160921 FP_Doc_Paola_AleanFlorez

LEARNERS AND THE INTERNET 1

Research Project MSc Creative Technologies and Enterprise

21 September 2016

Learners and the Internet A case study of emergent learning

Paola Alean-Florez Bath Spa University, Bath, United Kingdom

Abstract

Technology is amplifying learning and teaching abilities. Emerging learning networks reflect this social condition. This research project proposes an exploration of the ways that information technologies is transforming education. Some questions are relevant in evaluating these applications: How is teaching related to technology and personal learning networks? How this technological paradigm modifies our conception of education and learning? Through a small-scale study of Self Organised Learning Environment (SOLE), applied in different contexts, it is compared the main competencies against research and practice, presenting significant limitations. The study raises new questions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 2 I. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 5

Research approach .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Framework for emergent learning and tendencies in a digital age .............................................................. 6 An alternative theory: Connectivism ............................................................................................................... 7

II. CASE STUDY: Self Organised Learning Environment or SOLEs ............................................................ 9 Motivation ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 SOLE Background ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Experiments across the globe ...................................................................................................................... 10 Experimental Overview: SOLE with adults ................................................................................................... 11 Methodology .................................................................................................................................................. 12

Results ........................................................................................................................................ 13 III. DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................... 16 IV. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 18

REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 19 ANNEXED .................................................................................................................................... 22


INTRODUCTION The ever accelerating progress of technology has given unprecedented access to new tools of information and communication (Robinson, 2008). This wave crest of novelty and change is transforming every institution and every aspect of human life (Kurzweil, 2005). In other words, new technologies influence how the societies think, how they work and relate to each other. Consider the effects of the Internet, for example. It grows continuously from the overlapping information-sharing systems, toward the tendency of new tools on the web. Like the neural pathways in our brain, technological systems seem to behave similarly to a natural system, networked in a way for that system to function, to grow and to adapt. A scaling relation similar to the one that Geoffrey West and colleagues use to compare cities life pace with complex biological organisms (Bettencourt et al., 2007). Given this likely nature of technology, Sir Ken Robinson (2008) argues that the emerge of new canals of communication, information and new tools for creativity, have revolutionised economic and cultural processes, and very often our cognitive process. This author points out how in the case of the education systems, it is imperative to respond to a new cultural agenda. Increasingly, academics and writers have been attempting to harness the power of the Internet and digital information for education. This shift is only beginning to be addressed, but some core cultural issues need to be discussed duly, such as ideas of digital information literacy. By exploring emerging learning applications, this paper will analyse how learners are handling these extraordinary changes of the new normal.

The society is facing two major puzzles, in view of Robinson (2008). This author highlights the crisis of the development of human resources that need to be tackled besides the climate change crisis. At the heart of this idea, he considers the emergence of digital cultures as one of the stark opportunities. Mainly, digital culture and technology seem to behave in an exponential rate, as Kurzweil (2005) points out. Following this author analysis, the progression of technology and biological life have developed a similar pattern. They first take an apparently linear and slow time, but then all parts advance on one another and progress explode at an exponential pace. As a global technology platform develop, massive changes in natural and human resources profoundly affect the structure of economic activity and institutions. To express this another way, the pace of technology progress shows that during the 19th century was comparable to that of the ten centuries that came before it, and the advancement in the first two decades of the 20th century matched that of the entire nineteenth century. Nowadays, paradigm shifts happen in few years time (Kurzweil, 2005). The world wide web did not exist two decades ago, and it has shown a remarkable increase in the last decades, as Figure 1 shows. From the early days of the Internet, users were acquiring information while learning to surf the web (Bell, 2010). The number of blog posts written, new websites, information searches, and social networking were increasing including now, how people is becoming producers of information (Williams et al., 2011). These huge variations have revolutionised patterns of social affiliation and business systems.


Such innovations have not skipped the attention of education. For instance, the paper from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) argues that 'this finding... may suggest a need to understand better how to design and support learning involving technology' (JISC, 2009: 6). Too often, however, education systems seem to face the challenges of the technological change in the wrong direction (Robinson, 2011). The JICS (2009: 7) recognise that 'access, especially to the Internet and social software, may have increased, but this does not mean that technology is always used to its best advantage, either by teachers or learners'. This can lead to questioning the traditional learning model. In that sense, Robinson (2008) states that a change of metaphors in education is needed: from a standardised to a more organic model. This author challenges the approach of what is taken for granted in education and to disenthrall of some of the learning standards that were designed for other times and purposes. For instance, Bell (2010) argues that current methodologies of students being taught by teachers, habitually in a classroom, do not provide an acceptable framework to think and act in the digitally connected and overwhelming world in which we live. Learners, policymakers, teachers and those concerned with education aim to consider how learning might be affected by this evolving technological context. In this aspect, De Freitas and Conole (2010: 29) point out that ‘the main challenge lies in the real transition to a less tutor-led approach to learning… Content will not be delivered to learners but co-constructed with them’.

