Chapter 7: Learning

Conor Lenhardt, Sydney Chance, Madi delCharco, Abby Herman

Learning is a complex, social, and multidimensional process relating to the acquisition of new skills and thinking. Within creating a networked learning ecology, one being that facilitates the optimal amount of learning, Thackera lays out 9 principles that break down the designed learning ecology. These principles being: time and tempo, place and space, meaningful projects, technology networks, testing and assessment, mentors, mass collaborative learning, copyrights and crypotolopes, and playtime. Some of the main ideas coming from these principles include placing importance on active learning, and giving people time to think. Learning needs to be less about memorization of facts, and more about thinking deeply about the topics people are involved with. Learning is also more greatly synergized by learning in a social and collaborative environment. These principles apply to an idealized learning system, many would consider solely to be in education though that’s not the only case.

Learning systems are not limited only to education and school systems. Learning systems are part of many every day systems. Learning as a whole is primarily a social process between other people which allows for skill advancement. A few modern day examples of learning systems are standardized testing, online education, and edutainment. Standardized testing for example, begins at a young age and continues through the collegiate level of learning. There are some who argue that standardized testing is working and others who argue that it is not worth putting people through the stress the tests usually entail. Tests such as the SAT, have been relooked recently as well as testing in elementary school classrooms. Testing is just another way to asses what one is learning or how well they are learning the subject matter. Online education is another example of a learning system that has become popular in the recent decades. There are many proven benefits to online education systems. For example, it allows students to learn in their own “place and space” and promotes “anytime/anywhere” learning at a self determined pace. These benefits to online education systems are appealing to the prospective student, however it also has its setbacks. For example, they are heavily reliant on technology which can oftentimes get in the way of learning. It’s also lacking that face-to-face interaction and hands-on participation that are huge aids in learning. In online education systems, these things are usually non-existent. Finally, we examined edutainment. Edutainment is an attempt to use ‘fun’ media, such as TV shows and videogames, to teach children during the hours they are not in the classroom. The main issue with edutainment is that it buys into the point-to-mass model of learning. Rather than fill up time with prepackaged content, we need to make it possible for learners to use their own time more flexibly and actively.

Taking the insights from these examples, as a society leveraging a social ecology to promote learning should be one of our main priorities. We should involve people in their own learning process and work together to redesign learning systems in other fields outside of education. Ultimately, learning should be treated as a “designable” system where the shortcomings can be improved upon to increase the quality and value of learning in the whole of society.