Te Peeiagogy Handbook

Te Peeiagogy Handbook
Founding Editor
Howaid Rheingold
Editorial Board
Geoige Bieu, Joseph Coineli, Chailes Jeiey Dano,
Kyle Laison, Chailoue Pieice, Paola Ricauite, labiizio Teizi
with contributions from
Biyan Alexandei, Paul Allison, Maiia leinanda Aienas,
Rgis Baiondeau, Doug Bieitbait, Suz Buiioughs,
Teiyl Caitwiight, Jay Cioss, Julian Elve,
James lolkestad, Kathy Gill, John Glass,
John Giaves, Jan Heidei, Gigi Johnson,
Anna Keune, Roland Legiand, Amanda Lyons,
Chiistophei Neal, Ted Newcomb, Stephanie Paikei,
David Pieston, Stephanie Schippei, Petei Tayloi,
and Geo Walkei
Wednesday 1 Januaiy, 2014 (veision 2.0)
All the text in this book has been
donated to the Public Domain.
sx~ii c~vs coiiespond to links in the online veision
of the book, which is at http://peeragogy.org.
lSBN 98-0-939-4-9
Covei design by labiizio Teizi.
lllustiations by Amanda Lyons.
Typeset in Linux Libeitine with X

L
A
T
E
X.
Souices available at http://git.io/Handbook.
Jointly published by Pieice Piess and PubDomEd.
CONTENTS
loviv~vu 1
l lN1vouUc1ioN
1 Wiicoxi'
2 Hov 1o Usi 1uis u~Nunoox 9
3 Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis 13
ll Piiv Li~vNiNc 19
4 AN Ovivviiv 21
lll Mo1iv~1ioN 41
Wuv vivi uoiNc 1uis 43
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX 49
lV Piiv~cocv iN Pv~c1ici 3
TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs
8 P~11ivNs 3
9 AN1iv~11ivNs 83
10 A v~11ivN s1ovv 91
V CoNviNiNc A GvoUv 93
11 CoNviNiNc 9
12 Pi~v ~Nu ii~vNiNc 103
13 K12 Piiv~cocv 10
14 P2P SOLE 111
1 A s1ovv ~noU1 Niv niciNNiNcs 121
Vl Ovc~NiziNc ~ Li~vNiNc CoN1ix1 123
1 Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc 12
1 AuuiNc s1vUc1Uvi 13
18 Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs 141
19 Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC 11
20 C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs 19
Vll Cooviv~1ioN 19
21 Coi~ciii1~1ioN 11
22 Tui Wovxsc~vi 1
23 P~v1iciv~1ioN 19
24 DisicNs iov covovxiNc 183
2 A covovxiNc s1ovv 193
Vlll AssissxiN1 19
2 Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1 19
2 Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv 20
lX TicuNoiociis, Sivvicis, ~Nu Pi~1iovxs 21
28 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 21
29 lovUxs 229
30 Wixi 233
31 Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs 241
X RisoUvcis 24
32 Hov 1o ci1 iNvoiviu 249
33 Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN 23
34 RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc 21
3 S1vii GUiui 21
3 Mii1 1ui AU1uovs 2
3 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 28
38 LiciNsi/W~iviv 311
lOREWARD
l was invited to lectuie at UC Beikeley in Januaiy, 2012, and
to involve theii faculty and theii giaduate students in some kind
of seminai, so l 1oiu 1ui s1ovv oi uov lvi Usiu soci~i xiui~
iN 1i~cuiNc ~Nu ii~vNiNc - and invited them to help me cieate
a handbook foi self-leaineis.
l called it the Peeiagogy Handbook. l met twice on the Beike-
ley campus in the weeks following the lectuie with about a dozen
Beikeley faculty and giaduate students. We also had a laptop
open with Elluminate, an online platfoimthat enabled video chat-
ting and text chat, enabling people aiound the woild who weie in-
teiested in the subject, who l ieciuited thiough Twiuei and email,
to also paiticipate in this conveisation. All of the faculty and giad
students at Beikeley diopped out of the pioject, but we ended up
with about two dozen people, most of them educatois, seveial of
them students, in Canada, Belgium, Biazil, Geimany, ltaly, Mex-
ico, the UK, USA, and Venezuela who ended up collaboiating on
a voluntaiy eoit to cieate this Peeiagogy Handbook, at peeia-
gogy.oig. We all shaied an inteiest in the question lf you give
moie and moie of youi powei as a teachei to the students, cant
you just eliminate the teachei all togethei, oi cant people take
tuins being the facilitatoi of the class`
Between the time nine yeais ago, when l staited out using
social media in teaching and leaining, cleaily theies been an ex-
plosion of people leaining things togethei online via Wikipedia
and YouTube, MOOCs and Qoia, Twiuei and lacebook, Google
Docs and video chat, and l dont ieally know whats going to hap-
pen with the institutions, but l do know that this wild leaining is
happening and that some people aie becoming moie expeit at it.
l staited tiying to leain piogiamming this summei, and l
think that leaining piogiamming and doing piogiamming must
be veiy, veiy dieient now fiom befoie the Web, because now, if
1
you know the iight question to ask, and you put it into a seaich
queiy, theies someone out theie on StackOveiow who is al-
ieady discussing it. Moie and moie people aie geuing savvy to
the fact that you dont have to go to a univeisity to have access to
all of the mateiials, plus media that the univeisities havent even
had until iecently. Whats missing foi leaineis outside foimal in-
stitutions who know how to use social media is useful loie about
howpeople leain togethei without a teachei. Nobody should evei
oveilook the fact that theie aie gieat teacheis. Teacheis should
be tiained, iewaided, and sought out. But its time to expand the
focus on leaineis, paiticulaily on self-leaineis whose hungei foi
leaining hasnt been schooled out of them.
l think that weie beginning to see the next step, which is to
develop the methods we ceitainly have the technologies, acces-
sible at the cost of bioadband access foi self-leaineis to teach
and leain fiom each othei moie eectively. Self-leaineis know
how to go to YouTube, they know how to use seaich, mobilize
peisonal leaining netwoiks. How does a gioup of self-leaineis
oiganize co-leaining`
ln the Peeiagogy pioject, we staited with a vixi and then we
decided that we needed to have a mechanismfoi people who weie
self-electing to wiite aiticles on the wiki to say, OK, this is ieady
foi editing, and then foi an editoi to come in and say, this is ieady
foi WoidPiess, and then foi someone to say, this has been moved
to WoidPiess. We used a foium to hash out these issues and met
ofen via Elluminate, which enabled us to all use audio and video,
to shaie scieens, to text chat, and to simultaneously diaw on a
whiteboaid. We tiied Piiatepad foi a while. Eventually we seuled
on WoidPiess as oui publication platfoim and moved oui most of
oui discussions to Google. lt was a messy piocess, leaining to
woik togethei while deciding what, exactly it was we weie do-
ing and how we weie going to go about it. ln the end we ended
up evolving methods and seuled on tools that woiked pieuy well.
We tackled key questions and piovided iesouices foi dealing with
them How you want to govein youi leaining community` What
kinds of technologies do you want to use, and why, and how to
use them` How aie leaineis going to convene, what kind of ie-
souices aie available, and aie those iesouices fiee oi what aie
theii advantages and disadvantages. We weie beuing that if we
could oiganize good iesponses to all these questions, a iesouice
would piove to be useful Heies a iesouice on how to oiganize
a syllabus oi a leaining space, and heie aie a lot of suggestions
foi good leaining activities, and heies why l should use a wiki
iathei than a foium. We planned the Handbook to be an open
and giowable iesouice if you want to add to it, join us' Te
puipose of all this woik is to piovide a means of lubiicating the
piocess of cieating online couises and/oi leaining spaces.
Please use this handbook to enhance youi own peei leain-
ing and please join oui eoit to expand and enhance its value.
Te people who came togethei to cieate the ist edition few
of us knew any of the otheis, and ofen people fiom thiee con-
tinents would paiticipate in oui synchionous meetings found
that cieating the Handbook was a tiaining couise and expeiiment
in peeiagogy. lf you want to piactice peeiagogy, heies a vehi-
cle. Not only can you use it, you can expand it, spiead it aiound.
Tianslatois have alieady cieated veisions of the ist edition of the
handbook in Spanish, and ltalian, and woik is in piogiess to biing
these up to date with the second edition. Weve iecently added a
Poituguese tianslation team moie tianslatois aie welcome.
What made this woik` Polycentiic leadeiship is one key.
Many dieient membeis of the pioject stepped up at dieient
times and in dieient ways and did tiuly vital things foi the
pioject. Cuiiently, ovei 30 contiibutois have signed the CC Zeio
waivei and have mateiial in the handbook, ovei 00 joined oui
Peeiagogy in Action community on G, and ovei 1000 tweets
mention peeiagogy.oig. People cleaily like the concept of peeia-
gogy and a healthy numbei also like paiticipating in the piocess.
We know that this isnt the last woid. We hope its a stait.
We invite new geneiations of editois, educatois, leaineis, media-
makeis, web-makeis, and tianslatois to build on oui foundation.
Howaid Rheingold
Maiin County
Januaiy, 2014
Part I
Introduction
cu~v1iv 1
WELCOME TO THE PEERAGOGY HANDBOOK
Welcome to the Peeragogy Handbook!
Peeiagogy is a collection of techniques foi collaboiative leain-
ing and collaboiative woik. By leaining how to woik smait to-
gethei, we hope to leave the woild in a beuei state than it was
when we aiiived.
lndeed, humans have always leained fiom each othei. But foi
a long time until the advent of the Web and widespiead access
to digital media schools have had an eective monopoly on the
business of leaining. Now, with access to open educational ie-
souices and fiee oi inexpensive communication platfoims, gioups
of people can leain togethei outside as well as inside foimal in-
stitutions. All of this piompted us to ieconsidei the meaning of
peei leaining.
Te Peeragogy Handbook isnt a noimal book. lt is an evolving
guide, and it tells a collaboiatively wiiuen stoiy that you can help
wiite. Using this book, you will develop newnoims foi the gioups
you woik with whethei online, oine, oi both. Eveiy section
includes piactical ideas you can apply to build and sustain stiong
and exciting collaboiations. When you iead the book, you will
get to know the authois and will see how we have applied these
ideas in classiooms, in ieseaich, in business, and moie.
Youll meet Julian, one of the diiectois of a housing associa-
tion, Roland, a piofessional jouinalist and change-makei, Chailie,
a language teachei and wiitei who woiks with expeiimental me-
dia foi fun and piot, and Chailoue, an indie publishei who wants
to become beuei at what she does by helping otheis leain how to
do it well too as well as many othei contiibutois fiom aiound
the globe.
Te book focuses on techniques foi convening a stiong gioup,
oiganizing a leaining space, doing coopeiative woik, and con-
ducting eective peei assessment. Tese majoi sections aie com-

8 Wiicoxi'
plemented by a catalog of design paueins and notes on ielevant
technologies.
Te next section is a guide to using the book, but, in biief, if
youie ieading this book on peeiagogy.oig, please use the com-
ment featuie to shaie youi thoughts, and if youie ieading it on
papei, get out youi pen and stait making notes. Te best way
to get something out of Peeiagogy is to put a lot into it. We aie
always inteiested in moie case studies, and anything that will im-
piove the piesentation and usefulness of this mateiial, so please
dont hesitate to get in touch.
cu~v1iv 2
HOW TO USE THlS HANDBOOK
Tis document is a piactical guide to co-leaining, a living doc-
ument that invites comment and invites ieadeis to join the com-
munity of editois. Te document does not have to be iead in lineai
oidei fiom beginning to end. Mateiial about conceptualizing and
convening co-leaining the stu that helps with geuing staited
is located towaid the top of the table of contents. Mateiial about
use cases, iesouices, and assessment is located towaid the bouom.
Hop aiound if youd like.
Weve focused on hands-on techniques, and youll piobably
want to tiy things out with youi own gioups and netwoiks as you
iead.
lf you want a staitei syllabus, check out Peeiagogy in Ac-
tion in the iesouices section.
lf you want to delve diiectly into the ieseaich liteiatuie, oui
initial liteiatuie suivey foims the basis of a Wixiviui~ ~v
1icii, and the book also includes additional iecommended
ieadings.
loi something lightei, many pages in the online veision of
the book include shoit intioductoiy videos, most of them
undei one minute long. You can do a si~vcu oN YoUTUni
to nd these and many of oui othei videos all in one place.
Tis is a living document. lf you want to join in, just let us knowin
oui G coxxUNi1v. (which also happens to have the name Peer-
agogy in Action). lf you want to test the wateis ist, feel fiee to
use the comment thiead auached to each page on peeiagogy.oig
to suggest any changes oi additions, and to shaie a bit about youi
stoiy. We might quote you in futuie veisions of the book to help
impiove the iesouice foi otheis, like this
9
10 Hov 1o Usi 1uis u~Nunoox
John Glass Reading thiough the handbook, it stiikes me
that the useis will be faiily sophisticated folks. Tey will have
ample knowledge of vaiious tech platfoims, iesouices, a faii
amount of foimal education, access and ability to use a numbei
of dieient gadgets. My dilemma is that l am thinking that
Peeiagogy, at its most basic, seems to be about facilitating P2P
leaining. As such, at its most basic, it would be about assisting
people to woik togethei to leain something (and foi me, leaining
encompasses viitually all human behavioi, with the possible
exception of that contiolled by the autonomic neivous system
and even theie l am not suie). ln othei woids, l am thinking it
is about helping anyone leain thiough paitneiship with otheis
(gioup A) and yet the handbook appeais to be geaied towaid
a iathei specialized gioup of people (gioup B). l guess what
l am looking foi is peihaps some claiication on who is the
intended audience, A oi B` As it stands, l am unsuie how it could
iealistically apply to ATanks.
Joe Corneli l think that the best thing to do is to do this in
dialog. ln addition to gioups A and B, we might need a gioup C,
who would mediate between the two. Te assignment would be
something like this Use this to stiuctuie the class, and if you
get stuck at any point oi if you think the iesouice isnt the iight
one, ask me foi help, and well woik on nding othei solutions
togethei. At the end of the semestei, you might have a new and
veiy dieient book tailoied to this paiticulai audience (oi pub-
lic to use Howaids teim)' Tat would be cool. Te cuiient book
denitely isnt a one-size-ts-all ld say its moie like a sewing
machine. ln fact, l think gioup C is the ieal public foi this book
not expeits, but people who will say How can l use the ideas
and the piocess heie to do something new` What people do with
it will denitely depend on the goal the model might be Stand and
Deliver oi it might be Good Will Hunting oi it may be something
veiy dieient. Oui long-teim goal is not to build a 1000 page vei-
sion of the handbook, but to seive as a hub that can help many
dieient peei leaining piojects. Te ist question is How can
we impiove the usability foi you` Rathei than tackling the whole
Hov 1o Usi 1uis u~Nunoox 11
book all at once, lets stait with the Peeiagogy in Action syl-
labus at the end. How would we have to tailoi that to suit the
needs of youi students` Anothei useful staiting point foi them
might be oui aiticle on the student authoied syllabus. linally, oui
mouo foi the book is is is a How-To Handbook. We can talk
moie about anything thats confusing and get iid of oi massively
ievise anything thats not useful. Tats a supei-micio guide to
doing peeiagogy.
cu~v1iv 3
CHAPTER SUMMARlES
Peering into Learning
Tis is a quick intioduction to the main ideas used in the iest of
the book. lt piovides a iange of things to think about as you get
staited with a new peei leaining pioject, oi as you use peeiagogy
to iedesign and ieassess an existing collaboiation. Youll piobably
want to iead this ist and then do some ieection befoie diving
into the othei paits of the book.
Motivation
You might wondei why weie doing this pioject what we
hope to get out of it as volunteeis, and how we think what weie
doing can make a positive dieience in the woild. Have a look
at this chaptei if you, too, aie thinking about geuing involved in
peeiagogy, oi wondeiing how peeiagogy can help you acceleiate
youi own leaining piojects.
Case Study: 5PH1NX We enjoy iiddles with moie than one
answei, so weve included this detailed naiiative example of peei-
agogy in action neai the beginning of the book. We hope you aie
13
14 Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis
inspiied by the challenge of doing peeiagogy in a school seuing
that is iecounted heie. Exploie this case study foi ideas and en-
couiagement foi youi own leaining adventuies.
Paerns, use cases, examples
Heie we show you some of the signposts that can seive as both a
key and compass to the kind of social pioblem solving that hap-
pens in peeiagogy piojects. lf you want some undeilying compo-
nents to tiy out, mix and match these and expeiiment with peei-
agogy iight away. You come back to this chaptei foi a deepei
undeistanding of the piocesses we talk about latei on. A detailed
catalog of paueins and anti-paueins that weve diawn fiom oui
own piactice foim a coie pait of the book.
Convening a Group
Youll piobably want to use this chaptei to oiganize youi think-
ing as you stait a new peeiagogy pioject oi think about how to
apply peeiagogy ideas in an existing collaboiation. Afewclusteis
of simple but impoitant questions will inspiie unique answeis foi
you and youi gioup. We hope these mental fiamewoiks aie help-
ful to not only initiate piogiess, but also to maintain momentum.
Play & Learning What makes leaining fun` Just as actois
leain theii ioles thiough the dynamic piocess of peifoimance, ln
othei woids, the moie we engage with a topic, the beuei we leain
it and the moie satisfying - oi fun - the piocess becomes.
K-12 Peeragogy Te key to becoming a successful connected
educatoi-leainei involves spending the time needed to leain how
to leain and shaie in an open, connected enviionment. Once you
make the decision to entei into a dialogue with anothei usei, you
become a connected educatoi/leainei and tap into the powei of
netwoiks to distiibute the load of leaining. Depending on theii
age, you can even facilitate an awaieness of peei netwoiks among
youi students.
Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis 1
P2P Self-Organizing Learning Environments Tis convei-
sational section engages you in a jouiney thiough diveise points
of entiy that inteiact with youi physical leaining space. Within
this chaptei of woid and pictuie images, the emeiging stiuctuie
and iecipiocal mentoiing that may be inspiied causes a iipple ef-
fect on those who open the dooi to its possibilities.
Organizing a Learning Context
We talk about how peei leaining is oiganized into couises
and spaces, again diawing on oui expeiience in the peeiagogy
pioject. We piesent the iesults of an infoimal poll that ieveals
some of the positive and some of the negative featuies of oui eaily
choices.
Adding Structure with Activities Te ist iule of thumb foi
peei leaining is announce activities only when you plan to take
pait as a fully engaged paiticipant. Ten ask a seiies of ques-
tions what is the goal, what makes it challenging, what woiked
in othei situations, what iecipe is appiopiiate, what is dieient
about leaining about this topic`
Student Authored Syllabus Heies one place you might ex-
ploie to see ways in which fieedom in student-diiected leain-
ing complements the stiuctuial needs foi the content and gioup.
Check this out foi vaiious methods to welcome ambiguity and
co-cieated cuiiiculum into youi piojects. You may want to stait
with one oi two ideas in an activity to tiansition into this foimat,
yet embiacing the iisk on a laigei scale is fun as well.
Connectivism in Practice Massive Open Online Couises
(MOOCs) aie decentialized online leaining expeiiences indi-
viduals and gioups cieate blogs oi wikis and comment on each
otheis woik, ofen with a focus on wheie to nd infoimation.
A couise typically has a topic, activities, ieading iesouices and a
guest speakei foi each week. ltems aie tagged to allow foi ag-
1 Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis
giegation. Links to technology iesouices aie piovided (such as
gRSShoppei fiom Stephen Downes).
Case Study: Collaborative Explorations You can tiy out this
chaptei to encouiage individuals puisuing theii own inteiests in a
piedeteimined topic while at the same time inuencing the leain-
ing of the whole gioup by shaiing and ieecting upon theii nd-
ings. Tese inteiactions of suppoitive mutual inquiiy evolve the
content and stiuctuie within a shoit time fiame and with open-
ended iesults.
Cooperation
Sometimes omiuing the guiehead empoweis a gioup. Co-
facilitation tends to woik in gioups of people who gathei to shaie
common pioblems and expeiiences. Te chaptei suggests how to
co-facilitate discussions, wiki woikows, and live sessions. Con-
ducting an afei action ieview helps to avoid blind spots.
The Workscape ln a coipoiate woikscape, people aie fiee-
iange leaineis piotect the leaining enviionment, piovide nutii-
ents foi giowth, and let natuie take its couise. A woikscape fea-
tuies pioles, an activity stieam, wikis, viitual meetings, blogs,
bookmaiks, mobile access and a social netwoik.
Participation Paiticipation giows fiomhaving a community of
people who leain togethei, using a cuiiiculum as a staiting point
to oiganize and tiiggei engagement. Keep in mind that paiticipa-
tion may follow the 90/9/1 piinciple (luikeis/editois/authois) and
that people may tiansition thiough these ioles ovei time.
NewDesigns For Co-Working And Co-Learning Designing
foi peei leaining iequiies a new appioach. A case study dealing
focusing on PlanetMath shows one way to go.
Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis 1
Assessment
Asking questions about assessment in the context of the Hand-
book (Who needs to know` Based on what data` ln what foi-
mat`) suggests usefulness (ieal pioblems solved) is an appio-
piiate metiic. We use the idea of ietuin on investment (the value
of changes in behavioi divided by the cost of inducing the change)
to assess the peeiagogy pioject itself, as one example.
Researching peeragogy Tiee new paueins aie intioduced
(liontend and Backend, Spanning Set, and Minimum Viable
Pioject) which foim the basis of a meta-model that can be used
to study and design foi peei leaining.
Technologies, Services, and Platforms
lssues of utility, choice, coaching, impact and ioles auach to the
wide vaiiety of tools and technologies available foi peei leaining.
Keys to selection include the featuies you need, what people aie
alieady using, and the type of tool (low thieshold, wide wall, high
ceilings) used foi collaboiation.
Forums loiums aie web-based communication media that en-
able gioups of people to conduct oiganized multimedia discus-
sions about multiple topics ovei a peiiod of time, asynchionously.
A iubiic foi evaluating foium posts highlights the value of diaw-
ing connections. Te chaptei includes tips on selecting foium
sofwaie.
Wiki A wiki is a website whose useis can add, modify, oi delete
its content via a web biowsei. Pages have a featuie called his-
toiy which allows useis to see pievious veisions and ioll back to
them. Te chaptei includes tips on how to use a wiki and select
a wiki engine, with paiticulai auention to peei leaining oppoitu-
nities.
18 Cu~v1iv SUxx~viis
Real-time meetings Web seivices enable bioadband-
connected leaineis to communicate in ieal time via audio,
video, slides, whiteboaids, chat, and scieen-shaiing. Possible
ioles foi paiticipants in ieal-time meetings include seaicheis,
contextualizeis, summaiizeis, lexicogiapheis, mappeis, and
cuiatois. Tis mode of inteiaction suppoits emeigent agendas.
Resources
Heie we piesent seveial ways to get involved in peei leaining,
including infoimation about wheie to nd the Peeiagogy pioject
online, a sample syllabus with foui actions biing peei leaining
to life, tips on wiiting foi Te Handbook, and oui Cieative Com-
mons Zeio 1.0 Univeisal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.
Part II
Peer Learning
cu~v1iv 4
AN OVERVlEW Ol PEER LEARNlNG
Te aim of the Peeragogy Handbook is to establish
eective peei-leaining techniques that you can im-
plement on the giound. We suggest that you look
thiough the Handbook, tiy a few of these sugges-
tions, and see how they woik foi you. Ten we in-
vite you shaie youi expeiiences, ask foi feedback, and
woik with us to impiove the Handbook and the eld
we aectionately call Peeiagogy.
ln this pait of the Peeragogy Handbook, we peei-
agogues have summaiized the most impoitant and
applicable ieseaich and insights fiom two yeais of
inquiiy and discussion. Although theies been no
shoitage of expeiimentation and foimal ieseaich into
collaboiative, connective, and shaied leaining sys-
tems in the past, theie is a new iumbling among ed-
ucation thinkeis that suggests that when combined
with new platfoims and technologies, peei-leaining
stiategies as desciibed heie could have a huge im-
pact on the way educational institutions evolve in
the futuie. Weve also seen foi ouiselves how peei-
leaining techniques can help anyone whos intei-
ested to become a moie eective infoimal educatoi.
The interplay of individual and group
Peisonal suppoits peei. We can consciously cultivate liv-
ing, giowing, iesponsive webs of infoimation, suppoit, and inspi-
iation that help us be moie eective leaineis. Tis is known as a
peisonal leaining netwoik. Well oei tips on how to build these
netwoiks and well also explain how stiong peisonal leaining
21
22 AN Ovivviiv
netwoiks can contiibute to and evolve into even stiongei peei
leaining netwoiks.
Peei suppoits peisonal. As we woik togethei to develop
shaied plans foi oui collective eoits in gioup piojects, we usu-
ally can nd places wheie we have something to leain. luithei-
moie, if we aie willing to ask foi help and oei oui help to otheis,
eveiybodys leaining escalates. Being mindful of eective intei-
peisonal leaining paueins is an impoitant pait of building an ef-
fective peisonal leaining plan.
Peer learning through the ages
As you will have guessed, oui newteim, peeiagogy, is a ii on
the woid pedagogy the ait, science, oi piofession of teaching.
Pedagogy has a somewhat pioblematic oiigin it comes fiom the
ancient Gieek tiadition of having a child (paidos) be supeivised
(agogos) by a slave. Gieek philosopheis seem to have disagieed
about to the best way foi individuals to gain knowledge (and even
moie so, wisdom). Sociates, who insisted that he was not wise,
also insisted that his inteilocutois join him in investigating tiuth
claims, as peeis. And yet, Plato, the most famous of these in-
teilocutois and the best-known authoi of Sociatic dialogs, in his
most famous allegoiy of the cave, has Sociates say, with a modest
but cleaily pedagogical bent
Socrates Tis entiie allegoiy, l said, you may now
append, deai Glaucon, to the pievious aigument, the
piison-house is the woild of sight, the light of the
ie is the sun, and you will not misappiehend me
if you inteipiet the jouiney upwaids to be the as-
cent of the soul into the intellectual woild accoid-
ing to my pooi belief, which, at youi desiie, l have
expiessedwhethei iightly oi wiongly God knows.
But, whethei tiue oi false, my opinion is that in the
woild of knowledge the idea of good appeais last of
all, and is seen only with an eoit, and, when seen, is
also infeiied to be the univeisal authoi of all things
AN Ovivviiv 23
beautiful and iight, paient of light and of the loid of
light in this visible woild, and the immediate souice
of ieason and tiuth in the intellectual, and that this is
the powei upon which he who would act iationally
eithei in public oi piivate life must have his eye xed.
ln moie iecent centuiies, vaiious education theoiists and iefoim-
eis have challenged the eectiveness of what had become the tia-
ditional teachei-led model. Most famous of the eaily education
iefoimeis in the United States was John Dewey, who advocated
new expeiiential leaining techniques. ln his 191 book, Democ-
racy and Education [1], Dewey wiote, Education is not an aaii
of telling and being told, but an active and constiuctive piocess.
Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who developed the concept of
the Zone of Pioximal Development, was anothei pioponent of
constiuctivist leaining. His book, ought and Language [2]
also gives evidence to suppoit collaboiative, socially meaningful,
pioblem-solving activities as opposed to isolated exeicises.
Within the last fewdecades, things have begun to change veiy
iapidly. ln Connectivism A Leaining Teoiy foi the Digital
Age, Geoige Siemens aigues that technology has changed the
way we leain, explaining how it tends to complicate oi expose
the limitations of the leaining theoiies of the past [3]. Te ciu-
cial point of connectivism is that the connections that make it
possible foi us to leain in the futuie aie moie ielevant than the
knowledge we hold individually in the piesent. Technology can,
to some degiee and in ceitain contexts, ieplace know how with
know wheie to look.
lf you want moie details on the histoiy, theoiies, and iecent
expeiiments ielated to peei leaining, we have a moie extensive
liteiatuie ieviewavailable. Weve also adapted it into a Wikipedia
page, which you can edit as well as iead.
From peer learning to peeragogy
Te idea that we needed a newtheoiy (which we initially gave
the name paiagogy [4]) aiose out of the challenges we faced
24 AN Ovivviiv
Pi~1oN C~vi S~Nv~iu~x (104). By Jan Saeniedam [Public do-
main], via Wikimedia Commons
doing peei leaining. Oui aim was to undeistand how gioups and
oiganizations can become beuei at seiving paiticipants inteiests,
while paiticipants also leain and become beuei contiibutois.
Paiagogy began as a set of pioposed piinciples that desciibe
peei pioduced peei leaining well say what these piinciples
aie just below. We designed them to contiast with a set guide-
lines foi adult educatois advanced by Malcolm Knowles []. Te
paiagogy piinciples focus on the way in which co-leaineis shape
theii leaining context togethei. Veiy likely, theie will be no ed-
ucatoi anywheie in sight. And just foi this ieason, peei pio-
duced peei leaining is something foi innovative educatois ev-
eiywheie. You dont need to have the woid teachei, tiainei, oi
educatoi in youi job title. lts enough to ask good questions.
Te paiagogy piinciples aim to make that moie explicit. Tey
advocate foi an appioach to peei leaining in which
1. Changing context is a decenteied centei.
2. Meta-leaining is a font of knowledge.
AN Ovivviiv 2
3. Peeis piovide feedback that wouldnt be theie otheiwise.
4. Leaining is distiibuted and nonlineai.
. You iealize the dieam if you can, then wake up'
lf some of these piinciples seem a bit ephemeial, it may help to
think of in a moie unied mannei, as a set of dimensions that
desciibe possible changes that can take place in peei pioduced
peei leaining []
1. Changing the natuie of the space
2. Changing what l know about myself
3. Changing my peispective
4. Changing content oi connectivity
. Changing objectives
Now that weve connecting the idea of paiagogy to a peispective
focused on the kinds of change that can take place in peei pio-
duced peei leaining, its time to ieveal that oui seciet foi success
is hidden in plain view the woid paiagogy means pioduction
in Gieek. Weie paiticulaily inteiested in howthe poweiful blend
of peei leaining and collaboiative woik diives open souice sof-
waie development, and helps to build iesouices like Wikipedia.
But in fact it woiks equally well in oine seuings, fiom ocial
hackei/makei spaces to gaiages and tieehouses. Piojects like S1o
vvCovvs show how contempoiaiy media can add a poweiful new
layei to ancient stiategies foi teaching, leaining, and shaiing.
Te woid peeiagogy auempts to make these ideas immedi-
ately undeistandable to eveiyone, including non-geeks. Peeia-
gogy is about peeis leaining togethei, and teaching each othei.
ln the end, the two woids aie actually synonyms. lf you want to
go into theoiy-building mode, you can spell it paiagogy. lf you
want to be a bit moie down to eaith, stick with peeiagogy.
2 AN Ovivviiv
References
1. Dewey, J. (2004). Demociacy and education. Dovei Publi-
cations.
2. Vygotsky, L. S. (198). Tought and language. MlT piess.
3. Siemens, G. (200). Connectivism A leaining theoiy foi
the digital age. lnteinational Jouinal of lnstiuctional Tech-
nology and Distance Leaining, 2(1), 3-10.
4. Coineli, J. and Dano, C. J. (2011), Paiagogy Syneigiz-
ing individual and oiganizational leaining. (Published on
Wikiveisity.)
. Knowles, M. S. (1980). Te modein piactice of adult educa-
tion liom pedagogy to andiagogy. Chicago lolleu.
. Coineli, J. and Mikioyannidis, A. (2011). Peisonalised Peei-
Suppoited Leaining Te Peei-to-Peei Leaining Enviion-
ment (P2PLE). Digital Education Review 20, 14-23.
Which is more fun, skateboarding or
physics?
Considei the following leaining scenaiios
1. A small study gioup convenes at at the libiaiy late one
night, iesolving to do well on the next days physics exam.
Te students manage to deect theii puipose foi a while by
gossiping about hook-ups and paities, studying foi othei
classes, and shaiing photos. Ten, ist one membei, then
anothei, takes the initiative and as a gioup, the students
eventually pull theii auention back to the task at hand.
Tey enduie the monotony of studying foi seveial houis,
and the next day, they own the exam.
AN Ovivviiv 2
2. A young skateboaidei spends houis tweaking the mechan-
ics of how to make a skateboaid oat in the aii foi a split
second, enduiing physical pain of iepeated wipeouts. With
iepetition and success comes a deep undeistanding of the
physics of the tiick. Tat same student cannot stiing to-
gethei moie than ve minutes of continuous auention dui-
ing class and spends even less time on homewoik foi the
class befoie giving up.
Peei-leaining paiticipants succeed when they aie motivated to
leain. Skateboaiding is piimaiily intiinsically motivated, with
some extiinsic motivation coming fiom the iespect that kids ie-
ceive fiom peeis when they mastei a tiick. ln most cases, the pii-
maiy motivation foi leaining physics is extiinsic, coming fiom
paients and societys expectations that the student excel and as-
suie his oi hei futuie by geuing into a top college.
Te student veiy well could be intiinsically motivated to have
a glowing iepoit caid, but not foi the joy of leaining physics oi
chemistiy, but because of the motivation to eain a high giade
as pait of hei oveiall poitfolio. Taken a dieient way, what is it
about these topics thats fun foi a student who loves science` Pei-
haps she anticipates the iespect, powei and piestige that comes
fiom announcing a new bieakthiough, oi she may feel hei woik
is impoitant foi the gieatei good, oi piospeiity, of humanity, oi
she may simply be thiilled to think about atoms bonding to foim
new compounds.
Leaining situations fiequently boie the leainei when extiin-
sic motivation is involved. Whethei by paients oi society, being
foiced to do something, as opposed to choosing to, ends up mak-
ing the individual less likely to succeed. ln some cases its cleai,
but tiying to guie out what makes leaining fun foi a gioup of in-
dividual humans can be veiy dicult. Ofen theie is no cleai-cut
answei that can be diiectly applied in the leaining enviionment.
Eithei way, identifying the factois that can make leaining boiing
oi fun is a good stait. Peihaps leaining ceitain skills oi topics is
intiinsically boiing, no mauei what, and we have to accept that.
28 AN Ovivviiv
Photo of Dmitii Mendeleev (1834-190). lound on Te Guaidians
Notes & Teoiies blog. Public domain.
Learning paerns
One way to think about fun leaining is that its fun to leain -
and be awaie that youie leaining - new paueins. Juigen Schmid-
hubei wiote A [] leainei maximizes expected fun by nding
oi cieating data that is beuei compiessible in some yet unknown
but leainable way, such as jokes, songs, paintings, oi scientic
obseivations obeying novel, unpublished laws [1]. So the skate-
boaidei enjoyed coming acioss newpaueins novel tiicks that aie
leainable. (By the way, a few people, like mathematician William
Stein, nd ways to combine the love of science and skateboaid-
ing.)
Learner, know thyself: a self-evaluation
technique
Te leaining contiibuted and acquiied by each membei of
the peei leaining enteipiise depends on a healthy sense of self-
awaieness. When you ask youiself, What do l have to oei`
and What do l get out of it` we think youll come up with
some exciting answeis. ln peei leaining, whethei oi not youie
AN Ovivviiv 29
puisuing a piactical objective, youie in chaige, and this kind of
leaining is usually fun. lndeed, as well desciibe below, theie aie
deep links between play and leaining. We believe we can im-
piove the co-leaining expeiience by adopting a playful mindset.
Ceitainly some of oui best leaining moments in the Peeiagogy
pioject have been peppeied with humoi and bantei. So we found
that a key stiategy foi successful peei leaining is to engage in a
self-assessment of youi motivations and abilities. ln this exeicise,
you take into account factois like the leaining context, timing and
sequence of leaining activities, social ieinfoicements, and visible
iewaid. Te peeiagogical view is that leaining is most eective
when it contains some foimof enjoyment oi satisfaction, oi when
it leads to a conciete accomplishment.
When joining the Peeiagogy pioject, Chailes Jeiey Dano
did a biief self-evaluation about what makes him inteiested in
leaining
1. Context. l iesist being gioomed foi some unfoieseeable
futuie iathei than foi a specic puipose.
2. Timing andsequence. l nd leaining fun when lmstudy-
ing something as a way to piociastinate on anothei piess-
ing assignment.
3. Social reinforcement. Geuing tips fiom peeis on how to
navigate a snowboaid aiound moguls was moie fun foi me
than my Dad showing me the piopei way to bu the cais
leathei seats on choie day.
4. Experiential awareness. ln high school, it was not fun to
sit and compose a 30-page ieading jouinal foi liankenstein.
But owing in pait to those types of piioi expeiiences, l now
nd wiiting pleasuiable and its fun to leain how to wiite
beuei.
We will exploie the paueins of peei leaining in moie detail in the
section on piactice.
30 AN Ovivviiv
Reference
1. Schmidhubei, J. (2010). loimal theoiy of cieativity, fun,
and intiinsic motivation. Autonomous Mental Develop-
ment (lEEE), 2(3), 230-24.
What kind of help do you need?
Peisonal Leaining Netwoiks aie the collections of people and
infoimation iesouices (and ielationships with them) that people
cultivate in oidei to foim theii own public oi piivate leaining
netwoiks living, giowing, iesponsive souices of infoimation,
suppoit, and inspiiation that suppoit self-leaineis.
Howard Rheingold When l staited using social
media in the classioom, l looked foi and began to
leain fiom moie expeiienced educatois. liist, l iead
and then tiied to comment usefully on theii blog
posts and tweets. When l began to undeistand who
knew what in the woild of social media in educa-
tion, l naiiowed my focus to the most knowledgeable
and adventuious among them. l paid auention to the
people the savviest social media educatois paid auen-
tion to. l added and subtiacted voices fiom my auen-
tion netwoik, listened and followed, then commented
and opened conveisations. When l found something
l thought would inteiest the fiiends and stiangeis l
was leaining fiom, l passed along my own leaining
thiough my blogs and Twiuei stieam. l asked ques-
tions, asked foi help, and eventually staited pioviding
answeis and assistance to those who seemed to know
less than l. Te teacheis l had been leaining fiom had
a name foi what l was doing giowing a peisonal
leaining netwoik. So l staited looking foi and leain-
ing fiom people who talked about HOW to giow a
PLN as the enthusiasts called them.
