Edited by Deirdre Robson, Saturday, 20 Apr 2013, 15:07
The approach of 'Rhizomatic learning' involves 5 key 'things' (according to Cornier):
The best teaching prepares people to deal with 'uncertainty'
The (learning) community can be the curriculum (or can set the curriculum)
The rhizome (an 'untidy' network of nodes with no discernible central point) is the model for 'learning for uncertainty' as this form grows and spreads via experimentation and can grow regardless of 'breakage'
Rhizomatic learning (network without central leadership) works in the 'complex' domain (of learning)
The need is to make students responsible for their own learning (and the learning of others).
Cornier presented a chart ('Cynefin Framework') of the 'domains' of learning - simple, complicated, complex and chaotic decision-making.
The 'simple' zone involves problems for which there are yes/no or right/wrong answers; 'the 'complicated' zone is described by Cornier as "good practice" in that it involves choice between a couple of options; the 'complex' domain is "the one where uncertainty lives" in that there is no obvious 'right' answer and involves a process of search and respond via trial and error and at the same time keeping in mind a sense of the various possibilities.
In describing the relationship between these 'zones' of 'learning' it is immediately apparent how they map onto earlier conceptions of learning, more particularly social constructivist ideas of learning as best achieved via a process of 'making it one's own'. What was perhaps even more striking in terms of links to non-technology oriented notions of learning is that what Cornier is surely recommending is 'learning how to learn'. What is perhaps different is the introduction of the network as a means of gaining 'experience' - and the positioning of this learning process within the context of new (Web 2.0) technology enabled networks.
As a lecturer in HE the most difficult aspect of Cormier's proposal is surely his advocacy of not 'testing' learners. If only this was even conceivable in formal education. This is surely profoundly incompatible with the whole idea of Learning Outcomes, league tables etc etc. Even in the wider world of MOOCs and Open Learning it would surely run counter to the aims and ambitions of all those institutions and VCs who are enthusiastically embracing xMOOCs.
Activity 20: Embracing Uncertainty (Rhizomic learning)
The approach of 'Rhizomatic learning' involves 5 key 'things' (according to Cornier):
Cornier presented a chart ('Cynefin Framework') of the 'domains' of learning - simple, complicated, complex and chaotic decision-making.
The 'simple' zone involves problems for which there are yes/no or right/wrong answers; 'the 'complicated' zone is described by Cornier as "good practice" in that it involves choice between a couple of options; the 'complex' domain is "the one where uncertainty lives" in that there is no obvious 'right' answer and involves a process of search and respond via trial and error and at the same time keeping in mind a sense of the various possibilities.
In describing the relationship between these 'zones' of 'learning' it is immediately apparent how they map onto earlier conceptions of learning, more particularly social constructivist ideas of learning as best achieved via a process of 'making it one's own'. What was perhaps even more striking in terms of links to non-technology oriented notions of learning is that what Cornier is surely recommending is 'learning how to learn'. What is perhaps different is the introduction of the network as a means of gaining 'experience' - and the positioning of this learning process within the context of new (Web 2.0) technology enabled networks.
As a lecturer in HE the most difficult aspect of Cormier's proposal is surely his advocacy of not 'testing' learners. If only this was even conceivable in formal education. This is surely profoundly incompatible with the whole idea of Learning Outcomes, league tables etc etc. Even in the wider world of MOOCs and Open Learning it would surely run counter to the aims and ambitions of all those institutions and VCs who are enthusiastically embracing xMOOCs.