I Can’t Make Educational History – But We Can: “Networked Learning” Class Update
Tuesday, 29 January 2008 Clay Burell 
Print This Post
Background
to a class that might, in its own small way, move educational history forward into the 21st century:
Students
in a 1:1 Apple Laptop school take my Networked Learning elective. They all have Macbooks with iLife for easy podcasting, movie-making, photography, and multimedia blogging.
My open school network
allows access to Twitter, Skype, YouTube, and every other non-pornographic, non-gaming site imaginable. Social networking is seen as a tool for learning and creating. Fun is fine, as long as you can demonstrate purposive learning at the same time. (I mean, come on, that’s the way I behave on Twitter – playful learning and sharing, sometimes pure socializing, other times pure teamworking – so why be a Gradgrind teacher and prohibit the same playfulness for my students when they network?)
Global Personal Learning Networks in the classroom
are being formed by ten students. In my class, they have created Twitter and Skype accounts, and begun networking with willing k-university educators and others in my own Twitter network. (More on the psychology of adult-student relationships later, but a teaser: there’s a curious reluctance on the part of some adults, it seems, to welcome adolescents into their networks because of their “student” status. Reminds me of a colleague in Shanghai who accused me of being “inappropriate” for inviting a student to share our lunch table during a field trip.)
Real-World, Self-Selected Project-Based Learning for the Digital Age*
(*order the book here) The students have designed semester-long web-based projects to organically grow throughout the term, based on their own learning interests and goals.
Fail Big for an A+
The students will grade themselves – see the “Slam Assessment” podcast with Sean Law – and justify their marks with evidence of their attempts to succeed and risks taken. Failure can gain an “A”, if the work, vision, and inventiveness are there.
Beyond Curriculum and Rubrics to Learning by Reflective Doing
All projects are founded on non-schooly, non-teachery, non-unitized and -rubricized approaches to networked learning. They proceed via the same “Quick-in, Quick-out” methods we real-world adults use when we tweet, skype, blog, comment, collaborate, and otherwise connect.
Global Collaboration without an Early Grave
Key idea: no teachers required to labor over unit plans, no unwilling students invited to muck the process up, no willing students having the process mucked up by controlling teachers or unit plans. Pure, authentic, organic, “real-world project-based learning in the digital age.”
Toward “Classroom as Digital Guild” Model
Adult role (including mine as “teacher”) is merely to facilitate connecting, offer feedback on quality of products and technical issues. In essence, an apprenticeship model. Examples:
- Hook @younsukchae and @jhlee23 up with a star basketball player from your school or region, and let them go at it for interviews, highlight videos, podcasts, whatever, for their future world basketball stars project
- Hook @kevinyi, @steph731, @jane20307, @jihyung up with photos and restaurateur contact info of your favorite local bar or restaurant for their world restaurant and bar design project
- Hook @wonsc, @pchoi9323, @michaellepark up with students who want to play “foreign TV news correspondent” for their Political Satire/Faux News YouTube series
- Hook@SeongminS up with anybody who wants to be interviewed or in any other way contribute to his site about racial stereotyping around the world
–and then, dear adults, we practice SUMO – “Shut Up and Move Over” – and guide the guild as necessary.
- Basketball without Borders Slam Dunk: Networked Learning Class Update and Video
- Natural Global Collaboration: Schwister and Helfant Visit Networked Learning Class
- Podcast: With Dean Shareski on _Natural_ Global Collaboration and Networked Learning
- Networked Learning Class Reflection 1: Basketball without Borders Project
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
No. 1 — January 29th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Clay-
What a fabulous frame work for constructivisit learning. A few devil’s advocate thoughts, to play gadfly-
1) How do you suppose “traditional” business would view your student’s preparation…as a fantastic mold breaker that emulate’s “real world” or as anti-establishment where they would question a student’s readiness for higher ed/ or the work world?
2) You have shared with me before that the vast majority of your students are motivated generally self-directed learners from middle and upper class backgrounds. Do you think student outcomes (and readiness for a project like this) would be different if either the motivation levels or the economic backgrounds of the students were decidedly lower?
Keep plugging away– you inspire me to try more.
Barry
Barry’s last blog post..Top 5 Myths about Technology
Reply
No. 2 — January 30th, 2008 at 12:49 am
@BARRY: Oof. Great questions, so here goes.
1. I’ve tried to emphasize that this is an elective class, and that that’s a key fact. It’s the only place within our current “college prep” curriculum that I can find a place to invite this sort of project. There’s no way I could try such an approach in my AP Lit courses, by contrast. The stranglehold of the ETS (SAT and AP Exams) is too strong to even think of it. But as an elective English “Workshop,” there’s room, I argue. All the language arts elements – reading, writing, speaking, visual communication, etc – are all covered in this elective, and I’m still coaching on those skills as they’re applied to the projects.