This last remark resonates with the stated challenge from the HEFCE focused on getting back on track the relation between teachers and learners in a digital age. Especially, in the present range of learning possibilities such as virtual libraries with e-books and e-journals, the incorporation of blogs and wikis, virtual conferencing and social networking. Because at some extent, these new approaches are mainly shaped by traditional teaching modes and rigid learning outcomes (William et al., 2011). Parallelly, this raises important questions about how institutions and individuals are managing and learning from what 'silent experts', social networks or open source content can bring into the learning community. Concretely, how to handle a mechanism for validation and self-


correction, and more importantly at the end: how learners are shaping their learning experiences, including informal contexts of learning? (Greenhow and Lewin, 2016). In this regard, the JISC led an ambitious project called Assessment and Feedback Programme (2011-2014) with 40 higher education providers across the UK. The program aimed to involve students as partners in embedding technology-enhanced assessment-for-learning (Ferrell, 2013). Examples as JISC program, reveals the current paradigm shift in teaching and learning beyond the tutor directed classroom events to genuinely student-centred learning. In this line, the learner bears as much responsibility as the instructor for developing knowledge and skills (Ferrell, 2013).

On this basis, technologies for learning will be focused in this document on information technologies alone, placing them on the Internet, as a vast collective webwork of codified knowledge in texts and multimedia artefacts, know-how, web tools, social networks, while leaving space for human agency. On the one side of the prompt possibilities with digital technologies as they are evolving, is the whole process of self-directed learning. For instance, the popularised expansion of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and success of companies such as Coursera, edX, and Udacity to offering to large numbers of people, does seem to represent an appetite for learning that should not be underestimated (Rieber, 2016). The debate about learner autonomy and self-correction within the learning network lies on the other side of the fence. Since there is an increasing scope of shifting contexts for integrating technology into formal and informal learning contexts (Greenhow and Lewin, 2016), several theories have been drawn to inform their actions in useful ways, and so, to understand emergence in a digital and networked world. For this paper purposes, complexity theory may provide with a first viewpoint to examine the conditions in which emergent and self-organised learning might occur (Williams et al., 2011). Furthermore, Siemens (2004) proposes connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. The aim of this research project is to encourage critical inquiry about the ways that emerging learning can improve education in a digital context. Particularly, the case of Mitra (2014) and his proposal of Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLE) will be considered against research and practice.

In summary, the mentioned theories will be drawn in the first section to develop a background of analysis. In this respect, some radical theories of education will be considered. Also, it will be regarded as new learning landscapes. The second section will be focused on SOLE and a practical approach to this concept with Bath Spa University students. In section three the key emerging learning elements are discussed and critically compared with a published experiment, presenting significant limitations. All in all, this new layer or concept of learning is encouraged to reflect on how technologies have extended our creative abilities nowadays.


I. BACKGROUND

Research approach

Self-Organised Learning Environments or SOLEs are models of learning (Dolan et al., 2013). In this scenario, students in groups, using a computer connected to the internet, self-organise their learning with minimal teacher support. The initial experiments were conducted in villages and urban slums in India between 1999 and 2006 by Sugata Mitra. Its application and early results have been contributing to the current debate about assessment practices and pedagogical processes in a digital era. The idea of SOLE as free and open learning with maximum benefit have attracted the attention of many, in countries such as India where the educational access for so many children are low (Arora, 2007). The intriguing concept of collaborative peer and self-guided learning was widely popularised in 2013 with the TED annual prize (USD$1 million)1, for his wish to build 'the school in the cloud'2. This winning talk has been viewed over 3 million times on TED page and Youtube Channel, including major press articles such as BBC, New York Times and Times of India. As of 2016, more than 16,000 SOLE sessions have taken place globally, with partner learning labs including in Colombia, Greece and Pakistan (TED, 2013). For the first time, ten of the global partner programs have teamed up for a Crowdrise campaign in 2016. They raised a total of USD$20,118 for equipment and growth, headed by SOLE Colombia, SOLE Jamaica and SOLE Pakistan (Crowdrise, 2016). This kind of recognition creates a compelling narrative around. Therefore, there is an enormous momentum behind SOLEs.

