Appreciating networked learning: Value creation in practice

In recent years an extensive body of research has emerged that focuses on concepts describing how teacher learning can be embedded in daily practice. This includes professional development initiatives that promote the use of social networks to support teacher learning. These networks, also referred to as learning networks, offer opportunities for teachers to expand their knowledge potential in an informal setting. However, researchers and school management alike, find it hard to grasp the implicit learning outcomes created within these learning networks. It is therefore difficult to appreciate, assess and share the value that is created beyond the boundaries of the network itself. With our poster we will present a framework for assessing and promoting value creation in learning networks, which was developed by Wenger, Trayner & De Laat (2011). It departs from a perspective in which learning is seen as a process of value creation that is a result of participating in social networks. To appreciate the richness of the value created in learning networks, the framework proposes five different cycles in which value is created through networked learning activity: 'immediate value', 'potential value', 'applied value', 'realized value', and 'reframing value'. By telling value creation stories, the value that is created through each of these cycles can be articulated. Our research focuses on two possible applications of the value creation perspective. The first possible application is in educational practice, where we focus on three distinct uses: first, we aim to study how the framework facilitates the articulation of value creation, second, we aim to study its use for assessing and appreciating networked learning outcomes within organizations, and third, we aim to study the potential of the value creation cycles in guiding networked learning activities. The second possible application is to use the framework as a research instrument, in which we focus on exploring the extent to which the different value creation cycles occur in practice. The question central to our studies into this matter is whether the value creation cycles cover all value that is created within learning networks and by assessing the value that is actually created in learning networks

Onderzoek naar regionaal co-makership. Samenvatting resultaten nulmeting.

In 2009 is het Alfa-college gestart met de ontwikkeling van Regionaal Co-makership: een nieuwe manier van samenwerken tussen het beroepsonderwijs en het bedrijfsleven, door het instellen van het dubbellectoraat ‘Duurzame innovatie in de regionale kenniseconomie’ van Alfa-college en Stenden hogeschool. In dit project worden met bedrijven en instellingen in de regio duurzame en innovatieve samenwerkings- en onderwijsvormen ontwikkeld en onderzocht. Het specifieke van Regionaal Co-makership is het multidisciplinaire en multilevel aspect; werkveld en onderwijs met docenten en studenten uit het mbo en het hbo ontwikkelen samen innovaties

Networked Learning in 2021: A Community Definition

Introduction (Networked Learning Editorial Collective): Since the turn of this century, much of the world has undergone a tectonic socio-technological change. Computers have left the isolated basements of research institutes and entered people's homes. Network connectivity has advanced from slow and unreliable modems to high-speed broadband. Devices have evolved: from stationary desktop computers to ever-present, always-connected smartphones. These developments have been accompanied by new digital practices, and changing expectations, not least in education, where enthusiasm for digital technologies has been kindled by quite contrasting sets of values. For example, some critical pedagogues working in the traditions of Freire and Illich have understood computers as novel tools for political and social emancipation, while opportunistic managers in cash-strapped universities have seen new opportunities for saving money and/or growing revenues. Irrespective of their ideological leanings, many of the early attempts at marrying technology and education had some features in common: instrumentalist understanding of human relationships with technologies, with a strong emphasis on practice and 'what works'. It is now clear that, in many countries, managerialist approaches have provided the framing, while local constraints and exigencies have shaped operational details, in fields such as e-learning, Technology Enhanced Learning, and others waving the 'Digital' banner. Too many emancipatory educational movements have ignored technology, burying their heads in the sand, or have wished it away, subscribing toa new form of Luddism, even as they sense themselves moving to the margins. But this situation is not set in stone. Our postdigital reality results from a complex interplay between centres and margins. Furthermore, the concepts of centres and margins 'have morphed into formations that we do not yet understand, and they have created (power) relationships which are still unsettled. The concepts … have not disappeared, but they have become somewhat marginal in their own right.' (Jandrić andHayes 2019) Social justice and emancipation are as important as ever, yet they require new theoretical reconfigurations and practices fit for our socio-technological moment. In the 1990s, networked learning (NL) emerged as a critical response to dominant discourses of the day. NL went against the grain in two main ways. First, it embarked on developing nuanced understandings of relationships between humans and technologies; understandings which reach beyond instrumentalism and various forms of determinism. Second, NL embraced the emancipatory agenda of the critical pedagogy movement and has, in various ways, politically committed to social justice (Beaty et al. 2002; Networked Learning Editorial Collective 2020). Gathered around the biennial Networked Learning Conference,1 the Research in NetworkedLearning book series,2 and a series of related projects and activities, the NL community has left a significant trace in educational transformations over the last few decades. Twenty years ago, founding members of the NL community offered a definition of NL which has strongly influenced the NL community’s theoretical perspectives and research approaches (Goodyear et al. 2004).3 Since then, however, the world has radically changed. With this in mind, the Networked Learning Editorial Collective (NLEC) recently published a paper entitled 'Networked Learning: InvitingRedefinition' (2020). In line with NL's critical agenda, a core goal for the paper was to open up a broad discussion about the current meaning and understandings of NL and directions for its further development. The current collectively authored paper presents the responses to the NLEC's open call. With 40 contributors coming from six continents and working across many fields of education, the paper reflects the breadth and depth of current understandings of NL. The responses have been collated, classified into main themes, and lightly edited for clarity. One of the responders, Sarah Hayes, was asked to write aconclusion. The final draft paper has undergone double open review. The reviewers, Laura Czerniewicz and Jeremy Knox, are acknowledged as authors. Our intention, in taking this approach, has been to further stimulate democratic discussion about NL and to prompt some much-needed community-building.lic