So how would a “business” view the class? (Funny, I never once in my 8 years of teaching asked “Would business approve of how I’m running a classroom?”) – Oddly, I think business would love: there’s marketing, customer satisfaction, team-work, imagination, creativity, planning, production scheduling, etc, involved. We’re not trying to earn bucks, be we are trying to earn readers with quality products. I don’t like the language of this answer, but think it’s true nonetheless.
As for Higher Ed, sort of the same. I like students who hold the value of Higher Ed at a pin’s fee. An old student from Shanghai quit his elite private college out of misery to return to Shanghai and study Mandarin independently for a few years. Told me he wouldn’t have done this without me and was infinitely happier for it. Made me proud – and would’ve impressed any human worth his or her salt, I’d argue. Don’t we love Bill Gates for thumbing his nose at Harvard?
2. I love your second question. Short answer: I don’t know. I’ve never been anywhere but international school. (And don’t think that my students of privilege are sterling anyway. They’re generally a tough audience for anything outside of the box, because they seem to much prefer pretending to learn through the old routine tests than having to trouble with creating something from their school-hollowed minds.)
I can only say this: I fantasize about doing precisely this kind of thing only with students of whatever socio-economic background who have the drive to learn. That small percentage only.
And I’d want the right to “fire” all other students who don’t want to play.
Keep playing the Gadfly, Barry. It’s much better than any pat on the back.
Reply
No. 3 — January 30th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Clay,
I have a small class (8 boys) from mixed economic backgrounds. A few of them – high achievers – have politely but firmly told me that they “like the old ways”. Given a few years, or a younger group, I might be able to spark that fire, but right now, it’s just not happening.
My greatest hope is that I’ve planted a seed of curiousity. I speak about and demonstrate some of the technologies I’ve discovered on my own this year. We aren’t able to use most of them in class, but at least my young men are aware that such tools exist. They even express mild interest occasionally.
I think these students are amused by my “double life”, in school and in cyber space. That’s fine with me. Maybe the notion of lifetime learning is becoming lodged deep in their subconscious, ready to emerge at the proper moment.
That would be a fine teaching legacy indeed!
diane
diane’s last blog post..The Providence of Adventurers
Reply
No. 4 — January 30th, 2008 at 7:09 am
@Clay: I gotta say you’ve whipped up a fine networked learning version of the Future of Learning Manifesto. And, at the risk of completely hitching a ride on your fast-moving coat-tails, I think its message is eminently translatable into a Future of Professional Development Manifesto. Can I borrow shamelessly?
@Barry: Your question, and Clay’s response, triggers a thought I keep having: the prospect that we’re providing two distinct educational experiences for different student populations, preparing them for radically different futures. Creative vs. factory. An opt-in elective experience probably isn’t the establishment’s ideal vis-a-vis student preparation—which is exactly why Clay should keep pounding gleefully away at it. Those opt-in students may be able to craft much more creative, imaginative, human-property-valuable futures than dispassionate students who remain in the routinized comfort-bubble, and there are businesses out there that crave the opt-in mentality, and more that will be started up in a few years by those same students. Of course, there are still more businesses and institutions that are scared stiff at the prospect of mold-breakers. Some would argue that the world needs both brands, both future-streams. I’m not sure I’m one of them. But there’s that pesky sticking point that keeps coming up: everything revolves around the student’s drive to learn. When it’s absent or just hiding shyly in the woods, we know coercive crashing around and noisemaking won’t do much good. Diane’s approach may be best: plant the seeds with fearless disregard for the odds.
Scott Schwister’s last blog post..twitku tuesday contest inaugural edition now open
Reply
No. 5 — January 30th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Clay,
Can’t wait to see where this idea leads. One prediction: those adult “mentors” in your digital guild may wind up learning just as much as their young proteges. For the past few years, I’ve been involved with an informal learning program where teen girls become change-makers in their own communities. The girls decide which local problem to tackle, which sustainable solution to apply, and which adults to invite to help them. (All the participants are from economically distressed, rural communities, so these are not kids of privileged backgrounds.) To get them ready for this ambitious program, we teach teens about social entrepreneurship–a new concept for most adults, but a great strategy for making good ideas last. The girls warm up quickly to the idea of building a personal network. For most of them, networking comes as naturally as breathing. When they have a real need to know, they don’t hesitate to track down expert sources. And when they’re enthusiastic about their projects, adults can’t help but lend support.
Good luck with your open school network!
Cheers,
Suzie
Suzie Boss’s last blog post..Enough Sugar in Your Educational Technology Diet?
Reply
No. 6 — January 30th, 2008 at 9:55 am
“there’s a curious reluctance on the part of some adults, it seems, to welcome adolescents into their networks because of their “student” status.”
