#CCK11 We are the MEMES Carriers

This post on How to steal like an artist and 9 other things nobody told me by Austin provides a fresh perspective on the artistic ways of living and working and creative ways of looking at different things – through lateral thinking when “switching” perspectives – like having an extra line in between the two lines.

You have a mother and you have a father. You possess features from both of them, but the sum of you is bigger than their parts. You’re a remix of your mom and dad and all of your ancestors.

Yes, that sounds interesting.   Here about gene : When proteins are manufactured, the gene is first copied into RNA as an intermediate product.

A chromosome consists of a single, very long DNA helix on which thousands of genes are encoded.

I would like to use the metaphor of:

Artefact as chromosome

Ideas as genes

to explain how we use ideas to develop an artifact, based on our perceptions, experiences and copied ideas from other blog posts, information sources, comments and feedback.

These copied ideas could take on various forms – “colors”, tastes, viruses – the memes.

These memes are explained in wikipedia

A meme is a unit of social information.^[2] It …. identifies ideas or beliefs that are transmitted from one person or group of people to another. The concept comes from an analogy: as genes transmit biological information, memes can be said to transmit idea and belief information.

A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.^[3]

Aren’t we all memes carriers and couriers when blogging, sharing, participating and interacting in the blogosphere, FB, Twitter?

Would the synergy come from the summation of the ideas from our teachers, parents, relatives, friends, colleagues, peer learners, fellow bloggers, information sources, artifacts?

Susan explains this well in her presentation:

memes: ideas that replicate themselves from brain to brain like a virus. She makes a bold new argument: Humanity has spawned a new kind of meme, the teme, which spreads itself via technology — and invents ways to keep itself alive.

I think we have been copying ideas from each others throughout history, in formal and informal education, and more often now we borrow our ideas from each others without even aware of that act when interacting in the social media, in informal learning.

I posted in FB and twitter:

Tomorrow would be better. Why? I could borrow your ideas today and return them to you by tomorrow with thanks.

So, I hope that is just COPYING, as I have quoted the source of information, and attributed them whenever possible.  If I re-present those ideas through re-mixing, then such ideas could be churned into artifacts which encode those ideas in different ways and forms.

Here Austin has sieved through the abundance of information and crystallized them with a wonderful insight below:

In this age of information overload and abundance, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s important to them.

May I add that this is where we could get our connective and collective wisdom from? Aren’t we once very creative as kids?   Our creativity gradually gets lost as we tried to march through the busy life – the manic society.  We have been too busy in trying to do the things right, as is expected in our formal education, learning and that at work.  That sounds great, in terms of performance in study, at work.

However, are those sufficient for us (me) to do when it comes to personal development and social involvement?  How would creativity be instilled at work and learning at this digital age?  Should we concentrate on what’s most important and valuable in our study or at work only?  Do we need to connect in a way that could both satisfied our needs and passion but also challenge our wisdom of knowledge, learning and living? What spark the most creative part of our life?

We are basing upon the emotional selection of memes in our sharing, and memes play a big part in creativity development.  ”Constant, rapid “mutation” of information during communication generates endlessly varied creations that nevertheless adhere to modular input conditions.”

Photo credit: from Flickr

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Stephen for the referred link.

#CCK11 Connectivist Learning and its future

This post by Debbie http://rethinkinglearning.blogspot.com/2011/03/never-stop-dancing.html and this post by Jaaphttp://connectiv.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/the-most-important-lessons-cck11/ shared some common themes.
I think it is important to retain and respect individual autonomy and independent thinking, whilst connecting with networks and groups. A critical thinking mindset together with collaborative and appreciative inquiry in action sounds paradoxical in connectivist learning. So, critical thinking could reduce the falling into the trap of group think when working with groups.

Student-centred pedagogy has encouraged educators to respect and promote imaginative responses to learning. A teacher could be imaginative, but not necessarily empathic in response to students.

In current student-centred pedagogy, educators encourage students to engage in cognitive experiences such as: visualising, hypothesising, re-conceptualising, speculating, lateral thinking, creating and problem-solving. Such strategies are now orthodoxy in pedagogy, designed to develop students’ thinking abilities.

Also, in networked learning, “it is not just what we learn, but how we feel about what we learn, which counts in the long term.” So is dancing as a metaphor. It’s the feeling of learning which makes a difference from the traditional education and learning, where group learning is believed to be based on a scientific approach, and individual feelings need to be constrained to avoid intervening the group’s performance.

It is important to encourage a dynamic between thinking and feeling in order to promote learning more effectively, rather than focusing on critical thinking alone, especially in networked learning.

“Learning is an interactive experience best achieved in a climate of relatedness, care and mutual respect. Such care is offered, not imposed, and respects humans’ need for autonomy, self-determination, and challenge as well as security” Rosyln Arnold (2005) (pg 28). This could be crucial to networked learning, especially where humans are interacting with each others in communities of practice. However, there are still paradoxes in between autonomy, diversity, openness and interactivity when educators and learners are immersed in a complex, emergent learning environment (MOOC).

It would be important to reflect on the assumptions and the emergence behind connectivist learning. Some questions which need further research include:

1. How could learning be best achieved under a connectivist environment?
2. What are the pre-requisite literacies and skills for educators and learners to consider in networked learning?

Reference:
Arnold, R. (2005) Empathic Intelligence.

#CCK11 Changing views and systems

I think this coming week’s topic on Changing views, changing systems would sum up WHY Connectivism is important for the present and future education and learning.

Readings

• George Siemens, New structures and spaces of learning: The systemic impact of connective knowledge, connectivism, and networked learning
• Michael A. Peters,
  Higher Education, Globalization, and the Knowledge Economy (.pdf)
• Stephen Downes, The Future of Online Learning and The Future of Online Learning: Ten Years On

I would like to borrow the big 3 questions from here:

Relating to education and learning at present and the future:

1. What is the purpose of education for our present and future generation?

2. Tell us about one experience that changed the way you view the world (the education, learning – social and individual learning etc.)

3. If you could ask one question of a world leader (of education or learning), what would it be and to whom?

4. What is the biggest problem in education and learning facing the next generation and what should we do to solve it today?  How would we solve it in future?

I have shared some of my responses to these questions here and here and here on networked learning