AN Ovivviiv 31
Strong and weak ties
Youi PLN will have people and sites that you check on ofen
youi main souices of infoimation and leaining youi stiong
ties. Youi weak ties aie those people and sites that you dont
allow a lot of bandwidth oi time. But they may become stiong
latei, as youi netwoik giows oi youi inteiests expand. Tis is a
two-way stieet it is veiy impoitant that you aie shaiing what
you leain and discovei with those in youi netwoik and not just
taking, if you want to see youi netwoik expand.
Peer learning networks
As you convene youi peei leaining gioup, in one foim oi an-
othei you will develop and shaie peeiagogical pioles advei-
tising what you want to leain, what youd be inteiested in help-
ing teach otheis. lf you piesent youiself and youi piojects in a
thoughtful and engaging way, this will help you to build eective
connections.
Netwoiks of these connections can span acioss dieient sub-
jects, acioss a city, oi acioss national boundaiies. Peeiagogy
helps to make sense of the idea of leaining netwoiks that has
been aiound since at least the 190s. Much as theoiies of peda-
gogy would be ielevant foi anyone caiefully planning an individ-
32 AN Ovivviiv
ual leaining piogiamme, peeiagogy is ielevant foi self-oiganized
leaining communities opeiating at laigei scales.
How should we structure things?
From syllabus and curriculum to personal and
peer learning plans
Pait of the ieason foi the eectiveness of peeiagogy is that the
syllabus oi cuiiiculum moie geneially, the leaining plan
is developed by the people doing the leaining. You wont faint
with shock when you see the ieading list if you helped wiite it.
Having youwn own leaining plan at the outset helps each pai-
ticipant identify his oi hei unique leaining and teaching piocliv-
ities and capabilities, and eectively apply them in the peei set-
ting. ln developing youi peisonal plan, you can ask youiself the
following questions
1. What do l most need to leain about in the time ahead`
2. What aie the best ways l leain, what leaining activities will
meet my leaining needs, what help will l need and howlong
will it take`
3. What will l put into my peisonal poitfolio to demonstiate
my leaining piogiess and achievements`
Eaily in the piocess, the peei leaining gioup should also convene
to develop a peei leaining plan. ln the Peeiagogy pioject, we used
live meetings and foium-style platfoims to discuss the gioup-level
veisions of the questions listed above. Peisonal leaining needs
and skills weie also aiied via these platfoims, but the key shaied
outcome was an initial pioject plan. lnitially this took the foim
of an outline of handbook chapteis to wiite, as well as a division
of laboi.
Nothing was set in stone, and both the peei gioup and individ-
ual paiticipants have continued to develop, implement, ieview,
AN Ovivviiv 33
and adjust theii goals as the pioject develops. We have stayed
suciently connected to the oiiginal goal of pioducing a hand-
book about peei leaining that you now have one in youi hands
(oi on youi scieen). Weve also added some new goals foi the
pioject as time has gone by. Having a malleable fiamewoik en-
ables peei leaineis to
1. ldentify appiopiiate diiections and goals foi futuie leain-
ing,
2. Review theii stiengths and aieas foi development,
3. ldentify goals and plans foi impiovement,
4. Monitoi theii actions and ieviewand adjust plans as needed
to achieve theii goals,
. Update the goals to coiiespond to piogiess.
Tis doesnt mean you have to let chaos iule, but ofen in the
swiil of ideas and contiibutions, new diiections take shape and
new ideas take hold.
Self-generating templates
Documentation like mind maps, outlines, blogs oi jouinals,
and foium posts foi a peei leaining pioject can cieate an audit
tiail oi living histoiy of the piocess. You can mine the documen-
tation of a past peei-leaining pioject oi a completed phase of an
ongoing pioject foi eective leaining paueins, and if youie caie-
ful to document eveiything, you can ieally benet by taking the
time to compaie what youve achieved against the stated goal oi
mission at the outset. Use the iecoid to ieect and evaluate key
elements of the piocess foi you as a facilitatoi and as a membei
of the peei leaining gioup. Adapt youi next phase of planning
accoidingly.
34 AN Ovivviiv
From corporate training to learning on the job
Todays knowledge woikeis typically have instant, ubiquitous
access to the inteinet. Te measuie of theii ability is an open-
book exam. What do you know` is ieplaced with What can you
do` And if they get boied, they can ielatively easily be mentally
elsewheie.
Tis has iamications foi the way manageis manage as well
as the way teacheis teach. To extiact optimal peifoimance
fiom woikeis, manageis must inspiie them iathei than command
them. Antoine de Saint-Exupiy put it nicely lf you want to
build a boat, do not instiuct the men to saw wood, stitch the sails,
piepaie the tools and oiganize the woik, but make them long foi
seuing sail and tiavel to distant lands.
Jay Cross lf l weie an instiuctional designei in
a moiibund tiaining depaitment, ld polish up my
iesume and head ovei to maiketing. Co-leaining
can dieientiate seivices, inciease pioduct usage,
stiengthen customei ielationships, and ieduce the
cost of hand-holding. lts cheapei and moie useful
than adveitising. But instead of just making a copy
of todays boiing educational piactices, build some-
thing based on inteiaction and camaiadeiie, peihaps
with some healthy competition thiown in. Again, the
emphasis should always be on leaining in oidei to do
something'
ln the section on oiganizing a leaining context, well say quite a
bit moie about the implications that oui full conception of peei
leaining has foi manageis, teacheis, and othei facilitatois.
Can we work together on this?
Metacognition and mindfulness in peer learning
Metacognition and mindfulness have to do with youi awaie-
ness how how you think, talk, paiticipate, and auend to ciicum-
AN Ovivviiv 3
stances. lt can be paiticulaily useful to apply this soit of meta
awaieness as you think about the ioles that you take on in a
given pioject, the kind of contiibutions you want to make, and
what you hope to get out of the expeiience. Tese aie all likely to
change as time passes, so its good to get in the habit of ieection.
Potential roles in your peer-learning project
1. Leadei, Managei, Team Membei, Woikei
2. Content Cieatoi, Authoi, Content Piocessoi, Reviewei, Ed-
itoi
3. Piesentation Cieatoi, Designei, Giaphics, Applications
4. Plannei, Pioject Managei, Cooidinatoi, Auendee, Paitici-
pant
. Mediatoi, Modeiatoi, lacilitatoi, Pioponent, Advocate,
Repiesentative, Contiibutoi
Potential contributions
1. Cieate, Oiiginate, Reseaich, Aggiegate
2. Develop, Design, lntegiate, Rene, Conveit
3. Wiite, Edit, loimat
Potential motivations
1. Acquisition of tiaining oi suppoit in a topic oi eld,
2. Building ielationships with inteiesting people,
3. linding piofessional oppoitunities thiough othei paitici-
pants,
4. Cieating oi bolsteiing a peisonal netwoik,
3 AN Ovivviiv
A famous woik in ink by Sengai Gibon (10183)
. Moie oiganized and iational thinking thiough dialog and
debate,
. leedback about peifoimance and undeistanding of the
topic.
Te piocess of shaied ieection can piime a gioup foi cohesion
and success. lt can be tiemendously useful to think about the
motivations of othei paiticipants, and how these can be jointly
seived. How can we ie-use the side-eects of individual and
coopeiative eoits in a useful way`
Two theories of motivation
One of the most piominent thinkeis woiking in the eld of
(self-)motivation is Daniel Pink [1], who pioposes a theoiy of mo-
tivation based on autonomy, masteiy, and puipose, oi, moie col-
oifully
1. Te uige to diiect my life
2. Te desiie to get beuei at something that maueis
AN Ovivviiv 3
3. Te yeaining to do something that seives a puipose biggei
than just mysell
Teies cleaily a leaining oiientation behind the second point
its not just a mauei of fun the sense of achievement maueis.
But fun iemains ielevant. Tomas Malone [2] specically asked
What makes things fun to leain` His pioposed fiamewoik foi
building fun leaining activities is also based on the thiee ingiedi-
ents fantasy, challenge, and cuiiosity.
We can easily see how paiticipation ielates to motivation
as desciibed above. When l can get useful infoimation fiom othei
people, l can diiect my own life beuei. When l have means of
exploiing my dieams by chauing then ovei and exploiing some
of the elements in a safe way, lm in a much beuei position to
make something in ieality. A solid ieputation that comes fiom
being able to help otheis seives as a good indicatoi of peisonal
piogiess, a sign that one is able to deal with gieatei challenges.
Relationships piovide the most basic sense of being pait of some-
thing biggei than oneself et ceteia. Well say moie about these
maueis in the chapteis on Coopeiation.
References
1. Pink, D. (2011), Diive Te Suipiising Tiuth About What
Motivates Us, Canongate Books Ltd
2. Malone, T.W. (1981), Towaid a Teoiy of lntiinsically Mo-
tivating lnstiuction, Cognitive Science, 4, pp. 333-39
How do we know if weve won?
Dierent ways to analyze the learning process
Afei doing some peisonal ieection on the ioles you want to
take on and the contiibutions you want to make (as we discussed
above), you may also want to woik togethei with youi leain-
ing gioup to analyze the leaining piocess in moie detail. Teie
38 AN Ovivviiv
aie many dieient phases, stages, and dimensions - some sim-
ple and intuitive, otheis moie complex that you can use to help
stiuctuie and undeistand the leaining expeiience we list some
of these below. (Detailed iefeiences aie collected in the iecom-
mended ieadings at the end of the book.)
1. loiming, Noiming, Stoiming, Peifoiming (fiom Biuce
Tuckman)
2. Te ve-stage e-modeiating model (fiom Gilly Salmon)
3. l, We, lts, lt (fiom Ken Wilbei foi an application in mod-
eling educational systems, see [1])
4. Assimilative, lnfoimation Piocessing, Communicative, Pio-
ductive, Expeiiential, Adaptive (fiom Maitin Olivei and
Giainne Conole)
. Guidance & Suppoit, Communication & Collaboiation,
Reection & Demonstiation, Content & Activities (fiom
Giainne Conole)
. Consideied in teims of Leaining Powei (Ruth Deakin-
Ciick et al.)
. Multiple intelligences (afei Howaid Gaidnei)
8. Te associated mental state (afei Mihaly Csikszentmiha-
lyi, see pictuie)
Peer learning for one
Can you apply the ideas of peei leaining on youi own` ln a
ceitain sense, its impossible, but somehow that nevei stops peo-
ple fiom tiying. We nd a stiiking paiallel between the paiagogy
piinciples and the Elements of Eective Tinking pioposed by
Edwaid Buigei and Michael Staibiid in a iecent book [2]. lts a
nice shoit book and woith a iead. Heie, we will just quote the
titles of the main chapteis
AN Ovivviiv 39
Cu~iiiNci vs. Sxiii. By wUseiOliveibeatson (wlileChallenge
vs skill.jpg) [Public domain]
1. Qintessence, Engaging Change Tiansfoim Youiself
2. Eaith, Giounding Youi Tinking Undeistanding Deeply
3. Aii, Cieating Qestions out of Tin Aii Be youi own
Sociates
4. Watei, Seeing the llow of ldeas Look Back, Look loiwaid
. liie, lgniting lnsights thiough Mistakes lail to Succeed
We think that thinking is ofen most eective when its done
with otheis, and this is something that Buigei and Staibiid dont
give much auention. Neveitheless, even when you nd youiself
on youi own in the midst of that challenging DlY pioject, you
can use the techniques of peei leaining to undeistand youiself as
a giowing, changing pait of a shaied context in motion. Tis can
contiibute to an eective and adaptive outlook on life.
We invite you to appioach this book as a peei leainei and
we hope the techniques weve intioduced heie will seive you well
40 AN Ovivviiv
in the woild at laige. Te book, in pait, documents the giowth of
oui subject as it moved fiom a ciitical and basically noimative
view to a iichei desciiptive theoiy, iooted in a collection stiate-
gies foi doing emeigent design. lts been fun and woithwhile
(if also fiustiating at times) woiking on it. We sinceiely hope
you enjoy the iest of the book, but dont be spaiing with youi
ciiticism and cieative ideas' Youll nd some fuithei ieections
on these maueis in the sections on peeiagogical assessment.
References
1. Coineli, J., and Mikioyannidis, A. (2012). Ciowdsouicing
education on the Web a iole-based analysis of online leain-
ing communities, in Alexandia Okada, Teiesa Conolly, and
Petei Scou (eds.), Collaboiative Leaining 2.0 Open Educa-
tional Resouices, lGl Global.
2. Buigei, E. and Staibiid, M. (2013). Te Elements of Eec-
tive Tinking, Piinceton Univeisity Piess.
Part III
Motivation
cu~v1iv
WHY WERE DOlNG THlS
Paiticipants must biing self-knowledge and no small
measuie of honesty to the peei-leaining pioject in
oidei to accuiately enunciate theii motivations. lf
eveiyone in youi peei leaining pioject asks What
biings me heie` How can l contiibute` and How
can l contiibute moie eectively` things will ieally
stait peicolating. Test this suggestion by asking these
questions youiself and taking action on the answeis'
Te piimaiy motivatois iepoited by paiticipants in the Peeiagogy
pioject include
1. Acquisition of tiaining oi suppoit in a topic oi eld,
2. Building ielationships with inteiesting people,
3. linding piofessional oppoitunities thiough othei paitici-
pants,
4. Cieating oi bolsteiing a peisonal netwoik,
. Moie oiganized and iational thinking thiough dialog and
debate,
. leedback about theii own peifoimance and undeistanding
of the topic.
Weve seen that dieient motivations can aect the vitality of the
peeiagogical piocess and the end iesult foi the individual pai-
ticipant. And dieient paiticipants denitely have dieient mo-
tivations, and the dieiences can be suipiising foi instance, if
youie motivated by social image, you may not be so inteiested
43
44 Wuv vivi uoiNc 1uis
in iecipiocity, and vice veisa [1]. Motivations come with associ-
ated iisks. loi example, one may be ieluctant to mention busi-
ness aspiiations in a volunteei context foi feai of seeming gieedy
oi commeicial. Whethei oi not potential peeiagogues eventually
decide to take on the iisk depends on vaiious factois. Actions
that typify inappiopiiate behavioi in one cultuie might iepiesent
desiiable behavioi in anothei. Motivations ofen come out of the
closet thiough conict, foi example, when one leainei feels of-
fended oi embaiiassed by the actions of anothei.
Philip Spalding e idea of visiting a garden to-
gether in a group to learn the names of owers might
have been the original intention for forming a Garden
Group. e social aspect of having a day out might be
goal of the people participating.
Whats my motivation?
Example: Peeragogy editor Charloe
Pierce
Basically, lm heie because as an eaily adoptei and admiued
gadget fieak, l nd it fun and iewaiding to exploie new tech-
nologies and topics that l feel have a piactical oi exciting applica-
tion. But l have some some othei motivations that subtly co-exist
alongside my eageiness to exploie and leain.
Wuv vivi uoiNc 1uis 4
Howaid Rheingolds ieputation as an innovatoi and inteinet
pioneei got my auention when he announced his Tink-Know
Tools couise on lacebook in 2012. l had known of Howaid fiom
the 1990s when l was a membei of Te WELL (Whole Eaith Lec-
tionic Link). l was cuiious to see what Howaid was up to, so
l signed onto the wiki site, paid my S300, and took the couise
staiting in Octobei.
Looking back, l iealize we weie piacticing Peeiagogy
thioughout the TKT couise, though at the time l haidly knew
peei leaining fiom a pickle. ln late Novembei, missing the ca-
maiadeiie and challenge of TKT, l stepped ovei to check out the
Peeragogy Handbook.
Which biings me to motivations in signing on to Peeiagogy.
Since Howaid and seveial Tink-Know Tools co-leaineis weie al-
ieady dedicating theii time heie and theii woik looked innova-
tive and exciting, l suspected they might be onto something that l
wanted to be a pait of. Plus, my biain was piimed by the TKT ex-
peiience. What if a diveise gioup of people could leain a subject
with liule oi no cost and not a lot of baiiieis to entiy, l thought.
What if theii own expeiience qualied them to join, contiibute,
and leain.
l also thought theie might be a chance to meet some poten-
tial business paitneis oi clients theie - but if not, the expeiience
looked iewaiding and fun enough foi me to take the iisk of no
diiect iemuneiation. Teie was no up fiont cost to me, and a
wealth of knowledge to gain as a pait of something new and ex-
citing. Tese aie always big diaws foi me. l wanted to be in on
it, and nobody was telling me l couldnt'
My piojections pioved coiiect. Te paiticipants alieady on
boaid weie giacious in welcoming me to Peeiagogy, patient in
geuing me up to speed, and peisistent in coaxing me into using
the tools cential to the pioject. l connected, leained, giew, and
contiibuted. Now lm on the biink of staiting a peei leaining
pioject of my own in my publishing oiganization, lPNE.oig. Stay
tuned'
4 Wuv vivi uoiNc 1uis
Example: Cafes, schools, workshops
Suppose we wanted to make Peeiagogy into a model that can
be used in schools, libiaiies, and so foith, woildwide - and, in fact
we do' How can we biing the basic Peeiagogy motivations to
beai, and make a iesouice, plan of action, and piocess that othei
people can connect with` ln biief, how do we build peei leaining
into the cuiiiculum,pioviding new insight fiom the safety of the
existing stiuctuie`
One conciete way to implement these bioad aims would be to
make a peeiagogy-oiiented development pioject whose goal is to
set up a system of inteinet cafes, schools, oi woikshops in places
like China oi Afiica, wheie people could go to collaboiate on woik
oi to leain technical subjects. Students could leain on the job. lt
seems ieasonable to think that investois could make a ieasonable
piot thiough fianchises, haidwaie sales, and so foith and
obviously making money is a motivation that most people can
ielate to.
ln developing such a pioject, we would want to leain fiom
othei similai piojects that alieady exist. loi example, in Chicago,
State laim lnsuiance has cieated a space called the Nix1 Doov
C~ii that iuns community events. One of theii oeiings is fiee
nancial coaching, with the explicit agieement that the issues you
discuss ietuin to State laim as maiket ieseaich.
State Farm liee` Really. Yes, because weie expei-
imenting. We want to leain what people ieally want.
Ten, well shoot those wants back to the laim. We
help you. You help us innovate. Weie all smaitei foi
it. We think its a win-win.
Tus, Next Dooi Cafe foims pait of a system to exploit the side-
eects of inteipeisonal inteiactions to cieate a systemthat leains.
A peei leaining example fiom the opposite side of the woild
staited in a slum next to New Delhi wheie Sugata Mitia gave
childien a computei and they self oiganized into a leaining com-
munity and taught themselves how to use the machine and much
moie.
Wuv vivi uoiNc 1uis 4
Sugata Mitra l think what we need to look at is we
need to look at leaining as the pioduct of educational
self-oiganization. lf you allow the educational pio-
cess to self-oiganize, then leaining emeiges. lts not
about making leaining happen. lts about leuing it
happen.
ln 2014, weie going to tiy a somewhat similai expeiiment Can
we build a Piiv~cocv Acciiiv~1ov foi a half-dozen peei
leaining piojects, each of which denes theii own metiics foi suc-
cess, but who come togethei to oei suppoit and guidance, using
the Peeragogy Handbook as a iesouice`
Reference
1. Jiome Heigueux (2013). Cooviv~1ioN iN ~ Piiv PvouUc
1ioN EcoNoxv ExvivixiN1~i EviuiNci ivoxWixiviui~,
talk piesented at the Beikman Centei foi lnteinet and So-
ciety.
2. Hugo Meiciei and Dan Speibei (2011). Why do humans
ieason` Aiguments foi an aigumentative theoiy, Behav-
ioral and Brain Sciences, 34, -111
cu~v1iv
CASE STUDY PH1NX
PH1NX tudent Peei Heuiistic foi 1Nfoimation
Xchange - we think of it as a cuiiously tians-media
use case in peeiagogical assessment.
Author: David Pieston
Ovei the last seveial decades technology has diiven
massive shifs in the way we communicate and col-
laboiate. lnfoimation technology, socioeconomic
tiends, an incieasingly complex and unceitain futuie,
and schools failed biand aie contiibuting factois in
an emeiging discouise that seeks to align leaining
with oui iapidly changing cultuie.
Open Souice Leaining and Peeiagogy, two emeig-
ing theoietical fiamewoiks in this discouise, levei-
age end-to-end usei piinciples of communication
technology to facilitate peeis leaining togethei and
teaching each othei. ln both tiaditional and limi-
nal leaining communities, one of the majoi points
of contact between education and societal cultuie
is the puiposeful use of assessment. Te piocesses
of giving, ieceiving, and applying constiuctive cii-
tique makes leaineis beuei thinkeis, innovatois, mo-
tivatois, collaboiatois, cowoikeis, fiiends, ielatives,
spouses, teammates, and neighbois. lmplementing
peei-based assessment can be pioblematic in school-
ing institutions wheie evaluative authoiity is tiadi-
tionally conated with hieiaichical authoiity, and
wheie economic and political inuences have focused
auention on summative, quantitative, standaidized
measuiement of leaining and intelligence.
49
0 C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
Tis is the stoiy of how one leaining community
is adopting Open Souice Leaining and Peeiagogical
piinciples to decentialize and eniich the assessment
piocess.
Aldous Huxley Knowledge is acquiied when we
succeed in uing a new expeiience into the system
of concepts based upon oui old expeiiences. Undei-
standing comes when we libeiate ouiselves fiom the
old and so make possible a diiect, unmediated con-
tact with the new, the mysteiy, moment by moment,
of oui existence.
Enter 5PH1NX
On Monday, Apiil 2, 2011, students in thiee English classes at
a Califoinia public high school discoveied anomalies in the days
entiy on theii couise blog. (Remindei not so long ago this sen-
tence would have been iightly inteipieted as being science c-
tion.) Te date was wiong and the jouinal topic was this
ln Te Piinciples of Psychology (1890), WilliamJames
wiote, Te faculty of voluntaiily biinging back a
wandeiing auention, ovei and ovei again, is the veiy
ioot of judgment, chaiactei and will. No one is com-
pos sui if he have it not. An education which should
impiove this faculty would be the education pai ex-
cellence. How have youi expeiiences in this couise
helped you focus youi auention` What do you still
need to woik on` What elements of the following text
(fiom Haiuki Muiakamis 1Q84) diaw youi auention
and help you constiuct meaning` Te diivei nodded
and took the money. Would you like a ieceipt` No
need. And keep the change. Tanks veiy much, he
said. Be caieful, it looks windy out theie. Dont slip.
lll be caieful, Aomame said. And also, the diivei
said, facing the miiioi, please iemembei things aie
not what they seem. Tings aie not what they seem,
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX 1
Aomame iepeated mentally. What do you mean by
that` she asked with kniued biows. Te diivei chose
his woids caiefully lts just that youie about to do
something out of the oidinaiy. Am l iight` People do
not oidinaiily climb down the emeigency staiis of the
Metiopolitan Expiessway in the middle of the day
especially women. l suppose youie iight. Right.
And afei you do something like that, the eveiyday
look of things might seem to change a liule. Tings
may look dierent to you than they did befoie. lve
had that expeiience myself. But dont let appeaiances
fool you. Teies always only one ieality.
Find the jokers
Te jokeis weie ieal [4] and hidden (without much intent to
conceal) aiound the classioom and in students jouinals. Stu-
dents found them and asked questions about the leueis in bold,
the questions went unansweied. Some thought it was just an-
othei of theii teacheis wild haii ideas. Although they didnt
know it yet they weie playing the liminal iole that Oedipus oiig-
inated in mythology. Solving the iiddle would enable them to
2 C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
ushei out an old way of thinking and intioduce the new. Te
old way An authoiity guie sets the iules, packages the infoi-
mation foi a passive audience, and unilateially evaluates each
leaineis peifoimance. ln that context, peeiagogical assessment
might be intioduced with a theoietical fiamewoik, a iubiic, and
a lesson plan with input, checks foi undeistanding, and guided
piactice as a foundation foi independent woik. Te new way
ln Open Souice Leaining the leainei puisues a path of inquiiy
within communities that function as end-to-end usei netwoiks.
Each individual begins hei leaining with a question and pui-
sues answeis thiough an inteidisciplinaiy couise of study that
emphasizes multiple modalities and the ve ls mental litness,
physical litness, spiiitual litness, civic litness, and technologi-
cal litness. Leaineis collaboiate with mentois and ieceive feed-
back fiom expeits, community-based peeis, and the public. Tey
aie the heioes of leaining jouineys. Heioes dont iespond to syl-
labi. Tey iespond to calls to adventuie. Open Souice Leaining
piepaies students foi the unfoieseen. By the time they met the
PH1NX students had leained about habits of mind, opeiating
schema, digital cultuie and community, self-expiession, collabo-
iation, fiee play, autonomy, condence/tiust/iisk, and iesilience.
Tese ideas had been ieinfoiced thiough nonction aiticles and
liteiaiy selections such as Montaignes Essays, Platos Allegoiy
of the Cave, Bukowskis Laughing Heait, Shakespeaies Ham-
let, Saities No Exit and otheis. Te ist poem assigned in the
couise was Bukowskis L~UcuiNc Hi~v1` e Gods will oer
you chances. Know them. Take them. So it is with knowledge and
undeistanding. Today we aie piesented with an oveiwhelming,
unpiecedented quantity and vaiiety of data in oui physical and
viitual lives, to cope we must impiove the ways we seek, select,
cuiate, analyze, evaluate, and act on infoimation. On the back of
each Jokei caid was a QR code that linked to a blog page with
iiddles and clues to a seaich. At this point students iealized they
weie playing a game. A tab on the blog page labeled Te Law
laid out the iules of engagement
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX 3
This is The Law
1. You cannot obey oi bieak Te Law. You can only make
good decisions oi bad decisions.
2. Good decisions lead to positive outcomes.
3. Bad decisions lead to sueiing.
4. Success iequiies humanity.
. loi the stiength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the stiength
of the Wolf is the Pack. -Rudyaid Kipling
. Te Way of the sage is to act but not to compete. -Lao Tzu
. Be honoiable.
8. Have fun.
9. Qestion.
10. Sapere aude.
Tis is Te Law. Afei a second set of on-campus and blog quests,
students noticed a shif in PH1NX. A couple of weeks befoie the
ist clue was published, duiing a Sociatic seminai on Deiiidas
concept of liee Play, a student said, We leain best when adults
take away the ciutches and theie is no safety net.` Te quote was
used in the next clue, students began to iealize that the game was
not piedeteimined. PH1NX was evolving in iesponse to theii
contiibutions. Tis is a manifestation of the hackneyed wiiting
clich show, dont tell. Te students comment was a call to
action. Te leats of Wisdom weie designed to engage leaineis
ovei a vacation bieak in fun, collaboiative, social media-fiiendly
missions that iequiied engagement in the community, expansion
of theii peisonal leaining netwoiks, and documentation on theii
blogs. loi example
FEAT #1
Buy a ticket to e Hunger Games (or any other movie thats
likely to draw a large, young, rowdy audience). Before the lights
dim and the trailers begin, walk to the screen, turn to the audience,
4 C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
and in a loud, clear voice, recite the To be, or not to be solilo-
quy from Hamlet (dont worry if you make a couple mistakes, just
be sure you make it all the way to, Be all my sins remembered.).
C~v1Uvi 1ui iviN1 oN viuio c vos1 i1 1o voUv nioc. Students
had been using the lnteinet without an Acceptable Use Policy all
yeai, such policies aie one-to-many aitifacts of a cential authoiity
and fai weakei than community noims. So iathei than intioduce
iules PH1NX simply piovided a iemindei of the client-side ie-
sponsibility.
The Emergence of Peeragogical Assessment
Te thiid page on the leats of Wisdom blog was entitled Iden-
tifying and Rewarding Greatness, wheie leaineis weie gieeted
with the following paiagiaph
lf you see something that was done with love, that
pushed the boundaiies, set the standaid, bioke the
mold, pushed the envelope, iaised the bai, blew the
doois o, oi iocked in some pieviously unspecied
way, please biing it to the auention of the tiibe by
posting a link to it [heie].
No one did. lnstead, they staited doing something moie eective.
Tey staited building. One student hacked the entiie game and
then cieated hei own veision. Othei students began to considei
the implications foi identifying and iewaiding gieatness. Tey ie-
alized that one teachei couldnt possibly obseive how 9 students
weie woiking ovei vacation out in the community and online to
accomplish the leats of Wisdom. ln oidei to get ciedit foi theii
eoits they would have to cuiate and shaie theii woik-piocess
and pioduct. Tey also iealized that the same logic applied to
leaining and couisewoik in geneial, afei all, even the most en-
gaged, conscientious teachei only sees a high school oi college
student a few houis a week, undei ielatively aiticial conditions.
Te leainei piesumably spends hei whole life in the company of
hei own biain. Who is the moie qualied iepoiting authoiity`
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
With these thoughts in mind students cieated Project Innity, a
peei-to-peei assessment platfoim thiough which students could
independently assign value to the thoughts and activities they
deemed woithy. Because the 2011-12 PH1NX was a thiee-week
exeicise in gamication, Project Innity quickly evolved to include
collaboiative woiking gioups and couisewoik. Tis was leainei-
centeied Peeiagogical assessment in action, leaineis identied a
need and an oppoitunity, they built a tool foi the puipose, they
managed it themselves, and they leveiaged it in a meaningful way
to suppoit student achievement in the coie cuiiiculum.
Project Infinity 2 & Implications for the Future
Alumni fiom the Class of 2012 felt such a stiong positive con-
nection to theii expeiience in Open Souice Leaining and Peei-
agogical assessment that they built a veision foi the Class of
2013. Tey cieated Project Innity2 with enhanced functional-
ity. Tey asked the teachei to embed an associated Twiuei feed
on the couise blog, then came to classes to speak with cuiient
students about theii expeiiences. Eveiyone thought the Class of
2013 would stand on the shouldeis of giants and adopt the plat-
foim with similai enthusiasm.
Tey weie wiong. Students undeistood the concept and po-
litely contiibuted suggestions foi ciedit, but it quickly became
evident that they weient enthusiastic. Submissions decieased
and nally the Project Innity2 Twiuei feed disappeaied fiom the
couise blog. Leaineis blogs and pioject woik suggested that they
weie masteiing the coie cuiiiculum and meta concepts, and they
appeaied geneially excited about Open Souice Leaining ovei-
all. So why weient they moie excited about the idea of assess-
ing themselves and each othei` Because Project Innity2 wasnt
theiis. Tey didnt get to build it. lt was handed to them in the
same way that a syllabus is handed to them. No mauei how in-
novative oi eective it might be, Project Innity2 was just an-
othei tool designed by someone else to get students to do some-
thing they weient suie they wanted oi needed to do in the ist
place. Timing may also be a factoi. Last yeais students didnt
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
meet PH1NX until the ist week in Apiil, well into the spiing
semestei.
Tis yeais cohoit staited eveiything fastei and met PH1NX
in Novembei. ln Januaiy they undeistood the tiue potential of
theii situation staited to take the ieins. As students iealized what
was happening with the clues and QR codes they appioached the
teachei and last yeais alumni with a iequest Let Us ln. Tey
dont just want to design leaining mateiials oi cieatively demon-
stiate masteiy, they want to chait theii own couise and build
the vehicles foi taking the tiip. Alumni and students aie becom-
ing Viitual TAs who will stait the foimal peei-to-peei advising
and giading piocess. ln the Spiing Semestei all students will be
asked to piepaie a statement of goals and intentions, and they
will be infoimed that the tiaditional teachei will be iesponsible
foi no moie than 30 of theii giade. Te iest will come fiom
a community of peeis, expeits and membeis of the public. On
Tuesday of linals Week, PH1NX went fiom ve playeis to two
hundied. Sophomoies and fieshman have jumped into the fiay
and hacked/solved one of the blog clues befoie seniois did. Mem-
beis of the Open Souice Leaining cohoit have also identied op-
poitunities to eniich and expand PH1NX. A seiies of conveisa-
tions about in-peison ietieats and the alumni community led to
students wanting to cieate a massively multiple playei leaining
cohoit. lmagine 0,000-100,000 leaineis collaboiating and shai-
ing infoimation on a quest to pass an exam by solving a puzzle
that leads them to a Leaining Man lestival that takes place ovei
Summei bieak.
When PH1NX playeis ietuin fiom Wintei Bieak in Januaiy
they will tiansfoimtheii ioles ielative to the game and the couise.
Seveial have alieady shaied AHA' moments in which they dis-
coveied ways to shaie ideas and encouiage collaboiation and peei
assessment. Tey have identied Viitual Teaching Assistant can-
didates, who will be coached by alumni, and they have plans to
piovide peei-based assessment foi theii online woik. Tey aie
also now actively engaged in taking moie contiol ovei the col-
laboiation piocess itself. On the last day of the semestei, a post-
nals thiowaway day of 30-minute class sessions that adminis-
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
tiatois put on the calendai to collect Aveiage Daily Auendance
money, haidly anyone came to campus. But Open Souice Leain-
ing students weie all theie. Tey have sepaiated the expeiience
of leaining fiom the tempoial, spatial, and cultuial constiaints of
school. Tey undeistand how demociacy woiks those who pai-
ticipate make the decisions. No one knows how this ends, but the
outcome of Peeiagogical assessment is not a scoie, it is leaineis
who demonstiate theii thinking piogiess and masteiy thiough
social pioduction and peei-based ciitique. Tis communitys ap-
pioach to leaining and assessment has piepaied its membeis foi
a complex and unceitain futuie by moving them fiom a woild of
piobability to a woild of possibility. As one student put it in a
video entitled We Aie Supeiman, What we aie doing now may
seem small, but we aie pait of something so much biggei than we
think. What does this piove` lt pioves eveiything, it pioves that
its possible.
Background
Awoild in which woik looks like whats desciibed in the PSlK
think tanks lU1Uvi oi Wovx Rivov1 2013 iequiies a new leain-
ing enviionment.
Te pioblem is that tools and stiategies such as MOOCs,
videos, viitual enviionments, and games aie only as good as the
contexts in which they aie used. Even the most adept piacti-
tioneis quickly discovei that piessing emeiging technology and
cultuie into the shape of yesteidays cuiiiculai and instiuctional
models amounts to liule moie than Skinneis Box 2.0. So what
is to be done` How can we use emeiging tools and cultuie to
delivei such an amazing individual and collaboiative expeiience
that it shaueis expectations and helps students foiget theyie in
school long enough to fall in love with leaining again`
Education in the lnfoimation Age should enable leaineis to
nd, analyze, evaluate, cuiate, and act on the best available in-
foimation. Puisuing an inteidisciplinaiy path of inquiiy in an
inteiest-based community doesnt just facilitate the acquisition
of factual knowledge (which has a limited half-life). Te piocess
8 C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
biings leaineis closei to undeistanding theii own habits of mind
and gives them piactice and an identity in the cultuie theyll be
expected to join afei they giaduate. Tis iequiies new liteiacies
and a cuiiiculum that emphasizes mental tness, physical tness,
spiiitual tness, civic tness, and technological tness.
Models of assessment that emphasize self-diiected and col-
laboiative Peeiagogical piinciples eniich the leaining expeiience
and acceleiate and amplify deep undeistanding. Because these
appioaches aie pull-based and geneiate tens of thousands of
multi- oi tians-media data points pei leainei, they also genei-
ate multi-dimensional poitiaits of leainei development and pio-
vide feedback that goes fai beyond stiengths and weaknesses in
content ietention. Te long-teim benet is exponential. Leain-
eis who can intentionally diiect theii own concentiation aie em-
poweied fai beyond knowledge acquisition oi skill masteiy. Tey
become moie eective thinkeis and because they aie invested
moie caiing people. Tis leaining expeiience is of theii own
making it isnt business, its peisonal. Te inspiiation to iecie-
ate the piocess foi themselves and foi otheis is the wellspiing of
the lifelong leainei.
As Benjamin Disiaeli put it, ln geneial the most successful
man in life is the man who has the best infoimation. lt is a widely
accepted tiuism in business that beuei data leads to beuei deci-
sions. We now have the ability to geneiate, aggiegate, analyze,
and evaluate much iichei data sets that can help us leain moie
about helping each othei leain. Shaiing iichei data in dieient
ways will have the same game changing eect in leaining that it
has in piofessional spoits and investment banking.
Self-diiected, collaboiative assessment geneiates an unpiece-
dented quantity and vaiiety of data that illuminates aspects of
leaining, instiuction, and oveiall systemic ecacy. Even a quick
look at ieadily available fieewaie metiics, blog/social media con-
tent, and time stamps can piovide valuable insight into an indi-
viduals woiking piocess and dieientiate leaineis in a netwoik.
ln the laigei scheme of things, Peeiagogical assessment pio-
vides diiect access to and piactice in the cultuie leaineis will
be expected to join when they complete theii couise of study.
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX 9
Collaboiation, delegation, facilitating conveisations, and othei
highly valued skills aie developed in plain view, wheie piogiess
can be ciitiqued and validated by peeis, expeits and the public.
But tall tiees dont giow by themselves in the deseit. Peeia-
gogical innovation can be challenging in oiganizational cultuies
that piioiitize contiol and standaidization, as Senge et al. have
obseived, the system doesnt evaluate quality when dealing with
the unfamiliai, it just pushes back. ln schools this is so typical that
it doesnt meiit comment in tiaditional media. Te woild notices
when Syiia goes daik, but in school, iestiicted online access is
business as usual.
Cultuial constiaints can make eaily adopteis in technology-
based Peeiagogy seem like Piomethean iisk-takeis. Whenevei
the authoi gives a talk oi an inteiview, someone asks if hes in
tiouble.
Leaineis aie not fooled by the ihetoiic of in loco paientis oi
vision statements that emphasize safe, nuituiing leaining envi-
ionments. With notable exceptions, todays school leadeis do
not know as much about technology as the young people foi
whom they assume iesponsibility. Still, leaineis undeistand sui-
vival they aie ghting in unfavoiable teiiain against an enemy
of gieat powei. lnnovating is impossible, and even loudly ciiti-
cizing school oi advocating foi change is a iisk. As a iesult many
do just enough to satisfy iequiiements without geuing involved
enough to auiact auention. Some have also inteinalized the ciit-
ical voices of authoiity oi the failuie of the foimal expeiience as
evidence of theii own inability lm just not good at math.
