to follow their passion and operate within the contraints of a bounded environment." This is our 20% project through and through. This is why it is important to bring the 20Time concept to our students. They need to learn what they are passionate about, within the constraints of our individual content and classroom auspices.
Epiphany/Aha: The distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge was interesting. I liked how the example of Harry Potter was revisited to give me a connection to the concept.
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, Ky.