Nah…that’s not it…I work with elementary and I’m not sure what I’d have to offer. And…truthfully…I can’t seem to get into the whole Twitter network thing. I’ve tried it…asked questions…posted updates and only once have I gotten any sort of response –so right now, tonight, when I’m tired after battling insane changes going on around me – I’m just not a fan (no offense to anyone!).
Diane Quirk’s last blog post..Focusing on Connections
Reply
No. 7 — January 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
[...] old and me. Coming up with meal ideas can be tough. I posted this playful remark on twitter (see Clay’s description of how he views twitter) and John Pederson went ahead and created this and then sat back and [...]
No. 8 — January 30th, 2008 at 11:25 am
[...] I Can’t Make Educational History- But We Can (from Beyond-School) : The class described might be a little beyond my technological means (it’s a 1:1 school), but I’m constantly impressed with the things Clay Burell is attempting with his students. My hope is that efforts like his will show the power of full, fearless integration. We need more positive examples like this to convince the naysayers. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fsustainablydigital.edublogs.org%2F2008%2F01%2F29%2Fwhat-is-sustainably-digital%2F’; addthis_title = ‘What+is+%26%238220%3BSustainably+Digital%3F%26%238221%3B’; addthis_pub = ”; [...]
No. 9 — January 31st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I knew since the beginning that the PLN class that is going to be different than any other classes that I’ve taken so far, but I didn’t know it would mean so much to other educators around the world. I had no idea how much other people were interested in our projects until now.
In the beginning, like I do in all the other classes, I tried to keep up with my homework and classwork, which turned out to be a great thing because now I know what this is all about. I was confused with the projects at first, but now I do believe that our class can add something to the ‘educational world’. I never thought of doing these type of stuff at school because school has always been.. just school; it’s all the same around the world. However, breaking the general idea of school and learning from variety of sources other than just teachers really is something different and quite interesting. Talking and asking people from the other side of the globe, chatting through skype in class…These aspects prove that there’s so much to learn “beyond school” (i wondered why you often say BEYOND school, and now i get i
)
Reply
No. 10 — January 31st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Stephanie, it’s so nice to see you here. It’s even nicer to have you in the class. Like I told you there, you’re a natural. This class can’t push education forward without you, either.
And the nice thing about that world that is interested is, they’re all nice people, they all understand that this is still education for you, and so they don’t expect you to seem like you “know it all” (and if you notice, most of us who write on our own weblogs know we don’t know it all, either. Anybody who thinks that they know it all really knows very little at all.
Thanks for coming by. You’re always welcome to comment here. Conversations in these comment threads are where I get many ideas, and learn and improve.
And also have fun
Reply
No. 11 — January 31st, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@SCOTT: Borrow away, friend. (And let me confess I have only read about that manifesto, and have only the foggiest notion of what it is. Link?
As for your “two futures for two types of student” idea, and your suggestion that it’s up to the student to choose the original path or the robotic sheep path (the worker bee, whatever) – that touches on the most depressing aspect of teaching: we don’t get to choose our students. And a teacher is only good when his/her students are. I wonder how many students of Socrates or Buddha were a waste of those teachers’ energy?
But I also love the note of optimism in your final metaphor: plant the seeds, and realize the teacher may never know if they sprout and grow – because it may take years. I told my students today (for the tenth time, because unfamiliar truths have to be repeated until they sink in) they might not realize the value of the skills they learn this semester only when they’ve long left me and gone to college. And that’s true.
@SUZIE: Suzie, I’m going crazy waiting for your book to arrive. If the ideas in it are of the calibre of the ideas in your comment, I’m in for quite a bit of inspiration. But you have inspired me so much already since our interview last summer. I’ll stop there, because your comment speaks for itself. Social entrepreneurialism is something I’m going to have to remember when I teach a similar class next year. Beautiful idea.
@DIANE: I didn’t mean to suggest that all who chose not to take the students into their network had issues with human relationships with them. I totally respect anybody’s decisions regarding how they design their own (adult) PLN. It was a few comments from people who specifically acknowledged they had issues with it that I found interesting.
Again (and Dean talks about this in an upcoming podcast) – this networked learning must be natural for it to work. And that means relationships have to form out of shared interest.
As for the reciprocity and inclusion of the edu-Twitterverse (ug), it’s an interesting issue – and really just a variation of the good-old-boy/girl network of the blogosphere, isn’t it? Which is itself an extension of the cliques of the office or schoolhouse. I don’t get it either.
But I think I’m learning that the more you give, the more connections you get.
Thanks all, for the extensions and learnings, as usual.
Reply
No. 12 — June 3rd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] Classroom is a great example of online DIY education, and not to mention Clay Burell’s Personal Learning Network classroom. Packaging us up into one little label isn’t [...]
No. 13 — June 5th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
[...] Clay Burell [...]
No. 14 — April 8th, 2009 at 3:51 am
[...] Networked Learning Class Trying to Make 21st C. Educational History | Beyond School [...]