Howdo we knowwhen weie ieally good at something` Stan-
daidized testing feedback doesnt help leaineis impiove. Most of
us dont have a natuial talent foi oeiing oi accepting ciiticism.
And yet, as Wole Soyinka put it, Te gieatest thieat to fieedomis
the absence of ciiticism.` Peeiagogical inteiaction iequiies ien-
ing ielational and topical ciitique, as well as skills in othei meta
liteiacies, including but not limited to ciitical thinking, collaboia-
tion, conict iesolution, decision-making, mindfulness, patience
and compassion.
lnteipeisonal leaining skills aie undeivalued in todays
0 C~si S1Uuv PH1NX
schooling paiadigm. Consequently theie is an opeiational lack
of incentive foi teacheis and leaineis to devote time and eneigy,
paiticulaily when it caiiies a peiceived cost in achievement on
tests that deteimine nancial allocations and job secuiity. ln ie-
cent yeais theie has been incieasing piessuie to tie teachei com-
pensation, peifoimance evaluation, and job status diiectly to stu-
dent peifoimance on standaidized tests.
Some educatois aie intioducing peei-to-peei netwoik lan-
guage and even intioducing peei-based assessment. But the con-
tiacts, syllabi and leueis to students typically stink of the old way.
Tese one-to-many documents aie piesented by agents of the in-
stitution endowed with the powei to iewaid oi punish. To many
students this does not iepiesent a choice oi a ieal oppoitunity
to hack the leaining expeiience. Tey suspect manipulation, and
they wait foi the othei shoe to diop. Leaineis also dont like to be
told theyie fiee while being foiced to opeiate within tight con-
stiaints. Considei this likely ieaction to a policy that is highly
iegaided in the eld
Students may choose to ieblog theii woik in a public
place oi on theii own blogs, but do so at theii own
iisk.
What? Did I read that correctly?
Students may choose to ieblog theii woik in a public
place oi on theii own blogs, but do so at theii own
iisk.
Risk? What risk? e risk of possibly helping someone
understand something that they didnt before, or get a
dierent opinion than the one they had before? Some-
one please help me make sense of this.
To eectively adopt Peeiagogical assessment in the schooling
context, the community must constiuct a new undeistanding of
how the membeis in a netwoik ielate to one anothei independent
of theii ioles in the suiiounding social oi hieiaichical systems.
C~si S1Uuv PH1NX 1
Tis iequiies tiust, which in school iequiies signicant suspen-
sion of disbelief, which and this is the haid pait iequiies actual
substantive, stiuctuial change in the leaining tiansaction. Tis is
the dening chaiacteiistic of Open Souice Leaining as the net-
woik giows, changes composition, and changes puipose, it also
changes the diiection and content of the leaining expeiience. Ev-
eiy netwoik membei can intioduce new ideas, ask questions, and
contiibute iesouices than iene and iediiect the piocess.
Tis isnt easy. A membei in this netwoik must foiget what
she knows about school in oidei to test the boundaiies of leaining
that shape hei ielationship to content, peeis, and expeit souices
of infoimation and feedback. Tis is how the cogs in the machine
become the liminal heioes who iedesign it. Having iejected the
old way, they must now cieate the iituals that will come to dene
the new. Tey aie following in the path of Oedipus, who took on
the insciutable and intimidating Sphinx, solved the iiddle that had
killed otheis who tiied, and usheied out the old belief systems to
pave the way foi the Gods of Olympus. lmagine, what if Oedipus
had the lnteinet.
Part IV
Peeragogy in Practice
cu~v1iv
THlNKlNG ABOUT PATTERNS
Although a giounding in leaining theoiy helps in-
foim peei leaining piojects, Peeiagogy, at its coie,
comes to life in applied piactice. Even befoie conven-
ing a gioup foi youi peei leaining pioject, you will
want to take a look ovei the paueins we have col-
lected heie. You will likely ietuin heie many times as
youi pioject develops.
What is a paern?
A pauein is anything that has a iepeated eect. ln the context
of peeiagogy, the piactice is to iepeat piocesses and inteiactions
that advance the leaining mission. liequent occuiiences that aie
not desiiable aie called anti-paueins'
Christopher Alexander Each pauein desciibes a
pioblems which occuis ovei and ovei again in oui en-
viionment, and then desciibes the coie of the solution
to that pioblem, in a way that you can use this solu-
tion a million times ovei, without evei doing it the
same way twice. [1]
Paueins piovide a fiamewoik that can be applied to similai issues
but may be metaphoiically solved in dieient ways, sometimes in
ieal woild oi face to face events and othei times in digital space.
Outside of Alexandeis own woik in aichitectuie, one the ist
gioups to adopt a design pauein way of thinking about things
weie computei piogiammeis. Wiiting in the foiewaid to Richaid
P. Gabiiels Paerns of Soware, Alexandei emphasizes that the
key question to ask about any design appioach is does it help us
build beuei`

TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs

Christopher Alexander What is the Chaities of
piogiamming` What task is at a high enough level
to inspiie people wiiting piogiams, to ieach foi the
stais` [2]
We think that Peeiagogy stands a good chance of being a killei
app foi pauein-based design. Leaining biidges physical and vii-
tual woilds all the time. And, in fact, a Network of Learning was
the 18th pauein that Chiistophei Alexandei intioduced in his
book, A Paern Language.
Christopher Alexander Woik in piecemeal ways
to decentialize the piocess of leaining and eniich it
thiough contact with many places and people all ovei
the city woikshops, teacheis at home oi walking
thiough the city, piofessionals willing to take on the
young as helpeis, oldei childien teaching youngei
childien, museums, youth gioups tiaveling, scholaily
seminais, industiial woikshops, old people, and so
on. [1]
Peeiagogy can help to extend and eniich this netwoik, and, as we
shall see, paueins can be used by those involved to do ongoing
emeigent design, not only by building new stiuctuies, but by
adapting and impioving oui catalog of paueins as we go.
Paerns of peeragogy
Heie is oui index of the main paueins weve found so fai (de-
sciibed in moie detail afei the jump)
Wrapper - liont end appeaiance to paiticipants. Consoli-
date and summaiize.
Discerning a paern - lound a pauein` Give it a title and
iecoid an example. (Woah, meta')
Polling for ideas - lnvite biainstoiming, collecting ideas,
questions, and solutions.
TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs
Creating a guide - Oveiviews expose the lay of the land.
Collecting content and stoiies.
Newcomer - Cieate a guide foi beginneis mind and help
avoid need to intioduce new membeis each meeting.
Roadmap - Plans foi futuie woik, diiection towaids a goal,
dynamic
Roles - Specialize and mix it up. Play to paiticipants
stiengths and skills.
Project focus - Lightbulb moment Most specic piojects
involve leaining'
Carrying capacity - Know youi limits, nd ways to get
othei people involved.
Heartbeat - Te heaitbeat of the gioup keeps eneigy
owing.
Moderation - When leadeis step back, dynamics can im-
piove, modeiatoi seives as champion and editoi.
Use or make? - Repuiposing, tinkeiing, oi cieating fiom
sciatch`
Well intioduce thiee additional paueins in the chaptei on ie-
seaiching peeiagogy.
Anti-paerns for Peeragogy
And some anti-paueins (things to avoid if possible)
Isolation - A tale of silos, holes, and not-invented-heie.
Magical thinking - One meeting will (not) change eveiy-
thing'
Messy with Lurkers - What happens when joining is low-
cost and completion is low-benet.
8 TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs
Misunderstanding Power - Te woikload is almost nevei
evenly distiibuted.
Navel Gazing - l have this ieally gieat idea
Stasis - What is the diivei behind open souice, commons-
oiiented collaboiative piojects` (Because, lets face it, it
doesnt always woik.)
Stuck at the level of weak ties - Can we deepen the con-
nection`
What is a use case?
Ause case desciibes someone (oi something) who uses a given
system oi tool to achieve a goal. A use case can include a title, a
summaiy of the pioblem, an actoi, and a success scenaiio. Ad-
ditional featuies can be added, such as alteinate inteiactions oi
choices that lead to a vaiiation on the iesult.
Te use case consideis a given peisona (a chaiacteiistic
iole) in a given situation and shows how they woiks on a
pioject/pioblem and how theii piocess of woik is iesolved into
a solution oi solutions. Some activities do not have a single so-
lution these aie ofen iefeiied to as Wicked Pioblems. With
detailed bookkeeping eoit, iecoided piocesses can be standaid-
ized into use cases that can then be employed diiectly oi modied
to t the context of the activity at hand. ln shoit, they aie a lot
like design paueins, which they may contain in hidden oi explicit
foim. Use cases aie piesented in vigneues that appeai thioughout
the book (like the one at the end of this section).
A peeragogy paern language
By looking at how paueins combine in ieal and hypothetical
use cases, you can stait to identify a paern language that can
be used in youi piojects. We can get a simplied view of these
connections with the following diagiam. lts impoitant to claiify
that eveiyone doesnt do it the same way. Heie, the Roadmap
TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs 9
is given a cential position, but some peei leaining piojects will
foiego making a specic, detailed plan, theii plan is just to see
what develops. You can see heie how peeiagogy paueins ofen
bieak down fuithei into individual micio-steps well say moie
about that shoitly.
Te subsequent main sections of this book Convene, Orga-
nize, Cooperate and Assess iepiesent big clusteis of paueins that
aie likely to come up time and again in vaiious piojects. We can
think of these as East, South, West, and Noith in the diagiam
above. You aie of couise encouiaged to invent youi own paueins
and to connect them in new ways. Each pioject has a unique de-
sign, and its own unique way in which things play out in piactice.
What weve put togethei heie is a staitei kit.
Christopher Alexander Tese ideaspaueinsaie
haidly moie than glimpses of a much deepei level of
stiuctuie, and is ultimately within this deepei level of
stiuctuie, that the oiigin of life occuis. [2]
Paerns and Problem Solving
Ten potentially useful things to do when youie solving a
pioblem aie desciibed by the computei scientist Maivin Minsky
in a seiies of xixos wiiuen foi the One Laptop Pei Child pioject.
We can sum them up visually with the following diagiam
We can also see some inteiesting connections between these
intuitive pioblemsolving heuiistics and peeiagogy paueins listed
0 TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs
above. Tis can help illustiate fuithei connections between the
paueins, and some of the ways that gioups can apply them to
solve ieal-woild pioblem. To elaboiate biiey
Simplify things foi Newcomers. We dont expect a new-
comei to entei at full speed.
Use a Roadmap to guide us fiom one phase to anothei,
while the piojects cential Heartbeat helps us auend to the
cential focus.
Announce changes thiough a Wrapper who desciibes the
new status oi diiection of the pioject. loi the Peeiagogy
pioject, that ofen meant summing up the high points that
we saw ovei a given peiiod of time.
We divide woik up not only hoiizontally among dieient
Roles, but also tempoially by using the Roadmap. Some-
one who is moving ahead with the Roadmap is likely to be
woiking at the leading edge.
When we nd an analogy, we aie basically Creating a
Guide foi thinking about something. Tis can be used as
TuiNxiNc ~noU1 v~11ivNs 1
a foim of exploiation, as we look at how one foim of en-
gagement may oi may not map onto othei foims of engage-
ment.
When we ask foi help, we may avail ouiselves of some
Moderation seivice that will decide how to deal with oui
iequest. One simple way to ask foi help is Polling for
Ideas. Obviously once we stait to get help, weie woiking
in a iegime of collaboiative eoit.
lf you know the answei, then you may be able to ieuse it
(which is the basic idea desciibed in Use or Make.
lt is impoitant to give it a iest so as not to ovei-exhaust
oneself, busting ones own Carrying Capacity, oi, altei-
natively, oveiwhelming the gioup.
lt seems that one of the things that expeits aie good at is
Discerning a Paern. Tis allows them to simplify theii
piocessing.
linally, again, if we know why it is haid, then we may be
able to Create a Guide that will help get aiound, oi at least
beuei cope with, the diculty.
References
1. Alexandei, Chiistophei, lshikawa, Saia, and Silveistein,
Muiiay, A Paern Language: Towns, Buildings, and, Con-
struction, New Yoik Oxfoid Univeisity Piess, 19.
2. Gabiiel, Richaid P. P~11ivNs oi Soi1v~vi, New Yoik Ox-
foid Univeisity Piess, 199. (lncludes a foiwaid by Chiisto-
phei Alexandei.)
cu~v1iv 8
PATTERNS
Wrapper
Eaily on, active peeiagogue Chailie Dano sUccis1iu that
someone take on the wiappei iole do a weekly pie/post wiap,
so that new useis would know the status the pioject is at any
given point in time. Te piojects vixi v~ci also seives as anothei
soit of wiappei. We check the public summaiies of the pioject
fiom time to time to make suie that they accuiately iepiesent the
facts on the giound. Note that in its vaiious foims, the wiappei
iole plays an impoitant integiative function.
Accoiding to the theoiy pioposed by Yochai Benklei, foi
fiee/open commons-based piojects to woik, it is vital to have
both (1) the ability to contiibute small pieces, (2) something that
stitches those pieces togethei [1]. ln the ist yeai of the Peeia-
gogy pioject, the Weekly Roundup by Chiistophei Tillman Neal
seived to engage and ie-engage membeis. Peeiagogues began to
eagei watched foi the weekly iepoits to see if oui teams oi oui
names had been mentioned. When theie was a holiday oi bieak,
Chiis would announce the hiatus, to keep the ow going.
ln the second yeai of the pioject, we didnt ioutinely publish
summaiies of piogiess, and instead, weve assumed that intei-
ested paities will stay tuned on Google. Neveitheless, we main-
tain inteinal and exteinal summaiies, ianging fiom agendas to
piess ieleases to quick-stait guides. Regulai meetings piovide an
alteinative way to stay up to date see the Heaitbeat pauein.
Reference
1. Benklei, Y. (2002). Coases Penguin, oi Linux and the Natuie
of the liim, Yale Law Journal 112, pp. 39-44.
3
4 P~11ivNs
Discerning a Paern
Disceining paueins helps us build oui vocabulaiy oi iepei-
toiie foi peei-leaining piojects. As a veiy simple example, in
building a peei leaining piole, a paiticipant might identify an
inteiest such as oiganic gaidening. We begin to notice that this
is a pauein when it iepeats when oiganic gaidening is fie-
quently listed among the inteiests listed by paiticipants in theii
self-intioductions. Te classic example of an aichitectuial pat-
tein is A place to wait a type of space found in many aichitec-
tuial and uiban design piojects. Once a pauein is detected, give
it a title and wiite down how the pauein woiks. loi example,
what does this pauein say about the self-selection piocess of the
gioup` Without jumping to conclusions, considei that an intei-
est in oiganic gaidening, foi example, might indicate the paitic-
ipants aie oiiented to coopeiation, peisonal health, oi enviion-
mental activism. How does the pauein ielate to othei paueins
alieady listed in this catalog`
Polling for Ideas
and then Howard said: At the beginning, until we all know
the iopes well enough to undeistand when to cieate a new dis-
cussion foium topic and when to add to an existing one, lets talk
in this topic thiead about what else we want to discuss and l
will stait new topic thieads when necessaiy. Polling foi ldeas
can happen at many junctuies in a peei leaining expeiience. We
could poll foi ideas like whats missing`, who might like to join
oui gioup`, and what aie the iight tools and iesouices foi us to
use at this point`
Creating a Guide
Meaning-caiiying tools, like handbooks oi maps, can help
people use an idea. ln paiticulai, when the idea oi system is only
P~11ivNs
newly discoveied, the associated meanings may not be well un-
deistood (indeed they may not have been cieated). ln such a case,
the piocess of cieating the guide can go hand-in-hand with g-
uiing out how the system woiks. Tus, techniques of xNovi
iuci c~v1ocv~vuv and xi~NiNc x~xiNc aie useful foi would-
be guide cieatois. Even so, it is woith noting that the map is not
the teiiitoiy, and map-making is only one facet of shaied human
activity. Collaboiatively iening a pauein is itself an example of
Cieating a Guide - that is, a pauein desciiption can be thought
of as a micio-map of a specic activity.
Newcomer
Unless theie is a new peison to talk to, a
lot of the education stuf we do could
giowstale. Many of the paueins and use
cases foi peeiagogy assume that theie
will be an audience oi a new geneiation
of leaineis - hence the diive to cieate a
guide. Note that the newcomei and the
wiappei may woik togethei to make the
pioject accessible. Even in the absence
of actual newcomeis, weie ofen tiy to
look at things with a beginneis mind.
Rgis Barondeau l joined this handbook pioject
late, making me a newcomei. When l staited to
catch up, l iapidly faced doubts Where do I start?
How can I help? How will I make it, having to read
more than 700 posts to catch up? What tools are we us-
ing ? How do I use them? Etc. Although this pioject
is amazingly inteiesting, catching the tiain while it
alieady ieached high speed can be an extieme spoit.
By taking caie of newcomeis, we might avoid loosing
valuable contiibutois because they dont know how
and wheie to stait, and keep oui own pioject on tiack.
P~11ivNs
Charloe Pierce Joe was woiking a lot on the book,
and l thought this is inteiesting haid woik, and he
shouldnt have to do this alone. As a Peeiagogy new-
comei, l was kindly welcomed and mentoied by Joe,
Howaid, labiizio, and otheis. l asked naive questions
and was met with patient answeis, guiding questions,
and iesouice links. Concuiiently, l bootstiapped my-
self into a position to contiibute to the woikow by
editing the live manusciipt foi consistency, style, and
continuity.
Roadmap
lt is veiy useful to have an up-to-date public ioadmap foi the
pioject, a place wheie it can be discussed and maintained. Tis
helps newcomeis see wheie they can jump in. lt also gives a sense
of the accomplishments to date, and any majoi challenges that lie
ahead. Remembei, the Roadmap exists as an aitifact with which
to shaie cuiient, but nevei complete, undeistanding of the space.
Nevei stop leaining'
Examples
ln the Peeiagogy pioject, once the books outline became
faiily matuie, we could use it as a ioadmap, by maiking the sec-
tions that aie nished (at least in diaf), maiking the sections
wheie editing is cuiiently taking place, and maiking the stubs
(possible staiting points foi futuie contiibutois). Afei this out-
line matuied into a ieal table of contents, we staited to look in
othei diiections foi ways to build on oui successes to date, and
staited woiking on a ioadmap foi fuithei development of the
website and peeiagogy pioject as a whole.
And also
Note that a shaied ioadmap is veiy similai to a Peisonal
Leaining Plan, oi paiagogical piole. Weve made some ix~x
P~11ivNs
viis of these as we got staited woiking on the liee Technology
Guild.
Teie is a ceitain ioadmappiness to piesentation of sell, and
you can leain to use this well. loi instance, when intioducing
youiself and youi woik to othei people, you can focus on high-
lights like these
What is the message behind what youie doing`
How do you piovide a model otheis can follow oi impiove
upon`
How can otheis get diiectly involved with youi pioject`
Roles
Tis may seem like an obvious one, but educational inteiac-
tions tend to have a numbei of dieient ioles associated with
them. Considei that eveiything could bifuicate fiom the autodi-
dact
1. Autodidact 2. Tutoi-Tutee 3. Tutoi-Tutee-Paient 4. Tutoi-
Tutee-Paient-Piincipal etc.
Until we have buisais, libiaiians, technicians, janitois, editois
of peei ieviewed ieseaich jouinals, goveinment policy makeis,
spin-o industiial ventuies and paitneiships, etc., all involved in
Education. Even the autodidact may assume dieient ioles at dif-
feient points in time - sometimes making a libiaiy iun, sometimes
constiucting a model, sometimes checking a pioof. Te decompo-
sition of leaining into dieient phases oi polaiities could be an
endless theoietical task. loi the moment, we just note that ioles
aie ofen piesent by default at the stait of a leaining piocess,
and that they may change as the piocess develops.
Focusing on a specific project
ln the Jan. 2013 plenaiy session, as lNuiviNuiN1 PUniisu
ivs oi Niv ENci~Nu (lPNE) Piesident Toidis lsselhaidt quietly
8 P~11ivNs
listened to a piesentation about how we cieated the Peeragogy
Handbook. Duiing the Q&A, he spoke up, wondeiing if peei-
leaining eoit in lPNE might be moie likely to succeed if the oi-
ganizations membeis focused aiound a specic pioject. As this
lightbulb illuminated the ioom, those of us auending the plenaiy
session suggested that lPNE could focus the pioject by cieating
an lndependent Publishing Handbook. (Applause')
ln the couise of cieating the lPNE Handbook, peei leaineis
would assemble iesouice iepositoiies, exchange expeitise, and
collaboiatively edit documents. To piovide motivation and incen-
tive to paiticipate in PeeiPubU, membeis of the association will
eain authoiship ciedit foi contiibuting aiticles, editoi ciedit foi
woiking on the manusciipt, and can spin o theii own chapteis
as stand-alone, piot-making publications.
Carrying Capacity
Alvin Toler lf oveistimulation at the sensoiy level
incieases the distoition with which we peiceive ie-
ality, cognitive oveistimulation inteifeies with oui
ability to think.
At times, a facilitatoi oi paiticipant in the peei-leaining entei-
piise may feel he oi she is ovei-contiibuting oi, peihaps moie
likely, that otheis aie undei-contiibuting oi that someone else
is iailioading an idea oi dominating the discussion. lf this hap-
pens, take a step back and obseive the dynamics of involvement.
Ask questions and let otheis answei. Especially if you stait to feel
the symptoms of buinout, its impoitant that you nd the level of
engagement that allows you to paiticipate at a level that is feasi-
ble foi maintaining piogiess towaid the piojects goal. Lead by
example but make suie its someplace you, and otheis, actu-
ally want to go' Tis could be a good time to ievisit the gioups
ioadmap and see if you can guie out and claiify to otheis what
conciete goal youie woiking towaids. Remembei that you can
also change the landscape by making it easiei foi othei people
P~11ivNs 9
to get involved foi example, by explaining what youie tiying
to do in a cleai mannei. Watch foi oppoitunities to step back,
watch, listen. Tiy to be mindful of phases when active oi quiet in-
volvement would be moie helpful to the individual and the gioup.
lts also helpful to let anyone who has taken on a facilitation iole
know if youie stepping back tempoiaiily. Ten, when the time
is iight, step back in and get to woik'
Heartbeat
Without someone oi something acting as the heaitbeat foi
the gioup, eneigy may dissipate. ln the Collaboiative Lesson
Planning couise led by Chailie Dano at P2PU, Chailie wiote in-
dividual emails to people who weie signed up foi the couise and
who had disappeaied, oi luiked but didnt paiticipate. Tis kept a
healthy numbei of the people in the gioup to ieengage and make
positive contiibutions. ln moie iecent months, Chailoue Pieice
has been iunning weekly meetings by Google Hangout to cooidi-
nate woik on the Peeragogy Handbook. Not only have we gouen
a lot of hands-on editoiial woik done this way, weve geneiated a
tiemendous amount of newmateiial (both text and video footage)
that is likely to nd its way into futuie veisions of the book.
Moderation
The Co-Intelligence Institute Why is a shbowl
moie pioductive than debate` Te small gioup con-
veisations in the shbowl tend to depeisonalize the
issue and ieduce the stiess level, making peoples
statements moie cogent. Since people aie talking
with theii fellow paitisans, they get less caught up
in wasteful adveisaiial games.
Paiticipation in online foiums tends to follow a powei law, with
vastly unequal engagement. lf you want to counteiact this ten-
dency, one possibility would simply be foi the most active pai-
80 P~11ivNs
19th centuiy collage caids, caie of Nicx H~Us
ticipants to step back, and modeiate how much they speak. Tis
is ielated the the Caiiying Capacity pauein and the Misundei-
standing Powei anti-pauein check those out befoie you pioceed.
Occupy Wall Stieet used a ielated technique that they called the
vvocvissivi s1~cx. Teie aie lots of othei stiategies to tiy.
Use or Make?
Piaxis, a noble activity, is always one of use, as dis-
tinct fiom poesis which designates fabiication. Only
the foimei, which plays and acts, but does not pio-
duce, is noble. [1] (p. 101)
Teie is a tension between making stuf (poesis) and using
stuf (praxis). Peei production, as the name indicates, is about
making stu. And making stu can be fun. But we should also
ask ouiselves, howmuch newstu do we ieally need` Teies not
a haid and fast answei to that. We should also considei howmuch
leaining is ieally iemix that is, ie-use and iecycling of othei
P~11ivNs 81
peoples ideas and techniques. Undeistanding and negotiating the
tension between ieuse and cieativity is the key to the art of remix
oi paiagogical piaxis'
Reference
1. Baudiillaid, J. (19). e mirror of production. Telos Piess
cu~v1iv 9
ANTlPATTERNS
Isolation
Flix Guaari lmagine a fenced eld in which theie
aie hoises weaiing adjustable blinkeis, and lets say
that the coecient of tiansveisality will be pie-
cisely the adjustment of the blinkeis. lf the hoises
aie completely blind, a ceitain kind of tiaumatic en-
countei will be pioduced. As soon as the blinkeis aie
opened, one can imagine that the hoises will move
about in a moie haimonious way. (Qo1iu nv AN
uviv MUvvuv, himself quoting Gaiy Genosko)
liom a design point of view we should be conscious of in-
teifaces that aie too loud, and think about how that is compen-
sated foi by isolation of vaiious foims. With a too-naiiow focus,
collaboiation is impossible. Howevei, with an oveily-wide focus,
83
84 AN1iv~11ivNs
things aie chaotic in othei ways (see Co-Leaining Messy with
Luikeis).
Tis anti-pauein sometimes goes by the name Not Invented
Here. Many piojects that aie ostensibly oiiented towaids the
commons neveitheless want to funnel paiticipants into theii
way of thinking about things. Be caieful with that. Leaining
how to manage the unceitainty that comes with expeiimentation
is pait of what makes the postmodein oiganization tick' (See also
Navel Gazing.)
Magical thinking
While we could imagine an ideal infoimation piocessing sys-
tem that would (magically) come with all solutions pie-built, a
moie iealistic appioach iecognizes that ieal pioblem solving al-
ways takes time and eneigy. loi instance, if we knew, 100,
howto do peeiagogy, then we would not stand to leain veiy much
by wiiting this handbook. Diculties and tensions would be ie-
solved in advance. Te ielevant pioblem solving appioach and
associated leaining oiientation will depend on the task and ie-
souices at hand.
Magical thinking of the kind desciibed above iobs a context
of its piocess oi motion. Te moie stiuctuie we have in ad-
vance, the moie completely we fall back on tiaditional modes
of doing things, and the less we stand to leain. lts also tiue that
tiaditions and habits can seive a useful function they can mas-
sively simplify and stieamline, and adopting some healthy habits
can fiee up time and eneigy, making leaining possible [1]. But
its still going to take woik. Time foi a few deep bieaths`
Reference
1. Dias-leiieiia, Eduaido, et al. Chionic stiess causes fion-
tostiiatal ieoiganization and aects decision-making. Sci-
ence 32.940 (2009) 21-2.
AN1iv~11ivNs 8
Messy with Lurkers
Gigi Johnson (1) Co-leaining is Messy. lt needs
time, patience, confusion, ie-foiming, ie-noiming,
ie-stoiming, etc. Tings go awiy and pait of noims
needs to be how to iealign. (2) Co-leaining is a
very dieient expeiience fiom tiaditional teachei-
led leaining in teims of time and completion. lt is
fiustiating, so many people will luik oi just step in
and out, the lauei of which is veiy dieient fiom
what is acceptable in tiaditonal leaining. Online
leaining piogiams aie painted with the biush now of
an unacceptable 0 aveiage non-completion iate.
Stanfoids MOOC Al class, which staited out with
100,000 people, had 12 nish. lf only 12 oi 0
of my tiaditional class nished, ld have a haid time
geuing next quaiteis classes appioved'
Te second point is similai to the eailiei Anti-pauein MisUN
uivs1~NuiNc Poviv (L~vs). People have to join in oidei to
tiy, and when joining is low-cost, and completion low-benet,
it is not suipiising that many people will dissipate as the couise
piogiesses. Te messiness of co-leaining is inteiesting because
it points to a soit of inteinal dissipation, as contiibutois biing
theii multiple dieient backgiounds, inteiests, and communica-
tion styles to beai.
Tomlinson et al. Moie authois means moie con-
tent, but also moie woids thiown away. Many of
the woids wiiuen by authois weie deleted duiing the
ongoing editing piocess. Te sheei mass of deleted
woids might iaise the question of whethei authoiing
a papei in such a massively distiibuted fashion is ef-
cient. [1]
lf we weie to desciibe this situation in tiaditional subject/object
teims, we would say that peei pioduction has a low signal to
8 AN1iv~11ivNs
noise iatio. Howevei, it may be moie appiopiiate (and constiuc-
tive) to think of meanings as co-constiucted as the piocess iuns,
and of messiness (oi meaninglessness) as symptomatic, not of
peei pioduction itself, but of deciencies oi infelicities in shaied
meaning-making and integiating featuies.
Reference
1. Tomlinson, B., Ross, J., Andi, P., Baumei, E.P.S., Pauei-
son, D.J., Coineli, J., Mahaux, M., Nobaiany, S., Lazzaii,
M., Penzenstadlei, B., Toiiance, A.W., Callele, D.J., Olson,
G.M., Silbeiman, M.S., Stndei, M., Palamedi, l.R., Salah,
A., Moiiill, E., lianch, X., Muellei, l., Kaye, J., Black,
R.W., Cohn, M.L., Shih, P.C., Biewei, J., Goyal, N., Nkki,
P., Huang, J., Baghaei, N., and Sapei, C., M~ssiviiv Dis
1vinU1iu AU1uovsuiv oi Ac~uixic P~vivs, Proceedings
of Alt.Chi, Austin Texas, May 510 2012 (10 page extended
abstiact), ACM, 2012,
Misunderstanding Power
Wikipedia Zipls law states that given some coipus
of natuial language uueiances, the fiequency of any
woid is inveisely piopoitional to its iank in the fie-
quency table. Tus the most fiequent woid will oc-
cui appioximately twice as ofen as the second most
fiequent woid, thiee times as ofen as the thiid most
fiequent woid, etc. [1]
Zipls law (oi othei foimulations of the same thing) govein the
sizi oi ci1iis, and ielated foimulations desciibe iNivcv Usi
ioughly speaking, an elephant has a lowei metabolism than a
mouse and is moie eneigy ecient. At that same link, we see
the suggestion that cieativity and othei social netwoik eects
speed up as population giows' e anti-paern how many times
have we been at a confeience oi woikshop and heaid someone
say (oi said ouiselves) wouldnt it be gieat if this eneigy could
AN1iv~11ivNs 8
be sustained all yeai iound` Oi in a classioom oi peei pioduc-
tion seuing, wondeied why it is that eveiyone does not paitici-
pate equally. Wouldnt it be gieat if we could inciease paitici-
pation` But paiticipation in a given population is going falls o
accoiding to some powei law (see lntioduction to Powei Laws in
Tui UNciv1~iN1v PviNcivii, VoiUxi ll, lssUi 3). lt would be a
giand illusion to assume that eveiyone is coming fiom a similai
place with iegaid to the vaiious liteiacies and motivations that aie
conducive to paiticipation. luitheimoie, a piovisionist auitude
(lf we change oui system we will equalize paiticipation and ac-
cess) simply will not woik in geneial. Powei laws aie an inheient
epiphenomenon of netwoik ow. Ceitainly, if you can modeiate
the way the netwoik is shaped, you can change the exponent
foi example, by helping moie people develop ielevant liteiacies.
But even so, equality iemains a laigely abstiact notional. Note,
as well, that paiticipation in a given activity tends to fall o ovei
time. Many people would like to wiite a hit song oi a best selling
novel oi stait a ieligion, etc., but few actually do, because it takes
sustained eoit ovei time. See the anti-pauein Magical Tink-
ing foi moie on this. Oui ability to develop new liteiacies is lim-
ited. Much as Paul Giaham wiote about piogiamming languages
piogiammeis aie typically satised with whatevei language
they happen to use, because it dictates the way they think about
piogiams so too aie people ofen satised with theii social
enviionments, because these tend to dictate the way they think
and act in life.
Reference
1. Zivis i~v. (2013). ln Wikipedia, e Free Encyclopedia.
2. Giaham, P. (2001). Bi~1iNc 1ui ~viv~cis.
Navel Gazing
Te diculty l am iefeiiing to bieaks down like this
88 AN1iv~11ivNs
1. Ceitainly we cannot get things done just by talking about
them.
2. And yet, feedback can be useful, i.e., if theie aie mecha-
nisms foi iesponding to it in a useful fashion.
3. Te associated anti-paern is a special case of the piototyp-
ical Bateson uoUnii niNu, the fathei who says to his son
go ahead, ciiticize me, but stiongly hints that all eective
ciiticism will be veiy unwelcome [1], p. 88.
And indeed ciiticism is not always useful. Sometimes it is just
noise. Te ait of paiagogical piaxis is to make something use-
ful out of what would otheiwise just be noise. (And, note, we
have hinted that foi this pioject, eective ciiticism will be veiy
welcome')
Reference
1. Deleuze, G., and Guauaii, l. (2004). Anti-oedipus. Contin-
uum lnteinational Publishing Gioup.
Stasis
Actually, living beings aie nevei really in stasis. lt just some-
times feels that way. Dieient anti-paueins like lsoi~1ioN oi
N~viiG~ziNc have desciibed dieient aspects of the experience
of feeling like one is in stasis. Typically, what is happening in
such a case is that one oi moie dimensions of life aie moving
veiy slowly.
loi instance, we weie not able to get piogiamming suppoit
to impiove the ist veision of the Social Media Classioom, foi
love oi money, since all developei eneigy was going into the next
veision. Tis isnt tiue stasis, but it can feel fiustiating when a
specic small featuie is desiied, but unavailable.
Te solution` Dont get hung up on small things, and nd
the dimensions wheie movement is possible. ln a sense this is
AN1iv~11ivNs 89
analogous to eating a balanced diet. You piobably shouldnt only
eat giilled cheese sandwiches, even if you like them a lot. You
should go foi something dieient once in a while.
Tis is also ielated to the pauein that talks about C~vvviNc
C~v~ci1v. Teie is always some dimension on which you can
make piogiess it just might not be the same dimension youve
iecently ovei-haivested'
Stuck at the level of weak ties
Knowing how to make good use of weak ties is ofen seen
as a stiength.
Nancy Darling [S]tiong and weak ties tend to seive
dieient functions in oui lives. When we need a big
favoi oi social oi instiumental suppoit, we ask oui
fiiends. We call them when we need to move a wash-
ing machine. But if we need infoimation that we
dont have, the people to ask aie oui weak ties. Tey
have moie diveise knowledge and moie diveise ties
than oui close fiiends do. We ask themwhen we want
to know who to hiie to install oui washing machine.
[1]
Te quote suggests that theie is a ceitain tiade-o between use of
weak ties and use of stiong ties. Te anti-paern in question then
is less to do with whethei we aie foiming weak ties oi stiong ties,
and moie to do with whethei we aie being honest with ouiselves
and with each othei about the natuie of the ties we aie foiming
and theii potential uses. We can be peeis in eithei a weak oi a
stiong sense. Te question to ask is whethei oui needs match oui
expectations' ln the peeiagogy context, this has to do with how
we inteiact.
One of us l amleaining about peeiagogy, but l think
lm failing to be a good peeiagogue. l iemembei that
Howaid once told us that the most impoitant thing
90 AN1iv~11ivNs
is that you should be iesponsible not only foi youi
own leaining but foi youi peeis leaining. [] So the
question is, aie we leaining fiom otheis by ouiselves
oi aie we helping otheis to leain`
lf we aie only co-consumeis of infoimation then this seems like
a classic example of a weak tie. We aie pait of the same audi-
ence. On the othei hand, if we aie actively engaging with othei
people, then this is a foundation foi stiong ties. ln this case of
deep leaining, oui aims aie neithei instiumental noi infoima-
tional, but inteiactional. People who do not put in the time and
eoit will iemain stuck at the level of weak ties, and will not be
able to diaw on the benets that stiong ties oei.
Reference
1. Nancy Dailing (2010). l~cinoox ~Nu 1ui S1viNc1u oi
Wi~x Tiis, Psychology Today.
cu~v1iv 10
A PATTERN STORY
October, 2011. Toms day-job involves nding paueins in mai-
ket data (see KiviNSi~viNs TED1~ix). He ieads philosophy and
does some othei piogiamming woik in his spaie time. Howevei,
he doesnt take the Occupy Wall Stieet piotest veiy seiiously. But
one of these evenings, one of the piotesteis catches his auention.
Shes diessed iathei stiikingly. Tey talk, and he comes away
thinking about something she said Aii oUv cviiv~Ncis ~vi
iN1ivcoNNic1iu. What if all the solutions aie inteiconnected
too` Night time Tom becomes incieasingly obsessed with this
idea. Hes pulling down lots of web pages fiom the inteinet
again, looking foi paueins. What would it take foi OWS folks to
solve the pioblems they woiiy so much about` He staits woiking
on a tool thats geaied towaids leaining and shaiing skills, while
woiking on ieal piojects. At ist, its just hackeis who aie using
the tool, but ovei time they adapt it foi populai use. Tings stait
to get inteiesting
91
92 A v~11ivN s1ovv
MUi1ivii PSK31 1v~NsxissioNs oN 1ui 20x uici1~i xouis
n~Nu ~1 ~voUNu 14.0 MHz. Based on a public domain image
by UseiMysid
Part V
Convening A Group
cu~v1iv 11
BUlLDlNG YOUR CO-LEARNlNG GROUP
Authors Gigi Johnson and Joe Coineli
So youve decided you want to tiy peei leaining`
Maybe youve alieady found a few people who will
suppoit you in this eoit. Congiatulations' lts time
now to focus youi thinking. How will you convene
otheis to foim a suitable gioup` How will you design
a leainei expeiience which will make youi pioject
thiive` ln this chaptei, we suggest a vaiiety of ques-
tions that will help you to make youi pioject moie
conciete foi potential new membeis. Teie aie no
good oi bad answeis - it depends on the natuie of
youi pioject and the context. Tiying to answei the
questions is not something you do just once. At vai-
ious stages of the pioject, even afei its ovei, some
oi all of those questions will acquiie new meanings -
and piobably new answeis.
