Social Learning, Participation, and Emerging Technologies
What is social learning?
Learning through
Dialogue
Interaction
Negotiation
Unfortunately...
Classrooms are not designed to be social
PARTicipation
being a part of...
Curriculum
Decision making
Why??
What we do with information
determines the design of 
institutions. 

Consider:

Classrooms
Libraries
Monastaries
Research Labs
What skills and mindsets are needed to participate in today's society?
Let's look at information:
They are designed to
teach
transfer content
Prepare for:
Complicated...not
Complex world
Emerging Technologies
What do they do?
What are they?
Access
It's about POWER and Control
...and it's shifting
3.3 billion mobile phones
Presence
Expression
Creation
Interaction
Aggregation
Vision
Strategy
Futurists
Trend-sensitivity
Change maestros
Technology adoption=systemic change
Ontario Public Supervisory Officials' Association
April 23, 2009
Situated
Knowledge Creation
Knowledge Contextualization
gsiemens@elearnspace.org
Weekly Newsletter: www.elearnspace.org
Participatory, social, networked, "edit everything" 
approach to information 
If students now have the power to do what teachers 
have done for them in the past, 
what should teachers do to take advantage of this new reality?
Requires leaders to rethink:
Schools
Classrooms
Teaching
Resource provision
textbooks
Technology
Curriculum
"Virtually all American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games"
"Game playing is social"
64% of 12-17 year olds have created online content (2007)
"Those who plug into the information and communications world 
while on-the-go are notably more active in many facets of 
digital life than those who use wires to jack into the internet"
Everything has an "edit" or "comment" button
Mashup culture: reuse, repurpose, redesign, contextualize, personalize
Don't need to know all the answers
...but DO need a method to address
changes and explore problems/challenges
My WorK:
Intersection of:
- Emerging technologies
- Social and networked learning
- Organizational re/thinking in distributed information environments
What are leaders to do?