However, innovation is a difficult topic since educational systems seem remarkably resistant to change (Sarason, 1990). SOLE is not the first attempt to disrupt the roles in the classroom. Foucault's 'school as a prison' (1977) and Freire's 'liberation' (1970) might be attributes of the forces at play in creating learning spaces to join and shape human thought and action. Such advocacies match the 'deschooling society' notion from Illich (1973) in trying to present education without dependency upon the teacher and the school. It omits hierarchies or formal structures and promotes the alluring proposition that learning can take place anywhere and with anyone (Arora, 2010). Inevitably all of these theories were strongly criticised in their context, especially because of the difficult to operationalise them. It is hard to see for example how 'learning webs' from Ivan Illich (1973) would broadly replace school systems at that time. Although a detailed framework of the main elements of Illich deschooling movement and Freire liberation pedagogy are beyond the scope of this paper, it cannot be left the common ground between all these radical theories. They seem to involve the transformative foundation of learning that is more dialogic and less didactic (Freire and Illich, 1986). Nevertheless, rather than understand the school as an institution to be suppressed like Illich's proposal, SOLE does not aim to disregard schooling (Arora, 2010; Dolan et

1 http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud 2 https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org/


al., 2013; Mitra 2014). The transformative pedagogy seems to be placed alongside the dominant educational framework (Dolan et al., 2013). But it is important to note that the introduction of new tools changes the classroom ecology as the teacher shifts from being the centre stage.

Framework for emergent learning and tendencies in a digital age

Given the media attention and spreading of global experiments of SOLE, it does not surprise some implications such as 'students no longer need teachers' (Dolan et al., 2013: 17). However, what is distinctive about SOLEs is that they alter the role and indeed other aspects of teaching. This resonates with the challenge of a less tutor-led approach and the transition to an emergent learning in which actor and system co-evolve (De Freitas and Conole, 2010). Emergence in education has been discussed and defined by some authors, such as Siemens (2009) and Williams et al. (2011). Particularly, this research will be related to the statement from the latter authors who interpreted emerging learning as

Learning which arises out of the interaction between a number of people and resources, in which the learners organise and determine both the process and to some extent the learning destinations... The interaction is in many senses self-organised, but it nevertheless requires some constraint and structure. It may include virtual or physical networks or both. (2011: 41)

These authors try to map out a suitable framework for understanding emergence. They explore the possible link or combination with traditional modes of learning, or also referred as, prescribed learning. Following Cilliers (2005, 2010) and Williams et al. (2011), two different domains of application for learning are identified. In one hand, the domain of predictable events. On the other hand, the domain of complex events, a non-predictable field caused by agents that are self-organising.

In predictable domains knowledge is employed to provide control. Learning is associated to a one-way narration of a static and predictable reality. As a result, the information is transferred with a hierarchical and top-down way. This approach is referred as prescriptive learning in which knowledge is pre-determined for the learners and distributed at great or industrial scale, as Robinson would define it (2008). This covers most educational programs and most of the standard virtual learning environments (Williams et al., 2011). In complex-adaptive domains, knowledge does not provide planned predictability, but rather retrospective coherence. The learning appears to be self-organised, open and typically collaborative. The learners themselves distribute, and create the knowledge. This approach is noted as emergent learning network in which knowledge is interconnected and non-linear, more similar to an ecosystem (Adell and Castañeda, 2013) or to an organic model (Robinson, 2008). Examples include social software networks, SOLEs, micro-agents interacting at scale like in Wikipedia or personal learning networks (PLN) and personal learning environments (PLE), both of which take benefits of technology to create


networks and environments that potentiate learning (Adell and Castañeda, 2013). To mention other recent tendencies, the use of digital mobility and digital convergence are some examples. McGonical (2011) proposal on videogames as learning tools to solve real problems, reflects another inclination on ways of learning. As well as the pedagogy of interactivity, in which Aparici and Silva (2012) show how values of participation, dialogue and co-authorship are part of interactivity principles. Other authors follow cooperation patterns on learning processes, as in the case of peer pedagogy3 (Rheingold, 2014), where the principles are open software, open culture, and peer production. In general, these trends defined as emerging learning network (William et al., 2011), show the learner as the essential agent of the process (Ricaurte, 2016).

Ricaurte (2016) refers to this dynamic techno-social events as profound transformations in the learning processes. In conjunction with the ecology of media (McLuhan, 1964), it is revising the idea of the aspects of the prescriptive learning (William et al., 2011). As it turns out, emerging learning is unpredictable but retrospectively coherent. According to Beckerman (2000) and Bloom (2000), this emergent behaviour is an ordered system that appears to be uncontrollable because the order is not predictable. Both authors note how emergence behaviour is a common event in nature. A typical example is the molecules of gas in a box. A single molecule has no temperature or pressure, but, as a result of the collisions between all the particles in the box, the properties of pressure and temperature emerge. This view argues the appearance of properties not quite evident in the parts of a system, but via local interactions (Elmenreich & DeMeer, 2008). Put into the context of education, emergent learning networks are recognising the value of the connections of the agents. Moreover, since it is an open and flexible system, the agents are expected to react and to adapt quickly (William et al., 2011). This is relevant in a world in which careers and competencies, as well as media, are rapidly changing. However, it is important to note that emergence can be either positive or negative. William et al. (2011) point out that openness needs to be balanced by constraints. More importantly, it needs to be continuously monitored and adjusted. It seems that understand complexity principles has a way to go. Still, it may have the potential to explain 'not just how learning happens, but why it happens the way it does' (Mitra, 2014: 10).

