14 | November | 2011 | Learner Weblog

I like to toss around ideas, thoughts, and explore about what metaphors mean.

Here in wikipedia, there are definitions and ample examples of metaphor:

“A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., “Her eyes were glistening jewels.”

“argument is war” and “time is money.” Metaphors are widely used in context to describe personal meaning. The authors also suggest that communication can be viewed as a machine: “Communication is not what one does with the machine, but is the machine itself.” (Johnson, Lakoff, 1980).^[13]

I have composed some posts relating to metaphors, here, here, here, and here.

Here is a collection of metaphors relating to knowledge and learning on delicious.

There are abundance of metaphors. Take these two as examples:

Models of innovative knowledge communities and three metaphors of learning

The knowledge creation metaphor – An emergent epistemological approach to learning

Under the Three metaphors of learning:

The acquisition metaphor: “monological” within mind approach

The participation metaphor: “dialogical”, interaction approach

The knowledge creation metaphor: “trialogical”, developing collaborative shared objects and artifacts.

What would be the metaphor for a connectivist approach? Would it be based on a participation and knowledge creation metaphor?

How about a rhizomatic approach?

Picture: Google