Networked learning is a process of developing and maintaining connections with people and information, and communicating in such a way so as to support one another's learning.
The central term in this definition is connections. It takes a relational stance in which learning takes place both in relation to others and in relation to learning resources.[1]
CSALT, a research group at Lancaster University, UK, associated with the Networked Learning Conference series and several edited collections, has defined networked learning as "learning in which information and communication technology is used to promote connections: between one learner and other learners, between learners and tutors; between a learning community and its learning resources."[2]
Salmon (2001) wrote "learning is built around learning communities & interaction, extending access beyond the bounds of time and space, but offering the promise of efficiency and widening access. Think of individuals as nodes on a network!"[3]
Networked learning can be practised in both informal and formal educational settings. In formal settings the learning achieved through networked communication is formally facilitated, assessed and/or recognised by an educational organisation. In an informal setting, individuals maintain a learning network for their own interests, for learning "on-the-job", or for research purposes.
It has been suggested that networked learning offers educational institutions more functional efficiency, in that the curriculum can be more tightly managed centrally, or in the case of vocational learning, it can reduce costs to employers and tax payers.[4] However, it is also argued that networked learning is too often considered within the presumption of institutionalised or educationalised learning, thereby omitting awareness of the benefits that networked learning has to informal or situated learning.[5]
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Network and networked learning theories can be traced back into the 19th Century, when commentators where considering the social implications of networked infrastructure such as the railways and the telegraph.[6] More recently, networked learning has it's roots in the 1970s, with the likes of Ivan Illich's book, Deschooling Society, through to more recent commentary in the early 2000s, largely inspired by the Internet and social media.
In 1971, Ivan Illich envisioned 'learning webs' as a model for people to network the learning they needed:
In 1977 Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel wrote and published A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. In this seminal text, mostly referred to by architects, lists a "Network of Learning" as the 18th pattern,[9] and cites Illich's earlier book as "the most penetrating analysis and proposal for an alternative framework for education.." Alexander et al. go on to advise builders and town planners interested in establishing learning networks with:
In the 1970s, The Institute For The Future at Menlo Park in California experimented with networked learning practices based on the Internet and computer conferencing.[10][11][12] Soon after their reports were published two educational pioneers in the use of Internet technologies, Hiltz and Turoff, linked education directly with this pioneering work[13]
In the late 1980s Dr. Charles A. Findley headed the Collaborative Networked Learning project at Digital Equipment Corporation on the East Coast of the United States.[14] Findley's project conducted trend analysis and developed prototypes of collaborative learning environments, which became the basis for their further research and development of what they called Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL),[15] and Collaborative Learning-Work (CLW).[16][17][18]
The idea that the Internet would enhance opportunities for networked approaches to learning was sketched out by several authors in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For example Harasim et al. (1995) wrote in terms of Network Learning and suggested that:
Since the development of the Internet as a significant medium for access to information and communication, the practice of networked learning has tended to focus on its use. In the first phase of the Internet its use for networked learning was restricted by low bandwidth and the emphasis was largely on written and text based interactions between people and the text based resources they referred to. This textual form of interaction was a familiar academic medium, even though there was recognition of the unique qualities hypertext emerging in the online form.[20][21]
In 1991, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger published Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, in which they cited numerous examples of networked learning within a wide range of settings for informal learning and within communities of practice.[22]
In the later half of the 1990s, open, interactive, situated and networked views of learning were marginalised by educational institutions as they tended to develop or deploy content and practice through proprietary learning management systems (e.g. Blackboard Inc, WebCT), and collaborative work tools such as IBM Lotus Notes/Learning Space and Quick Place), generally following concepts around "e-learning". These systems enabled the restriction of access and the management of students for the administrative concerns of educational institutions.
Since 1998, an international Networked Learning Conference has been held biannually. The conference proceedings from all the conferences since 2002 are available via the conference web site.[23]
From around 2004, the idea of networked learning had a popular resurgence, corresponding with the emergence of social media and concepts of open source, such as is covered in Yochai Benkler's 2006 book, The Wealth of Networks.[24]
In 2005, George Siemens published a paper in the International Journal for Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, called Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age[26] in which he argued the need for a new learning theory, one that captured the essence and represented the process of networked knowledge creation and learning. In 2011, the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning published the first peer reviewed collection of scholarly articles on Connectivism. This special issue was edited by George Siemens (Athabasca University and Grainne Conole (Open University, UK).[27]
In 2007, Starke-Meyerring, Duin, & Palvetzian first described Globally Networked Learning Environments (GNLE), a term that refers to networked learning environments which are specifically designed to connect students from different parts of the world.[28] GNLEs are designed to facilitate dialogue and collaboration across and within groups of students, to develop greater understanding and competencies for global work and citizenship. GNLEs take many different shapes and forms, primarily because their inherent uniqueness which is derived from the intersection of the different course topics and content, the teachers' pedagogical approaches, the partnerships between the teachers, and their local and national policy environments.[29] In addition, technological capabilities and capacities (including 'know how' and access) of the teachers, students, and their institutions also play a significant role in how the GNLE is designed and developed. In Higher Education, generally these learning environments have emerged from grassroots initiatives from faculty, but some have emerged and are supported by third party institutions such as the NGO Soliya and institutional centers such as the SUNY Center for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
In 2010, E-Learning and Digital Media published a special issue on globally networked learning titled Globally networked learning environments: Re-shaping the intersections of globalization and e-learning in higher education, and in 2011, COIL launched the first ever Institute for Globally Networked Learning in the Humanities.
A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) engages networked learning methods within the typical structure of a course.[30] The first such course so named was Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008, hosted by Stephen Downes and George Siemens.[31] More like an online event, MOOCs invite open online participation around a schedule or agenda, facilitated by people with reputation or expertise in the topics, relying on successful formations of learning networks to assist people studying the topics.
Earlier examples of online courses using networked learning methods:
Some researchers have used networked learning methods to collaborate and support each other's research. The Wikiversity page for Doctor of Philosophy is supporting a small group interested in pursuing a PhD title informally. They name their practice OpenPhD or Open and Networked PhD.
In England, the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) ran a program called the Networked Learning Community (NLC) programme. More than 134 schools networks (an average of ten schools per network[32]) were involved from 2002 to 2006.[33] An English study compared the grades of the NLC schools versus the national sample. It concluded that there was large variation in scholarly improvement and that the overall improvement was aligned with the national trend.[34] The study interpreted this result as a caution to the claims of digital networked learning scholarly effectiveness.
To the study's own admission, there was no control group and that other factors, such as varying school socioeconomic status and after-school programs, could have influenced the quantitative results.
The yearly cost for resources in the NLC programme was about £50,000 (approximately US$95,000 in 2008) per school network.[35] After the NLC programme ended in 2006, the school networks had to find other partnerships to continue. There might be school boards that would not be willing to financially invest in the initial implementation and eventual maintenance of a networked learning system.
Some have argued that using formal education as a setting for researching networked learning misses most if not all of the value proposition of networked learning.[36] Instead, Fox proposes situated learning and Actor-network theory as the better approach for research.[37]