In response to the rapidly changing demands of the Information Society, learning has undergone radical change, becoming a true lifelong activity with emphasis on situated, communal learning and flexible delivery designed to meet individual learning styles and increasingly underpinned by technology

McDonald, D.M.

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Emergent characteristics of complex learning communities

University of Strathclyde Institutional Repository

Strathprints Institutional RepositoryMcDonald, D.M. (2005) Emergent characteristics of complex learning communities. In: Proceedingsof Complexity, Science and Society. World Scientific Co.Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde.Copyright c© and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authorsand/or other copyright owners. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for anyprofitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or study, educational, ornot-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to Strathprints administrator:mailto:strathprints@strath.ac.ukhttp://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/   McDonald, D.M. (2005) Emergent characteristics of complex learning communities. In: Proceedings of Complexity, Science and Society. World Scientific Co.    http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/2721/   This is an author-produced version of a paper published in Proceedings of Complexity, Science and Society.  Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in Strathprints to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the url (http://eprints.cdlr.strath.ac.uk) of the Strathprints website.  Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to The Strathprints Administrator: eprints@cis.strath.ac.uk  Emergent Characteristics of Complex Learning Communities In response to the rapidly changing demands of the Information Society, learning has undergone radical change, becoming a true lifelong activity with emphasis on situated, communal learning and flexible delivery designed to meet individual learning styles and increasingly underpinned by technology. Two significant types of Learning Community (LC) which have evolved to facilitate timely knowledge generation are corporate Communities of Practice (CoPs) (Wenger et al 2002) and Virtual Learning Communities (VLCs) (Rheingold 1993). These LCs have proven notoriously difficult to create and maintain due to their intrinsic complex nature; the multiple interactions of people, motivational drivers, technology and environment(s) lead to ‘organic’ development and ‘emergence’ of new properties, which are not possessed by constituent individuals in isolation. Success appears best achieved when CoPs are co-ordinated and narrowly focussed on a particular problem domain or VLCs have sharply focussed interest domains (Brown & Salafsky 2004).  Timely knowledge generation, however, has proved insufficient for economic success in many areas; a new type of Complex LC (CLC) which combines learners, teachers and business professionals in a contextual, creative space with the goal of not only developing the knowledge and skills but creating ideas, synergies and opportunities is emerging (McDonald 2005). These CLCs are significantly different from traditional classrooms, CoPs or VLCs. Firstly, the CLCs consist of not only learners and domain experts, but also potentially business practitioners and economic developers; they are radically heterogeneous in nature. Secondly, this heterogeneity means there are vastly different drivers for participation and measures of success. Thus, CLCs can no longer be narrowly focused in either task or interest domains which have proved to be critical criteria for success in CoPs and VLCs.  Critical to these CLCs is their emergent nature; a number of additional properties,  relevant to improving citizens’ capabilities may emerge: timely knowledge, social capital (Daniel 2003), eLiteracy (McDonald & McGill 2005) and creativity (Cavalletti 2003). Successfully ‘seeding’ this new generation of CLCs to maximise beneficial emergence will prove a considerable challenge; understanding the complex effects of drivers and constraints on emergence is vital. Unfortunately, emergence is however not yet fully understood (Kubic 2003).  The aim of the ‘research in progress’ being reported here is to characterise emergence found in CLCs. This will not only provide a base for developing future ‘seeding CLCs’ strategies but also lead to improved understanding of emergence in general. The research focuses on CLCs as Complex Adaptive Systems (Holland 1998), examining both innate and emergent characteristics of CLCs and their relationship. Traditional literature review and synthesis is combined with survey of new CLCs. Emergence is analysed, categorising it in terms of the resultant phenomena and its ‘meta’ characteristics. The novelty of this research is that it not only develops understanding of a radical new LC but it extends understanding of emergence, building on Goldstein (1999) and Kubic (2003). In particular, it extends work on existing learning communities and introduces insight from other domains (e.g. category theory).  Provisional results support the need to improve understanding of emergence and show a range of emergence which will be best characterised with a ‘matrix’ approach, thus enabling a ‘meta’ characterisation of emergence. Insights from category theory appear to offer a fruitful method for developing a general categorisation of emergence. Further work on how underpinning technological may influence emergence is recommended. References Brown, M. and Salafsky, N. 2004 'Learning About Learning Communities: Results from a Cross-Disciplinary Study, http://fosonline.org/images/documents/Learning_About_Networks_7_July_04.pdf. Cavalletti, M. 2003 'Creative Communities in Networked Hybrid Spaces', Art and Consciousness in the Post-biological Era Consciousness Reframed: 5th CAiiA International Research Conference. Daniel, B.K., McCalla, G., Schwier, R. 2003 ‘Social Capital in Virtual Learning Communities and Distributed Communities of Practice’. The Canadian Journal of Learning Technology, Vol 29, No 3, pp 113-139. Goldstein, J. 1999 ‘Emergence as a Construct: History and Issues’, Emergence Vol 1, No. 1. Holland, J. 1998 ‘Emergence: From Chaos to Order’, Oxford University Press. Kubik, A. 2003 'Towards a Formalization of Emergence', Artificial Life, Vol 9, No. 1. McDonald, D.M. 2005 ‘Complex Learning Communities’, Proceedings of eSociety 2005, Qawra, Malta. McDonald, D.M. and McGill, L. 2005 'eLiteracy as an Emergent Phenomenon', eLiteracy 2005, Glasgow, UK. Rheingold, H. 1993 ‘The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier’ , Addison-Wesley. Wenger, E., McDermott, R.A. and Snyder, W. 2002 ‘Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge’’, Harvard Business School Press.  Contact Details Diane McDonald, Advanced Systems Development Manager, Information Resources Directorate Research Associate, Computer & Information Sciences University of Strathclyde 155 George Street Glasgow G4 1RD Phone: 0141 548 3530 Fax: 0141 548 4216 Email: D.McDonald@strath.ac.uk 

Complex Learning Communities’,

Creative Communities in Networked Hybrid Spaces', Art and Consciousness

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge’’,

eLiteracy as an Emergent Phenomenon', eLiteracy

Emergence as a Construct: History and Issues’,

Learning About Learning Communities: Results from a Cross-Disciplinary Study,

Social Capital in Virtual Learning Communities and Distributed Communities of Practice’.

The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier’ ,

The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier’,

Towards a Formalization of Emergence',

http://www.cis.strath.ac.uk/research/publications/papers/strath_cis_publication_996.pdf

Emergent characteristics of complex learning communities

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