Fabrizio Terzi Teie is a foice of auiaction that al-
lows aggiegation into gioups based on the degiee of
peisonal inteiest, the ability to enhance and impiove
the shaie of each paiticipant, and the expectation of
success and potential benet.
Group identity
Note that theie aie many gioups that may not need to be con-
vened, since they alieady exist. Teie is a good stoiy fiom A. T.
Aviv~v~1Ni in his coiiic1iu vovxs in which he does convene
a natuial gioup (namely, a village) - but in any case, keep in mind
9
9 CoNviNiNc
at the outset that the degiee of gioup-consciousness that is neces-
saiy foi peei leaining to take place is not xed. ln this section, we
suppose you aie just at the point of kicking o a pioject. What
steps should you take` We suggest you take a moment to pon-
dei the following questions ist - and ievisit them afeiwaid, as
a way to identify best piactices foi the next eoit.
There will be a quiz
Tose taking the initiative should ask themselves the tiadi-
tional Who, What, Wheie, When, Why, and How. (SixoN SiNix
suggests to begin with Why, and we touched on Who, above'). ln
doing so, pieliminaiy assumptions foi design and stiuctuie aie es-
tablished. Howevei, in peei leaining it is paiticulaily impoitant
to maintain a healthy degiee of openness, so that futuie gioup
membeis can also foim theii answeis on those questions. ln pai-
ticulai, this suggests that the design and stiuctuie of the pioject
(and the gioup) may change ovei time. Heie, we ii on the tia-
ditional WsH with six clusteis of questions to help you focus
youi thinking about the pioject and amplify its positive outcomes.
l keep six honest seiving-men (Tey taught me all l knew)
CoNviNiNc 9
Expectations for participants
1. Who: Roles and flux
What aie some of the ioles that people aie likely to fall into
(e.g., Newcomei, Wiappei, Luikei, Aggiegatoi, etc.)`
How likely is it that paiticipants will stick with the pioject`
lf you expect many paiticipants to leave, howwill this eect
the gioup and the outcome`
Do you envision new people joining the gioup as time goes
by` lf so, what featuies aie you designing that will suppoit
theii integiation into an existing ow`
Will the pioject woik if people dip in and out` lf so, what
featuies suppoit that` lf not, how will people stay focused`
2. What: Nature of the project
What skills aie iequiied` What skills aie you tiying to
build`
What kinds of change will paiticipants undeigo` Will they
be heading into new giound` Changing theii minds about
something` Leaining about leaining`
What social objective, oi pioduct if any, is the pioject aim-
ing to achieve`
Whats the hook` Unless you aie woiking with an ex-
isting gioup, oi ie-using an existing modality, consistent
paiticipation may not be a given.
3. When: Time management
What do you expect the gioup to do, fiom the moment it
convenes, to the end of its life-span, to cieate the specic
outcome that will exist at the conclusion of its last meeting`
(C. Geisick.) Note that what people ACTUALLY do may be
98 CoNviNiNc
dieient fiom what you envision at the outset, so you may
want to ievisit this question (and youi answei) again as the
pioject piogiesses.
Keeping in mind that at least one peiiod of is ineitia is veiy
likely (C. Geisick), what event(s) do you anticipate happen-
ing in the gioup that will biing things back togethei, set a
new diiection, oi geneially get things on tiack` Moie gen-
eially, what kinds of contingencies does youi gioup face`
How does it inteiface to the outside woild`
What pieexisting naiiatives oi woikows could you copy
in youi gioup`
How much of a time commitment do you expect fiom pai-
ticipants` ls this kind of commitment iealistic foi membeis
of youi gioup`
What, if anything, can you do to make paiticipation easy
in the sense that it happens in the natuial ow of life foi
gioup membeis`
Does eveiyone need to paiticipate equally` How might
non-equal paiticipation play out foi paiticipants down the
line`
4. Where: Journey vs Destination
What stiuctuies will suppoit paiticipants in theii jouiney
to the end iesult(s) you (oi they) have envisioned` What
content can you use to esh out this stiuctuie`
Wheie can the stiuctuie ex to accommodate unknown
developments oi needs as paiticipants leain, discovei, and
piogiess`
5. Why: Tool/platform choice
CoNviNiNc 99
What tools aie paiticulaily suited to this gioup` Con-
sidei such featuies as leaining styles and expeiiences, ge-
ogiaphical diveisity, the need foi centialization (oi de-
centialization), cultuial expectations ielated to gioup woik,
shaiing, and emeiging leadeiship.
ls theie an inheient diaw to this pioject foi a given pop-
ulation, oi aie you as facilitatoi going to have to woik at
keeping people involved` How might youi answei inu-
ence youi choice of tools` ls the iewaid foi completion the
leaining itself, oi something moie tangible`
ln choosing tools, how do you piioiitize such values and
objectives as easy entiy, diveise uses, and high ceilings foi
sophisticated expansion`
6. How: Linearity vs Messiness
How will youi gioup manage feedback in a constiuctive
way`
Why might paiticipants feel motivated to give feedback`
How im and extensive aie the social contiacts foi this
gioup` Do they apply to eveiyone equally, oi do they vaiy
with paiticipation level`
What do people need to know at the stait` What can you
woik out as you go along` Who decides`
How welcome aie meta-discussions` What kinds of dis-
cussions aie not likely to be welcome` Do you have facil-
ities in place foi bieakout gioups oi othei peei-to-peei
inteiactions` (Alteinatively, if the pioject is mostly dis-
tiibuted, do you have any facilities in place foi coming to-
gethei as a gioup`)
100 CoNviNiNc
Cycles of group development
Te above questions iemain impoitant thioughout the life of
the pioject. People may come and go, paiticpants may piopose
fundamentally new appioaches, people may evolve fiom luikeis
to majoi content cieatois oi vice-veisa. Te questions we suggest
can be most eective if youi gioup discusses them ovei time, as
pait of its woikow, using synchionous online meetings (e.g., Bic
BiUi BU11oN, Auoni CoNNic1, Bi~cxno~vu Coii~nov~1i), fo-
iums, Google docs, wikis, and/oi email lists. Regulai meetings aie
one way to establish a heaitbeat foi the gioup.
ln thinking about othei ways of stiuctuiing things, note
that the body of the Peeragogy Handbook follows a TUcxx~N
iixi oU1iiNi (Convening a Group is oui foiming, Organiz-
ing a Learning Context is oui stoiming and noiming, Co-
working/Facilitation is oui peifoiming, and Assessment is oui
adjouining). But we agiee with Geisick [1], and Engestim [2],
that gioups do not always follow a lineai oi cyclical pauein with
theii activities'
Neveitheless, theie may be some specic stages oi phases that
you want your gioup to go thiough. Do you need some mile-
stones, foi example` How will you know when youve achieved
success`
ln closing, it is woith ieminding you that it is natuial foi
gioups to expeiience conict, especially as they giow oi cioss
othei thieshold points oi milestones - oi peihaps moie likely,
when they dont cioss impoitant milestones in a timely fashion
(ah, so you iemembei those milestones fiom the pievious sec-
tion'). Neveitheless, theie aie some stiategies can be used to make
this conict pioductive, iathei than meiely destiuctive (see Oz-
tuik and Simsek [3]).
References
1. Engestim, Y. (1999). lnnovative leaining in woik teams
Analyzing cycles of knowledge cieation in piactice. ln Y.
Engestim, R. Mieuinen & R.-L-. Punamki (Eds.), Perspec-
CoNviNiNc 101
tives on activity theory, (pp. 3-404). Cambiidge, UK Cam-
biidge Univeisity Piess
2. Geisick, C. (1988). Time and tiansition in woik teams To-
waid a newmodel of gioup development. Academy of Man-
agement Journal 31 (Oct.) 9-41.
3. Oztuik and Simsek, Oi CoNiiic1 iN Viv1U~i Li~vNiNc
CoxxUNi1iis iN 1ui CoN1ix1 oi ~ Dixocv~1ic Piu~
cocv A v~v~uox ov sovuisx`, in Proceedings of the Net-
worked Learning Conference, 2012, Maastricht.
cu~v1iv 12
PLAY AND LEARNlNG
Authois Biyan Alexandei and Anna Keune
Once moie weie back to the question, What makes leaining
fun` Teie aie deep links between play and leaining. Considei,
foi instance, the way we leain the iules of a game thiough playing
it. Te ist times we play a caid game, oi a physical spoit, oi a
computei simulation we test out iule boundaiies as well as oui
undeistanding. Actois and iole-playeis leain theii ioles thiough
the dynamic piocess of peifoimance. Te iesulting leaining isnt
absoibed all at once, but accietes ovei time thiough an emeigent
piocess, one unfolding fuithei thiough iteiations. ln othei woids,
the moie we play a game, the moie we leain it.
ln addition to the iules of play, we leain about the subject
which play iepiesents, be it a stiategy game (chess, foi exam-
ple) oi simulation of economic conict. Good games echo good
teaching piactice, too, in that they stiuctuie a single playeis ex-
peiience to t theii iegime of competence (cf. Vygotskys zone of
pioximal leaining, a la Gee [1]). Tat is to say a game challenges
playeis at a level suited to theii skill and knowledge comfoit-
able enough that play is possible, but so challenging as to avoid
boiedom, eliciting playei giowth. Role-playing in theatei lets
peifoimeis exploie and test out concepts, see Boal [2]. luithei,
adopting a playful auitude helps individuals meet new challenges
with cuiiosity, along with a ieadiness to mobilize ideas and piac-
tical knowledge. lndeed, the eneigy activated by play can take a
peison beyond an events foimal limitations, as playeis can as-
sume that play can go on and on [3].
Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown All sys-
tems of play aie, at base, leaining systems. [4]
103
104 Pi~v ~Nu ii~vNiNc
Games have always had a majoi social component, and leaining
plays a key iole in that inteipeisonal function. Using games to
build gioup cohesion is an old piactice, actually a tiuism in team
spoits.
lt is impoitant to locate oui peeiagogical moment in a woild
wheie gaming is undeigoing a ienaissance. Not only has digital
gaming become a laige industiy, but gaming has begun to inl-
tiate non-gaming aspects of the woild, sometimes iefeiied to as
gamication. Puuing all thiee of these levels togethei, we see
that we can possibly impiove co-leaining by adopting a playful
mindset. Such a playful auitude can then mobilize any oi all of
the above advantages. loi example,
Two fiiends aie leaining the Russian language togethei.
Tey invent a vocabulaiy game one identies an object in
the woild, and the othei must name it in Russian. Tey take
tuins, each challenging the othei, building up theii com-
mon knowledge.
A middle-aged man decides to take up hiking. Te piospect
is somewhat daunting, since hes a veiy pioud peison and
is easily stymied by leaining something fiom sciatch. So he
adopts a tiail name, a playful pseudonym. Tis new iden-
tity lets him set-aside his self-impoitance and iisk making
mistakes. Giadually he giows comfoitable with what his
new peisona leains.
We can also considei the design eld as a useful kind of
playful peeiagogy. Te peison playing the role of the de-
signei can select the contextual fiame within which the de-
sign is peifoimed. Tis fiame can be seen as the rules gov-
eining the design, the aitifact and the piocess. Tese iules,
as with some games, may change ovei time. Teiefoie the
possibility to adapt, to tailoi ones activities to changing
context is impoitant when designing playful leaining activ-
ities. (And well look at some ways to design peei leaining
expeiiences next')
Pi~v ~Nu ii~vNiNc 10
Of couise, game-based leaining can be pait of standaid peda-
gogy too. When peeis cieate the game themselves, this piesum-
ably involves both game-based leaining and peei leaining. Clas-
sic stiategy games like Go and Cuiss also piovide cleai examples
of peei leaining piactices the question is paitly, what skills and
mindsets do oui game-ielated piactices ieally teach`
Socrates No compulsoiy leaining can iemain in
the soul . . . ln teaching childien, tiain them by a
kind of game, and you will be able to see moie cleaily
the natuial bent of each. (quoted by Tomas Malone
[])
Exercises that can help you cultivate a playful aitude
Use the Oniii S1v~1iciis caid deck (Biian Eno and Pe-
tei Schmidt, 1st edition 19, now available in its fh edi-
tion) to spui playful cieativity. Each caid advises playeis to
change theii cieative piocess, ofen in suipiising diiections.
Take tuins making and shaiing videos. Tis online collab-
oiative continuous video stoiytelling involves a gioup of
people cieating shoit videos, uploading them to YouTube,
then making playlists of iesults. Similai to Ciiv KiNo, only
online.
Engage in theatei play using Google Hangout. e.g. com-
ing togethei with a gioup of people online and peifoiming
theatiical peifoimances on a shaied topic that aie iecoided.
References
1. Gee, J. P. (1992). e social mind: Language, ideology, and
social practice. Seiies in language and ideology. New Yoik
Beigin & Gaivey.
2. Boal, A. (199). eatre of the oppressed. 3id ed. London
Pluto Piess.
10 Pi~v ~Nu ii~vNiNc
3. Beieitei, C. and Scadamalia, M. (1993). Surpassing ourselves,
an inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Peiu,
lllinois Open Couit.
4. Douglas Tomas and John Seely Biown (2011), A New Cul-
ture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of
Constant Change. CieateSpace.
. Malone, T.W. (1981), Towaid a Teoiy of lntiinsically Mo-
tivating lnstiuction, Cognitive Science, 4, pp. 333-39
cu~v1iv 13
K-12 PEERAGOGY
Authoi Veiena Robeits
Teacheis have a ieputation of woiking in isolation, of keep-
ing theii leaining to themselves and on theii own islands. Tey
aie also known foi geneiously shaiing iesouices with one an-
othei. lt is this lauei tiait that is becoming incieasingly impoi-
tant as the iole of the educatoi continues to expand. As educa-
tional technology ieseaich specialist Stephen Downes onsivvis,
the expectations on teacheis have giown fiom being expeit in
the discipline of teaching and pedagogy[to needing to have]
up-to-date and ielevant knowledge and expeiience in it. Even a
teachei of basic disciplines such as science, histoiy oi mathemat-
ics must iemain giounded, as no discipline has iemained stable
foi veiy long, and all disciplines iequiie a deepei insight in oidei
to be taught eectively. lt is no longei possible foi an educatoi
to woik alone to fulll each of these ioles the solution is to woik
and leain in collaboiation with otheis. Tis is wheie peei-based
shaiing and leaining online, connected/netwoiked leaining, oi
peeiagogy, can play an impoitant iole in helping educatois.
Becoming a connected/networked learner
Te following steps aie set out in phases in oidei to suggest
possible expeiiences one may encountei when becoming con-
nected. lt is acknowledged that eveiy leainei is dieient and
these phases only seive as a guide.
Phase 1: Deciding to take the plunge To help educatois be-
gin to connect, the CoNNic1iu EuUc~1ovs S1~v1iv Ki1 was cie-
ated duiing Connected Educatois Month in August 2012. Tis
aiticle pieviews the main steps. Te ist step to becoming a
10
108 K12 Piiv~cocv
connected educatoi-leainei involves making the commitment to
spending the time youll need to leain how to leain and shaie in
an open, connected enviionment.
Phase 2: Lurking We stait o as luikeis. Aleainei can be con-
sideied a tiue luikei afei ieviewing the staitei kit, establishing a
digital piesence (thiough a blog oi a wiki) oi signing up foi Twit-
tei and cieating a basic piole containing a photo. ln this phase,
luikeis will begin to ioiiov o1uiv Usivs oN Tvi11iv and ob-
seive iuUc~1ioN~i Tvi11iv cu~1s. Luikeis will also begin to
seek out othei iesouices thiough niocs, l~cinoox, Euxouo and
LiNxiulN gioups.
Phase 3: Entering the fray Te luikei begins to develop into a
connected educatoi-leainei once he oi she makes the decision to
entei into a dialogue with anothei usei. Tis could take the foim
of a peisonal blog post, paiticipation on an education-ielated
nioc oi vixi oi a an exchange with anothei Twiuei usei. Once
this exchange takes place, ielationships may begin to foim and
the woik towaids building a Peisonal Leaining Netwoik (PLN)
begins.
One such site wheie such ielationships can be built is Ci~ss
voox 2.0, which was founded by S1ivi H~vc~uoN. Tiough
Classioom 2.0, Steve facilitates a numbei of fiee online leaining
oppoitunities including weekly Bi~cxno~vu Coii~nov~1i ses-
sions, confeiences, book piojects and giassioots cioss-countiy
educational-tiansfoimation touis. Classioom 2.0 also oeis a
suppoitive Social Ninga fiee, social leaining space that piovides
online confeiences and synchionous and iecoided inteiviews
with inspiiational educatoisfoi connected educatoi-leaineis
aiound the woild.
Phase 4: Building and shaping your PLN Just as not eveiy
peison one meets becomes a fiiend, it is impoitant to iemembei
that not eveiy exchange will lead to a co-leaining peeiagogy ai-
iangement. lt may be sucient to follow anothei who piovides
K12 Piiv~cocv 109
useful content without expecting any iecipiocation. lt is depen-
dent on each educatoi-leainei to deteimine who to pay auention
to and what leaining puipose that individual oi gioup will seive.
lt is also up to the leainei-educatoi to demonstiate to otheis that
he oi she will actively paiticipate.
Teie aie a numbei of s1v~1iciis one can use when shaping
the PLN to leain. Howevei, one of the best ways educatois can
auiact a coie of peeragogues is by shaiing actively and demon-
stiating active and open leaining foi otheis.
Teie aie a numbei of sites wheie a new educatoi-leainei
can actively and openly leain. ln addition to peisonal blogging
and wikis, othei piofessional development oppoitunities include
open, online couises and weekly synchionous online meetings
thiough video, podcasts oi othei foims of media.
Examples include CoNNic1iu Li~vNiNc TV, TicuT~ix
TUisu~vs, VoiUN1iivsNiiuiu, SixviiK12, K12 ONiiNi, CEET,
and EuTicuT~ix.
Alteinatively, couises aie oeied with P2PUs School of Ed-
ucation oi a wide vaiiety of othei oppoitunities collected by
Ti~cuTuoUcu1 and Educatois CPD online. Peggy Geoige, the
co-facilitatoi of the weekly Classioom 2.0 LlVE Sessions, cieated
a livebindei package of fiee PD ON Dix~Nu connected piofes-
sional development online options foi peeiagogy enthusiasts.
Stage 5: Extending the digital PLN and connecting face-to-
face Ovei time, once the connected educatoi-leainei has estab-
lished a iened PLN, these peeiagogues may choose to shif theii
leaining into physical leaining spaces. Some options available
foi these educatoi-leaineis would include the new giassioots
unconfeiences, which include examples such as EuUCoN, Eu
C~xvs, THATc~xv and CoNNic1iuCA.
Tese (un)confeiences aie fiee oi extiemely low-cost and fo-
cus on leaining fiom and with otheis. Tey aie typically pub-
licized thiough Twiuei, Google Apps, and lacebook. Connect-
ing face-to-face with othei peeiagogues can stiengthen bonds to
leaining netwoiks and help to piomote theii sustainability.
110 K12 Piiv~cocv
Postscript Sylvia Tolisano, Rodd Luciei and Zoe Bianigan-
Pipen co-cieated an iNiocv~vuic that which exploies the ex-
peiiences individuals may encountei in the jouiney to become
connected leaineis thiough anothei ielated sequence of steps
Lurker, Novice, Insider, Colleague, Collaborator, Friend, and Con-
dant. Check it out, and also have a look at oui Recommended
Readings foi some additional iesouices.
cu~v1iv 14
P2P SELl-ORGANlZED LEARNlNG
ENVlRONMENTS
Author Jan Heidei
liom this conveisational piece you can engage in a
jouiney to aect youi leaining space thiough many
points of entiy inteiacting with the physical one. We
hope to inspiie emeiging stiuctuie and iecipiocal
mentoiing to cieate a iipple eect foi those willing
to open the dooi to a new possible woild.
The Guiding Strategy:
ln his Peeiagogical Case Study David Pieston states
Peeiagogical inteiaction iequiies iening ielational
and topical ciitique, as well as skills in othei
meta liteiacies, including but not limited to ciitical
thinking, collaboiation, conict iesolution, decision-
making, mindfulness, patience and compassion.
(fiom Case Study PH1NX [1]).
A SiiiOvc~NiziNc Li~vNiNc ENvivoNxiN1, oi SOLE, with
a living stiuctuie accomplishes all of these outcomes, oi Davids
meta-liteiacies, simultaneously. An authentic pioblem and/oi
pioject based activity in a connected leaining enviionment in-
cludes diveise leaineis in diveise ways by empoweiing all leain-
eis as peeis.
Tis piovides the authentic leaining enviionment with which
to design a SOLE. SOLEs aie eveiywheie. How have we evolved
as a species, if not thiough self-oiganizing` A conveisation be-
tween stiangeis is self oiganizing, each leaining about something
111
112 P2P SOLE
A visU~iiz~1ioN oi 1ui i~ciii1~1iu viiv 1o viiv SOLE
(u11v//coo.ci/S1xJK)
P2P SOLE 113
oi each othei. Te spaces aiound people conveising is also an en-
viionment, though not explicitly a leaining one. While we aie al-
ways self-oiganizing to leain oi accomplish things, one place that
SOLEs do not always exist aie in leaining institutions. ln many
educational institutions, oui leaining enviionments aie piedom-
inately oiganized by the teachei, cuiiiculum, oi society. How
can we nuituie peei to peei leaining enviionments to oiganize`
How does the iole of the teachei diei in a SOLE` ln what ways
can we unite that fundamental, passionate human chaiacteiistic
of cuiiosity and self-oiganizing back into oui Leaining Enviion-
ments`
Te model that SUc~1~ Mi1v~ [2] is expeiimenting with gives
us some scaolding to cieate one ouiselves. Tis is the goal of
his SOLE Tooi Ki1 (3). Sugatas kit is diiected towaids childien
between 8 and 12 yeais old. l was wondeiing if theie is a way
to make it moie univeisal in its application. How can l apply it
to my situation` How is a SOLE dieient in the context of peei
to peei leaining` Tis chaptei of the Handbook uses Sugatas
model as a dooiway into oui undeistanding a SOLE appioach to
peei to peei leaining. lts thiee key components aie leaineis,
context and pioject. l nd the discussion needs to integiate what
we aie leaining about diveise leaineis into a UNivivs~i DisicN
iov Li~vNiNc [4] context. Afei all, we cannot take foi gianted
who the peeis aie in the SOLE. Equally, the context, the leaining
enviionment (LE) must be as deeply consideied as the leaineis
paiticipating. As a leaining designei, l amalso seeking moie clues
about the living stiuctuie of a well ciafed SOLE.
Centers within the Center
SOLEs exist in a paiticulai context. Take Sugatas uoii iN
1ui v~ii [] expeiiment. Te paiameteis of the enviionment of
a computei embedded in a wall in lndia aie veiy specic. Sug-
atas act was to design a pioject in oidei to facilitate a piocess
within that enviionment. Te elements he intioduced weie a
touch scieen computei embedded in a wall with specic sofwaie.
Sugata has abstiacted this design into a Tool Kit. He speaks of
114 P2P SOLE
Child Diiven Leaining, intiinsically motivated leaining with the
cuiiosity to leain something in paiticulai. As a leainei-centiic
peeiagogy, SOLEs aie emeigent, bouom up, seeking to answei
How do we design a pioject (oi phiase a pioblem) that ignites a
leaineis passion`
A SOLE is a facilitated leaining enviionment (LE) that can
nuituie leainei diiven activity. loi instance, in the Hole in the
Wall example, the design is the context of the wall, the stieet, the
neighboihood and the facilitation is the touch scieen monitoi
in the wall. Tey aie biilliantly united. ln this sense it is an in-
tentional, self-awaie leaining enviionment. lt is a stiange foieign
object that anyone would have to guie out how it woiks to take
advantage of. But this is not in the classioom, oi in the school.
lt is an infoimal LE. Just like ii~vNiNc ~ c~xi [], theie is an
entiie ecology that suiiounds you. Tis is veiy much a systemic
appioach. Te context is facilitated explicitly (youi design of the
SOLE), but also implicitly in the uiuuiN cUvvicUiUx [] that de-
nes youi LE. Above is the layout of the 1v~Nsiovxiu ii~vNiNc
iNvivoNxiN1 [8] l exploied to woik aiound the hidden cuiiicu-
lum of the tiaditional classioom. Te LE has a tiemendous, if
not ovivvuiixiNc iNiiUiNci, oN ii~vNiNc [9]. Te ist step
in connected leaining is to ieconnect to the enviionment aiound
us. loi me, the piimaiy context of my LE is a peifoiming aits
centei at a small iuial libeial aits college. Te Peifoiming Aits
Centei is a Centei within the context of the college and commu-
nity. A diveisity of spaces within the facility aie inhabited small
and cozy, laige and public, technology embedded eveiywheie, all
focused on the pioject based leaining that emeiges pioducing a
peifoimance. l stay away fiom a foimal classioom as much as
possible. Tese spaces aie Centeis within the Centei, ioosiiv
coNNic1iu ~u~v1ivi coxviix svs1ixs [10] within themselves,
just like people. l believe that the possibility of a SOLE emeig-
ing as a living stiuctuie seems to depend on the coiiect types of
complex systems engaged in the LE.
What is the iole of the inteinet in youi design` Mitigating
inequalities and accommodating diveise leaineis aie somewhat
assisted by access to the inteinet. But it is the immediate, JUs1
P2P SOLE 11
iN1ixi ii~vNiNc [11] that makes fiee and open access to the
woild wide web so impoitant in a SOLE. Wiieless is available
thioughout this LE. Nooks and lounges, inteiconnected, but sep-
aiate iooms, piovide lots of places foi collaboiation oi solitaiy
woik, foi staying connected oi hiding out. ln a UDL vision of a
facilitated peei to peei SOLE, technology is integial to the design.
ln the case of my LE, with the use of digital audio, multi-media,
database management, iobotic lighting and uicuvoic [12] colois,
leaineis aie accustomed to accessing and augmenting ieality with
technology allowing leaineis to access theii social media is pait
of theii content cieation.
Do we stait oui SOLE as peeis` Peei to peei assumes youi
paiticipants aie peeisespecially you, the facilitatoi. Teie needs
to be enough diveisity and complexity to include all leaineis, en-
gendeiing a UNivivs~iiv DisicNiu CoN1ix1 [13]. What is the
iole of diveisity in peei to peei SOLE building` How aie diveise
leaineis peeis` ln my LE, l discoveied 0 of my leaineis have
leaining challenges. l know my LE is not unique in this iegaid. l
have to facilitate a SOLE design that is inclusive. Tis is in con-
tiadistinction to commonality, yet this diveisity is what we ciave,
foi cieativity and innovation, foi deep leaining to occui. Ciaf-
ing youi SOLE using multiple means of iepiesentation, expies-
sion and engagement empoweis leaineis to be peeis. A diveise
leaining enviionment, suppoiting diveise leaining styles and di-
veise leaineis, suppoits a complex pioject based SOLE. But theie
aie many SOLEs within the SOLE since leaining is occuiiing on
many levels with each student and within each gioup. We do not
all get the same thing at the same time. Leaining outcomes aie
diveise, emeigent, seiendipitous.
What type of pioject, pioblemoi event will focus youi eoits`
Eithei a ii~vNiv ciNiv~1iu svii~nUs [14] may emeige fiom the
SOLE, oi a Usiv ciNiv~1iu iuUc~1ioN[1] within a specic con-
text may answei this question. Owneiship and leadeiship emeige
when leaineis can apply theii cieativity and/oi authentically as-
sist each othei in a common goal. Oppoitunities to design and
modify even small things will diaw leaineis into a pioject. Te
moie they must iely on each othei, collaboiate and shaie theii
11 P2P SOLE
cieativity, theii designs and actualizationthe moie they woik
togethei as peeis. Te spaces in youi LE aie most likely alieady
designed and built to accommodate the puipose of the facility in
the context of the college oi school. We cannot ieally iedesign the
actual space, but we can iedesign many aspects. We can look foi
designs within it. Being able to design youi own space, oi pioject,
is ciitical to taking owneiship of youi leaining and expeiiencing
the consequences. As leaineis matuie and look foi ways to be
moie involved, l suggest they iedesign the shop, the iepeitoiy
lighting plot, oi the pioceduies of theii depaitment and/oi SOLE
oveiall. Exchanging ioles as designei also stimulates peei intei-
action. Why not integiate design and design thinking` ln my
context, lighting, scene, costume and sound design aie inteicon-
nected oppoitunities. Along with accompanying technology, ev-
eiy oppoitunity is used to nuituie empathy, cieativity, iationality
and systems thinking. lntegial to the leainei geneiated syllabus
oi pioject design should be continuous aitifact cieation. A gieat
place to stait the design piocess and to begin to geneiate content
is by using a viitual woild.
Constant content cieation can integiate assessment into youi
SOLE. lt is the quality of the aitifacts cieated along the way that
ieveals the success of youi SOLE. Media that chionicles a jouiney
thiough time, cieated by each leainei, ieveals the depth of pai-
ticipation. lt is neaily impossible to cheat. Te leainei expiesses
theii compiehension in the types and extent of aitifact cieation.
As the facilitatoi, l look foi oppoitunities to intioduce the un-
expected, biggei questions, deepei consideiations, along the way.
loi example, in the context of my LE, one of the events featuie Ti-
betan Monks. Tey biing a counteipoint to the inated egos and
cult of peisonality which is pievalent in oui context. Te SOLE
Plan is extended. lt can happen ovei a much longei amount of
time than one class oi one day. Te actois ieheaise foi weeks,
as the design team designs, giving time foi ieseaich, absoiption,
misleads, mistakes, coiiection and ieection. A SOLE needs time
and peisistence to geneiate aitifacts, documentation and expeii-
ences of the pioject and viitual woilds aie an excellent way to
extend time and space synchionously and asynchionously.
P2P SOLE 11
Sugata emphasizes the Big questions. We do not always know
what they aie. A focus` A goal` A pioduct` And the event` Tat
should be decided with the gioup. Te leaineis intuit the diiec-
tion that leads to deep engagement and the biggei questions. l tiy
and leave it ambiguous, suggesting some of the things they might
encountei. lacilitating the SOLE in this context, we face endless
questions connected to the specic LE, to all the imaginaiy sce-
naiios, Heiculean tasks and questions like building castles, pio-
giamming a digital sound console, tioubleshooting iobotic light-
ing instiuments, how to make the illusion of ie oi, even, who
killed Chailemagne` Te Box Oce is an example of an infoi-
mal SOLE that has emeiged iecuiiently ovei time. l have noticed
that its vitality depends on the chaiacteis and the ebb and ow of
leaineis enteiing the gioup oi giaduating. Te physical space is a
small, windowless and ofen damp ioom with a couple of couches
and a desk with a computei squeezed in. My veiy own Hole in
the Wall expeiiment. Te bouom of the dooi can iemain closed,
while the top is open, like a stable. Piimaiily the students aie paid
to be theie, answeiing the phone, ieseiving tickets, gieeting pa-
tions and managing the Box Oce and the liont of the House. ln
the SOLE, this subtle inveision of the institutional value pioposi-
tion tuins woik study into studying woik. Tis is an infoimal LE
nested within the context of the foimal institution and the widei
LE a centei within a centei. Some semesteis theie aie business
majois woiking theii way up the job laddei Ushei to Assistant
liont of House Managei, to Assistant Box Oce Managei, to Box
Oce Managei. Sometimes this takes 4 yeais, sometimes it hap-
pens in a semestei oi two. lt is a iecuisive SOLE that dieis as the
inteiests and skills of the students who inhabit the space change.
As the cuiient managei puts it, the Box Oce is a constantly
evolving puzzle.
Tis example of a SOLE in an infoimal LE is similai to the
othei types of SOLEs that occui within a facilitated LE. Te
leaineis inteiact as iecipiocal appientices, leaning on one an-
othei to solve challenges and pioblems. Gioups aie self-selective,
this type of woik suits theii tempeiament and inteiests, oi time.
Tis cohoit is almost a clique, auiacting theii boyfiiends and giil-
118 P2P SOLE
fiiends. Tey begin initiatives, ie-design the lobby foi ciowd con-
tiol, iedecoiate and ieaiiange the space constantly, decide theii
schedules and split up iesponsibility. Eveiyone is always tiaining
eveiyone, because the enviionment tuins ovei each semestei. lt
is explicitly an infoimal LE. Te woikeis aie students. Tis in-
veits the usual state of aaiis, wheie essentially they aie being
paid to leain, though they may not even be awaie of it. Occa-
sionally, the leaining expeiience iesonates deeply with them. A
numbei of them have used the expeiience to leveiage jobs that
paiallel theii inteiests, oi get them staited on theii caieeis.
Job titles, ioles of iesponsibility, aie ofen pioblematic in a
SOLE. Te bouom line is that as peeis we aie all equal and at
ceitain times eveiyone is expected to do eveiything iegaidless of
theii ioles. Titles go to peoples heads. But this is pait of the
expeiience. Keep the titles moving, change it up when things
get boulenecked ovei peisonalities. Sometimes l cieate dupli-
cate positions, Assistants of Assistants. and Depaitment Heads.
Te Appienticeship model is at play but in a new way in a SOLE.
Teie aie peeis and theie aie peeis. As powei stiuggles emeige,
some like-to-like giouping occuis. Te iole of the facilitatoi be-
comes mediatoi. Te emeigent epistemology of abundance and
connected leaining asks foi a multitude of expeits. ln the same
way, leadeiship can be distiibuted, owing as vaiying needs aiise.
Te expeiience of piacticing leadeiship skills and encountei-
ing all the vaiiables of woiking with diveise folks quickly gives
feedback to us if this is a helpful iole foi this peison. lt is messy
sometimes, and theie aie conicts. Afei a few events, they leain
how to manage a Box Oce, dealing with pations, emeigencies,
complaints and bag check. Tey confiont the laigei peei gioup,
the student body, with authoiity and empathy. Tey aie veiy
pioud of theii jobs and make theii own name tags with titles. A
hieiaichy gives them iewaids that they have been tiained to ex-
pect fiom yeais in school. lt is anothei way of developing intiin-
sic motivation and challenges them to inteiact with theii peeis
authentically.
As facilitatoi, l tiy to leave them alone as much as possible.
Te context has been cieated, the computei in the wall is on a
P2P SOLE 119
desk. Extending the design of youi SOLE contiibutes to its living
stiuctuie. l have used l~cinoox ~s ~ SUvviixiN1~i LMS [1]
since 200 because this is wheie my students aie and it allows
them to contiol the stiuctuies of gioups emeigently. Te leain-
eis cieate the gioups as they aie ielevant. Te facilitatoi does
not. Usually they invite me in' loi now, lacebook aggiegates the
leaining community that the SOLE inspiies as leaineis become
leadeis, establish connections with each othei and mentoi new-
bies. Tis activity is integiated into aitifact cieation, comments
and documentation of theii peisonal leaining jouiney. lacebook
becomes a piecuisoi foi theii poitfolios, and in some cases, it is
theii poitfolio. Ricivvoc~i AvvviN1icisuivs [1] occui in the
dynamic of collaboiation among peeis. Continuity in time be-
yond the event hoiizon is accomplished by these ielationships.
Peeis nuituie one anothei along the shaied leaining jouiney that
the SOLE piovides. As facilitatoi and designei, you aie, most of
all, in a iecipiocal ielationship with the othei leaineis. Tis is the
essence of being a peei, an inteiaction that iespects what each of
us biings to the expeiience.
References
1. Pieston, David (2014). Case Study PH1NX (pp. 491,
this volume).
2. AnoU1 SUc~1~ Mi1v~
3. Tui SOLE Tooixi1
4. National Centei foi Univeisal Design foi Leaining, UNiviv
s~i DisicN iov Li~vNiNc GUiuiiiNis
. Sugata Mitia (2010). Tui cuiiuuviviN iuUc~1ioN, TED.
. G~xin~siu Li~vNiNc ~Nu lN1viNsic Mo1iv~1ioN nv
Kvis1i Mi~u
. HiuuiN CUvvicUiUx, on Wikipedia.
120 P2P SOLE
8. Tv~Nsiovxiu Li~vNiNc ENvivoNxiN1 AN~ivsis
9. Elmasiy, Saiah Khalil (200). lN1icv~1ioN P~11ivNs oi
Li~vNiNc TicuNoiociis. lRB- 0-29-0.
10. Cuiious lNlovxiNc siNcUi~v/viUv~i uisicN, Tui Tui
oviis oi Cuvis1ovuiv Aiix~Nuiv.
11. Ovivvuiixiu vi1u Bioc Tivs` H~cx Li~vNiNc vi1u
JUs1 lN Tixi lNiovx~1ioN
12. Dicuvoic lii1iv, on Wikipedia.
13. cast.oig, UDL GUiuiiiNis
14. Ac1ivi Li~vNiNc S1UuiN1 GiNiv~1iu Svii~nUs
1. Usiv GiNiv~1iu EuUc~1ioN Bioc
1. l~cinoox ~s ~ SUvviixiN1~i LMS
1. Ricivvoc~i AvvviN1icisuiv
cu~v1iv 1
A STORY ABOUT NEW BEGlNNlNGS
Once he gets to the Whispeiing Galleiy, Joige iealizes that the
giil was iight. Tis is the centei of the univeise. Teie aie mui-
muis to be heaid theie it seems they come fiomeveiywheie. He
heais about guilds and the ciafsmen who built the cathedial. He
leains about how pioud they weie and how they foimed commu-
nities of piactice, educating the uninitiated, teaching each othei
to cieate. He ietuins to giound level. Te giil is gone, but he feels
happy and inspiied. He can do much moie then iepackage social
media stieams, theie is moie going on heie than Twiuei as a new
bioadcast medium. He staits a new jouiney nding a guild, a
community of piactice, but iestyled in a 21st centuiy fashion. lt
will be moie open, moie connected to otheis then the old guilds.
He will still use Twiuei, a social dashboaid, and cuiating tools,
but also he uses wikis, and synchionous communication. And
most impoitantly, he staits building, togethei with otheis in
paiticulai, togethei with the people foimeily known as his iead-
eis. Tey will co-cieate the analysis, the seaich foi solutions and
sense-making, iathei than helplessly listening to expeits, pas-
sively consuming piepiocessed knowledge and infoimation. ln-
stead, theyll stait building theii own destiny, and the newsioom
will be pait of the platfoim.
