December 2005

Volume 9 Issue 11  Dec  2005

In the second education paradigm learners are moving from a delivery model for education to a “Nodal Learner Network” model, described by Derek Whenmoth[1] and also mentioned in passing by Gandel, Katz and Metros[2] and in more depth by George Siemens[3] in his writings on connectivism. In the nodal learner model, numerous teachers and learners are sharing information and resources with each other via rich information and communication technology networks. Increasingly these knowledge networks are moving from the periphery of education into becoming the central, functional core of effective second paradigm education networks.

Historically, lifelong learners have always learned from each other but in school systems learning from other students was often seen as cheating and primarily learning was seen as a process that happened via a teacher instructing 30 students with some minor feedback back to the teacher from the students. In this environment there are two nodes; the teacher and the student as in the diagram below.

A learning network requires two main elements; a series of nodes and connections between the nodes. Nodes can include anything that we experience or interact with including thoughts, data, attitudes, people, information, knowledge bases, institutions (communities of nodes) and these nodes may be static (unchanging) or dynamic (ever-changing/adapting). Connections from one node to another may be opened via a wide range of experiences, technologies, personal attributes etc.

In traditional learning networks within a classroom most of the accessibility to the nodes and the connections are opened at the direction of the teacher. The teacher also limits access to some of the available nodes and actively prevents access in some cases. Availability for feedback is minimal in the first “book-based” education paradigm with limited nodes and connections.

Within a Web-based education paradigm suddenly we have the potential for unlimited nodes and connections representing the possibility of creating a fully nodal network community where information, knowledge, discussion, debate, research is carried out at the instigation of numerous members of the community.  Ownership of the process is shared across the community and limits to potential nodes and connections are kept to an absolute minimum. The Internet itself is a nodal network where individuals through to governments are able to control access to nodes and connections and distance is no longer a limiting factor.

Nodal networks are critical for the success of the implementation of the second Web-based education paradigm and these can be facilitated by providing rich web-based software environments which integrate numerous nodes and provide unlimited possible connections.  Curiously these nodal networks are very social and powered by the human desire for contact and feedback and it is these two powerful social drivers that maintain complex and chaotic nodal networks. A structured environment where there is the capacity to represent the nodal network which is simultaneously integrated with the capability to represent the nodal network output; the thinking and learning of the learner is known as Personal Learning Environment.

Importantly nodal networks can expand and grow by connections being made from the learner to a known node or from a known or even unknown node requesting contact with the learner as a source of information/knowledge.  In the initial phase of developing a personal nodal network most of the connections are initiated by the learner but as time goes on the balance will slowly be redressed and as the learner builds a particular level of capability then the number of connections to the learner will grow substantially and the learner will have also become a teacher and knowledge broker. As a consequence another quantum leap has also suddenly appeared.

In the previous paradigm the teacher primarily controlled and managed the simple nodal network of the learner but now the learner has a far greater controlling influence over their nodal network but even within this new paradigm other people (nodes) are making contact without the original learner initiating the process, so the learner is certainly not in full control of their own nodal network. Learning is now increasingly taking place chaotically and “experts” are no longer in control of the process of learning!

“Wikipedia”[4] is an online encyclopedia which being built collaboratively by anyone who thinks they have something reasonable to share and add to the encyclopedia. You do not have to be an expert in order to contribute but if your contribution is not accurate you will find that it will be soon be edited by someone else. “Wiki” is Hawaiian for fast and this online encyclopedia is becoming a mammoth repository of knowledge, complete with some imperfections. It is quite possible that the nodes being used to develop “Wikipedia”; the online encyclopedia may not be 100 percent accurate and much has been made of this in downplaying its potential but Wikipedia is simply a complex, chaotic(in terms of the invisible infrastructure) and managed (in terms of the outward appearance) nodal network.

As educators this is an aspect of learning we will have to come to terms with in the process of lifelong learning.  Hence it is important for all learners to develop critical literacy skills early on in your learning life and hone them over time.

In the world of nodal networks knowledge is now something quite different. Knowledge used to be something fixed and known and now it is something dynamic, based on complex relationships with learning resources, with the quality of those connections contributing to the value the learner is able to extract from their nodal network. Indeed it is a complex set of discourses which take place via a range of technologies, in a world where distance, knowledge status and time are no longer barriers. The quality of the nodal network now defines the capability of the learner. In this environment, a piece of paper crediting a learner with knowledge of a discreet knowledgebase of information becomes less and less important. The capability to develop new understanding and then take the new knowledge based understanding and apply it in new ways is what empowers someone to become truly knowledgeable, contributing to as well drawing from their nodal network.

Effective and efficient feedback systems are critical in order to create nodal networks. These feedback systems can be based on Internet protocol (IP) based communication tools such as e-mail, chat, blogging, IP phones, podcasting . . . .  as well as traditional face-face communication, as well as synchronous and asynchronous communication over distance via telephone and the written word.

Nodal networks do not replace face-to-face engagements, rather they augment and powerfully underpin our natural desire for human relationships. Escaping human contact via electronic media is simply not an option where there is an increasingly important necessity to incorporate creativity elements into our lives.  Over the past 30 years we have witnessed the complexity of our world dramatically increase, the amount of time spent at work increase and the pressures to “succeed”, along with the competition for status at every level of society increase concurrently. The greatest difficulty we have had to manage in this war of attrition has been the management of our time and energy between all the possibilities that are suddenly presented before us.

In this new paradigm there are possible efficiency gains which were not possible in the previous paradigm.  It is essential that we do not simply replace the time gains through efficiency gains with more intense work.  The potential efficiency gains of the new paradigm provide educators with the potential to re-balance their lives and ensure that they have the opportunity for laughter, social interaction and the exploration of the creative side of their lives. Part of being human is to be creative, and to ignore this aspect of our lives or to place it in hibernation for sustained periods of time will reduce our effectiveness as educators and as learners.

Already we are seeing some considerable tension in the university sector[5], where increasingly students taking online courses are no longer distance/remote students but rather they are students who actually attend the institution the course is being offered by.  The arrival of the web-based second education paradigm and these nodal learner networks are upon us and it is up to us to prepare our schools for them and to learn how to surf the resultant knowledge waves and harness the energy this new paradigm will create in a manageable and sustainable way.

Schools are seeing the advantages of nodal networks to the point that they are starting to mandate that students take at least one online course to prepare them for a lifelong learning existence that is based on a degree of nodal learning opportunities. The Michigan State Board of Education has set a mandate that every high school student must take at least one online course before receiving their diploma.[6]

As always, change requires a rebalancing process. This paradigms shift offers us considerable potential efficiency gains and we need to strategize what we will do with this time as it is an extremely valuable commodity.  Educators almost feel guilty when they are not absolutely flat out, racing from one project to the next, physically exhausted, mentally drained and operating on autopilot.  But now everyone is potentially an learner/educator and we simply have to re-assess what our purpose is and all learn to say no to some of the opportunities that present themselves!

Comments and suggestions to

Mark Treadwell

Teachers@work.co.nz

home | newsletter & sites | top 1000 sites | surfing the web
online virtual library | internet policies | consultancy | lecture notes
teacher's toolkit | server hardware / software | connecting to the internet
publishing a web site | network architecture | international vacancies