Chaos Theory, Fractals, knowledge and learning – Part 2

Fractals are indeed also embedded in curation, and in subsequent conversation, by the agent (learner) through internal conversation with him/herself, and that with others in a complex learning environment, social networks, and community of networks.

Such fractals are part of the phenomena associated with the Chaos Theory.  It seems nearly impossible to make long-term predictions about online conversation where large number of agents are interacting with each others, as in the case of MOOCs.  Such conversations are highly sensitive to small initial perturbations (Fractals and Chaos Theory).  This also explains the often difficult to predict and control sort of conversation in open spaces, where constraints over what and how conversation is based on moderation by the agents (the professors, educators, and certain participants in the case of MOOCs).

How would fractals and Chaos Theory help in understanding more about the changes and transformation of our education system?

Helpful concepts include co-evolution, disequilibrium, positive feedback, perturbance, transformation, fractals, strange attractors, self-organization, and dynamic complexity. These concepts can help us to understand (a) when a system is ready for transformation, and (b) the system dynamics that are likely to influence individual changes we try to make and the effects of those changes.

Furthermore, chaos theory and the sciences of complexity can help us to understand and improve the transformation process as a complex system that educational systems use to transform themselves. Strange attractors and leverage points are particularly important to help our educational systems to correct the dangerous evolutionary imbalance that currently exists.  (Reigeluth, 2004)

How have strange attractors impacted on MOOCs, in particular on xMOOCs?

The most powerful strange attractors are core ideas and beliefs like those described earlier: ownership and empowerment, customization and differentiation, and shared decision making and collaboration.

How is Chaos Theory used in lesson planning and delivery?

The use of Chaos Theory in lesson planning and delivery is discussed in this paper. The author argues that planning for a lesson needs to take into account any changes in the lesson, building in elements of interests, and responding to the chaos in a dynamic way so as to make order out of chaos, especially when there are always strange attractors changing the stability of the equilibrium of the system.