An alternative theory: Connectivism

In recent years, digital contexts have given place to new ramifications to understand learning. Its origins are mainly located in social construction (Ricaurte, 2016) and try to expand perspectives of behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism, which share that learning occurs inside a person (Siemens, 2004). Siemens and Downes have brought together these theories and other principles such as chaos, complexity and self-organisation ideas, looking to address learning that occurs

3 http://peeragogy.github.io/


outside of people, and that is manipulated with technology (Downes, 2005; Siemens, 2004). This vision emphasises the knowledge of the interaction (Downes, 2005). The idea of learning that takes place across networked learning communities and information is central to connectivism (Dunaway, 2011). Dunaway (2011) conjures up Siemens' theories and illustrates that when learners build connections between ideas located throughout their personal learning networks, knowledge emerges. These personal learning networks are made from different information resources and platforms. Thus, a significant part of the process of learning through the creation of connections is on linking specialised nodes. In this sense, Siemens (2004) argues that nodes can be understood as the amplification of the personal knowledge or the cognitive extension, as McLuhan (1964) refers to the nature of media or Clark (2007) refers to the bodies of information for sensory enhancement. Hence, this extensive knowledge can be stored in a variety of digital formats (Kop and Hill, 2008). Arguably, nodes can be reflected in experts, groups, ideas, to fields, systems or communities (Bell, 2010).

Moreover, Siemens remarks that new data is regularly being acquired, so the ability to draw distinctions between relevant and not relevant information is essential. Connectivism highlights the learner's capacity to recognise such connections or patterns, despite frontiers on information technology (e.g. the rankings from web search engines). As a consequence, connectivism stresses the ability to make decisions based on the information that has been gained and the new sources that alter the landscape (Kop and Hill, 2008). Since information is always changing, Siemens states that learning is cyclical and is considered a knowledge creation process. This highlights an important point. As the Internet enables users to create and transform knowledge, there is a shift in knowledge consumption and content creators (Dunaway, 2011). As a result of this new configuration, information literacy skills becomes critical. Alternatives to reframe notions of knowledge, suitable for connectivity (Dunaway, 2011), are metaliteracy (Mackey and Jacobson, 2010) and transliteracy (Thomas et al., 2007). Metaliteracy refers to a way of thinking about learner's literacy (how and why they learn). This approach makes emphasis on the active production and sharing of new knowledge through technology. In another level, transliteracy refers to the ability to derive meaning from the use of various formats of information. In other words, to move between platforms and get from point A to point B. In general, metaliteracy and transliteracy recognise information resources and discuss such nodes as components of peoples’ learning networks (Dunaway, 2011). For instance, Jacobs (2010: 186) reports that 'most of our students have a pre-existing relationship with Wikipedia before they enter the classroom'. Although they move to specialised library databases for deep research, it is evident how Wikipedia is connected to their use of library databases. This user-generated content represents an opportunity to engage students in critical thinking (Jacobs, 2010).


All in all, Siemens and Downes has set an intrepid research agenda to support the connectivist theory, such as academic articles, blog posts4 and MOOCs titled CCK085, CCK09 and CCK116. Despite that Bell (2010) suggests that connectivist should be viewed as a phenomenon, its approach indeed involves shifts in roles of teachers (Kop and Hill, 2008). Educators now influence and shape a network (Siemens, 2004), rather than simply show which resources are reliable (Dunaway, 2011). To some extent, open access, journals, scholarly channels, as well as blogs, community sites, videos and images repositories, are valuable nodes in students’ learning networks. Ultimately, connectivism may best be viewed as a developing perspective (Kop and Hill, 2008). It is under-researched but provides ‘fertile testing ground for ideas, which, in turn, may lead to empirical research’ that can then refine, validate or disprove formal hypotheses within the framework (Kop and Hill, 2008: 3).

II. CASE STUDY: Self Organised Learning Environments or SOLEs

Motivation

The emergence of different trends or the re-formulation of classical conjectures makes the nature of possibilities for approaching learning in digital contexts, an overwhelming task. Among them, SOLE is a model of learning regarded as a social innovation tool (Dolan et al., 2013). Though this model is focused in the way schoolchild learn, it is adaptable from children to seniors, farmers to executives, in a variety of contexts such as cultural centres, educational institutions or community hubs (SOLE Colombia, 2015a). For this project purpose, our reference point is school events. At first glance, SOLEs applied to schooling seem to sit somewhat uncomfortably alongside traditional prescriptive ways of learning. In this regard, SOLE was chosen because it constitutes a famous representative case of emergent learning in the Internet context. As a consequence, this paper proposes through an original very small-scale study of a SOLE session, to carry out an analysis of the main elements of this model of learning that allows comparison to some extent with a case study from an English Primary School, conducted by Dolan, Leat, Mitra and colleagues (Dolan et al., 2013).

