Personal Blogs

1. Were you convinced by rhizomatic learning as an approach?

I like the concept of rhizomatic learning, although believe it’s probably just a reworking of experiential learning alongside PLN and Communities of Practice. The example of his son making decisions is part of building communication, negotiation, resilience and confidence – which are valuable for all learners.

2. Could you imagine implementing rhizomatic learning?

For young children yes, if the social policy of assessing children’s learning SATs etc. and curriculum changed. However UK culture is firmly rooted in educational philosophy of tests and measures.

3. How might rhizomatic learning differ from current approaches?

Similar approaches such as social pedagogy and forest schools occur throughout Nordic countries with young children.

4. What issues would arise in implementing rhizomatic learning?

Governmental education policies run ‘learning’ in a knowledge-acquisition way, therefore e.g. OU Tutors would be hard pushed to measure learning in order to score a TMA. It would work for young children but not for youths or adults.