121
122 A s1ovv ~noU1 Niv niciNNiNcs
Section of the Dome at St Pauls Cathedial
Part VI
Organizing a Learning
Context
cu~v1iv 1
lNTRODUCTlON TO ORGANlZlNG CO-LEARNlNG
Tis section about oiganizing Co-Leaining iests on the as-
sumption that leaining always happens in a context, whethei this
context is a stiuctuied couise oi a (potentially) less stiuctuied
leaining space. loi the moment we considei the following divi-
sion
Organizing Co-learning Contexts
Couises ( leaining linked to a timeline oi syllabus)
Spaces ( leaining not linked to a timeline oi syl-
labus)
Tis section focuses on existing leaining contexts and examines in
detail how they have been oiganized by theii (co-)cieatois. At
a meta-level of media, we can talk about this paiallel stiuctuie
Building Co-learning Platforms
Development tiajectoiies (e.g. design, implement,
test, iepeat)
Platfoim featuies (e.g. foiums, wikis, owneiship mod-
els, etc.)
A given leaining enviionment with have both time-like and
space-like featuies as well as both designed-foi and un-planned
featuies. A given leaining platfoim will encouiage ceitain types
of engagement and impose ceitain constiaints. Te question foi
both teacheis and system designeis as well as foi leaineis
should be what features best support learning?
Te answei will depend on the leaining task and available ie-
souices.
12
12 Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc
loi example, neaily eveiyone agiees that the best way to leain
a foieign language is thiough immeision. But not eveiyone who
wants to leain, say, liench, can aoid to diop eveiything to go
live in a liench-speaking countiy. Tus, the space-like full im-
meision tieatment is fiequently saciiced foi couise-like tieat-
ments (eithei via books, CDs, videos, oi ongoing paiticipation in
semi-immeisive discussion gioups).
System designeis aie also faced with scaice iesouices pio-
giammei time, sofwaie licensing conceins, availability of peei
suppoit, and so foith. While the ideal platfoim would (magically)
come with solutions pie-built, a moie iealistic appioach iecog-
nizes that pioblem solving always takes time and eneigy. Te
pioblem solving appioach and associated leaining oiientation
will also depend on the task and iesouices at hand. Te following
sections will develop this issue fuithei thiough some specic case
studies.
Case study 1 (pilot, completed): Paragogy and
the Aer Action Review.
ln oui analysis of oui expeiiences as couise oiganizeis at
P2PU, we (Joe Coineli and Chailie Danof) used the US Aimys
technique of Afei Action Review (AAR). To quote fiom oUv v~
viv [2]
As the name indicates, the AAR is used to ieview
tiaining exeicises. lt is impoitant to note that while
one peison typically plays the iole of evaluatoi in
such a ieview [] the ieview itself happens among
peeis, and examines the opeiations of the unit as a
whole.
Te foui steps in an AAR aie
1. Review what was supposed to happen (tiaining
plans).
2. Establish what happened.
Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc 12
3. Deteimine what was iight oi wiong with what
happened.
4. Deteimine how the task should be done diei-
ently the next time.
Te stated puipose of the AAR is to identify
stiengths and shoitcomings in unit planning, piepa-
iation, and execution, and guide leadeis to accept ie-
sponsibility foi shoitcomings and pioduce a x.
We combined the AAR with seveial piinciples (see Discussion
section below), which we felt desciibed eective peei leaining,
and went thiough steps 1-4 foi each piinciple to look at how well
it was implemented at P2PU. Tis piocess helped geneiate a iange
of advice that could be applied at P2PU oi similai institutions. By
piesenting oui papei at the OviN KNoviiuci CoNiiviNci (OK
CoN), we weie able to meet P2PUs executive diiectoi, Philipp
Schmidt, as well as othei highly-involved P2PU paiticipants, oui
feedback may have contiibuted to shaping the development tia-
jectoiy foi P2PU.
ln addition, we developed a stiong piototype foi constiuc-
tive engagement with peei leaining that we and otheis could
deploy again. ln othei woids, vaiiants on the AAR and
the paiagogical piinciples could be incoipoiated into futuie
leaining contexts as platfoim featuies [3] oi ie-used in a de-
sign/administiation/modeiation appioach [4]. loi example, we
also used the AAR to help stiuctuie oui wiiting and subsequent
woik on v~v~cocv.Ni1.
Case Study 2 (in progress): Peeragogy.
Oui paiticulai focus in the inteiviews was on diawing out and
emphasizing the ielational dimension of students, leaining expe-
iiences within theii enviionment and, consequently, on infeiiing
fiom theii accounts a sense of how they peiceived and indeed
constituted theii enviionment. We asked them who they leained
with and fiom and how. A fuithei question specically focused
128 Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc
on whom they iegaided as theii peeis and how they undeistood
theii peeis as a souice and a site foi leaining [1].
ln this section, we will inteiview and/oi suivey membeis of
the Peeiagogy community with questions similai to those used by
Boud and Lee [1] and then identify stiengths and shoitcomings
as we did with the AAR above. Tese questions aie deiived fiom
the AAR.
estions
Tese weie discussed, iened, and answeied on an etheipad
ievisions to the oiiginal set of questions aie maiked in italics.
1. Who have you leained with or fiom in the Peeiagogy
pioject` What are you doing to contribute to your peers
learning?
2. How have you been leaining duiing the pioject`
3. Who aie youi peeis in this community, and why`
4. What weie youi expectations of paiticipation in this
pioject` And, specically, what did you (or do you) hope to
learn through participation in this project?
. What actually happened duiing youi paiticipation in this
pioject (so fai)` Have you been making progress on your
learning goals (if any; see previous question) or learned any-
thing unexpected, but interesting?
. What is iight oi wiong with what happened (Alteinatively
how would you assess the pioject to date`)
. How might the task be done dieiently next time` (Whats
missing heie that would cieate a next time, sequel, or
continuation?)
8. How would you like to use the Peeragogy handbook?
9. Finally, how might we change the questions, above, if we
wanted to apply them in your peeragogical context?
Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc 129
Reflections on participants answers
Te questions weie intended to help paiticipants ieect on,
and change, theii piactice (i.e. theii style of paiticipation). Teie
is a tension, howevei, between changing midstieam and leaining
what we might do dieiently next time. Teie is a ielated tension
between initial stiuctuie and guiing things out as we go. Ai-
guably, if we knew, 100, how to do peeiagogy, then we would
not leain veiy much in wiiting this handbook. Diculties and
tensions would be iesolved in advance (see eailiei comments
about magical technologies foi peei pioduction).
And yet, despite oui consideiable collected expeitise on col-
laboiation, leaining, and teaching, theie have been a vaiiety of
tensions heie' Peihaps we should judge oui success paitly on
how well we deal with those. Some of the tensions highlighted in
the answeis aie as follows
1. Slow formation of peer relationships. Teie is a ceitain
iiony heie we aie studying peeiagogy and yet many ie-
spondents did not feel they weie ieally geuing to know one
anothei as peeis, at least not yet. Tose who did have
a team oi who knew one anothei fiom pievious expeii-
ences, felt moie peei-like in those ielationships. Seveial ie-
maiked that they leained less fiom othei individual paitic-
ipants and moie fiom the collective oi fiom eveiyone.
At the same time, some iespondents had ambiguous feel-
ings about naming individuals in the ist question l felt
like l was going to leave people out and that that means they
would get a bad giade - ha' One ciiteiion foi being a peei
was to have built something togethei, so by this ciiteiion,
it stands to ieason that we would only slowly become peeis
thiough this pioject.
2. Co-learning, co-teaching, co-producing? One iespon-
dent wiote l am leaining about peeiagogy, but l think lm
failing to be a good peeiagogue. l iemembei that Howaid
once told us that the most impoitant thing is that you
should be iesponsible not only foi youi own leaining but
130 Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc
foi youi peeis leaining. [] So the question is, aie we
leaining fiom otheis by ouiselves oi aie we helping oth-
eis to leain` Anothei wiote To my suipiise l iealized
l could contiibute oiganizationally with ieviews, etc. And
that l could piovide some content aiound PLNs and gioup
piocess. Tiying to be a catalyst to a sense of foiwaid move-
ment and espiit de coips.
3. Weak structure at the outset, versus a more exible ap-
proach. One iespondent wiote l denitely think l do bet-
tei when piesented with a fiamewoik oi scaold to use foi
paiticipation oi content development. [] (But peihaps
it is just that lm used to the old way of doing things).
Yet, the same peison wiote l am inteiested in [the] ap-
plicability [of piagogy] to new models foi entiepieneui-
ship enabling less stiuctuied aggiegation of paiticipants in
new undeitakings, fieed of the iequiiement oi need foi an
entiepieneuiial visionaiy/souice/point peison/piopiietoi.
Teie is a sense that some confusion, paiticulaily at the be-
ginning, may be typical foi peeiagogy. With hindsight, one
pioposed solution would be to have had a small gioup of
people as a cadie that had met and biainstoimed befoie the
ist live session [] tasked [with] ioles [and] on the same
page.
4. Technological concerns. Teie weie quite a vaiiety, peihaps
mainly to do with the question how might a (dieient)
platfoim handle the tension between conveisations and
content pioduction` loi example, will WoidPiess help us
biing in new contiibutois, oi would it be beuei to use
an open wiki` Anothei iespondent noted the utility foi
many ieadeis of a take-away PDl veision. Te site (peeia-
gogy.oig) should be [a] place foi people to shaie, comment,
mentoi and co-leain togethei in an ongoing fashion.
. Sample size. Note that answeis aie still tiickling in. How
should we inteipiet the iesponse iate` Peihaps what mat-
teis is that we aie geuing enough iesponses to make an
Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc 131
analysis. One iespondent pioposed asking questions in a
moie ongoing fashion, e.g., asking people who aie leaving
What made you want to quit the pioject`
Discussion
Lisewski and Joyce ln iecent yeais, the tools,
knowledge base and discouise of the leaining tech-
nology piofession has been bolsteied by the appeai-
ance of conceptual paiadigms such as the ve stage
e-modeiating model and the new mantia of com-
munities of piactice. Tis papei will aigue that, al-
though these fiamewoiks aie useful in infoiming and
guiding leaining technology piactice, theie aie inhei-
ent dangeis in them becoming too dominant a dis-
couise.
Te following table helps to emphasize something we saw in
the pauein catalog in piactice, what we ieally have is a patch-
woik collection of tiicks oi heuiistics. Te paiagogy piinciples
aie themselves a non-lineai inteiface that we can plug into and
adapt wheie appiopiiate. lnstead of a giand naiiative, we see
a giowing collection of case studies and desciiptive paueins. As
we shaie oui expeiiences and make needed adaptations, oui tech-
niques foi doing peei leaining and peei pioduction become moie
iobust. Based on the expeiiences desciibed above, heie aie a few
things people may want to tiy out in futuie piojects
lcebieaking techniques oi a buddy system, continual
iefactoiing into teams.
Maintain a piocess diagiamthat can be used to tiiage new
ideas and eoit.
Piefei the good to the best, but make impiovements at
the platfoim level as needed.
Gatheiing some infoimation fiomeveiyone who joins, and,
if possible, eveiyone who leaves.
132 Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc
Paragogical Principles Reflections on practice and ex-
perience suggest
1. Changing context as a decentered
center.
[We inteiact by changing the
space.]
It seems we begin with weak ties,
and then experience a slow forma-
tion of peer relationships, as we
form and re-form our social context,
and come to beer understand our
goals.
2. Meta-learning as a font of knowl-
edge.
[We inteiact by changing what we
know about ouiselves.]
We learn a lot about ourselves by
interacting with others. But par-
ticipants struggle to nd the right
way to engage: co-learning, co-
teaching, or co-producing? More-
over, People comethey stay for a
while, they ourish, they buildand
they go.
3. Peers provide feedback that would
not be there otherwise.
[We inteiact by changing oui pei-
spective on things.]
We begin with a weak structure at
the outset but this may aord a more
exible approach as time goes on
(see also this handbook section which
oers advice on designing activities
that help create a exible struc-
ture).
4. Paragogy is distributed and non-
linear.
[We inteiact by changing the way
things connect.]
ere are a number of technological
concerns, which in a large part have
to do with tensions between content
production and conversation, and
to a lesser extent critique the plat-
forms were using.
. Realize the dream if you can, then
wake up!
[We inteiact by changing oui ob-
jectives.]
Even with a small group, we can
extract meaningful ideas about peer
learning and form a strong collective
eort, which moves things forward
for those involved: this means work.
We would not get the same results
through pure contemplation.
Ovc~NiziNc CoLi~vNiNc 133
References
1. Boud, D. and Lee, A. (200). Piiv ii~vNiNc ~s viu~cocic
uiscoUvsi iov visi~vcu iuUc~1ioN. Studies in Higher Ed-
ucation, 30()011.
2. Joseph Coineli and Chailes Jeiey Dano, P~v~cocv, in
Sebastian Hellmann, Philipp liischmuth, Sien Auei, and
Daniel Dietiich (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Open Knowl-
edge Conference, Berlin, Germany, June 30 & July 1, 2011,
3. Joseph Coineli and Alexandei Mikioyannidis (2011). Piv
soN~iisiu ~Nu PiivSUvvov1iu Li~vNiNc Tui Piiv1o
Piiv Li~vNiNc ENvivoNxiN1 (P2PLE), Digital Education
Review, 20.
4. Joseph Coineli, P~v~cocic~i Pv~xis, E-Learning and Digi-
tal Media (lSSN 2042-30), Volume 9, Numbei 3, 2012
. Lisewski, B., and P. Joyce (2003). Examining the live Stage
e-Modeiating Model Designed and Emeigent Piactice in
the Leaining Technology Piofession, Association for Learn-
ing Technology Journal, 11, -.
cu~v1iv 1
ADDlNG STRUCTURE WlTH ACTlVlTlES
ln the intioduction to Oiganizing a Leaining Context, we ie-
maiked that a leaining space is only potentially less stiuctuied
than a couise. loi example, a libiaiy tends to be highly stiuc-
tuied, with quiet iooms foi ieading, piotocols foi checking out
books, a cataloging and shelving system that allows people to
nd what they aie looking foi, as well as iules that detei van-
dalism and thef. (Digital libiaiies dont need to play by all the
same iules, but aie still stiuctuied.)
But moie stiuctuie does not always lead to beuei leaining. ln
a 2010 loibes aiticle titled, Te Classioom in 2020, Geoige Kem-
bel desciibes a futuie in which Tidy lectuies will be supplanted
by messy ieal-woild challenges. Te Stanfoid School of Design,
(oi d.school which Kemble co-founded and cuiiently diiects)
is alieady well-known foi its open collaboiative spaces, abundant
supply of post-it notes and maikeis, and impiovisational biain-
stoim activities almost the opposite of tiaditional lectuie-based
leaining.
One unexpected benet of dealing with ieal-woild chal-
lenges is that we can change oui appioach as we go. Tis is howit
woiks in peei leaining peeis can decide on dieient stiuctuies
not just once (say, at the beginning of a couise), but thiough-
out the duiation of theii time togethei. Tis way, they aie nevei
stuck with existing stiuctuies, whethei they be messy oi clean.
At least thats the ideal.
ln piactice, boulenecks fiequently aiise. loi example, in
a digital libiaiy context, theie may be boulenecks having to do
with sofwaie development, oiganizational iesouices, community
good will, oi access to funding and piobably all of the above. ln
a didactic context, it may be as simple as one peison knowing
something that otheis do not.
While we cant eliminate scaicity in one stioke, we can design
13
13 AuuiNc s1vUc1Uvi
activities foi peei leaining that aie scaicity awaie and that help
us move in the diiection of adaptive leaining stiuctuies.
Planning Peer Learning Activities
We begin with two simple questions
How do we select an appiopiiate leaining activity`
How do we go about cieating a leaining activity if we dont
nd an existing one`
Planning a leaining activity should mean planning an eective
leaining activity, and in paiticulai that means something that
people can and will engage with. ln shoit, an appiopiiate leaining
activity may be one that you alieady do' At the veiy least, cuiient
activities can piovide a seed foi even moie eective ones.
But when enteiing unfamiliai teiiitoiy, it can be dicult to
know wheie to begin. And iemembei the boulenecks mentioned
above` When you iun into diculty, ask youiself why is this
haid` You might tiy adapting Ziu Su~vs 1~sxx~N~cixiN1
1vicx, and make a list of limiting factois, obstacles, etc., then cioss
o those which you can nd a stiategy to deal with (add an an-
notation as to why). loi example, you might decide to oveicome
youi lack of knowledge in some aiea by hiiing a tutoi oi expeit
consultant, oi by puuing in the houis leaining things the haid
way (Zed would paiticulaily appiove of this choice). lf you cant
nd a stiategy to deal with some issue, piesumably you can table
it, at least foi a while.
Stiategic thinking like this woiks well foi one peison. What
about when youie planning activities foi someone else` Heie
you have to be caieful iemembei, this is peei leaining, not tiadi-
tional teaching oi cuiiiculum design. Te ist iule of thumb
foi peer learning is dont plan activities foi otheis unless you plan
to to take pait as a fully engaged paiticipant. Otheiwise, in you
might be moie inteiested in the liteiatuie on collaborative learn-
ing, which has ofen been deployed to good eect within a stan-
daid pedagogical context (see e.g. Biuee [1]). ln a peei leaining
AuuiNc s1vUc1Uvi 13
seuing, eveiyone will have something to say about what do you
need to do and why is it haid, and eveiyone is likely to be in-
teiested in eveiyone elses answei as well as theii own.
loi example, in a mathematics leaining context, you would be
likely to nd people
solving textbook-style pioblems,
nding and shaiing new ieseaich pioblems,
asking questions when something seems too dicult,
xing expositoiy mateiial to iespond to ciitique,
oeiing ciitique and ieview of pioposed solutions,
oeiing constiuctive feedback to questions (e.g. hints),
oiganizing mateiial into stiuctuied collections,
woiking on applications to ieal-woild pioblems,
doing meta ieseaich activities that analyse what woiks
foi any and all of the above.
Each one of those activities may be haid foi one ieason oi an-
othei. As a system the dieient activities tend to depend on one
anothei. lf you have people woiking in a student iole but no
one who can take on a TA iole, things will be moie dicult foi
the students. As a (co-)oiganizei, pait of your job is to tiy to make
suie all of the ielevant ioles aie coveied by someone (who may in
the end weai many hats). You can fuithei decompose each iole
into specic conciete activities. Tey might be accompanied by
instiuctions that say How to write a good critique oi How to
write a proof . Tey might come in the foim of accessible exei-
cises (wheie accessible depends on the peison). Depending on
the featuies of the leaining context, you may be able to suppoit
the wiiuen instiuctions oi exeicises with live/in-peison feedback
(e.g. meta-ciitique to coach and guide novice ciitics, a demon-
stiation, etc.).
138 AuuiNc s1vUc1Uvi
One scenario: building activities for the
Peeragogy Handbook
Adding a bunch of activities to the handbook wont solve all
of oui usability issues, but moie activities would help. We can
think about each aiticle oi section fiom this peispective
1. When looking at this piece of text, what type of knowledge
aie we (and the ieadei) tiying to gain` Technical skills, oi
abstiact skills` Whats the point`
2. Whats dicult heie` What might be dicult foi someone
else`
3. What leaining activity iecipes oi models might be appio-
piiate` (See e.g. [2], [3].)
4. What customizations do we need foi this paiticulai appli-
cation`
As a quick example: designing a learning activity for the
current page
1. We want to be able to come up with eective learning activ-
ities, for instance, to accompany a how to article for peer
learners. Tese activities will extend fiom fiom the wiiuen
woid to the woild of action.
2. It might be dicult for some of us to unplug from all the
reading and writing that were habituated to doing. But peei
leaining isnt just about the exchange of text theie aie lots
and lots of ways to leain.
3. Like Tom in A paern story, it could be useful to apply an
existing set of skills to a new problem.
4. e proposed handbook activity is to simply step away from
the handbook for a while. Look foi some examples of peei
leaining in eveiyday life. When youve gained an insight
about peei fiomyoui own expeiience, come back and cieate
a ielated activity to accompany anothei handbook page'
AuuiNc s1vUc1Uvi 139
References
1. Biuee, Kenneth A. (1984). Collaboiative leaining and the
conveisation of mankind. College English 4., 3-2
2. KS TooiKi1
3. DisicNiNc Eiiic1ivi ~Nu lNNov~1ivi SoUvcis (paiticu-
laily the section on Teaching Stiategies foi Actively En-
gaging Students in the Classioom)
cu~v1iv 18
THE STUDENT AUTHORED SYLLABUS
Authoi Suz Buiioughs
ln eithei foimal leaining, infoimal leaining oi models which
tiansition between the two, theie aie many oppoitunities foi
leaineis to co-cieate the syllabus and/oi outline theii own couise
of action. Te sage on the stage of foimal instiuction must become
at the most a guide on the side who acts as a coach appeaiing only
when needed iathei than as a lectuiei who deteimines the content
that the leaineis need to mastei. ln the following inspiiational but
ceitainly not piesciiptive examples, we will focus on co-leaining
methods diawn fiom a Social Constiuctivist peispective, which
ts nicely heie.
We oei a few examples below to show a iange of leainei
centeied appioaches. Tey all aie based on co-leaineis hosting
each othei foi one of a numbei of digestible topics in the laigei
subject aiea oi domain that the gioup foimed in oidei to exploie.
Tis can take place acioss a numbei of media and timelines.
Te following methods will iesult in each co-leainei gain-
ing deep knowledge in a specic topic and modeiate knowledge
acioss seveial topics. Te unique joy of this appioach is that no
two cohoits will evei be the same. Te content will always be
fiesh, ielevant, and changing. A gioup can even ieconvene with
slightly oi diamatically dieient topics ovei and ovei using the
same undeilying piocess.
Te appiopiiateness of the leainei-cieated syllabus technique
depends on two factois 1) the involvement of expeits in the
gioup and 2) the level of piociency of the gioup. ln geneial,
novices who may oi may not have a deep inteiest in the sub-
ject mauei benet fiom moie stiuctuie and expeits who point
to key concepts and texts. An example of this is the univeisity
suivey couise foi ist oi second yeai students who, we assume,
need moie guidance as they entei the subject mauei. Giaduate
141
142 Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs
seminais aie geneially much moie uid, open dialogues between
motivated expeits iequiie liule stiuctuie oi guidance.
We also need eective methods foi gioups which contain
novices, expeits, and eveiyone in between. ln gioups with a wide
iange of expeitise, it is impoitant that each co-leainei chooses
to focus theii deep inquiiy on a topic that they aie less familiai
with. Tis will even out the expeitise level acioss the cohoit as
well as ensuie that a co-leainei is neithei boied noi dominating
the dialogue.
3 example designs to structure the learning
Weekly topics structure
One way to stiuctuie the couise is to have each co-leainei
host a topic each week. Peihaps multiple students host theii top-
ics in the same week. Tis piogiession piovides a iotation of pie-
sentations and activities to suppoit the entiie gioup in engaging
with the topics and challenges to the thinking of the piesenteis
in a constiuctive and iespectful mannei.
Pro: co-leaineis have disciete timelines and manage-
able chunks of iesponsibility.
Con: the foimat may become disjointed, and the
depth of inquiiy will likely be somewhat shallow.
Milestone based structure
ln this stiuctuie, each co-leainei host theii topics in paiallel
with similai activities and milestones that the whole gioup moves
thiough togethei. Milestones can be set foi a ceitain date, oi the
gioup can unlock theii next milestone whenevei all paiticipants
have completed the pievious milestone. Tis second milestone
timeline can be gieat foi infoimal gioups wheie paiticipation lev-
els may vaiy fiom week to week due to exteinal factois, and the
sense of iesponsibility and game-like levels can be motivating foi
many co-leaineis.
Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs 143
Each co-leainei may stait with a post of less than 00 woids
intioducing the topic on a supeicial level. When eveiyone has
done this, the gioup might move on to posting questions to the
post authois. Ten, theie may be a summaiy post of the activity
so fai with ciitical iecommendations oi insights.
Pro: co- leaineis have moie time to digest a topic, foi-
mulate a complex schema, and geneiate deepei ques-
tions.
Con: it will be a few weeks befoie the topic level
schema can foim into a bioadei undeistanding of the
subject mauei oi domain (seeing the big pictuie takes
longei).
Relay learning structure.
Tis is similai to the milestone stiuctuie. Howevei, co-
leaineis iotate topics. lf one leainei posts an intioductoiy wiite-
up on a topic the ist cycle, they may be ieseaiching questions
on anothei topic in the next cycle, posting a summaiy in a thiid,
and then posting a summaiy on theii oiiginal topic in the fouith.
Pro: co-leaineis can expeiience iesponsibility foi sev-
eial topics.
Con: co-leaineis may ieceive a topic that is pooily
ieseaiched oi otheiwise neglected.
Content
A vast number of topics
Within a subject of mutual inteiest to a gioup, theie aie a
consideiable numbei of topics oi questions. What is impoitant
is that each co-leainei can take iesponsibility foi a ieasonably
naiiow aiea given the duiation of the couise oi the timeline of
the gioup. Aieas that aie too bioad will iesult in a veiy supei-
cial undeistanding, and aieas that aie too naiiow will iesult in
144 Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs
a dull expeiience. loi example, in maiine biology, topics such as
the intei-tidal zone may be too bioad foi a couise cycle of a few
weeks. Naiiowing to one species may be too specic foi a couise
ovei a few months.
Learner generated topics
Most cohoits will have some knowledge of the shaied aiea
of inteiest oi an adjacent aiea. lt is a good idea to iespect the
knowledge and expeiience that each membei of the gioup biings
to the table. A facilitatoi oi cooidinatoi may geneiate a list of
potential topic aieas, seuing an example of the scale of a topic.
We suggest that the paiticipants in the gioup aie also polled foi
additions to the list. ln laige couises, sending out a Google loim
via email can be an eective way to get a quick list with a high
iesponse iate.
Expert informed topics
lf theie is no expeit facilitatoi in the gioup, we suggest that
the cohoit begin theii jouiney with a few inteiviews of expeits to
uncovei what the main buzz woids and aieas of focus might be.
One way to locate this type of expeit help is thiough contacting
authois in the subject mauei on social netwoiks, ieviewing theii
posts foi ielevance, and ieaching out with the iequest.
We iecommend two people inteiview the expeit ovei video
chat, foi example in a Hangout. One peison conducts the in-
teiview, and one peison takes notes and watches the time. We
stiongly suggest that the inteiview be outlined ahead of time
Warmup Who aie you, what aie youi goals, and why
do you think this inteiview will help`
Foundational questions Ask a few questions that
might elicit shoit answeis to build iappoit and get
youi inteiviewee talking.
Inquiry What people say and what they do can ofen
be veiy dieient. Ask about topics iequiied foi mas-
Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs 14
teiy of the subject mauei (e.g. What aie the aieas
someone would need to know about to be consideied
piocient in this subject`). Also, ask is1ioNs 1u~1
viivi s1ovv1iiiiNc. Avoid sUvivi~1ivi oi ciosi
iNuiu is1ioNs.
Wrap up Tank the inteiviewee foi his oi hei time,
and be suie to follow up by shaiing both what you
leained and what you accomplished because he oi she
helped you.
Shared goals and group norms
Choosing useful outputs
Geuing togethei foi the sake of shaiing what you know in an
infoimal way can be faiily stiaightfoiwaid and somewhat use-
ful. Most gioups nd that a common puipose and output that
aie explicitly dened and documented help to engage, motivate,
and diive the gioup. loi the examples above, the gioup may de-
cide to cieate a blog with posts on the vaiious topics oi cieate
a wiki wheie they can shaie theii insights. Othei outputs can
include community seivice piojects, business pioposals, iecom-
mendations to senioi management oi administiation, new piod-
ucts, and moie. Te key is to go beyond shaiing foi shaiing sake
and move towaid an output that will be of use beyond the co-
leaining gioup. Tis activity is best desciibed in CoNNic1ivis1
theoiy as the special case of netwoiked leaining wheie we nd
evidence of leaining in collective action and/oi behavioial change
in gioups iathei than a psychological oi neuiological piocess in
individuals.
Group cohesion (a.k.a. the rules of the road)
One challenge of this kind of collaboiation is that each gioup
will need to decide on noims, acceptable piactices and behaviois.
Cultuially diveise gioups in paiticulai may iun into communica-
14 Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs
tion oi othei issues unless theie is a way to cieate shaied expec-
tations and communicate piefeiences.
One way to do this is with a teamchaitei. Tis is a living docu-
ment wheie the initial iules of engagement can live foi iefeience.
Te gioup may add oi edit this document ovei time based on ex-
peiience, and that is a welcome thing' Tis documentation is a
huge asset foi new membeis joining the gioup who want to con-
tiibute quickly and eectively. Any co-editing woid piocessing
piogiam will woik, but we stiongly iecommend something that
can be edited simultaneously and that lives in the cloud. (Google
Docs is convenient because you can also embed youi Chaitei into
anothei site.)
Tiy staiting with the following thiee sections, and allowsome
time foi the gioup to co-edit and negotiate the document between
icebieakeis and kicking o the ocial leaining piocess.
Mission: Why aie you foiming the gioup` What do
you want to accomplish togethei`
Norms: Use Ni1ii11i` No ii~xiNc` Post youi
vacation days to a su~viu c~iiNu~v` Othei cultuial
noims`
Members: lt is useful to include a photo and a link to
a public piole such as Twiuei, Google oi lacebook.
Assessments and feedback loops
Co-authored assessment rubrics
Tests. Qizzes. Exams. How can the co-leaining gioup assess
theii peifoimance`
Tese types of couises benet fiom an appioach similai to
coaching. Set goals as individuals and a gioup in the beginning,
dene what success looks like, outline steps that aie needed to
achieve the goal, check in on the goal piogiess peiiodically, and
assess the iesults at the end of the couise against the goal ciiteiia.
Goals may include domain expeitise, a business outcome, a papei
Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs 14
demonstiating masteiy, a co-cieated iesouice, oi even the quality
of collaboiation and adheience to shaied gioup noims.
Learner created assessments
Anothei eective way to cieate an assessment is to decide on
an individual oi gioup output and cieate a peei assessment iubiic
based on the goals of the individual oi gioup.
One way to cieate a iubiic is to spend some time dening the
qualities you want youi output to have based on positive exam-
ples. Peihaps a gioup wants to cieate a blog. Each peison on
the team may identify the qualities of a gieat blog post based on
examples that they admiie. Tey can use that example to cieate
a ciiteiia foi assessment of co-leainei authoied blog posts. We
iecommend that the ciiteiia have a 0 to point scale with 0 being
non-existent and being supeib. Wiiting a few indicatois in the
1, 3, and columns helps to calibiate ievieweis.
Cieate a su~viu uocUxiN1, peihaps staiting with a list of
ciiteiia. Collapse similai ciiteiia into one item, and cieate the in-
dicatois oi denitions of 1, 3, and point peifoimance. Agiee on
the iubiic, and decide on how the co-leaineis will be assigned as-
sessment duties. Will eveiyone ieview at least two otheis` Will
each co-leainei pioduct need at least 3 ievieweis befoie it goes
live` Will you use a svvi~usuii1 oi a iovx to collect the assess-
ments`
ln a univeisity seuing, the instiuctoi of iecoid may wish to
appiove a peei assessment iubiic, and it is sometimes a good idea
to have a few outside expeits give feedback on ciiteiia that the
gioup may have missed.
Outside assessments
lt is possible that an instiuctoi of iecoid oi similai authoi-
ity will cieate the assessment foi peifoimance. ln these cases, it
is ciucial that the co-leaineis have access to the giading iubiic
ahead of time so that they can ensuie theii activities and timeline
will meet any iequiiements. ln this case, it may be possible to
148 Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs
iequiie that the co-leaineis self-oiganize entiiely, oi theie may
be inteimediaiy assignments such as the chaitei, pioject plan oi
liteiaiy ieview.
Cyclical use of these models
So much more to learn
As mentioned above, the joy of this type of leaining is that
no two gioups will evei do it the same. Teii piocess, goals, and
outcomes can all be unique. As designeis and facilitatois of this
type of leaining enviionment, we can say it is a wild iide' Each
class is exciting, iefieshing, and on tiend. Te co-leaineis become
oui teacheis.
lf a gioup geneiates moie topics than it is possible to covei
at one time given the numbei of gioup membeis oi if a gioup
has plans to continue indenitely, it is always possible to set up a
system wheie potential topics aie collected at all times. Tese un-
exploied topics can be haivested foi use in anothei leaining cycle,
continuing until the gioup achieves compiehensive masteiy.
Risks
Tis foimat is not without its own unique pitfalls some chal-
lenges aie leainei disoiientation oi fiustiation in a new leaining
stiuctuie with ambiguous expectations and uneven paiticipation.
Some gioups simply nevei gel, and we do not knowwhy they have
failed to achieve the cohesion iequiied to move foiwaid. Othei
gioups aie the exact opposite. Heie aie a few iisks to considei
if you would like to tiy the methods suggested heie and how to
mitigate them.
Uneven expertise: Ask co-leaineis to be iesponsible
foi topics that aie new to them.
Uneven participation and cohesion: Ask co-leaineis
what they want to do to motivate the gioup iathei
than imposing youi own ideas.
Tui s1UuiN1 ~U1uoviu svii~nUs 149
Experts/facilitators that kill the conversation: ln the
chaitei oi othei documentation, explicitly state that
the puipose of the discussion is to fuithei the convei-
sation, and encouiage expeits to allow otheis to ex-
ploie theii own thinking by asking piobing (not lead-
ing) questions.
Ambiguous goals: Encouiage the gioup to document
theii mission and what they will do as a team. Tis
can change ovei time, but it is best to stait out with a
cleai puipose.
Conclusion
Make mistakes. Coiiect couise. lnvite new peispectives. Cie-
ate a stiuctuie that eveiyone can woik with. Change it when it
bieaks. Most of all, have fun'
cu~v1iv 19
CONNECTlVlSM lN PRACTlCE HOW TO
ORGANlZE A CMOOC
Author Roland Legiand
Massive Open Online Couises (MOOCs) aie online leaining
events that can take place synchionously and asynchionously foi
months. Paiticipants assemble to heai, see, and paiticipate in
backchannel communication duiing live lectuies. Tey iead the
same texts at the same time, accoiding to a calendai. Leaining
takes place thiough self-oiganized netwoiks of paiticipants, and
is almost completely decentialized individuals and gioups cie-
ate blogs oi wikis aiound theii own inteipietations of the texts
and lectuies, and comment on each otheis woik, each individ-
ual and gioup publicizes theii RSS feed, which aie automatically
aggiegated by a special (fieely available) tool, gRSShoppei. Ev-
eiy day, an email goes out to all paiticipants, aggiegating activity
stieams fiom all the blogs and wikis that engage that weeks ma-
teiial. MOOCs aie a piactical application of a leaining theoiy
known as connectivism that situates leaining in the netwoiks
of connections made between individuals and between texts.
Not all MOOCs aie Connectivist MOOCs (oi cMOOCs). Plat-
foims such as CoUvsiv~, iuX and Uu~ci1v oeiing MOOCs
which follow a moie tiaditional, centialized appioach (these aie
sometimes called xMOOCs). ln this type of MOOC, a piofessoi
is taking the lead and the leaining-expeiience is oiganized top-
down. Howevei, some xMOOCs seem to adopt a moie blended
appioach. loi instance, the couise Eii~vNiNc ~Nu Dici1~i CUi
1Uvis makes use of online spaces beyond the Couiseia enviion-
ment, and the couise oiganizeis want some aspects of paiticipa-
tion in this couise to involve the widei social web.
ln this chaptei well focus on cMOOCs. One might wondei
why a couise would want to be massive and what massive
11
12 Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC
means. cMOOC-pioneei Stephen Downes explains that his fo-
cus is on the development of a network structure, as opposed to
a group structure, to manage the couise. ln a netwoik stiuctuie
theie isnt any cential focus, foi example, a cential discussion.
Tats also the ieason why he consideis the guie of 10 active
paiticipants Dunbars Number to be the lowei cut-o in oidei
to talk about massive
Stephen Downes Why Dunbais numbei` Te iea-
son is that it iepiesents the maximum (theoietical)
numbei of people a peison can ieasonably inteiact
with. How many blogs can a peison iead, follow and
iespond to` Maybe aiound 10, if Dunbai is coiiect.
Which means that if we have 10 blogs, then the blogs
dont constitute a coie - people begin to be selective
about which blogs theyie ieading, and dieient (and
inteiacting) subcommunities can foim.
A learning theory for the digital age
Tiaditionally, scholais distinguish between thiee main c~1i
coviis oi ii~vNiNc 1uioviis behaviorism, cognitivism and con-
structivism. Stephen Downes and otheis would add a fouith one
coNNic1ivisx, but this is uisvU1iu. Te cential application of
connectivism to date is as a theoiy of what happens in Massive
Open Online Couises.
Te connectivist theoiy desciibes leaining as a piocess of cie-
ating connections and developing netwoiks. lt is based on the
piemise that knowledge exists out in the woild, iathei than in-
side an individuals mind. Connectivism sees the netwoik as a
cential metaphoi foi leaining, with a node in the netwoik being
a concept (data, feelings, images, etc.) that can be meaningfully
ielated to othei nodes. Not all connections aie of equal stiength
in this metaphoi, in fact, many connections may be quite weak.
On a piactical level, this appioach iecommends that leaining
should focus on wheie to nd infoimation (stieams), and how to
evaluate and mash up those stieams, iathei than tiying to en-
Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC 13
tei lots of (peiishable) infoimation into ones skull. Knowing the
pipes is moie impoitant than knowing what exactly each pipe
contains at a given moment. Tis is the theoiy. Te piactice
takes place in Connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs), like Cu~Nci11.
Heie, people aie fiee to paiticipate at will. Each week a subject is
discussed duiing synchionous sessions, which aie iecoided and
uploaded foi iefeience on the Change11 website. Te site also in-
cludes an aichive of daily newsleueis and RSS feeds of blog posts
and tweets fiom paiticipants.
cMOOCs tend to be leainei-centeied. People aie encouiaged
to puisue theii own inteiests and link up with otheis who might
help them. But the distiibuted and fiee natuie of the piojects also
leads to complaints, paiticipants ofen nd it confusing when they
auempt to followup on all the discussions (the facilitatois say one
should not tiy to follow up on all the content).