The networked student: contextualizing scientific knowledge for educational practice

Paper prososal for ICLS 2018, 23-27 June, London, Great Britain To study how stimulating networked learning in a formal education program contributes to teachers’ meaning making and their contextualizing of scientific knowledge for their educational practice, a pilot was conducted. In an online distance learning course for teachers aspiring an academic degree in Educational Sciences principles of networked learning were applied to course design in a three-phase intervention: (1) creating of network awareness, (2) providing learners with tools for developing networking skills and (3) assessing of the value created in the network throughout the course. By combining Social Network Analysis and a value creation perspective on learning, teachers meaning making processes between scientific knowledge and the applicability of this knowledge in their everyday educational practice were reconstructed. This short paper provides an overview of the design of the study, results expected December 2017

Nabijheid in tijden van afstand- factsheet

Juist in deze uitdagende tijd is het extra belangrijk dat jongeren voldoende contact hebben met ondersteunende volwassenen, die kunnen signaleren wanneer het minder goed met ze gaat en hen op het juiste moment hulp of advies kunnen geven. In deze rapportage bespreken we hoe jongerenwerkers tijdens de coronacrisis contact hebben onderhouden met jongeren, ondanks de restricties van de anderhalvemetersamenleving

Nabijheid in tijden van afstand: Portaalvraag KeTJAA

Juist in deze uitdagende tijd is het extra belangrijk dat jongeren voldoende contact hebben met ondersteunende volwassenen, die kunnen signaleren wanneer het minder goed met ze gaat en hen op het juiste moment hulp of advies kunnen geven. In deze rapportage bespreken we hoe jongerenwerkers tijdens de coronacrisis contact hebben onderhouden met jongeren, ondanks de restricties van de anderhalvemetersamenleving

Value Creation in Teacher Learning Networks

Research shows that teacher professional learning is most effective when it is characterised by active engagement of teachers, a direct connection to their daily practice, and high levels of collaboration. Increasingly, networked professional learning is promoted to enable teachers to make better use of the potential of their social context and improve the quality of their learning. This chapter explores value creation in teacher learning networks and investigates how value creation is affected by contextual factors. The study was conducted in two projects that aimed to promote and facilitate teachers’ networked professional learning. The findings showed little difference in teachers’ networked learning activity itself, but substantial differences were found in leadership commitment, time, and opportunity for networked learning and voluntary network participation. Overall, the study shows how creating connections between teachers may lead them to redefine their idea of what learning could be like and reframe the value of their peers for learning. Interestingly, the combination of committed leadership and mandatory network involvement appeared to have helped teachers to have positive networked professional learning experiences

Nabijheid in tijden van afstand: Portaalvraag KeTJAA

Juist in deze uitdagende tijd is het extra belangrijk dat jongeren voldoende contact hebben met ondersteunende volwassenen, die kunnen signaleren wanneer het minder goed met ze gaat en hen op het juiste moment hulp of advies kunnen geven. In deze rapportage bespreken we hoe jongerenwerkers tijdens de coronacrisis contact hebben onderhouden met jongeren, ondanks de restricties van de anderhalvemetersamenleving