After spending last week traveling, and this week presenting a paper, I finally had some time to listen to several recent presentations by Stephen Downes. The first - Reality of Virtual Learning - starts with a discussion of reality and learning (the recording is not the best quality, so you'll have to crank up the audio to hear it), leading into an exploration of virtual worlds. One point that I've valued with Stephen's recent work is the emphasis on pattern recognition and rethinking the concept of knowledge construction. In this presentation he makes the (vital) distinction between meaning making as something that is grown, not constructed. He also provides an accessible description of AJAX. The second presentation - Web 2.0, E-learning 2.0, and the New Learning - is a shorter version of the above listed presentation and concludes with a return to the groups vs. network discussion.
Posted by gsiemens at February 7, 2008 11:08 PM | TrackBack> In this presentation he makes the (vital) distinction between meaning making as something that is grown, not constructed.
I have been making that point for a very long time, though I guess it's on everybody's minds now following it's being made in the EDUCAUSE 'Minds on Fire' paper.
Posted by: Stephen Downes at February 8, 2008 4:40 PMHi Stephen - yes, I know you've made that point before. I haven't done much more than a skim of the 'mids on fire' paper (much of it has been said before and better by others). I think the first time I heard you mention growing knowledge was at OCC last year...though you may well have detailed it in your other work prior to that.
George
Posted by: George Siemens at February 8, 2008 5:20 PM