Stephen Downes Tis implies a pedagogy that (a)
seeks to desciibe successful netwoiks (as identied
by theii piopeities, which l have chaiacteiized as di-
veisity, autonomy, openness, and connectivity), and
(b) seeks to desciibe the piactices that lead to such
netwoiks, both in the individual and in society (which
l have chaiacteiized as modeling and demonstiation
(on the pait of a teachei) and piactice and ieection
(on the pait of a leainei).
Anatomy of a cMOOC
One example of a MOOC that claims to embody the connec-
tivist theoiy is cu~Nci.xooc.c~. Te uov i1 vovxs section
of the site explains what connectivism means in piactice. Te
MOOC oiganizeis developed a numbei of ways to combine the
distiibuted natuie of the discussions with the need foi a con-
stantly updated oveiview and foi a fedeiated stiuctuie. So, if
youi team wants to oiganize an open online couise, these aie ve
points to take into consideiation
14 Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC
Teie is no body of content the paiticipants have to memo-
iize, but the leaining iesults fiom activities they undeitake. Te
activities aie dieient foi each peison. A couise schedule with
suggested ieading, assignments foi synchionous oi asynchionous
sessions is piovided (e.g. using Google Docs spieadsheets intei-
nally, Google Calendai exteinally, one could also use a wiki), but
paiticipants aie fiee to pick and choose what they woik on. Noi-
mally theie is a topic, activities, ieading iesouices and ofen a
guest speakei foi each week. One should even ieect upon the
question whethei a stait- and end date aie actually needed. lt is
ciucial to explain the paiticulai philosophy of this kind of MOOC,
and this iight fiom the outset, because chances aie leaineis will
come with expectations infoimed by theii moie tiaditional leain-
ing expeiiences.
1. lt is impoitant to discuss the inteinal aspects, such as self-
motivation what do the paiticipants want to achieve, what
is theii laigei goal` And what aie theii intentions when
they select ceitain activities (iathei than othei possibili-
ties)` Eveiyone has hei own intended outcome. Suggest
that paiticipants meditate on all this and jot down theii ob-
jectives. And how can they avoid becoming stiessed out
and geuing depiessed because they feel they cannot keep
up with all this` Te facilitatois should have a good look
at these motivations, even if its impossible to assist eveiy
paiticipant individually (foi laige-scale MOOCs).
2. ldeally, paiticipants should piepaie foi this couise by ac-
quiiing the necessaiy digital skills. Which skills aie nec-
essaiy can be decided by the gioup itself in advance. lts
all about selecting, choosing, iemixing - also called cuiat-
ing. Teie aie lots of tools which you can use foi this
blogs, social bookmaiks, wikis, mindmaps, foiums, social
dashboaids, netwoiks such as Twiuei with theii possibili-
ties such as hashtags and lists. Maybe these tools aie self-
evident foi some, but not necessaiily foi all the paiticipants.
Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC 1
3. Te couise is not located in one place but is distiibuted
acioss the web on vaiious blogs and blogging platfoims, on
vaiious gioups and online netwoiks, on photo- and video-
shaiing platfoims, on mindmaps and othei visualization
platfoims, on vaiious tools foi synchionous sessions. Tis
wide vaiiety is in itself an impoitant leaining element.
4. Teie aie weekly synchionous sessions (using Blackboaid
collaboiate, oi similai gioup chauing tool). Duiing these
sessions, expeits and paiticipants give piesentations and
entei into discussions. Gioups of paiticipants also have
synchionous meetings at othei venues (such as Second
Life). Tiy to plan this well in advance'
. Many paiticipants highly appieciate eoits to give an
oveiview of the pioceedings. Specically, the D~iiv
Nivsii11iv is a kind of hub, a community newspapei. ln
that Daily theie is also a list of the blog posts mentioning
the couise-specic tag (e.g. Change11), also the tweets
with hashtag -change11 aie listed in the Daily. Of couise,
the MOOC has a si1i wheie sessions, newsleueis and othei
iesouices aie aichived and discussion thieads can be iead.
liom the veiy beginning of the couise, its necessaiy to explain
the impoitance of tagging the vaiious contiibutions, to suggest a
hashtag.
loi haivesting all this distiibuted content, Stephen Downes
advocates the use of cRSSuovviv, which is a peisonal web en-
viionment that combines iesouice aggiegation, a peisonal datas-
pace, and peisonal publishing (Downes developed it and would
like to build a hosted veision - eventually nanced via Kick-
staitei). Te gRSShoppei can be found on a iegistiation page,
which is useful piimaiily foi sending the newsleuei. lt allows
you to oiganize youi online content any way you want, to impoit
content - youi own oi otheis - fiom iemote sites, to iemix and
iepuipose it, and to distiibute it as RSS, web pages, JSON data, oi
RSS feeds.
1 Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC
Stephen Downes loi example, the gRSShoppei
haivestei will haivest a link fioma given feed. Apei-
son, if he oi she has admin piivileges, can tiansfoim
this link into a post, adding his oi hei own comments.
Te post will contain infoimation about the oiiginal
links authoi and jouinal. Content in gRSShoppei is
cieated and manipulated thiough the use of system
code that allows administiatois to haivest, map, and
display data, as well as to link to and cieate theii own
content. gRSShoppei is also intended to act as a fully-
edged publishing tool.
Alteinatives foi iegistiations Google Gioups foi instance.
But specic iules about piivacy should be dealt with what will be
the status of the contiibutions` ln this MOOC the status is public
and open by default, foi Downes this is an impoitant element of
the couise.
Technologies
Some MOOCs use Moodle, but Downes dislikes the cential-
ization aspect and its not as open as it could be, saying people
feel beuei wiiting in theii own space. Othei possibilities Google
Gioups, WoidPiess, Diigo, Twiuei, lacebook page, Second Life,
but each couise uses dieient mixtuies of the many tools out
theie. People choose theii enviionment whethei it is Woild of
Waiciaf, oi Mineciaf. Students use Bloggei, WoidPiess, Tumbli,
Posteious as blogging tools.
RSS harvesting is a key element
Give paiticipants a means to contiibute theii blogfeed. ln
Auu ~ Nivliiu, Downes explains howto get this stiuctuie and
additional explanations (via videos) in oidei to contiibute theii
blogs RSS feed. Te administiatoi in this case uses gRSShoppei
to piocess the content and put it in a database, piocess it and send
it to othei people. Alteinatively one can use Google Readei (the
Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC 1
list of feeds is available as an OPML le - which can be impoited
to othei platfoims). Teie is also a plug-in foi WoidPiess that lets
you use a Google Doc spieadsheet foi the feeds, then WoidPiess
foi the aggiegation). Many othei content management systems
have RSS haivesting featuies.
Each individual could iun hei own aggiegatoi, but Downes
oeis it as a seivice. But aggiegatois aie needed, whethei indi-
vidual, centialized oi both.
Specialized harvesting
Using Twiuei, Diigo, Delicious, Google Gioups, lf Tis Ten
Tat (llTTT) and liiu43 (take oidinaiy web page and tuin it into
an RSS feed).
Synchronous environments
Synchionous platfoims include Blackboaid Collaboiate (used
now foi Change11), Adobe Connect, Big Blue Buuon, WizlQ,
luze, WebX, webcasting, web iadio, videoconfeiencing with
Skype oi Google Hangout in conjunction with Livestieam oi us-
tieam.tv. Oi take the Skype/Hangout audiostieam and bioadcast
is as web iadio. Set up and test ahead of time, but dont hesitate
to expeiiment. Note also, theie is a moie extensive discussion of
ieal-time tools in anothei section of the handbook.
Newsleer or Feeds
leeds aie veiy impoitant (see eailiei iemaiks about the Daily
newsleuei). You can use Twiuei oi a lacebook page, Downes uses
email, also cieates an RSS veision thiough gRSShoppei and sends
it thiough lfu.com back to lacebook and Twiuei. loi the iest
of us theie is Woidpiess, which you can use to cvi~1i ~N ix~ii
Nivs ii11iv. Downs also suggests this handy guide on uov 1o
uisicN~NunUiiu~Nix~ii Nivsii11iv vi1uoU1 ioosiNc voUv
xiNu'
18 Hov 1o Ovc~Nizi ~ MOOC
Considei using a content management system and databases
to put out specialized pages and the newsleuei in an elegant way,
but it iequiies a leaining cuive. Otheiwise, use blogs / wikis.
The Use of Comments
Paiticipants aie stiongly encouiaged to comment on each oth-
eis blogs and to launch discussion thieads. By doing so they piac-
tice a fundamental social media skill - developing netwoiks by
commenting on vaiious places and engaging in conveisations. lt
is impoitant to have activities and get people to be involved iathei
than sit back. loi an in-depth piesentation, have a look at l~cii
i1~1iNc ~ M~ssivi OviN ONiiNi CoUvsi by Stephen Downes, in
which he focuses on ieseaich and suivey issues, piepaiing events,
and othei essentials.
Resources
Change MOOC Hov 1uis CoUvsi Wovxs
Wu~1 is ~ MOOC (video)
SUcciss iN ~ MOOC (video)
KNoviiuci iN ~ MOOC (video)
lN1vouUc1ioN ~Nu iNvi1~1ioN (video)
cu~v1iv 20
CASE STUDY COLLABORATlVE EXPLORATlONS
Part I (by Peter Taylor).
Collaboiative Exploiation invites paiticipants to shape theii
own diiections of inquiiy and develop theii skills as investigatois
and teacheis (in the bioadest sense of the woid). Te basic mode
of a Collaboiative Exploiation centeis on inteiactions ovei a de-
limited peiiod of time in small gioups. Engagement takes place
eithei online, foi instance via Google, oi face-to-face. Te aim is
to cieate an expeiience of ie-engagement with oneself as an avid
leainei and inquiiei. Tis section combines piactical infoimation
about how to iun Collaboiative Exploiations as well as ideas and
questions about how to make sense of what happens in them. A
companion entiy conveys one paiticipants expeiience with sev-
eial Collaboiative Exploiations (heieafei, CE).
Overview and contrast to cMOOCs
Te tangible goal of any CE is to develop contiibutions to the
topic dened by the case, which is wiiuen by the host oi oiigi-
natoi of the CE in advance, and which is intended to be bioad and
thought-piovoking (some examples aie given below). We aim foi
a paiallel expeiiential goal, which is that we hope paiticipants
will be impiessed at how much can be leained with a small com-
mitment of time using this stiuctuie. Te standaid model foi an
online CE is to have foui sessions spaced one week apait, in which
the same small gioup inteiacts in ieal time via the inteinet, foi an
houi pei session. Paiticipants aie asked to spend at least 90 min-
utes between sessions on self-diiected inquiiy into the case, and
to shaie theii inquiiies-in-piogiess with theii small gioup and a
widei community. Reection typically involves shifs in paitic-
19
10 C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs
ipants denition of what they want to nd out and how. Any
paiticipants wondeiing how to dene a meaningful and useful
line of inquiiy aie encouiaged to ieview the scenaiio foi the CE,
any associated mateiials, posts fiom othei paiticipants, and think
about what they would like to leain moie about oi dig deepei into.
Eveiyone is lef, in the end, to judge foi themselves whethei what
inteiests them is meaningful and useful. Duiing the live sessions,
paiticipants can expect to do a lot of listening, staiting o in the
ist session with autobiogiaphical stoiies that make it easiei to
tiust and take iisks with whoevei has joined that CE, and a lot of
wiiting to gathei theii thoughts, sometimes piivately, sometimes
shaied. Teie is no assumption that paiticipants will puisue the
case beyond the limited duiation of the CE. Tis said, the tools and
piocesses that the CE employs foi puiposes of inquiiy, dialogue,
ieection, and collaboiation aie designed to be ieadily leained
by paiticipants, and to tianslate well into othei seuings foi in-
stance, wheie they can be used to suppoit the inquiiies of otheis.
ln shoit, online CEs aie modeiate-sized open online collaboiative
leaining. lt iemains to be seen whethei the CE movement will
auiact enough paiticipants to scale up to multiple leaining com-
munities aiound any given scenaiio, each hosted by a dieient
peison and iunning independently. A MOOC (massive open on-
line couise) seeks to get masses of people iegisteied, knowing that
a tiny fiaction will complete it, while CE best piactices focus on
establishing eective leaining in small online communities, and
then potentially scale up fiom theie by multiplying out. CEs aim
to addiess the needs of online leaineis who want to
dig deepei, make thickei connections with othei leaineis
connect topics with theii own inteiests
paiticipate foi shoit peiiods of time
leain without needing ciedits oi badges
Cuiiently, even the most high-piole MOOCs do not appeai to
be conducive to deep oi thick inquiiy. loi example, while shai-
ing links is typical in connectivist oi cMOOCs, annotation and
C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs 11
discussion of the contents is less common. By contiast, CEs aie
stiuctuied to elicit paiticipants thoughtful ieections and syn-
theses. Te use of the inteinet foi CEs, in contiast, is guided by
two piinciples of online education (Tayloi 200).
Use computeis ist and foiemost to teach oi leain things
that aie dicult to teach oi leain with pedagogical ap-
pioaches that aie not based on computeis
Model computei use, at least initially, on known best piac-
tices foi teaching/leaining without computeis.
Tus, CEs biing in paiticipants fiom a distance, make iapid con-
nections with infoimants oi discussants outside the couise, and
contiibute to evolving guides to mateiials and iesouices. At
the same time, paiticipants benet fiom the suppoit of instiuc-
tois/facilitatois and peeis who they can tiust, and integiate what
they leain with theii own peisonal, pedagogical, and piofessional
development.
Example scenarios or cases
Connectivist MOOCs: Learning and collaboration,
possibilities and limitations
Te coie faculty membei of a giaduate piogiam at a public
uiban univeisity wants help as they decide how to contiibute to
eoits at the univeisity piogiam to piomote open digital educa-
tion. lt is cleai that the emphasis will not be on xMOOCs, i.e.,
those designed foi tiansmission of established knowledge, but on
cMOOCs. ln othei woids, the plan is to emphasize connectivist
leaining and community development emeiges aiound, but may
extend well beyond, the mateiials piovided by the MOOC hosts
(Moiiison 2013, Tayloi 2013). What is not yet cleai about is just
how leaining woiks in cMOOCs. What aie the possibilities and
limitations of this educational stiategy` How do they beai on
themes like cieativity, community, collaboiation, and openness`
12 C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs
Te piogiam is especially inteiested in anticipating any undesii-
able consequences
Science and policy that would improve responses to
extreme climatic events
Recent and histoiical climate-ielated events shed light on the
social impact of emeigency plans, investment in and maintenance
of infiastiuctuie, as well as investment in ieconstiuction. Policy
makeis, fiom the local level up, can leain fiom the expeiiences of
otheis and piepaie foi futuie ciises. Te question foi this case is
howto get political authoiities and political gioupswhich might
be anywheie fiom the town level to the inteinational, fiom the
elected to the voluntaiyinteiested in leaining about how best
to iespond to extieme climatic events. Changes might take place
at the level of policy, budget, oiganization, and so on. lt should
even be possible to engage people who do not buy into the idea
of human-induced climate changeafei all, whatevei the cause,
extieme climatic events have to be dealt with.
The structure
lndependent of the topic, weve found the following common
stiuctuie useful foi oui online CEs. Before the rst live session
Paiticipants ieview the scenaiio, the expectations and mechanics,
join a special-puipose Google community and get set up techni-
cally foi the hangouts.
Session 1 Participants geing to know each other. Afei fieewiit-
ing to claiify thoughts and hopes, followed by a quick check-in,
paiticipants take minutes each to tell the stoiy of howthey came
to be a peison who would be inteiested to paiticipate in a Col-
laboiative Exploiation on the scenaiio. Othei paiticipants note
connections with the speakei and possible ways to extend theii
inteiests, shaiing these using an online foim.
Between-session work Spend at least 90 minutes on inquiiies ie-
lated to the case, posting about this to google community foi the
C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs 13
CE, and ieviewing the posts of otheis.
Session 2 Clarify thinking and inquiries. lieewiiting on ones
thoughts about the case, followed by a check-in, then tuin-taking
dialogue piocess to claiify what paiticipants aie thinking about
theii inquiiies into the case. Session nishes with gatheiing and
shaiing thoughts using an online foim.
Between-session work Spend at least 90 minutes (a) on inquiiies
ielated to the case and (b) piepaiing a woik-in-piogiess piesen-
tation.
Session 3 Work-in-progress presentations. minutes foi each
paiticipant, with plus-delta feedback given by eveiyone on each
piesentation. Between-session work Digest the feedback on ones
piesentation and ievise it into a self-standing pioduct (i.e., one
undeistandable without spoken naiiation).
Session 4 Taking Stock. Use same foimat as foi session 2 to ex-
ploie paiticipants thinking about (a) how the Collaboiative Ex-
ploiation contiibuted to the topic (the tangible goal) and to the
expeiiential goal, as well as (b) how to extend what has emeiged
duiing the CE.
Aer session 4 (optional) Paiticipants shaie on a public Google
community not only the pioducts they have piepaied, but also
ieections on the Collaboiative Exploiation piocess.
How to make sense of what happens in CEs
(Re-)engagement with oneself as an avid leainei and inquiiei
in CEs is made possible by the combination of
Piocesses and tools used foi inquiiy, dialogue, ieection,
and collaboiation,
Connections made among the diveise paiticipants who
biing to beai diveise inteiests, skills, knowledge, expeii-
ence, and aspiiations, and
14 C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs
liguie 1. Tiiad of aspects of Collaboiative Exploiation
Contiibutions fiom the paiticipants to the topics laid out in sce-
naiios
Te hope is that thiough expeiiencing a (ie-)engagement with
leaining, paiticipants will subsequently tiansfei expeiience with
this tiiad (liguie 1) into theii own inquiiies and teaching-leaining
inteiactions, the ways that they suppoit inquiiies of otheis, othei
piactices of ciitical intellectual exchange and coopeiation, and
that they will be moie piepaied to challenge the baiiieis to leain-
ing that aie ofen associated with expeitise, location, time, gendei,
iace, class, oi age.
Acknowledgements
Te comments of Jeiemy Szteitei and the contiibutions of the
paiticipants of the 2013 Collaboiative Exploiations have helped
in the piepaiation of this aiticle.
Part II (by Teryl Cartwright).
As a May giaduate of the Masteis piogiam in Ciitical and
Cieative Tinking (CCT) at UMass Boston, l owe my giatitude to
Piofessois Petei Tayloi and Jeiemy Szteitei foi inviting me to in-
foimally continue my education less than a month latei. lt is a
tiibute to them that l would then take foui consecutive CEs with-
out stopping. Tey can best shaie how to iun a CE, but as a stu-
dent, it is how to cieatively take a CE that inspiies what ld like
to shaie.
C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs 1
June 2013 CE: Scaolding Creative Learning
l was giateful paiticipants took the time to post links and ideas
to suppoit my inquiiies, yet something else intiigued me about
the potential of Collaboiative Exploiation. Luanne Witkowski,
an aitist and one of the CCT instiuctois, took oui ideas and made
a diagiam incoipoiating oui scaolding concepts togethei, she
changed hei own oiiginal diawing to include all of ouis. l wanted
to pay foiwaid and back my leaining too, so l combined the ideas
of all the paiticipants, adapted and taught a lesson outside the
CE and then shaied the iesults. liom this jumping into someone
elses scaolding, l went into even moie expeiimental leaining in
the next CE.
July 2013 CE: Design in Critical Thinking
ln a second CE, l took the title liteially and developed a
design lN ciitical thinking. To tiy out my tiiangle tangent
thinking model, duiing a lesson on leadeiship in chuich, l sud-
denly stopped teaching a classioom of oldei piofessional adults
halfway in and asked them to paiticipate in design as you go
cuiiiculumby taking ovei the class.
Since l wanted to be faii, along with my lesson outline l had al-
ieady given them a supposed icebieakei activity that they could
teach fiom, although they also had the option of my continued
teaching. Results` My tiiangle diawing woiks as a lesson plan,
the class took the tangent, but suipiisingly, l wasnt just iele-
gated to modeiatoi, it became a tiue co-facilitation,a model of
change at the midpoint foi both the individual and community
in the choices and diiection.
September 2013 CE: Everyone Can Think
Creatively
Tis CE had to be commended foi its paiticipants humoiing
my pioject and allowing the exploiation of testing a CE itself. Was
1 C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs
it possible to be a Cieative lailuie in a Cieativity CE` To evaluate
Cieative lailuie in a Cieativity CE,
l used a simple test. lf cieative success (unknowingly given by
my CE community) was a pioduct both novel AND useful, any
post without a comment was a failuie (not useful) to my iead-
eis. Any post that a ieadei commented was similai to something
else alieady done was useful, but not novel. lailuie had me post-
ing again. Did l mention what nice people these weie when they
didnt know what l was doing`
lt would have been easy foi themto ignoie my continued post-
ing, yet the community of a CE cannot be piaised enough. Tey
weie suppoitive of me and nding academic colleagues who have
a sense of humoi is meicifully not novel, but extiemely useful in
this expeiience.
October 2013 CE: Stories to Scaold Creative
Learning
ln this CE l gave myself the challenge of indiiect teaching.
Could l be a stoiy showei, not tellei` l took concepts impoitant
to me about teaching with stoiy, yet also tiied to leave space foi
otheis inteipietations. lionically, in some ways cieative failuie
continuedagain l was not as helpful as l had wished.
Tis CE also had a twistno heio stoiies allowed, so my cie-
ative and peisonal stoiies had to be ambiguous oi use othei con-
necting stiuctuies based on the paiticipants piefeiences. lt was
inteiesting which stoiies woiked bestction woiked moie with
humoi, ieal expeiience woiked if l shaied about someone othei
than myself and othei kinds woiked with visuals. Collaboiative
Exploiations piovide a safe space foi the joint leaining and teach-
ing to occui.
Te diveisity blends well into a community that is cuiious,
couiageous and cieative. Although l have my M.A. as the ist
completely online CCT student, l found almost a face-to-face
leaining feel in theii deeply connected CE community as well.
lt does iequiie time, openness and commitment to each othei
C~si S1Uuv Coii~nov~1ivi Exviov~1ioNs 1
duiing the intense focus togethei on a topic. Yet seeing wheie
the paiticipant-diiected design as you go cuiiiculum ends up is
woith investing in and shaiing with otheis. Afei all, theie aie
many othei ways still out theie to tiy out CEs.
Postscript. l also ian a CE foi the Susquehanna Confeience of
the UMC foi 10 days, woiking with a gioup of piofessionals ex-
ploiing a call into oidained ministiy. Going in cold, l had to woik
haidei to do community building without the Google hangout
meetings and iecommend theii inclusion to inciease the comfoit
level and paiticipation of the gioup membeis.
Resources
luithei examples of CE scenaiios can be viewed at
u11v//cc1.vixisv~cis.cox/CE1. Recommended ieadings listed
at the end of the book convey some of the souices foi the CE pio-
cesses. ldeas about possible extensions of CEs can be viewed in
the full piospectus at u11v//cc1.vixisv~cis.cox/CEv.
References
1. Moiiison, D. (2013). A1~ii oi 1vo MOOCs CoUvsiv~
Diviuiu nv viu~cocv.
2. Tayloi, P. J. (200) Guidelines foi ensuiing that educational
technologies aie used only when theie is signicant peda-
gogical benet, lnteinational Jouinal of Aits and Sciences,
2 (1) 2-29, 200 (adapted fiom u11v//ni1.iv/i1cUiui).
3. Tayloi, P. J. (2013). SUvvov1iNc cu~Nci iN cvi~1ivi
ii~vNiNc.
Part VII
Cooperation
cu~v1iv 21
lNTRODUCTlON TO COOPERATlON
CO-lAClLlTATlON
Author: Maiia Aienas, with contiibutions by Chailie Dano
lacilitation is a piocess of helping gioups woik coopeiatively
and eectively. lacilitation can be paiticulaily helpful foi indi-
viduals who, based on a ceitain level of insecuiity oi inexpeii-
ence, tend to luik iathei than paiticipate. At the same time, it
in peeiagogy, a facilitatoi isnt necessaiily an authoiity iathei,
facilitation woik is done in seivice to the gioup and the gioup di-
alogue and piocess. loi example, a facilitatoi may simply hold
space foi the gioup, by seuing up a meeting oi a iegulai seiies
of discussions.
Co-facilitating in peer-to-peer learning
Co-facilitation can be found in collaboiations between two oi
moie people who need each othei to complete a task, foi exam-
ple, leain about a given subject, authoi a technical iepoit, solve a
pioblem, oi conduct ieseaich Dee link wiites that in this piocess,
theie has to be some kind of change in the leainei. No change,
no leaining [1]. Signicant leaining iequiies that theie be some
kind of lasting change that is impoitant in teims of the leaineis
life, in peeiagogy, one way to measuie the eectiveness of co-
facilitation is to look foi a change in the peei gioup.
Co-facilitation ioles can be found in gioups/teams like bas-
ketball, health, Alcoholics Anonymous, spiiitual gioups, etc. loi
example, self-help gioups aie composed of people who gathei to
shaie common pioblems and expeiiences associated with a paitic-
ulai pioblem, condition, illness, oi peisonal ciicumstance. Teie
aie some fuithei commonalities acioss dieient seuings. Com-
menting on the woik of Cail Rogeis
11
12 Coi~ciii1~1ioN
Godfrey Barre-Lennard Te educational situ-
ation which most eectively piomotes signicant
leaining is one in which (1) thieat to the self of the
leainei is ieduced a minimum, and (2) dieientiated
peiception of the eld of expeiience is facilitated. [2]
Pait of the facilitatois iole is to cieate a safe place foi leaining to
take place, but they should also challenge the paiticipants.
John Heron Too much hieiaichical contiol, and
paiticipants become passive and dependent oi hos-
tile and iesistant. Tey wane in self-diiection, which
is the coie of all leaining. Too much coopeiative guid-
ance may degeneiate into a subtle kind of nuituiing
oppiession, and may deny the gioup the benets of
totally autonomous leaining. Too much autonomy
foi paiticipants and laissez-faiie on youi pait, and
they may wallow in ignoiance, misconception, and
chaos. [3]
Co-facilitating discussion forums
lf peeis aie piepaiing a foium discussion, heie aie some ideas
fiom Tui CoxxUNi1v Tooi Box, that can be helpful as guide-
lines
Explain the impoitance of collaboiative gioup woik and
make it a iequiiement.
Establish how you will communicate in the foium.
Be awaie of mutual blind spots in facilitating and obseiving
otheis.
Watch out foi dieient ihythms of inteivention.
Co-facilitating wiki workflows
A good place to begin foi any gioup of co-facilitatois woiking
with a wiki aie Wikipedias famous Pillais.
Coi~ciii1~1ioN 13
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
Wikipedia wiites aiticles fiom a neutial point-of-view.
Wikipedia is fiee content that anyone can edit, use, modify,
and distiibute.
Editois should inteiact with each othei in a iespectful and
civil mannei.
Wikipedia does not have im iules.
Co-facilitating live sessions
Leaining expeiiences in live sessions aie desciibed in the aiti-
cle Li~vNiNc Riix~ciNiu P~v1iciv~1ovv, Piiv, Gion~i, ON
iiNi by Howaid Rheingold, and many of these points aie ievisited
in the handbook section on ieal-time tools. But we want to em-
phasize one point heie
Howard Rheingold Remembei you came togethei
with youi peeis to accomplish something, not to dis-
cuss an agenda oi play with online tools, keep eveiy-
thing as easily accessible as possible to ensuie you
iealize youi goals.
References
1. link, L. D (2003). Creating signicant learning experiences:
An integrated approach to designing college courses. John
Wiley & Sons.
2. Baiieu-Lennaid, G. T. (1998). Carl Rogers Helping System:
Journey & Substance. Sage.
3. Heion, J. (1999). e complete facilitators handbook. Lon-
don Kogan Page.
cu~v1iv 22
THE WORKSCAPE, A LEARNlNG PLATlORM lOR
CORPORATlONS
Cultivating a iesults-oiiented peei-leaining piogiam in a coi-
poiate leaining ecosystem involves a few tweaks of the appioach
and tools we discussed in ielation to moie open, diveise netwoiks.
The Workscape, a platform for learning
loimal leaining takes place in classiooms, infoimal leaining
happens in workscapes. A woikscape is a leaining ecology. As
the enviionment of leaining, a woikscape includes the woikplace.
ln fact, a woikscape has no boundaiies. No two woikscapes aie
alike. Youi woikscape may include being coached on giving eec-
tive piesentations, calling the help desk foi an explanation, and
ieseaiching an industiy on the Net. My woikscape could include
paiticipating in a community of eld technicians, looking things
up on a seaich engine, and living in liance foi thiee months. De-
veloping a platfoim to suppoit infoimal leaining is analogous to
landscaping a gaiden. A majoi component of infoimal leaining
is natuial leaining, the notion of tieating people as oiganisms in
natuie. Te people aie fiee-iange leaineis. Oui iole is to piotect
theii enviionment, piovide nutiients foi giowth, and let natuie
take its couise. A landscape designeis goal is to conceptualize a
haimonious, unied, pleasing gaiden that makes the most of the
site at hand. A woikscape designeis goal is to cieate a leain-
ing enviionment that incieases the oiganizations longevity and
health and the individuals happiness and well-being. Gaideneis
dont contiol plants, manageis dont contiol people. Gaideneis
and manageis have inuence but not absolute authoiity. Tey
cant make a plant t into the landscape oi a peison t into a
team. ln an ideal Woikscape, woikeis can easily nd the people
1
1 Tui Wovxsc~vi
and infoimation they need, leaining is uid and new ideas ow
fieely, coipoiate citizens live and woik by the oiganizations val-
ues, people know the best way to get things done, woikeis spend
moie time cieating value than handling exceptions, and eveiyone
nds theii woik challenging and fullling.
The technical infrastructure of the Workscape
When an oiganization is impioving its Woikscape, looking at
consumei applications is a good way to think about whats ie-
quiied. Ask net-savvy youngei woikeis how they would like to
leain newskills, and they biing up the featuies they enjoy in othei
seivices
Peisonalize my expeiience and make iecommendations,
like Amazon.
Make it easy foi me to connect with fiiends, like lacebook.
Keep me in touch with colleagues and associates in othei
companies, as on Linkedln.
Peisistent ieputations, as at eBay, so you can tiust who
youie collaboiating with.
Multiple access options, like a bank that oeis access by
ATM, the Web, phone, oi human telleis.
Dont oveiload me. Let me leain fiom YouTube, an lAQ, oi
linking to an expeit.
Show me whats hot, like Reddit, Digg, Metaliltei, oi laik
do.
Give me single sign-on, like using my lacebook piole to
access multiple applications.
Let me choose and subsciibe to stieams of infoimation lm
inteiested in, like BoingBoing, LifeHackei oi Hupost.
Tui Wovxsc~vi 1
Piovide a single, simple, all-in-one inteiface, like that pio-
vided by Google foi seaich.
Help me leain fiom a community of kindied spiiits, like
SlashDot, Reddit, and Metaliltei.
Give me a way to voice my opinions and show my peison-
ality, as on my blog.
Show me what otheis aie inteiested in, as with social book-
maiks like Diigo and Delicious.
Make it easy to shaie photos and video, as on llicki and
YouTube.
Leveiage the wisdomof ciowds, as when l pose a question
to my followeis on Twiuei oi lacebook.
Enable useis to iate content, like Liking an item on lace-
book oi 1-ing it on Google oi YouTube.
Some of those consumei applications aie simple to ieplicate in-
house. Otheis aie not. You cant aoid to ieplicate lacebook
oi Google behind youi iewall. Tat said, theie aie lots of ap-
plications you can implement at ieasonable cost. Be skeptical if
youi collaboiative infiastiuctuie that doesnt include these mini-
mal functions
Profiles - foi locating and contacting people with the iight
skills and backgiound. Piole should contain photo, position, lo-
cation, email addiess, expeitise (tagged so its seaichable). lBMs
Blue Pages pioles include how to ieach you (noting whethei
youie online now), iepoiting chain (boss, bosss boss, etc.), link
to youi blog and bookmaiks, people in youi netwoik, links to
documents you fiequently shaie, membeis of youi netwoik.
Activity stream - foi monitoiing the oiganization pulse in
ieal time, shaiing what youie doing, being iefeiied to useful in-
foimation, asking foi help, acceleiating the ow of news and in-
foimation, and keeping up with change
18 Tui Wovxsc~vi
Wikis - foi wiiting collaboiatively, eliminating multiple vei-
sions of documents, keeping infoimation out in the open, elimi-
nating unnecessaiy email, and shaiing iesponsibility foi updates
and eiioi coiiection
Virtual meetings - to make it easy to meet online. Minimum
featuie set shaied scieen, shaied white boaid, text chat, video
of paiticipants. Bonus featuies peisistent meeting ioom (youi
oce online), avatais.
Blogs - foi naiiating youi woik, maintaining youi digital iep-
utation, iecoiding accomplishments, documenting expeit knowl-
edge, showing people what youie up to so they can help out
Bookmarks - to facilitate seaiching foi links to infoimation,
discovei what souices othei people aie following, locate expeits
Mobile access - Half of Ameiicas woikfoice sometimes
woiks away fiom the oce. Smait phones aie suipassing PCs
foi connecting to netwoiks foi access and paiticipation. Phones
post most Tweets than computeis. Google designs its apps foi
mobile befoie poiting them to PCs.
Social network - foi online conveisation, connecting with
people, and all of the above functions.
Conclusion
Leaining used to focus on what was in an individuals head.
Te individual took the test, got the degiee, oi eained the ceiti-
cate. Te newleaining focuses on what it takes to do the job iight.
Te woikplace is an open-book exam. What woikei doesnt have
a cell phone and an lnteinet connection` Using peisonal infoi-
mation pipelines to get help fiom colleagues and the lnteinet to
access the woilds infoimation is encouiaged. Besides, its piob-
ably the team that must peifoim, not a single individual. Tiity
yeais ago, thiee-quaiteis of what a woikei need to do the job was
stoied in hei head, now its less than 10.
cu~v1iv 23
PARTlClPATlON
Methods of managing piojects, including leaining
piojects, iange fiom moie foimal and stiuctuied to
casual and unstiuctuied. As a facilitatoi, youll see
youi peeiagogy community constantly adjust, as it
seeks an equilibiium between oidei and chaos, ide-
ally allowing eveiyone to be involved at theii own
pace without losing focus, and in such a mannei that
the collective can delivei.
Hey you, stop this tiain'
loi teacheis ieading this, and wondeiing how to use peeia-
gogy to impiove paiticipation in theii classiooms, its ieally quite
simple iefiame the educational vision using peeiagogical eyes.
Recast the classioom as a community of people who leain to-
gethei, the teachei as facilitatoi, and the cuiiiculum as a staiting
point that can be used to oiganize and tiiggei community engage-
19
180 P~v1iciv~1ioN
ment. Howevei, just because its simple doesnt mean its easy'
Whatevei youi day job may be, considei how well do the vai-
ious gioups you paiticipate in woik togethei even when the
membeis ostensibly shaie a common puipose` Sometimes things
tick along nicely, and, piesumably, sometimes its exciuciating.
Whats youi iole in all of this` How do you paiticipate`
Guidelines for participation
Accept that some people want to watch what is going on
befoie jumping in. Tis doesnt mean you have to keep
them hanging aiound foievei. Afei a while, you may un-
enioll people who dont add any value to the community.
ln oui Peeiagogy pioject, weve asked people to explicitly
ie-enioll seveial times. Most do ienew, some leave.
Accept that people may only contiibute a liule if this con-
tiibution is good it will add value to the whole.
Undeistand that you can not impose stiict deadlines on vol-
unteeis, adjust taigets accoidingly.
Let youi woik be open in the sense desciibed in
Wikipedias NiU1v~i PoiN1 oi Viiv policy.
Give ioles to paiticipants and dene some eneigy centeis
who will take the lead on specic items in the pioject.
Oiganize iegulai face-to-face oi online meetings to talk
about piogiess and whats needed in upcoming days/weeks.
Ask paiticipants to be cleai about when they will be ieady
to delivei theii contiibutions.
Have cleai deadlines, but allow contiibutions that come in
afei the deadline in geneial, be exible.
Add a newcomei section on youi online platfoim to help
new aiiivals get staited. Seasoned paiticipants aie ofen
eagei to seive as mentois.
P~v1iciv~1ioN 181
When we think about pioject management in an oiganization, we
ofen ielate to well-established tools and piocesses. loi example,
we can use the PvoJic1 M~N~cixiN1 Bouv oi KNoviiuci (PM-
BOK) as a standaid. loi the Pioject Management lnstitute (PMl)
and many woikeis, these standaids aie seen as the key to pioject
success. ln classical pioject management, tasks and deadlines aie
cleaily dened. We will, foi example, use Pvocv~x Ev~iU~1ioN
~Nu Riviiv TicuNic (PERT) to analyze and iepiesent tasks. We
ofen iepiesent the pioject schedule using a G~N11 cu~v1. Tose
aie just two of the pioject management tools that illustiate how
mainstieam pioject management iests imly on an engineei-
ing backgiound. ln these veiy stiuctuied piojects, each actoi is
expected to woik exactly as planned and to delivei his pait of
the woik on time, eveiy individual delay can potentially lead to a
collective delay.
Peeiagogy piojects may be, natuially, a bit dieient fiom
othei seuings, although we can potentially ieuse both foimal and
infoimal methods of oiganization. loi example, unlike a typical
wiki oi classioom peeiagogy piojects ofen expect to bieak
the 90/9/1 vUii. Keep in mind that some paiticipants may not
contiibute all the time but one ieally good idea can be a majoi
contiibution. See the anti-pauein Misundeistanding Powei foi
some fuithei ieections on these maueis.