SOLE Background

The learning setting for SOLEs is mainly distinguished by its minimal teacher intervention approach, and by its openness and flexibility (Mitra et al., 2005). Mitras' initial 'hole in the wall' experiments have matured significantly in the last few years. SOLE has changed from primarily

4 http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/ 5 http://connect.downes.ca/archive/08/09_15_thedaily.htm 6 http://cck11.mooc.ca/index.html


showing that children can learn by themselves through computers to the how and what of learning (Arora, 2010). Currently, SOLEs produce spaces where creativity and unexpected learning can happen, since a predefined learning set of objectives is not required (Dolan et al., 2013). In this sense, the sessions are adaptive systems of learning that require students to explore a particular field that is considerably above their expected competency level (Mitra, 2014). By this method and following the rule that there would be no competition among the students, a challenging question is presented that allows learners to engage in their own acts of representation (as advocated by Siemens, 2004). The negotiated possible answers that evolve from the group, means that every SOLE session develops in a unique way. After the novelty effect decreases, the sessions start to become a dynamic network for learning, continuously shaped by the interactions between learners (Dolan et al., 2013). Therefore, the outcomes can be unpredictable. Overall, the rise of this innovative trend seems to fit the criterion of an emergent learning network (Williams et al., 2011), in which the learning process appears to be self-organised, open and typically collaborative.

The SOLE approach in a classroom involves a session of 30 to 90 minutes. During this time, the educator will engage the learners with a question that might not be regarded as 'easy', with 'easy' defined as material or questions addressed for the age level of the participant group (Mitra and Quiroga, 2012). Some examples include: ‘Who built the pyramids and why?’, ‘What are fractals?’, ‘What are they looking for with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, in Geneva?’, ‘How did the world begin? How will it end?’, ‘Was the British Raj a good idea?’, ‘Why do we dream?’, ‘What effect music has on the body?’. There are other variants of SOLEs where students propose questions that they would like to know. There are a few simple rules. Specifically in a session, children decide their groups to work with on the question. Each group has one computer with internet access. They are allowed to change groups, talk to each other, walk around looking at each others' progress. As was mentioned, the role of the teacher during the session is minimal: just observing and not intervening. Nevertheless, they play an important role at the beginning of the session, in which setting the question as a genuine process of discovery is essential to promote curiosity (Mitra, 2013a). Likewise, the role of the teacher at the final plenary step is important, as the teacher identifies and highlights pedagogic input that can be developed in a later class.

Experiments across the globe

At the heart of this model of learning, there is a collection of case studies and small-scale quantitative evidence, from different contexts. They suggest that students tend to address more challenging questions and retain that information for a longer period of time than they would normally (Mitra and Rana, 2011; Mitra et al., 2003; Mitra and Dangwal, 2010; Mitra and Quiroga, 2012). Nevertheless, there is a need for systematic quantitative evidence for SOLE's impact on learning outcomes and focus on educators practical knowledge as they implement SOLE (Dolan et al., 2013). This missing element is reflected in the numerous blog entries from teachers using


SOLEs, with limited systematic study related to changes in teaching and distinct results using SOLE7. Additionally to this global blog with entries (principally from India), there are specific web pages from country partners with a further structured throughline. For instance, SOLE in Pakistan called Khud (that means 'self' in Urdu) is focused on addressing its education crises, in which 25 million children are not in school, 1.4 million teachers are needed (Khud, 2016), and so, the blog shows their advance in addressing this challenge8. In Colombia, SOLE is a powerful tool used to construct social networks, in a country in transition to peace with armed revolutionary groups9. It is performed with the support of government entities, independent charities and private industries interested in Colombian educational development through technological tools (SOLE Colombia, 2015a). These two cases both use SOLE as a tool for tackling massive education problems or breaking down social barriers of the armed conflict. In this way, SOLE have distinctive paths of emergent learning networks, and it would be an inadvertent error to attempt to judge them by any other criteria.

This structural complexity of SOLE cases might lead this research project to ambiguities and interminable connotations of this method. Hence, the focus of this research is a case study based on one teacher’s experience using SOLEs in a North East England primary school over a two year period (Dolan et al., 2013). The data was collected from primary students during the academic year 2009/2010, and the authors do not assume the generalisability to other settings. This case study has shown that the SOLE approach fits like a regular feature for the student (Dolan et al., 2013). The Year 4 classroom teacher, Sarah Taylor (pseudonym) or ST argues that she did not perceive SOLEs as being in conflict with her teaching. This follows Mitra’s allusion to SOLEs as learning tools, rather than teacher pedagogies (Mitra, 2014). After the novelty effect had decreased with this tool, the SOLE approach became a regular feature for learning across the whole year. Pupils reported remembering the information they discovered for longer than they did in tradicional activities. Also, they described having more agency in their interests while working in groups and having interactions across groups (Dolan et al., 2013).