How aie we doing` lf we take oui Google Community have
contiibuted to the handbook as the basic population, then as of
Januaiy 2014, ovei 4 have contiibuted pieuy good. Howevei,
we have yet to ieach a contiibution piole like 0/20/10.
lts impoitant to iemembei that especially in a volunteei oi-
ganization no one can make othei people paiticipate, and that
all the lists of things to do aie foi nought if no one steps in to do
the woik. loi this ieason, if anything is going to happen, whats
needed aie realistic estimates of available woik eoit. linally, in
closing this section, we want to emphasize that measuies of pai-
ticipation oei only a veiy iough pioxy foi measuies of leaining,
although the two aie cleaily ielated.
cu~v1iv 24
NEW DESlGNS lOR CO-WORKlNG AND
CO-LEARNlNG
Authoi Joe Coineli
Te woid leaining does not adequately captuie
what it means to guie out the for what purpose or
reason dimension that is essential foi a peeiagogi-
cal endeavoi. lnteipeisonal exchange and collaboia-
tion to develop and puisue common goals goes fui-
thei than leaining oi woiking in theii mainstieam
denitions. Tis aiticle will look at examples diawn
fiom Linux, Wikipedia, and my own woik on Planet-
Math, with a few suipiises along the way, leading us
to new ways of thinking about how to do co-design
when build systems foi peei leaining and peei pio-
duction.
Co-working as the flip side of convening
Linus Torvalds Te ist mistake is thinking that
you can thiow things out theie and ask people to
help. Tats not how it woiks. You make it public,
and then you assume that youll have to do all the
woik, and ask people to come up with suggestions of
what you should do, not what they should do. Maybe
theyll stait helping eventually, but you should stait
o with the assumption that youie going to be the
one maintaining it and ieady to do all the woik. Te
othei thingand its kind of ielatedthat people seem
to get wiong is to think that the code they wiite is
what maueis. No, even if you wiote 100 of the code,
and even if you aie the best piogiammei in the woild
183
184 DisicNs iov covovxiNc
and will nevei need any help with the pioject at all,
the thing that ieally maueis is the useis of the code.
Te code itself is unimpoitant, the pioject is only as
useful as people actually nd it.
ln fact, we can think of contiibutois as a special class of usei
with a ieal time investment in the way the pioject woiks. We
typically cannot Tom Sawyei ouiselves into leisuie oi ease just
because we manage to woik collaboiatively, oi just because we
have found people with some common inteiests. And yet, in the
iight seuing, many people do want to contiibute' loi example,
on Wikipedia, the encyclopedia anyone can edit (as of 2011) ~s
x~Nv ~s 80,000 visitois make oi moie edits pei month.
Tis is inteiesting to compaie with the ixvivic~i i~c1 that
(as of 200) ovei 0 of all the edits aie done by just . of the
useis 24 peopleand in fact the most active 2, which is 1400
people, have done 3.4 of all the edits. Similai numbeis apply
to othei peei pioduction communities.
DisicNs iov covovxiNc 18
A lile theory
ln many natuial systems, things aie not distiibuted equally,
and it is not atypical foi e.g. 20 of the population to contiol 80
of the wealth (oi, as we saw, foi 2of the useis to do neaily 80of
the edits). Many, many systems woik like this, so maybe theies
a good ieason foi it.
Lets think about it in teims of cooidination as undeistood
by the late Elinoi Ostiom. She talked about local solutions foi
local pioblems. By denition, such geogiaphically-based cooidi-
nation iequiies close pioximity. What does close mean` lf we
think about homogeneous space, it just means that we diaw a cii-
cle (oi spheie) aiound wheie we aie, and the iadius of this ciicle
(iesp. spheie) is small.
An inteiesting x~1uix~1ic~i i~c1 is that as the dimension
giows, the volume of the spheie gets thinnei, so the iadius
must inciease to captuie the same d-dimensional volume when
d giows' ln othei woids, the moie dieient factois impact on
a given issue, the less likely theie aie to be small scale, self-
contained, local pioblems oi local solutions in the ist place.
As a netwoik oi seivice piovidei giows (like a MOOC as op-
posed to a Collaboiative Exploiation, foi example), they typically
build many weak ties, with a few stiong ties that hold it all to-
gethei. Google is happy to seive eveiyones web iequests but
they cant have just anyone walking in o the stieet and connect-
ing devices theii netwoik in Mountain View.
By the way, the 200 aiticle on Wikipedia quoted above was
wiiuen by Aaion Swaitz (ovei 0 of all the edits aie done by
24 people, etc.), who achieved consideiable No1ovii1v foi doing
something similai with MlTs netwoik. His is a paiticulaily sad
case of one peison acting alone and diawing signicant iie fiom
institutions and goveinments, we could contiast Aaion Swaitz,
the individual, with the peei-to-peei infiastiuctuies like the ones
that iun PiiateBay, which have pioved much haidei to stop.
18 DisicNs iov covovxiNc
Co-working: what is an institution?
As idealists, we would love to be able to cieate systems that aie
both poweiful and humane. Some may ieect with a type of sen-
timental fondness on completely mythical economic systems in
which a dedicated individual could iise to the top thiough dint of
eoit. Well-aiticulated systems like this do exist, howevei nat-
uial languages, foi example, aie so expiessive and adaptive that
most sentences have nevei been said befoie. A well-aiticulated
system lends itself to local solutions to local pioblems but in
the linguistics case, this is only because all woids aie not cieated
equal.
Dr Seuss My biotheis iead a liule bit. Liule woids
like ll and lt. My fathei can iead big woids, too,
Like CONSTANTlNOPLE and TlMBUKTU.
We could go on heie to talk about Coases theoiy of the im,
and Benkleis theoiy of Co~sis PiNcUiN. We might continue
o1iNc fiom Aaion Swaitz. But we will not get so deeply into
that heie you can exploie it on youi own' loi now, it is enough
to say that an institution is a bit like a language. Tis will help us
a lot in the next section.
Designing a platform for peer learning
Pi~Ni1M~1u is a virtual community which aims to
help make mathematical knowledge more accessible.
ln my PhD thesis [1], l talk about my woik to tuin this long-
iunning website, which since 2001 had focused on building a
mathematics encyclopedia, into a peei pioduced peei leaining en-
viionment. Te pictuie below shows the basic idea. We would
ietain all of the old activities ielated to authoiing, ieviewing, and
discussing encyclopedia aiticles, but we would also add a bunch
of new featuies having to do with mathematical pioblem solving,
an activity that is suitable foi mathematical beginneis.
DisicNs iov covovxiNc 18
article
comment
correction
problem
solution
prole
review
goal
problem
article
article
comment
Old objects New objects
My ist tianslation of that sketch into a basic inteiaction de-
sign was as follows. People can continue to add aiticles to Plan-
etMaths encyclopedia they can connect one aiticle to anothei
eithei by making one aiticle the paient of anothei (A A), oi,
moie typically, via an inline link, . Like in the old system, useis
can discuss any object (X T), but now theie is moie stiuctuie
problems can be connected to aiticles (A P) and solutions can
be connected to pioblems (P S ). lnstead of explicitly modeling
goals, the idea l came up with was that pioblems and aiticles
could be oiganized into collections, the same way that videos aie
oiganized into playlists on YouTube, and that the usei would get
encouiaging feedback as they woik theii way thiough the piob-
lems in a given collection. l desciibed a few othei types of ob-
jects and inteiactions that weie not piesent in the above sketch,
like questions and answeis, gioups, and the ability to change the
type of ceitain contiibuted objects. Tis table summaiizes the
oveiall design.
Context leedback Qality Stiuctuie Heuiistic
A A
A

A
X T
S R
X Q
A C
A P S
L A, P
M A
Q A
G U
S H
Q, T C, W, P
A article
link
X object
T post
S solution
R review
Q question
C correction
P problem
L collection
M classific.
G group
U user
W request
H heuristic
188 DisicNs iov covovxiNc
Te next step was to do a complete oveihaul of PlanetMaths
sofwaie system, to build something that could actually do all
of that. Afei deploying the system and doing some studies
with PlanetMath useis (desciibed in the handbook section on Re-
seaiching Peeiagogy), l iealized the design summaiized above
was not complete. Note that this is veiy much along the lines
of what Linus Toivalds said above l did the design, and me and a
small gioup of collaboiatois with theii own vested inteiests built
the system, then we put it out theie to get moie ideas fiom useis.
Heie the updated table, coming out of the co-design piocess.
Context leedback Qality Stiuctuie Heuiistic
A A
A

A
X

X
X T
S R
X X

X Q
A C
X X

X X

A P J S
L A, P
M A
Q A
G U
S H
Q, T C, W, P
G E
A article
link
X object
T post
S solution
R review
Q question
C correction
P problem
L collection
M classific.
G group
U user
W request
H heuristic
X project update

fork
outcome
J conjecture E ephemera
Te main thing that was missing fiom the eailiei design was the
idea of a project. liom inteiviewing useis, it became cleai to me
that it would be helpful to think of eveiy object as being pait of at
least one pioject eveiything should have someone looking afei
it' lmpoitantly, geuing back to the veiy beginning of this aiticle,
each pioject can dene its own puipose foi existing. Heies how
l put it in my thesis
Actions and artifacts are embedded with projects, which
can be modeled in terms of informal user experience and
formal system features. Project updates can be modeled
with a language of fundamental actions. Projects them-
selves model their outcomes, and are made viable by
features that connect to the motivations and ambitions
of potential participants.
Te key point to make about these tables is that they desciibe a
giammai foi the kinds of things that can be done on Planet-
Math. ln the updated giammai, piojects aie like sentences. Te
DisicNs iov covovxiNc 189
language can be extended fuithei, and l hope this will happen in
fuithei study. ln paiticulai, we need to undeistand moie about
howthe sub-language of pioject updates (which connects to oui
Roadmap pauein).
Another way to think about things
Te ve categoiies l used above (Context, Engagement, Qal-
ity, Stiuctuie, and Heuiistic) come fiom ieecting on the pai-
agogy piinciples, and compaiing them with the vUiis iov
1ui ivoiU1ioN oi cooviv~1ioN that weie developed by Mai-
tin Nowak [2]. Te analogies between these two sets of ve cat-
egoiies aie not peifect, and this exeicise was meant to inspiie,
iathei than to constiain, thoughts on the leaining/platfoim de-
sign. Nowaks foimalism is meant to be geneial enough to de-
sciibe many dieient kinds of collaboiation lll ieview the key
points below, and show how they inspiied my thinking about
PlanetMath. Te bioadei ieason why Nowaks woik is so essen-
tial is that we alieady have theoiies of local collaboiation (like
Ostioms, mentioned above) his ve iules can act as glue that
biing dieient local entities togethei. l hope you can use these
ideas in youi own design piojects'
In a kin selection regime, we cooperate with
whomever (or whatever) is related.
On PlanetMath, the most impoitant senses of ielatedness apply
to elements of the subject domain encyclopedia pages aie linked
togethei if the topics ielate.
In a direct reciprocity regime, we help those who help
us.
One of the key legacy featuies of PlanetMath is that eveiy object
in the system is discussable. Tis is the most easily giaspable
soit of peei inteiaction, diiect feedback, staiting a conveisation.
190 DisicNs iov covovxiNc
In an indirect reciprocity regime, we are building
something that may be useful later on like a good
reputation.
An impoitant legacy featuie of PlanetMath is that, unlike
Wikipedia, aiticles aie not geneially open to the public to edit
high-quality iesouices emeige fiom the mediated engagement
of individuals in a peei ieview piocess.
In a spatial selection regime, we are again dening an
inside and outside.
With the new system, we see that an aiticle without an auached
pioblem is not as piactical as an aiticle that has an auached piob-
lem, similaily, a pioblem without a solution is lacking some-
thing. Tis helps people see whats missing, and what iemains to
be done.
In a group selection regime, we are building sets
of activities and paerns (milestones, roles) which can
then act as selectors for behavior.
Co-woiking iequiies people to be able to join gioups, and it ie-
quiies the gioups to be able to stiuctuie theii woikow. ln some
sense this is similai to an individuals woik being stiuctuied by
the use of heuiistics. A peisons choice to join this gioup instead
of that one, is a basic social heuiistic.
The discussion continues: Reliving the history of
mathematics as a peeragogical game?
Tese notes have shown one appioach to the design of spaces
foi leaining and knowledge building. Although the aiticle has
focused on mathematics leaining, similai ieections would ap-
ply to designing othei soits of leaining spaces, foi instance, to
the continued development of the Peeiagogy pioject itself' and
peihaps to the development of a new kind of institutions.
DisicNs iov covovxiNc 191
Doug Breitbart lt occuiied to me that you could
add a leaining dimension to the site that sets up
the histoiy of math as a seiies of pioblems, pioofs
and theoiems that, although alieady solved, could be
ie-cast as if not yet solved, and fiamed as cuiient
challenges which visitois could take on (cleaily with
links to the actual solutions, and deconstiuction of
how they weie aiiived at, when the visitoi decides to
thiow in the towel).
Reference
1. Coineli, J. (2014). Piiv PvouUciu Piiv Li~vNiNc A
M~1uix~1ics C~si S1Uuv. Unpublished Ph. D. thesis. Te
Open Univeisity.
2. Nowak, M. (200). livi vUiis iov 1ui ivoiU1ioN oi co
oviv~1ioN, Science.
cu~v1iv 2
A CO-WORKlNG STORY
Te boaid of a housing association needs to set a stiategy that
takes account of majoi changes in legislation, the UKbenets sys-
tem and the availability of long teim constiuction loans. Julian,
eagei to make use of his new-found peeiagogical insights sug-
gests an appioach wheie individuals ieseaich specic factois and
the team woik togethei to diaw out themes and stiategic options.
As a stait he pioposes that each boaid membei ieseaiches an aiea
of specic knowledge oi inteiest.
Jim, the Chaiiman, identies questions he wants to ask the
Chaiis of othei Housing Associations. Pamela (a lawyei) agiees
to do an analysis of the ielevant legislation. Claie, the CEO, plans
out a seiies of meetings with the local councils in the boioughs of
inteiest to undeistand theii ieactions to the changes fiom cential
goveinment. Jenny, the opeiations diiectoi, staits modelling the
impact on occupancy fiom new benets iules. Colin, the devel-
opment diiectoi, ie-puiposes existing woik on options foi devel-
opment sites to ieect dieient housing mixes on each site. Mal-
colm, the nance diiectoi, piepaies a biieng on the newtieasuiy
landscape and the changing positions of majoi lendeis.
Each membei of the boaid documents theii ieseaich in a pii-
vate wiki. Julian facilitates some synchionous and asynchionous
discussion to diaw out themes in each aiea and map acioss the
aieas of inteiest. Malcolm, the lD, adapts his nancial models
to take dieient options as paiameteis. Claie ienes the themes
into a set of stiategic options foi the association, with associated
nancial modelling piovided by Malcolm. lndividual boaid mem-
beis exploie the options asynchionously befoie convening foi an
all-day meeting to conim the stiategy.
193
Part VIII
Assessment
cu~v1iv 2
lNTRODUCTlON TO PEERAGOGlCAL
ASSESSMENT
Authois Joe Coineli and David Pieston
Tis aiticle is about both assessment in peei leaining
and an exeicise in assessment, as we put oui stiategy
foi assessment into piactice by evaluating the Peeia-
gogy Handbook itself.
Adapting strategies for learning assessment to
the peer-learning context
ln Eiiic1ivi Gv~uiNc A Tooi iov Li~vNiNc ~Nu Assiss
xiN1, Baibaia E. Walvooid and Viiginia Johnson Andeison have
outlined an appioach to giading. Tey addiess thiee questions
1. Who needs to know, and why`
2. Which data aie collected`
3. How does the assessment body analyze data and piesent
ndings`
Te authois suggest that institutions, depaitments, and assess-
ment commiuees should begin with these simple questions and
woik fiom them towaids anything moie complex. Tese simple
questions piovide a way to undeistand - and assess - any stiategy
foi assessment' loi example, considei foimative assessment (in
othei woids, keeping tiack of how things aie going). ln this con-
text, the answeis to the questions above would be
1. Teacheis need to knowabout the way students aie thinking
about theii woik, so they can delivei beuei teaching.
19
198 Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1
2. Teacheis gathei a lot of these details on leaining activities
by listening ovei the shouldeis of students.
3. Teacheis apply analysis techniques that come fiom theii
tiaining oi expeiience and they do not necessaiily piesent
theii assessments to students diiectly, but iathei, feed it
back in the foim of impioved teaching.
Tis is veiy much a teachei knows best model' ln oidei to
do something like foimative assessment among peeis, we would
have to make quite a few adjustments.
1. At least some of the pioject paiticipants would have to
know how othei paiticipants aie thinking about theii woik
as well as analyzing theii own piogiess. We aie then able
to delivei beuei teaching and woik togethei to pioblem-
solve when diculties aiise.
2. lt may be most convenient foi each paiticipant to take on
a shaie of the woik (e.g. by maintaining a leaining joui-
nal which might be shaied with othei paiticipants). Tis
imposes a ceitain oveihead, but as we iemaiked elsewheie,
meta-leaining is a font of knowledge' Outside of peisis-
tent self-ieection, details about otheis leaining can some-
times be abstiacted fiom theii contiibutions to the pioject
(leaining analytics is a whole topic unto itsell).
3. lf a paiticipant in a leaining pioject is boied, fiustiated,
feeling closed-minded, oi foi whatevei othei ieason not
leaining, then theie is denitely a question. But foi whom`
loi the peison who isnt leaining` loi the collective as a
whole` We may not have to pondei this conundium foi
long if we go back to the idea that leaining is adaptation,
someone who is not leaining in a given context will likely
leave and nd anothei context wheie they can leain moie.
Tis is but one example of an assessment stiategy in addition
to foimative assessment, diagnostic and summative stiate-
gies aie also quite populai in mainstieam education. Te main
Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1 199
puipose of this section has been to show that when the familiai
ioles fiom foimal education devolve to the people, the way as-
sessment looks can change a lot. ln the following section, we oei
and begin to implement an assessment stiategy foi evaluating the
peeiagogy pioject as a whole.
Case study in peeragogical evaluation: the
Peeragogy project itself
We can evaluate this pioject paitly in teims of its main de-
liveiable, the Peeiagogy Handbook (which you aie now ieading).
ln paiticulai, we can ask ls this handbook useful foi its intended
audience` lf so, in what ways` lf not, how can we adapt` Te
intended audience could potentially include anyone who is pai-
ticipating in a peei leaining pioject, oi who is thinking about
staiting one. We can also evaluate the leaining expeiience that
the co-cieatois of this handbook have had. Has woiking on this
book been a useful expeiience foi those involved` Tese aie two
veiy dieient questions, with two dieient taigets foi analysis
though the books co-cieatois aie also pait of the intended au-
dience. lndeed, we might stait by asking how has woiking on
this book been useful foi us`
A methodological interlude: Follow the money
Te metiics foi leaining in coipoiations aie business metiics
based on nancial data. Manageis want to know Has the leain-
ing expeiience enhanced the woikeis pioductivity` When peo-
ple ask about the ROl of infoimal leaining, ask them how they
measuie the ROl of foimal leaining. Test scoies, giades, self-
evaluations, auendance, and ceitications piove nothing. Te
ROl of any foim of leaining is the value of changes in behavioi
divided by the cost of inducing the change. Like the tiee falling
ovei in the foiest with no one to heai it, if theies no change in
behavioi ovei the long haul, no leaining took place. ROl is in
the mind of the beholdei, in this case, the sponsoi of the leain-
ing who is going to decide whethei oi not to continue investing.
200 Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1
Because the guie involves judgment, its nevei going to be accu-
iate to the ist decimal place. loitunately, it doesnt have to be.
Ballpaik numbeis aie solid enough foi making decisions.
Te piocess begins befoie the investment is made. What de-
giee of change will the sponsoi accept as woithy of ieinvestment`
How aie we going to measuie that` Whats an adequate level of
change` Whats so low well have to adopt a dieient appioach`
How much of the change can we auiibute to leaining` You need
to gain agieement on these things befoiehand. Monday moining
quaiteibacking is not ciedible. lts counteipioductive to assess
leaining immediately afei it occuis. You can see if people aie en-
gaged oi if theyie complaining about geuing lost, but you can-
not assess what sticks until the foigeuing cuive has iavaged the
leaineis memoiies foi a few months.
lnteiest also doesnt guaiantee iesults in leaining, though it
helps. Without ieinfoicement, people foiget most of what they
leain in shoit oidei. lts beguiling to tiy to coiielate the impact
of leaining with existing nancial metiics like incieased ievenues
oi beuei customei seivice scoies. Done on its own, this appioach
iaiely woiks because leaining is but one of many factois that in-
uence iesults, even in the business woild. Was todays success
due to leaining oi the ad campaign oi weak competition oi the
sales contest oi something else`
Te best way to assess how people leain is to ask them. How
did you guie out how to do this` Who did you leain this fiom`
How did that change youi behavioi` How can we make it bet-
tei` How will you` Self-evaluation thiough ieective piactice
can build both metacognition and self-ecacy in individuals and
gioups.
Too time consuming` Not if you inteiview a iepiesentative
sample. loi example, inteiviewing less than 100 people out of
2000 yields an answei within 10 nineteen times out of twenty,
a highei condence level than most estimates in business. lntei-
viewing 10 people will give you the iight estimate 99 of the
time.
Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1 201
Roadmaps in Peer Learning
We have identied seveial
basic and moie elaboiated
paueins that desciibe the
Peeiagogy eect. Tese have
shaped the way we think
about things since. We think
the cential pauein is the
Roadmap, which can apply
at the individual level, as a
peisonal leaining plan, oi
at a pioject level. As weve
indicated, sometimes peo-
ple simply plan to see what
happens alteinative veisions
of the Roadmap might be a
compass, oi even the ocean
chait fiom the Hunting of the
Snark. Te ioadmap may just
be a Noith Stai oi it may
include detailed ieasons why, fuithei exposition about the goal,
indicatois of piogiess, a section foi futuie woik, and so foith.
Oui initial ioadmap foi the pioject was the pieliminaiy outline
of the handbook, as the handbook appioached completion at
the 2.0 level, we spun o additional goals into a new ioadmap
foi a Peeiagogy Acceleiatoi. Additional paueins esh out the
piojects piopeities in an open agoia of possibilities. Unlike
the ocean, oui map ietains tiaces of wheie weve been, and what
weve leained. ln an eoit to document these paths in the giass,
we piepaied a shoit suivey foi Peeiagogy pioject paiticipants.
We asked people how they had paiticipated (e.g., by signing up
foi access to the Social Media Classioom and mailing list, joining
the Google Community, authoiing aiticles, etc.) and what goals
oi inteiests motivated theii paiticipation. We asked them to
desciibe the Peeiagogy pioject itself in teims of its aims and
to evaluate its piogiess ovei the ist yeai of its existence. As
202 Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1
anothei measuie of investment in the pioject, we asked, with
no stiings auached, whethei the iespondent would considei
donating to the Peeiagogy pioject. Tis suivey was ciiculated to
223 membeis of the Peeiagogy Google community, as well as
to the cuiiently active membeis of the Peeiagogy mailing list.
Te iesponses outlining the piojects puipose ianged fiom the
geneial How to make sense of leaining in oui complex times -
to much moie specic
Anonymous Survey Respondent 1 Push educa-
tion fuithei, pioviding a toolbox and [techniques] to
self-leaineis. ln the peeiagogy.oig intioduction page
we assume that self-leaineis aie self-motivated, that
may be iight but the Handbook can also help them to
stay motivated, to motivate otheis and to face obsta-
cles that may eiode motivation.
Consideiing motivation as a key factoi, it is inteiesting to ob-
seive how vaiious undeistandings of the piojects aims and its
aws inteisected with peisonal motivations. loi example, one
iespondent (who had only paiticipated by joining the Google
community) was [Seeking] [i]nfoimation on how to cieate and
engage communities of inteiest with a shaied aim of leaining.
Moie active paiticipants justied theii paiticipation in teims of
what they get out of taking an active iole, foi instance
Anonymous Survey Respondent 2 Contiibuting
to the pioject allows me to co-leain, shaie and co-
wiite ideas with a colouiful mix of gieat minds. Tose
ideas can be ielated to many elds, fiom communica-
tion, to technology, to psychology, to sociology, and
moie.
Te most active paiticipants justied theii paiticipation in teims
of beliefs oi a sense of mission
Anonymous Survey Respondent 3 Cuiiently we
aie witnessing many eoits to incoipoiate technol-
ogy as an impoitant tool foi the leaining piocess.
Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1 203
Howevei, most of the initiatives aie ieduced to the
technical aspect (apps, tools, social netwoiks) with-
out any theoietical oi epistemological fiamewoik.
Peeiagogy is iooted in many theoiies of coopeiation
and leads to a deepei level of undeistanding about the
iole of technology in the leaining piocess. l am con-
vinced of the social natuie of leaining, so l paiticipate
in the pioject to leain and nd newstiategies to leain
beuei with my students.
Oi again
Anonymous Survey Respondent 4 l wanted
to undeistand howpeei pioduction ieally woiks.
Could we cieate a well-aiticulated system that helps
people inteiested in peei pioduction get theii own
goals accomplished, and that itself giows and leains`
Peei pioduction seems linked to leaining and shaiing
- so l wanted to undeistand how that woiks.
Tey also expiessed ciiticism of the pioject, implying that they
may feel iathei poweiless to make the changes that would coiiect
couise
Anonymous Survey Respondent 5 Sometimes l
wondei whethei the pioject is not too much by edu-
cation specialists foi education specialists. l have the
feeling peei leaining is happening anyway, and that
teens aie ofen amazingly good at it. Do they need
leaining expeits oi books by leaining expeits at
all` Maybe they aie the expeits. Oi at least, quite a
few of them aie.
Anothei iespondent was moie blunt
Anonymous Survey Respondent 6 What piob-
lems do you feel we aie aiming to solve in the Peei-
agogy pioject` We seem to not be suie. How much
204 Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1
piogiess did we make in the ist yeai` Some got
stuck in theoiy.
But, again, it is not entiiely cleai how the pioject piovides cleai
pathways foi contiibutois to tuin theii fiustiations into changed
behavioi oi iesults. Additionally we need to be entiiely cleai that
we aie indeed paving new giound with oui woik. lf theie aie
pioven peei leaining methods out theie we have not examined
and included in oui eoits, we need to nd and addiess them.
Peeiagogy is not about ieinventing the wheel. lt is also not en-
tiiely cleai whethei excited new peeis will nd pathways to tuin
theii excitement into shaied pioducts oi piocess. loi example,
one iespondent (who had only joined the Google community)
had not yet intioduced cuiient, fascinating piojects publicly
Anonymous Survey Respondent 7 l joined the
Google community because l aminteiested in devel-
oping peei to peei enviionments foi my students to
leain in. We aie moving towaids a community-based,
place-based piogiam wheie we paitnei with commu-
nity oiganizations like oui histoiy museum foi mi-
ciohistoiy woik, oui local wateished community and
faimeis maikets foi local enviionmental and food is-
sues, etc. l would love foi those local eoits woiking
with adult mentois to combine with a peei netwoik
of othei HS students in some kind of cMOOCoi social
media netwoik.
Responses such as this highlight oui need to make ouiselves avail-
able to heai about exciting new piojects fiom inteiested peeis,
simultaneously giving them easiei avenues to shaie. Oui woik
on developing a peeiagogy acceleiatoi in the next section is an
auempt to addiess this situation.
Summary
We can ieect back on how this feedback beais on the main
sections of this book with a few moie selected quotes. Tese mo-
Piiv~cocic~i AssissxiN1 20
tivate fuithei ienement to oui stiategies foi woiking on this
pioject, and help build a constiuctively-ciitical jumping o point
foi futuie piojects that put peeiagogy into action.
Cooperate How can we build strong collaboration? A team is
not a gioup of people who woik togethei. A team is not a gioup
of people who woik togethei. A team is a gioup of people who
tiust each othei.
Convene How can we build a more practical focus? Te insight
that the pioject will thiive if people aie woiking haid on theii in-
dividual pioblems and shaiing feedback on the piocess seems like
the key thing going foiwaid. Tis feels valuable and impoitant.
Organize How connect with newcomers and oldcomers? l just
came on boaid a month ago. l am designing a self-oiganizing
leaining enviionment (SOLE) oi PLE/PLN that l hope will help
enable communities of life long leaineis to piactice digital liteia-
cies.
Assess How can we be eective and relevant? l am game to also
exploie ways auach peeiagogy to spaces wheie funding can ow
based on ieal need in communities.
Conclusion
We can estimate individual leaining by examining the ieal
pioblems solved by the individual. lt makes sense to assess the
way gioups solve pioblems in a similai way. Solving ieal piob-
lems ofen happens veiy slowly, with lots of piactice along the
way. Weve leained a lot about peei leaining in this pioject, and
the assessment above gives a seiious look at what weve accom-
plished, and at how much is lef.
cu~v1iv 2
RESEARCHlNG PEERAGOGY
Authoi Joe Coineli
lf you have a ieseaich bent, by this point, you may be asking
youiself questions like these How can we understand peer learn-
ing beer? How can we do research the peeragogical way? How
do we combine research and peer learning?You may also be asking
moie technical methodological and instiumentation-level ques-
tions Do we have a good way to measure learning? Which activi-
ties and interventions have the biggest payo?
Tis chaptei summaiizes qualitative ieseaich l did on Planet-
Math.oig, using the pauein catalog, as pait of my woik foi my
PhD. ln the couise of the study, l developed 3 new paueins.
Te ist point to make is that although this ieseaich was in-
foimal, it is neveitheless (at least in my view) highly iigoious.
Tis is because the pauein catalog is a ielatively stable, socially
agieed upon object, though it is not xed foi all time. We can
use it to help identify known paueins, but we can also extend it
with new paueins assuming that we can make an aigument to
explain why the new paueins aie needed. Te notion of pauein-
nding as a piocess ielated to, but distinct fiom abstiaction is
desciibed by Richaid Gabiiel, who emphasizes that the paueins
and the social piocess foi applying them aie designed to pioduce
oiganic oidei thiough piecemeal giowth ([1], p. 31).
We can use the iigoious-but-infoimal notion of an expand-
ing pauein catalog to help addiess the high-level questions about
peeiagogical ieseaich mentioned above. Te thiee new paueins l
piesent heie aie liontend and Backend, Spanning Set, and Min-
imum Viable Pioject. Tese paueins aie both an outcome of
ieseaich in a ieal peei leaining context and also a ieection
on peeiagogical ieseaich methods. Like the othei peeiagogy pat-
teins, they aie tools you can use in youi own woik.
20
208 Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv
Map of a viitual campus
Study design
Te study was based on inteiviews with useis of a new sof-
waie system that we deployed on PlanetMath.oig. ln the intei-
views, we coveied a wide iange issues, ianging fiom basic issues
of usability all the way to deep issues about how people think
about mathematics. ln this pioject, l was inteiested not only in
how people collaboiate to solve mathematical pioblems, but how
they think about systemlevel issues. Te design l had in mind is
depicted in the guies below. Te key idea is that paueins emeige
as paths in the giass, oi desiie lines. Te idea that leaining de-
sign has emeigent featuies is not itself new, see e.g. [2]. Whats
new heie is a chaiacteiization of the key paueins foi doing emei-
gent design in a peei leaining context.
Initial thematic analysis
Befoie desciibing the new paueins, l will biiey summaiize
the themes l identied in the inteiviews. Tis can seive as an
oveiview of the cuiient featuies and shoitcomings of PlanetMath
system foi people who aie not familiai with it.
Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv 209
Peeiagogy paueins as loci foi paths in the giass
Necessary but not suicient. Useis identied a iange
of essential featuies, like a ciitical mass of othei useis to
talk to.
Nice to have. lt was also easy to identify a bunch of cool
new dieam featuies.
Challenges withwriting mathematics. PlanetMath uses
L
A
T
E
X, which isnt entiiely easy to leain (howevei, we could
adapt the sofwaie to help new useis get staited).
Progressive problem solving. Te new PlanetMath con-
tains pioblems and solutions, but no easy way to talk about
conjectuies. Useis would like a beuei way to shaie and dis-
cuss woik-in-piogiess.
Personal history, social constructivism. Beuei featuies
foi tiacking and, wheie appiopiiate, shaiing, peisonal his-
toiy would help useis make sense of whats happening in
the site.
Regulating learning in a social/mediated context. Dif-
feient useis would look foi dieient things to keep them on
210 Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv
tiack (e.g. expeit guidance, oi a due sense of uigency in
feedback fiom peeis).
Comparison with roles in other contexts. Many useis
expect a seivice deliveiy style that is not entiiely consis-
tent with the open pioduction model used in a fiee/open,
volunteei-diiven pioject. We need to woik moie on iespon-
siveness in eveiy aspect of the pioject (keeping in mind that
most paiticipants aie volunteeis).
Concreteness as a criterion of quality. Knowing what
you can do, both with the sofwaie and with the content,
is impoitant. On the content level, pictuies help.
Personalizationand localization. Te systemhas a piac-
tically unlimited potential foi peisonalization, although
many basic peisonalized inteiaction modes have not been
built yet.
Paern analysis
At the next level of analysis, the themes extiacted above weie
fuithei analyzed in ielationship to the peeiagogy pauein catalog.
Frontend and Backend
Although mathematics is a ielatively foimal domain, many of
the motivations foi using PlanetMath map onto what Zimmeiman
and Campillo call infoimal pioblem solving [3]. lnfoimal piob-
lems aie aie peisonally dened and possess open ended boundaiy
conditions, i.e., aie situated within an open woild. l like think-
ing about this in teims of the way a cai woiks. You can model the
steeiing and diive system with classical mechanics. But you ul-
timately need to model the engine with statistical mechanics and
chemistiy. You get in a cai and stait diiving and usually it woiks
moie oi less the way youd expect. Tis is howit woiks with othei
foimal systems. You queue heie, sign theie, pay youi fee, and
its all done. With infoimal systems, its messiei. Of couise, the
Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv 211
cais engine has a detailed diagiam, and foi a mechanic, its just
anothei foimal system. And, yes, the stieets at iush houi can
get veiy messy. lts all ielative. Te bioadei point is that wheie
evei it appeais, foimal is stiaightfoiwaid. ln oidei to design a
collaboiative system, you want to biing in enough messiness to
let new and unexpected featuies emeige suppoit foi seiendip-
ity but you also need to be awaie of the useis expeiience. As
anothei analogy, imagine a butchei shop. You want the usei to
be able to take away nice liule packages of meat, you dont want
them cuuing up whole cows. Leave that to the pios. Te idea
of liontend and Backend is ielated to the pauein of the New-
comei pauein, since typically one will not expect the usei of a
system to know how to, oi to be motivated to, woik with back-
end featuies of a system until they have masteied at least some of
the fiontend featuies. lt would be iaie to nd an auto mechanic
who did not know how to diive. David Cavallo wiote about an
engine cultuie in iuial Tailand, in which stiuctuially open sys-
tems made some of the backend featuies of inteinal combustion
engines a pait of daily life [4]. ln PlanetMath, we have an open
engine, but not necessaiily an open engine cultuie (useis expect
a level of seivice piovision). Te liontend and Backend pauein
cleaily lends itself to standaid seivice piovision, but it can also
be pait of paiagogical activity. loi example, sophisticated and
commiued useis of the PlanetMath website could focus eneigy
on suppoiting individual newcomeis, by helping them develop a
high-quality sub-site on theii topic of inteiest. Such eoit would
simultaneously infoim the development of backend featuies, and
help iaise the piole of the site as a whole. Te pauein is in this
way associated with locusing on a Specic Pioject and with the
Divide pauein.
Spanning Set
You may be able to get what you need without digging - but if
you do need to dig, it would be veiy good to get some indication
about which diiection to dig in. At the content level, this might
be achieved by using high-level topic aiticles as a map to the
212 Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv
content. But theie is anothei bioadei inteipietation of this pat-
tein that ielated to but distinct fiom liontend and Backend - we
call this the Spanning Set. ln geneial, the Spanning Set might be
made up of people, oi media objects. ln a standaid couise model,
theie is one cential node, the teachei, who is iesponsible foi all
teaching and couise communication. ln laige online couises, this
model can be is scaled up
Anonymous study participant [E]veiyones allo-
cated a couise tutoi, who might take on just a half-
dozen students - so, theyie not the oveiall peison in
chaige of the couise, by any means.
Anothei veision is the classical mastei/appientice system, in
which eveiy appientice is supeivised by a ceitied mastei. ln
the typical online Q&A context, these ioles aie made distiibuted,
and aie beuei modeled by powei laws than by foimal giadations.
A spanning set of peei tutois could help shif the exponent at-
tached to the powei law in massive couises. We can imagine a
given discussion gioup of 100 peisons that is divided accoiding to
the so-called 90/9/1 vUii, so that 90 luik, 9 contiibute a liule, and 1
cieates the content. Tis is what one might obseive, foi example,
in a classioom with a lectuie foimat. We could potentially shif
the systemby bieaking the gioup up, so that each of the 9 contiib-
utois leads a small gioup of 10 peisons, at which point, chances
aie good that some of the foimei luikeis would be conveited into
contiibutois. At a moie semantic level, we can advance the ve
paiagogical piinciples and theii vaiious analogues as a candidate
desciiption of the fundamental categoiies and ielationships iele-
vant to peei leaining. ln piactice, piinciples can only piovide the
most visible fiontend, and an actual spanning set is compiised of
emeigent paueins. ln PlanetMath, this would aiise fiom combin-
ing seveial dieient featuies, like a stait menu that shows what
can be done with the site, a Heaitbeat built of iecuiiing meetings,
and topic-level guides to content. (Note as a pioject with an en-
cyclopedic component, PlanetMath itself can be used to span and
oiganize a signicantly laigei body of existing mateiial.)
Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv 213
Minimum Viable Project
Te Minimum Viable Pioduct appioach to sofwaie develop-
ment is about puuing something out theie to see if the customei
bites []. Anothei appioach, ielated to the pauein we just dis-
cussed, is to make it cleai what people can do with whats theie
and see if they engage. We might call this the Minimum Vi-
able Pioject, an adjunct to the Roadmap pauein, and yet an-
othei inteipietation of locusing on a Specic Pioject. One way
to stiengthen the PlanetMath pioject as a whole would be to focus
on suppoit foi individual piojects. Te fiont page of the website
could be iedesigned so that the top-level view of the site is pioject
focused. Tus, instead of collecting all of the posts fiom acioss
the site - oi even all of the thieads fiom acioss the site - the fiont
page could collect succinct summaiy infoimation on iecently ac-
tive piojects, and list the numbei of active posts in each, afei
the model of Slashdot stoiies oi StackExchange questions. loi
instance, each Mathematics Subject Classication could be des-
ignated as a sub-pioject, but theie could be many othei cioss-
cuuing oi smallei-scale piojects.