Experimental Overview: SOLE with adults

This project proposes to explore self-organised learning in a mature context, of a methodology that is usually impulsed for children. Through contrasting SOLE elements from Sarah Taylor's classroom and a study case with adults, it is proposed to explore how this model of learning respond to two different contexts. According to the exploratory research from the background three elements are highlighted: a) the use of the Internet as a tool, b) participants working in

7 See SOLE Global at https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org/stories 8 See SOLE Pakistan at http://www.khud.org/blog/ 9 See SOLE Colombia at http://www.solecolombia.org/category/historias-de-embajadores/


groups including collaboration across groups, c) perception of competencies such as the information or digital literacy skills and critical thinking of the multiple information resources.

i. Small-scale study of a SOLE session The activity took a form of qualitative research in which people were asked about perceptions towards the elements of the developed SOLE session, in a questionnaire.

ii. Aim Regarding the literature reviewed, and the possible gaps of the SOLE model, this research seeks to use the small-scale study sessions as a tool to explore personal learning networks.

iii. Objectives To achieve the mentioned aim, two objectives were formulated:

• The exploration of current practices of emerging learning such as SOLE, with critical insights about this digital panorama.

• The analysis of the participants' perception about the SOLE model, focused on information literacy.

iv. Hypothesis The case study will test the following positions:

• Using multiple information resources to discuss in a group, allow to recognise connections and engage in a subject quickly.

• The individual perception on the chosen answers seems to be relevant and reliable.

Methodology

This project is investigating participants’ perspectives. The sample for the research was focused on postgraduate students from Bath Spa University that were available during the summer break and who voluntarily agreed to join the case study. Participants' age ranged from 24 to 55 years old. The study was placed in Newton Park in two sessions throughout one day. The first session was conducted with five participants, and the second session with six different members. All eleven participants completed the SOLE activity and the questionnaire. All responses were treated anonymously. Also, the students had the chance to withdraw the session at any time without penalty.

Regarding the development of the session, participants would form self-organised learning environments (SOLEs) and find answers to big questions proposed by the researcher. This learning space needed furniture rearranged to enable groups of 2 or 3 learners to interact with a computer and the Internet. Students are given a question to research. Learners select their own groups, can change groups if they wish to, can talk to each other and across groups. Groups can look at each other’s work. At the end of a given time, usually between 30 and 40 minutes, each


group would make a 5 minutes presentation on their findings (Mitra, 2013a; SOLE Colombia, 2015; Orrego, 2016).

Finally, the researcher will ask participants to complete a qualitative survey, in order to collect learners perception of the dynamics of the session. The meeting is expected to last 90 minutes.

i. Questionaire

Ten questions aimed to find perceptions of whether they felt engaged with the method and how aware they were on their usual skills of digital literacy and critical thinking of their information networks. This survey is attached in the Annexe 1.

Also, a survey per group was included to gathering information about the answers that they came up and its sources. Survey included in the Annexe 2.

The style and wording for the questions were based on the database from previous surveys developed in 236 sessions of SOLE, with 5043 participants in 2015 (SOLE Colombia, 2015b). Particular attention was held on connectivity (Siemens, 2004; Kop and Hill, 2008), and metaliteracy (Dunaway, 2011; Mackey and Jacobson, 2010) frames, to pursue its exploration during the session.

ii. Limitation It is acknowledged the limitation of the analysis by taking a sample of few students in the sample. Nevertheless, to see how it works for the first time (for the researcher and the participants) will be an interesting element for the analysis.

Left side: Groups from the morning session. Righ side: groups from the afternoon session

Results The small-scale study supported both hypotheses. The first hypothesis predicted that participants will engage in the activity and will recognise new relations from the given question. Numerals 1, 3, 4 from the individual survey and third part of the group survey, illustrate this hypothesis as is shown in Figure 2.


Figure 2 Results supporting the first hypothesis

The second hypothesis predicted that learners would perceive the chosen answers as relevant and reliable. Numerals 5, 6, 7, 8 from the individual survey and last part of the group survey, illustrate this hypothesis as is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Results supporting the second hypothesis.


At the beginning of the session, the internet played a less important role as in both session several participants shared with all the group their perspectives and started the discussion without any access to the internet, as it is shown in question 4. They used the tools anyway to confirm these aspects. Figure 4. Sources of information per group.

The main difference of this method concerning the sessions reported with children is that adults seem to be not interested in interact with other groups, during the researching part, as question 2 showed. It is not a chaotic session, neither with a high level of noise (Dolan et al., 2013). Digital literacy and critical thinking will be further discussed.

Finally, there were some comments from the open question, from the individual survey: - Overall seems like an enjoyable way of learning but too much freedom might lead or is even prone to misleading

understandings - Well prepared, good explanations - Casual, relaxed and student centred - Nice group work, which is usually helpful to build knowledge. That's how people should work together. - It is a very good method to understand a topic - It was a very easy going dynamic - Good session

Some of the group presentations at the end of each session.


III. DISCUSSION

Table 1 SOLE session comparison between children and adults

At least superficially, it appears that there is a common appeal in the implementation of SOLEs. Participants of all ages seem to engage naturally using the internet and working in groups. The simple directions produce different behaviours of learners’ agency, from self-organising the information searching while interacting with each other, to shaping the pedagogic discourse. This places emphasis on information literacy, critical thinking and students’ personal learning networks, especially in a scenario where information is not a static object (Mackey and Jacobson, 2011). In this regard this small study suggests a possible new way to look at learning: the ability to find out what and how to know, effectively and in the shortest possible time. The sample size, though not large and not comparable in terms of time, does suggest a similar trend in identifying the importance of information literacy and critical thinking skills over both contexts. At first glance, this result is anomalous particularly for children, since the reading level is considerably above their own and the myriad of information from the internet can be overwhelming. Nevertheless, SOLE practices have evidenced the ingenuity and capacity of children for self-learning through play and experimentation (Mitra and Rana, 2011; Mitra et al., 2003; Mitra and Dangwal, 2010; Mitra and Quiroga, 2012; Dolan et al., 2013). This sensitivity is often lost in prescriptive schooling. This idea is not in itself new. Much research has been conducted into how self-motivation for learning is embedded in play (Montessori, 1938; Zimmerman, 2008).

Even though SOLE has established a body of research to show maintained learning, there are still several research questions which must be raised and significant challenges to be met. On the one hand, Mitra and colleagues highlight complexity theory to understand this form of learning, which

ElementsNorth East of England

Primary School

South west of England

University

Educational qualification

of the participants

Year 4 of primary school.

Children from 8 to 9 years old

Master degree.

Adults from 24 to 55 years old.

SOLE duration Two consecutive academic years 90 mins session

a) The use of the Internet

as a toolThe internet is central to the learning process.

The internet played a less important role. Few participants

shared with all the session or within their groups their initial

perspectives and started the discussion without any access to

the internet. In one case, coincidentally one of the participants

had a book related to the question, and they used it as a

reference. Then, they used the internet to confirm these aspects.

b) Participants working

in groups including

collaboration across

groups

Chaotic and noisy sessions.

At first, children worked in friendship groups, with high level

of noise interacting constantly with each other, but as time

went, ST noticed that group interaction seemed to be

dominant.

Closed groups and relaxed session.

They were interacting with each other, focused on the research

and preparing the final presentation as a group, and seemed to

be not interested in others' group answers.

c) Perception of

competencies

Dolan et al. (2013) results, suggest that children can read and

understand adult-level text in groups if they are allowed to

work in the SOLE style.

Students generated well-targeted searches and selected

relevant information, to construct an specific narrative about

their research.

Digital literacy

Children shown to be capable of researching effectively the

internet. ST reported feeling greatly surprised about how

information is gathered and shared, showing children’s ability

to read, understand and discuss their findings.

Students made critical judgements about online information

sources. They suggested ways about how the veracity of web-

based information can be verified.

Critical thinking

There was evidence of metacognitive thinking, in that student

evidenced the development of sensitivity of the accuracy of

their work.

They usually interpreted with a critical eye the information

across digital platforms and media.


falls under the general area of chaos theory in physics. Mitra argues the fact that learners seem to create and maximise meaning out of the information from the internet, as the definition of the edge of chaos. However, researchers in this field recognise that the empirical work does not adequately reflect theoretical thinking in the ways that people relate to and understand the Internet (Deursen et al., 2014). These insights have important implications since our knowledge of complex systems is always provisional and the framework for a system that is open by itself will have to be continually revised (Cilliers, 2005). In this regard, the developed case study is centred in how between positions in dialogue with others (group work), the information seeker must choose the dividing line between facts and opinions before including these ideas in their personal nodes of knowledge, as is advocated by Siemens (2004) and Downes (2005). Although, there are further valid instruments able to measure progress in this area (Deursen et al., 2014), due to constraints of time, limited scales were used in this study simply to explore the perceptions of performance used in a SOLE enquiry-based approach.

Furthermore, negotiating to allow learners to use computers connected to the internet and share answers with peers within the examination room, is a contentious issue. Especially if it challenges the role of the teacher, not as a respected figure but as one that is contested. Multiple SOLE critics highlight the abandonment and lack of sustainability of the initial experiment 'the whole in the wall' (Clark, 2013; Paradowski, 'undated') that also occurred in several locations of that first experiment. Mitra himself admits that too much freedom may lead to a failure of the experiment (Mitra and Arora, 2010). In fact, SOLE has become more structured in its design and more reliant upon the necessity to use the mediator to assist the learner (Mitra and Dangwal, 2010; Mitra and Arora, 2010). The challenge that SOLE now has to face is that it has to strategically work with schools to justify its essence, and yet has to strategically disengage in the practice of particular models of teaching. Mitra and colleagues are attempting to promote a parallel story alongside educators narratives10 (Leonard, 2016). These narratives argue that it is viable to conceive SOLE as transformative, where the unpredictable is celebrated, while it is possible to support strong classification and framing (Dolan et al., 2013).

This resonates with Mitras' argument about how SOLE, like computers, are tools to be used in many ways and for different agendas. Although there is evidence that SOLE can be disruptive, it is not necessarily a form of radical pedagogy (Giroux, 2003). Thus, SOLE can become a means for enhancing exam results (Dolan et al., 2013). However, what is innovative about SOLEs is that it raises questions about education, rather than the innovative nature of SOLEs per se:

We don't need to improve schools. We need to reinvent them for our times, our requirements and our future. We don't need efficient clerks to fuel an administrative machine that is no longer needed. Machines will do that for us. We need people who can think divergently, across outdated

10 https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org/updates/uk-teacher-writes-in-defence-of-evidence-for-sole


"disciplines", connecting ideas across the entire mass of humanity. We need people who can think like children. (Mitra, 2013b)

More than ever, technology and education have created a prolific study of emergent approaches to learning. SOLE is just one of them.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

This project has described the unique affordances that the Internet offers for emergent learning, as well as some challenges discerning this potential in education. Values such as cooperation, openness, knowledge sharing and collective production are now tangible in learning trends. In the background, it has mapped out the main features of emerging learning and related them to some radical theories such as Foucault's 'school as a prison', Freire's 'liberation' and 'deschooling society' notion from Illich. Additionally, emergent learning has been distinguished from traditional modes of learning, highlighting key elements and examples from both perspectives. Focus on emergent learning has been drawn along with some foundations of complexity theory and connectivism, which provide a more versatile and flexible organic model of learning. Nevertheless, it is recognised that these frameworks are developing perspectives, with several hypotheses which need to be refined. In this testing environment, SOLE, a model of learning for children that has spread globally is proposed. This approach was tested on Bath Spa University students and the findings were compared with some key features of a published case study from an English Primary School. Although the very small-scale study of the SOLE session has limitations and is substantially different from the Primary School event, it does raise similar questions in relarion to information literacy and critical thinking skills which need to be addressed.

Lastly, the conversation of learning environments to foster technology tools seem to be crucial to developing digital competencies in a meaningful and critical way. Technology can have a profound positive impact on the way we teach, on the way we learn, on the way we solve problems. Questions about how to find a point of engagement to ensure an adequate balance between openness and constraint in relation to this challenging platform can be regarded as an important focus for further studies.


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ANNEXED Annexe 1. Individual survey


Annexe 2. Group survey

Annexe 3. Survey answers

# Participant#Session Age Program Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 ¬Q8 Q9 Q10

1 1 21-25MSc Creative Technologies &

Enterprise3 4 5 5 3 5 5 2 1

Overall seems like an enjoyble

way of learning but too much

freedom might lead or is even

prone to misleading

understandings

2 1 21-25MA Bussiness &

Management4 3 5 4 5 5 3 2 3

Well prepared, good

explanations

3 1 31+ MA Visual Communication 5 3 4 4 5 5 3 1 4Casual, relaxed and student

centred

4 1 31+ MA International Education 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 2 4 NA

5 1 31+

MA Teaching English to

Speakers of Other

Languages

5 1 5 5 5 4 4 2 4

Nice group work, which is

usually helpful to built

knowledge. That's how

people should work

6 2 31+

MA Teaching English to

Speakers of Other

Languages

5 1 3 3 4 4 5 2 4 NA

7 2 31+ MA Visual Communication 5 1 5 5 4 5 5 1 5It is a very good method to

understand a topic

8 2 26-30 MA International Education 5 2 5 3 2 3 3 3 3 NA

9 2 26-30MA Bussiness &

Management5 2 3 4 4 3 5 5 4

It was a very easy going

dynamic

10 2 21-25 MA Early years 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 Good session

11 2 31+ MA International Education 5 4 4 4 3 5 4 1 4 NA

4.7 2.7 4.3 4.1 4.0 4.4 4.1 2.2 3.5


Annexe 3. Individual survey answers




Annexe 4. Group Survey answers


Annexe 5. Group Presentations

Documents

160921 FP_Doc_Paola_AleanFlorez