Summary
Tis chaptei has used the appioach suggested by liguie 2 to
expand the peeiagogy pauein language. lt shows that the peeia-
gogy pauein language piovides a meta-model that can be used
to develop emeigent oidei ielative to given boundaiy conditions.
As new stiuctuie foims, this becomes pait of the boundaiy con-
ditions foi futuie iteiations. Tis method is a suitable foim foi a
theoiy of peei leaining and peei pioduction in pioject-based and
cioss-pioject collaboiations - a tool foi conviviality in the sense
of lvan lllich. ln othei woids, weie all in the same boat. Te
things that peei leaineis need in oidei to leain stu in a peei
pioduced seuing aie exactly the same things that designeis and
system buildeis need, too. And one conciete way to assess oui
collective leaining is in teims of the giowth and ienement of
oui pauein catalog.
214 Risi~vcuiNc Piiv~cocv
Frontend and Backend
Piinciples and featuies
Minimum Viable Project
A Specic Pioject, Roadmap, Heaitbeat, Divide, Use oi Make
Spanning Set
Paths in the giass
Peeiagogical emeigent design a tool foi conviviality
References
1. Gabiiel, R. (199). Paueins of Sofwaie. Oxfoid Univeisity
Piess New Yoik.
2. Luckin, R. (2010). Re-designing leaining contexts
technology-iich, leainei-centied ecologies. Routledge.
3. Zimmeiman, B. J. & Campillo, M. (2003). Motivating self-
iegulated pioblem solveis. ln J. Davidson & R. Steinbeig
(Eds.), Te psychology of pioblem solving (pp. 233-22).
Cambiidge Univeisity Piess New Yoik, NY.
4. Cavallo, D. P. (2000). Technological lluency and the Ait of
Motoicycle Maintenance Emeigent design of leaining en-
viionments (Doctoial disseitation, Massachuseus lnstitute
of Technology).
. Ries, E. (2011). Te Lean Staitup How todays en-
tiepieneuis use continuous innovation to cieate iadically
successful businesses. Ciown Pub.
Part IX
Technologies, Services, and
Platforms
cu~v1iv 28
lNTRODUCTlON TO TECHNOLOGlES lOR
PEERAGOGY
Authoi Gigi Johnson
It is tempting to bring a list of technologies out as a glo-
rious cookbook. We need a 1/2 cup of gioup wiiting tools, 2
tsp. of social netwoik elements, a thick slice of social bookmaik-
ing, and some sugai, then put it in the oven foi 1 houi foi 30
degiees.
We have cieated a bioad featuies/functions list foi Handbook
ieadeis to ieect upon and considei. Te joy of this list is that you
can considei alteinatives foi the way you communicate and woik
while you aie planning the pioject, oi can add in new elements
to solve communications gaps oi cieate new tools.
Howevei, too many tools spoil the bioth. ln the wiiting of
this Handbook, we found that out isthand. We spent a lot of
maivelous eneigy exploiing dieient tools to collaboiate, cuiate
infoimation, do ieseaich, tag iesouices, and adjudicate among all
of oui points of view. ln looking at gioups woiking with the vai-
ious MOOCs, as anothei example, dieient gioups of students
ofen camp in dieient social media technologies to woik.
ln laige couises, students ofen have to be pushed into vaii-
ous social media tools to co-cieate with gieat piotest and lots
of ineitia. And nally, co-leaining gioups ofen come fiom veiy
dieient backgiounds, ages, and stages of life, with veiy dieient
tools embedded in theii cuiient lives. Do we have time foi thiee
moie tools in oui busy days` Do moie tools help oi do they
inteifeie with oui woik`
ln this section, well shaie with you a few issues
What technologies aie most useful in peei leaining` What
do we use them foi` What featuies oi functions help oui
21
218 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv
co-leaining piocess`
How do we decide (a) as a gioup and (b) foi the gioup on
what tools we can use` Do we decide upfiont, oi giow as
we go`
How do we coach and scaold each othei on use of tools`
How much do the tool choices impact the actual outcome
of oui leaining pioject`
What aie the dieient ioles that co-leaineis can take
in co-teaching and co-coaching the technology aoi-
dances/assumptions in the pioject to make otheis lives eas-
iei`
Keep in mind youi needs foi tools, plus how the way the gioup
uses them, will change as the co-leaining pioject moves along.
Technologies themselves tend to change iapidly. Aie you willing
to change tools duiing the pioject as youi needs and useis change,
oi do you plan to use a given tool set fiom the beginning to the
end of youi pioject`
Features and Considerations
We will begin belowwith a discussions of featuies and initial
consideiations, and then move to a bioadei Choose Youi Own
Adventuie-style matiix of featuies leading to a wide vaiiety of
collaboiation-based technology tools online.
Technologies and Features
As we will shaie in the extensive list below, theie aie abundant
tools now available both foi fiee and foi pay to biing gieat
featuies to oui co-leaining endeavois. lt is tempting to giab a
gioup of fancy tools and biing the gioup into a faiily complex
tool enviionment to nd the peifect combination of iesouices.
Te challenge adult leaineis seek both comfoit and context in
Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 219
oui lives [1], [2]. ln choosing tool biands, we can ignoie the
featuies themselves and what we need as paits of the puzzle foi
leaining. We also can have anxiety about oui self-beliefs aiound
computeis and technology, which in tuin can limit oui abilities
[3].
Befoie we get to biands and choices, it helps to ask a fewques-
tions about the leaining goals and enviionments
What do we need as featuies, and at what stage of the leain-
ing piocess`
What aie we alieady comfoitable with, individually and as
a gioup`
Do we want to stay with comfoitable existing tools, oi do
we want to stietch, oi both`
What types of leaineis do we have in this gioup` Techno-
logically advanced` Comfoitable with basics`
Do we want to invest the time to biing the whole gioup up
to speed on tools` Do all the gioup membeis agiee on this`
Do we want to iisk alienating membeis by making them
invest time in new iesouices`
We know that oui use will migiate and adapt. Do we want
to plan foi adaptation` Obseive it` Leain fiom it` Make
that change intentional as we go`
Reseaicheis ovei the yeais have heavily examined these ques-
tions of human, technology, and task t in many aienas. HUx~N
CoxvU1iv lN1iv~c1ioN ieseaicheis have looked at t and
adaptive behavioi, as well as how the tools can aect how
the pioblem is piesented by Teeni [4]. Cieativity suppoit tools
[] have a whole line of design ieseaich, as has the eld of
CoxvU1ivSUvvov1iu Coii~nov~1ivi Wovx Svs1ixs (CSCW).
loi co-leaineis and designeis inteiested in the abundance in this
space, weve added some additional links below. We heie will
220 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv
make this a bit easiei. loi youi co-leaining enviionment, you
may want to do one oi two exeicises in youi decision planning
What features do you need` Do you need collaboiation`
Giaphic models` Places to woik at the same time (synchionous)`
Between meetings (asynchionous)` What aie the gioup mem-
beis already using as theii peisonal leaining platfoims` lt also
makes sense to do an inventoiy about what the gioup alieady has
as theii leaining platfoims. lm doing that with anothei leain-
ing gioup iight now. People aie much moie comfoitable as we
also have found in oui co-cieation of this Handbook cieating
and co-leaining in tools with which they alieady aie comfoitable.
Membeis can be co-teacheis to each othei as we have have in
new platfoims. What type of tools, based on the featuies that we
need, shall we stait out with` Resnick at al. [] looked at tools
having
Low thiesholds (easy to get people staited)
Wide walls (able to biing in lots of dieient situations and
uses) and
High ceilings (able to do complex tasks as the useis and uses
adapt and giow).
What aie impoitant featuies needed foi co-cieation and work-
ing together` ln othei pages above, we talk abundantly about
ioles and co-leaining challenges. Tese issues also aie not new,
Douiish & Bellouii [] foi example, shaied long-standing issues
in computei-suppoitive collaboiative woik online about how we
aie awaie of the infoimation fiom otheis, passive vs. active gen-
eiation of infoimation about collaboiatois, etc. Tese challenges
used to be solved by sofwaie designeis in individual tools. Now
that tools aie open, abundant, and diveise, gioups embiace these
same challenges when choosing between online iesouices foi co-
leaining.
Useful Uses and fancy Features of Technological Tools
liom heie, we will help you think about what might be pos-
sible, linking to featuies and solution ideas.
Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 221
We stait with ways to ask the key questions What do you
want to do and why` We will stait with featuies oiganized
aiound seveial dieient axes
1. Time/Place,
2. Stages of Activities and Tasks,
3. Skill Building/Blooms Taxonomy,
4. Use Cases, and
. Leaining lunctions.
Each will link to pages that will piompt you with featuies, func-
tionality, and technology tool ideas.
Time/Place
We can fuithei bieak down tools into whethei they cieate oi
distiibute, oi whethei we can woik simultaneously (synchionous)
oi at oui own times (ascynchionous). To make elements of time
and place moie visual, Baeckei [8] cieated a CSCW Matiix, biing-
ing togethei time and place functions and needs. Some tools
aie synchionous, such as Google Hangouts, Blackboaid Col-
laboiate, and Adobe Connect, while otheis let us woik asyn-
chionously, such as wikis, foiums, and Google Docs. We seem
to be consideiing heie mostly tools good foi gioup woik, but not
foi solo, while many otheis aie much easiei solo oi in smallei
gioups.
Same Time
(Synchronous)
Dierent Time
(Ascynronous)
Same Place
(Colocated)
Face-to-Face Display-
focused (e.g., Smait-
boaids)
Ongoing Tasks Gioup-
waie, pioject manage-
ment tools
Dierent Place
(Remote)
Remote Interaction
Videoconfeience, lM,
Chat, Viitual Woilds
Communication & Co-
ordination Email, bul-
letin boaids, Wikis, blog,
woikow tools
222 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv
Stages of Activities and Tasks
Ben Shneideiman [] has simplied the abundant models in
this aiea (e.g., Cougei and Cave) with a cleai model of 4 geneial
activities and 8 tasks in cieation foi individuals, which we can
lean on as anothei fiamewoik foi co-cieation in co-leaining.
Collect Relate Create Distribute
Seaiching,
Visualizing
Consulting
Otheis
Tinking,
Exploiing,
Composing,
Reviewing
Disseminating
Tools and functions wont be cleai cut between aieas. loi ex-
ample, some tools aie moie focused on being geneiative, oi foi
cieating content. Wikis, Etheipad, Google docs, and otheis usu-
ally have a commenting/talk page element, yet geneiating content
is the piimaiy goal and discuisive/consultative functions aie in
seivice of that. Some tools aie discuisive, oi focused on woiking
togethei foi the cieative element of ielating above Blackboaid
Collaboiate, the social media class ioom foiums, etc.
Skill Building (Cognitive, a la Blooms Taxonomy, see
below)
Given that we aie exploiing leaining, we can look to Blooms
Taxonomy (ievised, see [9]) foi guidance as to how we can look
at knowledge suppoit. Staiting at the bouom, we have
Remembeiing, as a base,
Undeistanding,
Applying,
Analyzing,
Evaluating, and then, at the top,
Cieating.
We could put seaich in the Remembeiing categoiy above. Oth-
eis contest that Seaich, done well, embiaces most of the Blooms
Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 223
elements above. Samantha Penney has cieated a Biooxs Dici
1~i T~xoNoxv Pvv~xiu infogiaphic, desciibing tools foi leain-
ing, which you may want to check out.
Use Cases (I want to.)
Technologies can be outlined accoiding to the need they seive
oi use case they fulll. Examples lf we need to cuiate, Peail
Tiees is an option. To publish oi cieate, we can look to a wiki oi
WoidPiess. Othei choices might be gieat in oidei to collaboiate,
etc.
One challenge is that tools aie not that simple. As we look
moie closely at the technologies today, we need to ieach moie
bioadly to add multiple tags to them. loi example Twiuei can be
used foi Convening a gioup, foi micio-blogging, foi ieseaich,
etc.
Collaboiate with a Gioup
Cieate Community
Cuiate lnfoimation
Reseaich
Publish lnfoimation
Cieate Leaining Activities
Make Something
Tese plans get moie complex, as you aie making a gioup of de-
cisions about tool functionality in oidei to choose what combina-
tion woiks foi use cases. lt may be most useful to use a concept
map (a tech tool) to think about the needs and combinations that
you would biing togethei to achieve each Use Case oi Leaining
Module.
Technology Features/Functions
We have not made this easy' Teie aie lots of moving ele-
ments and options heie, none of them iight foi eveiything, and
some of them fabulous foi specic functions and needs. Some
have the low thiesholds but may not be bioad in scope. Some aie
224 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv
bioad foi many uses, otheis aie specic task-oiiented tools. Tat
is some of the chaim and fiustiation.
Weaving all of the above togethei, we have biought togethei
a shaied taxonomy foi us to discuss and think about co-leaining
technology featuies and functions, which we piesent as an ap-
pendix below. Tis connects vaiious technology featuies within
an expanded veision of Ben Shneideimans cieativity suppoit
tools fiamewoik. Weve cieated this linked toolset with multi-
ple tags, hopefully making it easiei foi you to evaluate which
tool suits best the necessities of the gioup. Please considei this
a staiting point foi youi own connected exploiation.
Weaving all of these fiamewoiks togethei, we have biought
togethei a shaied taxonomy foi us to discuss and think about co-
leaining technology featuies and functions. We have connected
vaiious technology featuies with an expanded veision of Ben
Shneideimans cieativity suppoit tools fiamewoik foi the linked
iesouice guide. loi convenience and to help keep it up to date,
weie publishing this iesouice oN Goocii Docs. We piesent an
oveiview in an appendix.
References
1. Schein, E. H. (199). Organizational learning as cognitive
re-denition: Coercive persuasion revisited. Cambiidge, MA
Society foi Oiganizational Leaining.
2. Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership.
San liancisco, CA Jossey-Bass.
3. Compeau, D.R., & Higgins, C.A. (199, June). Computei
Self-Ecacy Development of a Measuie and lnitial Test.
MIS arterly, 19, (2), 189-211.
4. Teeni, D. (200). Designs that t An oveiview of t con-
ceptualizations in HCl. ln Human-Computer Interaction and
Management Information Systems: Foundations, edited by
P. Zhang and D. Galleua, pp. 20-221, Aimonk, NY M.E.
Shaipe.
Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 22
. Shneideiman, B. (2002). Cieativity suppoit tools. Commun.
ACM 4, 10 (Octobei 2002), 11-120.
. Resnick, M, Myeis, B, Nakakoji, K, Shneideiman, B, Pausch,
R, Selkei, T. & Eisenbeig, M (200). DisicN vviNciviis iov
1oois 1o sUvvov1 cvi~1ivi 1uiNxiNc. Institute for So-
ware Research. Papei 81.
. Douiish, P. & Belloui, V. (1992). Awaieness and cooidina-
tion in shaied woikspaces. ln Proceedings of the 1992 ACM
conference on Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW
92). ACM, New Yoik, NY, USA, 10-114.
8. Baeckei, R., GvUuiN, J., BUx1oN, W., & GviiNnivc, & (eds.)
(199) Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Toward
the Year 2000. New Yoik, NY Moigan Kaufmann Publisheis
9. Andeison, L. W., & Kiathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001). A tax-
onomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of
Blooms Taxonomy of educational objectives: Complete edi-
tion. New Yoik, NY Longman.
22 Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv
Appendix: Features and Functions
Activities & Tasks Features & Functions
Planning/Designing
Communicating
Deciding and Cieating Alteinatives
Convening a gioup
Planning a couise/stiuctuie (assem-
bling a syllabus, designing a leaining ac-
tivity)
Designing self-assessment (gioup and
individual)
Seuing individual and gioup goals
Biainstoiming
Visualizing
Collect/Share
Seaiching
Visualizing
Seaich
Social Bookmaiking
Cieating/linding Taxonomies (shaied
keywoids, domain-based keywoids)
Piogiamming Toolsets
Collaboiative ieading
Collaboiative note-taking
Cuiation Tools
Gatheiing infoimation (e.g., captuiing
audio, video, text)
Suiveys and Qestionnaiies
Relate
Consulting Otheis fiom the Outside Qalitative ieseaich
Qantitative ieseaich
Communication
Connecting with Otheis in the Gioup Pioject Planning - Scheduling
Voice/Video Confeiencing Seivices
Gioup Email / loium Messaging Sei-
vices
lile Shaiing Seivice (cloud based)
Scieen Captuiing and Scieen Casting
Piesentation and Document Shaiing
Co-Create
Tinking (liee Association)
Exploiing
Composing
Reviewing
Leaining Management Systems
Document Collaboiation and Editing
Visualizing lnfoimation foi analysis and
synthesis (concept maps, data visualiza-
tion)
Distribute/Action
Disseminating Publishing Platfoims (tiaditional pub-
lishing, social media/shaiing distiibu-
tion)
Visualization (foi piesentation)
Feedback
Listening Social Monitoiing
Piiv~cocv TicuNoiocv 22
cu~v1iv 29
lORUMS
Authoi Howaid Rheingold
loiums aie web-based communication media that en-
able gioups of people to conduct oiganized multime-
dia discussions about multiple topics ovei a peiiod of
time. Selecting the iight kind of platfoim foi foium
conveisations is impoitant, as is know-how about fa-
cilitating ongoing conveisations online. loiums can
be a poweiful co-leaining tool foi people who may
have nevei met face-to-face and could be located in
dieient time zones, but who shaie an inteiest in co-
leaining. Asynchionous media such as foiums (oi
simple email distiibution lists oi Goocii Docs) can
be an impoitant pait of a co-leaining toolkit that also
includes synchionous media fiom face-to-face mee-
tups to Goocii H~NcoU1s oi webinais via Bi~cx
no~vu Coii~nov~1i, Auoni CoNNic1, oi the open
souice webconfeiencing tool, Bic BiUi BU11oN (dis-
cussed a liule latei in the handbook).
What is a forum and why should a group use it?
A foium, also known as a message boaid, nns, thieaded dis-
cussion, oi confeiencing system, aoids asynchionous, many-to-
many, multimedia discussions foi laige gioups of people ovei a
peiiod of time. Tat means that people can iead and wiite theii
paits of the discussion on theii own schedule, that eveiyone in
a gioup can communicate with eveiyone else, and that giaphics,
sounds, and videos can accompany text. Te best foiums index
discussion thieads by topic, title, tag, date,and/oi authoi and also
keep tiack of which thieads and entiies (also known as posts)
229
230 lovUxs
each logged-in paiticipant has alieady iead, making it possible
to click on a show me all the new posts and thieads link each
time a paiticipant logs in. Tis paiticulai foim of conveisational
medium meets the need foi oiganizing conveisations afei they
ieach a ceitain level of complexity. loi example, if twenty peo-
ple want to discuss ve subjects ovei ten days, and each peison
makes one comment on each subject eveiy day, that makes foi
one thousand messages in each paiticipants mailbox. On email
lists, when the conveisation diifs fiomthe oiiginal topic, the sub-
ject line usually does not change, so it makes it dicult to nd
paiticulai discussions latei.
loiums make possible a newkind of gioup discussion that un-
folds ovei days, weeks, and months, in a vaiiety of media. While
blogs aie piimaiily about individual voice, foims can be seen as
the voice of a gioup. Te best foium thieads aie not seiial collec-
tions of individual essays, but constitute a kind of discouise wheie
the discussion becomes moie than the sum of its individual posts.
Each paiticipant takes into account what otheis have said, builds
on pievious posts, poses and answeis questions of otheis, sum-
maiize, distill, and concludes.
Tis shoit piece on cUiuiiiNis iov uiscUssioN no~vu vvi1
iNcis useful, as is this shoit piece on su~viNc ~ cUi1Uvi oi coN
vivs~1ioN. Lively foiums with substantial conveisation can glue
togethei the dispaiate paits of a peeiagogy gioup the sometimes
geogiaphically dispeised paiticipants, texts, synchionous chats,
blogs, wikis and othei co-leaining tools and elements. loium
conveisations aie an ait in themselves and foiums foi leaining
communities aie a specic genie. Reading the iesouices linked
heie and communicating about them can help any peeiagogy
gioup get its foiums o to a good stait
How to start fruitful forum discussions:
ln most contexts, staiting a foium with a topic thiead foi in-
tioductions tends to fostei the sense of community needed foi
valuable conveisations. Tuis suov1 viici oN uov 1o uos1 coou
coNvivs~1ioNs oNiiNioeis geneial advice. ln addition to in-
lovUxs 231
tioductions, it is ofen helpful to stait a topic thiead about which
new topic thieads to cieate when eveiybody has the powei to
stait a new thiead and not eveiybody knows how foiums woik,
a confusing duplication of conveisations can iesult, so it can be
most useful to make the selection of new topic thieads a gioup
exeicise. A topic thiead to ask questions about how to use the
foium can pievent a piolifeiation of duplicate questions. lt helps
to begin a foium with a few topic thieads that invite paiticipa-
tion in the context of the gioups shaied inteiest Who is youi
favoiite photogiaphei foi a gioup of photogiapheis, foi exam-
ple, oi evolution of human intelligence foi a gioup inteiested in
evolution and/oi human intelligence. Ask questions, invite candi-
date iesponses to a challenge, make a piovocative statement and
ask foi ieactions.
Whethei oi not you use a iubiic foi assessing individual pai-
ticipants foium posts, this guide to uov iovUx vos1s ~vi iv~i
U~1iu by one piofessoi can help convey the dieience between
a good and a pooi foium conveisation
4 Points - Te posting(s) integiates multiple viewpoints and
weaves both class ieadings and othei paiticipants postings into
theii discussion of the subject.
3 Points - Te posting(s) builds upon the ideas of anothei pai-
ticipant oi two, and digs deepei into the question(s) posed by the
instiuctoi.
2 Points - A single posting that does not inteiact with oi in-
coipoiate the ideas of othei paiticipants comments.
1 Point - A simple me too comment that neithei expands
the conveisation noi demonstiates any degiee of ieection by the
student.
0 Points - No comment.
Selecting a forum platform
You dont want a foium foi discussions among two oi thiee
people, you do want a foium foi discussions among half a
dozen oi ve thousand people.
232 lovUxs
You dont want a foium foi exchanges of shoit duiation (an
houi, a day oi two) among any numbei of people, you do
want a foium foi ongoing conveisations that can continue
foi months.
You dont want a foium if blogs with comment thieads will
do blogs with comments aoid gioup discouise, but is not
easily indexed and discouise gets complicated with moie
than a dozen oi so bloggeis and commenteis.
lf you do want to select a platfoim foi foium discouise, you will
want to decide whethei you have the technical expeitise available
to install the sofwaie on youi own seivei oi whethei you want
to look foi a hosted solution. Cost is an issue.
loitunately, an online foium maven by the name of D~viu
Wooiiv has been keeping an up-to-date list of available sofwaie
and seivices foi moie than a decade
lovUx Soi1v~vi iov 1ui Win
lovUx ~Nu Miss~ci Bo~vu Hos1iNc Sivvicis
Tese 2003 sUccis1ioNs oN uov 1o cuoosi ~ iovUx by Howaid
Rheingold can be helpful. lf blogs with comments aoid a kind of
netwoiked individualistic discouise, and video confeiencing em-
ulates face-to-face meeting, foiums can be seen as a channel foi
expiession of the gioup voice. When people ieact to and build
on each otheis comments, they can leain to act as a collective
intelligence as well as a collection of individuals who aie commu-
nicating in oidei to leain.
cu~v1iv 30
WlKl
Author: Rgis Baiondeau
ln the context of P2P-leaining, a wiki platfoim can be a useful
and poweiful collaboiation tool. Tis section will help you un-
deistand what a wiki is and what it is not, why you should use
it, how to choose a wiki engine and nally how you could use it
in a P2P context. Some examples of P2P-leaining piojects iun on
wikis will help you see the potential of the tool.
What is a wiki?
loi W~vu CUNNiNcu~x fathei of the wiki, a wiki is a fieely
expandable collection of inteilinked Web pages, a hypeitext sys-
tem foi stoiing and modifying infoimation - a database, wheie
each page is easily editable by any usei with a foims-capable Web
biowsei client [1].
Accoiding to Wikipedia a wiki is a website whose useis
can add, modify, oi delete its content via a web biowsei using a
simplied maikup language oi a iich-text editoi [2].
You can watch this CommonCiaf video vixi iN vi~iN iN
ciisu to beuei undeistand what a wiki is.
What dierentiates the wiki from other
co-editing tools?
Te pievious denitions show that a wiki is a website, in
othei woids it is composed of pages that aie connected togethei
by hypeilinks. ln addition, eveiy authoiized peison (not all wikis
aie totally open like Wikipedia) can edit the pages fiom a web
biowsei, ieducing time and space constiains. ln case one saves a
233
234 Wixi
mistake oi foi any othei ieason would like to go back to a pievi-
ous veision, a featuie called histoiy allows useis to see pievious
veisions and to ioll back any of them. Tis veision histoiy allows
also to compaie veisions avoiding the cluueied of the commen-
taiies iainbow we aie used too in populai Woid piocessois. loi
example if you woik on a wiki page, and come back latei on, you
will be able to catch up by compaiing youi last veision with the
latest veision of someone else.
Tools like Goocii Docs oi E1uivv~u aie design to enable co-
editing on a single document. Tis can be seen as a wiki way of
woiking on a document as it is web based and includes veision-
ing. But it is not a wiki because a single document is not a website.
Tose tools oei iealtime collaboiation which wikis do not and
aie so fai easiei to use foi beginneis as they woik in WYSlWYG
mode, which many wikis do not suppoit. Howevei, the advanced
featuies vixi x~vxUv i~NcU~ci make it a moie poweiful tool.
ln summaiy, tools like Googles Docs oi Etheipad aie a gieat way
to quickly collaboiate (synchionously, asynchionously, oi a mix-
tuie of both) on a single document foi fiee, with a low baiiiei to
entiy and no technical suppoit. (Note that Etheipad does have a
wiki-links plugin that can allow it to be used in a moie wiki-like
way, H~cxv~u is anothei ieal-time editing tool that piominently
featuies linking and it claims to be the best wiki evei.)
Using a ieal wiki engine is moie inteiesting foi biggei piojects
and allows a huge numbei of useis to collaboiate on the same plat-
foim. A wiki ieduces the cooidination complication as e-mails
exchanges aie no moie needed to cooidinate a pioject. On the
othei hand it can help us deal with complexity ([3], [4]) espe-
cially if you put basic simple iules in place like the Wikipedias
NiU1v~i voiN1 oi viiv to allow eveiy paiticipant to shaie hei
oi his ideas.
Going back to the continuum we talked about befoie, some
tools like Moodle, ShaiePoint, WoidPiess, Diupal oi otheis have
build in wiki featuies. Tose featuies can be good but will
typically not be as good foi wiki-building puiposes as a well-
developed special-puipose wiki engine. ln othei woids, those
tools main focus is not the wiki, which is only a secondaiy fea-
Wixi 23
tuie. When you choose a ieal wiki engine like Miui~vixi, Tixi,
losvixi, etc., the wiki will be youi platfoim, not a featuie of it.
loi example if you stait a wiki activity in a Moodle couise, this
wiki will be only visible to a specic gioup of students and seaich-
able only to those students. On the othei hand if youi leaining
platfoim is a wiki, the whole platfoim will be seaichable to all
membeis iegaiding theii peimissions. We aie not saying heie
that a wiki is beuei than othei tools but if you need a wiki engine
to addiess youi needs you may considei going with a stiong wiki
engine iathei than a micio-wiki engine embedded in an othei
tool.
Why use a wiki?
Tose aie the main ieasons you should considei a wiki foi
youi peei leaining piojects
To ieduce cooidination complication by having a cential
and always up to date place to stoie youi content. You
will ieduce e-mail usage diastically, and have access to youi
content fiom eveiywheie using any opeiating system.
To keep tiack of the evolution of youi pioject and be able to
view oi ioll back any pievious veision of a wiki page using
the histoiy featuie.
To make links between wiki pages to connect ideas and peo-
ple but also make links to exteinal URLs. Tis last possibil-
ity is veiy handy to cite youi souices.
To deal with complexity. As a wiki allows anyone to con-
tiibute, if you set some easy iules like Wikipedias NPOV
(Neutial Point of View), you will be able to catch moie com-
plexity as you will allow eveiyone to expiess his oi hei
opinion. Wikis also integiate a foium oi comment featuie
that will help you solve editing conicts.
To deal with woik in piogiess. A wiki is a gieat tool to
captuie an on going woik.
23 Wixi
To suppoit tianspaiency by leuing eveiy membeis of the
community see what otheis aie doing.
To suppoit a netwoik stiuctuie as a wiki is by essence an
hoiizontal tool.
Using hypeilinks, you can
Grard Ayache jump by a single click fiom one
netwoik node to anothei, fiom a computei to an-
othei, fiom one piece of infoimation to anothei, fiom
one univeise to anothei, fiom one biain to anothei.
(Tianslated fiom [].)
How to choose a wiki engine?
You will nd moie than a hundied dieient wiki engines.
Te ist main distinction is between open souice ones that
aie fiee to download and commeicial ones you will have to pay
foi. You will nd poweiful engines on both sides open souice and
commeicial. Sometimes the open souice ones look less polished
at ist sight but aie backed by a stiong community and oei a
lot of customization possibilities. Te commeicial aie sold like a
package, they aie nicely piesented but ofen they oei less cus-
tomization on the usei side and additional featuie oi custommade
tools will cost you an extia fee.
Te second distinction that we can make is between wiki
faims and self-hosted wikis. Te vixi i~vx is a hosting seivice
you can nd foi both open souice oi commeicial wikis. Te goal
of those faims is to simplify the hosting of individual wikis. lf
you dont want to choose a wiki faim hosting, you will have to
host the wiki on youi own seivei. Tis will give you moie lati-
tude and data piivacy but will iequiie moie technical skills and
cost you maintenance fees.
Te Wixix~1vix web site will help you choose the best wiki
foi youi needs. lt allows you to compaie the featuies of moie
than a hundied wiki engines. Hivi is the top ten list of the best
wiki engines by Waid Cunningham.
Wixi 23
Howcan a wiki be useful in a peeragogy project?
A wiki is a good tool collaboiative piojects and a specially
suited foi woik in piogiess as you can easily tiack changes using
the histoiy, compaie those veision and if necessaiy ioll back a
pievious veisions. ln othei woids, nothing gets lost.
Heie aie some ideas about how to use a wiki in a peeiagogy
pioject
Use a wiki as your learning platform. lt can also sup-
poit M~ssivi OviN ONiiNi CoUvsis (MOOCs). A wiki will
help you oiganize youi ii~vNiNc coN1ix1. You can choose
to give access to youi wiki only to the pioject paiticipants
oi open it to the public like Wixiviui~. Using hypeilinking,
you will opeiationalize the theoiy of coNNic1ivisxby con-
necting nodes togethei. As a leaining platfoim wikis aie
poweiful because you can easily see what otheis aie doing,
shaie with them, get inspiied, meige ideas oi link to ideas.
ln othei woids, it cieates emulation between leaineis. loi
additional iesouices about wikis in education, follow this
Diico iiNx.
Manage your peeragogy project. A wiki is an excellent
tool foi pioject collaboiation. Above all, the wiki can be a
cential place foi peei leaineis to wiite oi link to content.
Even if you use seveial technologies to iun youi pioject as
we did to wiite this handbook, at the end of the day, all the
content can be centialized on a wiki using diiect wiiting
on wiki pages oi hypeilinks. Tis way membeis can access
the content fiom anywheie and fiom any device connected
to the inteinet using any platfoim oi application and they
will always see the most iecent veision while being able
to biowse thiough the veisions histoiy to undeistand what
has changed since theii last visit.
Publish your project. As a wiki is a website you can eas-
ily use it to show youi woik to the woild. Regaiding web
238 Wixi
design, dont foiget that a wiki can look way beuei than a
Wikipedia page if you customize it
Examples of peeragogy projects run on wikis
Avvvoviui~ is a wiki site foi collaboiative solutions in sUs
1~iN~niii1v, voviv1v ieduction and iN1ivN~1ioN~i uiviiov
xiN1 thiough the use of sound vviNciviis and ~vvvovvi~1i
1icuNoiocv and the shaiing of wisdom and vvoJic1 infoima-
tion. Te site is open to stakeholdeis to nd, cieate and impiove
scalable and adaptable solutions.
Ti~uoUsi is a peeiagogy pioject iun on a wiki that gives new-
comeis a place to leain about Wikipedia cultuie and get feedback
fiom expeiienced Wikipedians.
What are the best practices when using a wiki?
Co-facilitation help each othei leain, help each othei
administei
Self-election enable people to choose what they want to
woik on, at theii own pace, in theii own way
Communication use comment thieads and talk pages to
discuss wiki changes
Documenting changes most wikis enable editois to
wiite veiy biief desciiptions of theii edits
Rules keep iules at a minimum level to avoid chaos with-
out constiaining cieativity
Fun make it fun foi people to contiibute
References
1. Leuf, Bo, et Waid, Cunningham. 2001. Te Wiki way
quick collaboiation on the Web. Boston Addison-Wesley,
xxiii, 43 p. p.14
Wixi 239
2. Wixi on Wikipedia
3. Andius, Calvin D. 200. Tov~vu ~ coxviix ~u~v1~1ivi
iN1iiiiciNci coxxUNi1v Tui vixi ~Nu 1ui nioc. Stud-
ies in lntelligence. vol. 49, no 3. Online
4. Baiondeau, Rgis. 2010. L~ cis1ioN ui vvoJi1 cvoisi
ii vixi. Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion, Univeisit du
Qbec Montial, 180 pp.
. Ayache, Giaid. 2008. Homo sapiens 2.0 intioduction
une histoiie natuielle de lhypeiinfoimation. Paiis Milo,
284 p. p.19
cu~v1iv 31
REAL-TlME MEETlNGS
Authoi Howaid Rheingold
Summary
Web seivices that enable bioadband-connected leaineis to
communicate in ieal time via audio, video, slides, whiteboaids,
chat, and scieen-shaiing enable leaining gioups to add some of
the audio-visual dimensions familiai fiom synchionous face-to-
face communication to otheiwise asynchionous platfoims such
as foiums, blogs, and wikis. Tis aiticle includes iesouices foi
nding and evaluating appiopiiate foi-fiee oi foi-fee platfoims,
tips on paiticipative activities foi ieal-time meetings, and sugges-
tions foi blending ieal-time and asynchionous media.
Real-time meeting media
Te Peeragogy Handbook was conceived and constiucted by a
gioup of people on foui continents who had not met and had not
known about each othei befoie we began meeting online. Te
piocess involves asynchionous media, including foiums, wikis,
social bookmaiking gioups, and WoidPiess, but it piobably would
nevei have coheied into a gioup capable of collective action if it
had not been foi the ieal-time meetings wheie we weie able to
see each otheis faces, heai each otheis voices, use a whiteboaid
as an anonymous agenda-geneiatoi, exchange links in chat, show
each othei examples thiough scieen-shaiing. Togethei, the asyn-
chionous and ieal-time media enabled us to begin to see ouiselves
as an eective gioup. We used both ieal-time and asynchionous
tools to woik out piocesses foi cieating, iening, and publishing
the Handbook, to divide laboi, decide on platfoims and piocesses,
to collaboiatively compose and edit aiticles, and to design and add
241
242 Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs
giaphical and video elements. ln paiticulai, we used the Bi~cx
no~vu Coii~nov~1i platfoim, a web-seivice that enables up to
0 people at a time to meet in a multimedia, iecoidable, meeting
ioom foi aiound S00/yeai. Weve expeiimented with othei paid
platfoims, such as Auoni CoNNic1 (about the same piice as Col-
laboiate), and when we meet in gioups of ten oi less, we ofen
use the fiee and iecoidable Goocii H~NcoU1 seivice. Smallei
gioups also use Sxvvi oi fiee telephone confeiencing seivices.
MUxnii is an open souice audio-only tool that is populai with
gameis. Weie watching the development of Bic BiUi BU11oN,
a fiee and open-souice ieal-time meeting platfoim, as it devel-
ops the full suite of tools that aie cuiiently only available foi a
fee. Dozens of othei fiee, ad-suppoited and/oi fieemium web-
confeiencing systems such as Bic M~vxiv and DixDix can be
found in lists like Hov~vu RuiiNcoius and RoniN Goous. liee
phone confeiencing seivices piovide anothei technological low-
est common denominatoi some piovide a few extias like down-
loadable iecoidings.
Features of real-time meeting platforms
Teie aie many fiee seivices foi chat, scieen-shaiing, white-
boaids, and video confeiencing, but combining all these compo-
Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs 243
nents in sepaiate panes of the same scieen (piefeiably) oi as sepa-
iate tabs of a biowsei can have a poweiful synchionizing and hai-
monizing eect on the gioup. Te featuies to look foi in meeting
platfoims include
Audio and video Choose platfoims that enable voice-ovei-
inteinet-piotocol (VOlP) and easy ways foi paiticipants to con-
guie theii miciophones and speakeis. Todays webcams, to-
gethei with adequate lighting and a bioadband connection, enable
a numbei of people to be visible at the same time. ln Blackboaid
Collaboiate, the peison who is speaking at a given moment is vis-
ible in the laigest video pane, while othei paiticipants aie avail-
able in smallei video windows. Audio and video convey much
moie of a human dimension than text communications alone. A
gioup of people who have seen and heaid each othei online aie
able to woik togethei via asynchionous media such as foiums and
wikis moie eectively. Online face-to-face meetings aie ofen the
best way foi a gioup to aigue constiuctively and decide on ciit-
ical issues. loiums and email aie compaiatively bad choices foi
distiibuted decison-making.
Slide pushing: Te best platfoims will conveit .ppt oi .pdf les
foi sequential display. With the addition of text chat, annotations
to slides, and the ability to iaise youi hand oi inteiiupt with
youi voice, an online lectuie can be a moie multidimensional ex-
peiience than even a highly discuisive in-peison lectuie.
Text chat: As a backchannel, a means of quickly exchanging links
to ielevant iesouices, a channel foi collaboiative note-taking, a
way of communicating with the lectuiei and with othei paitici-
pants, text chat adds a paiticulaily useful dimension to ieal-time
peeiagogical meetings especially when the division of laboi
is explicitly agieed upon in advance. Weve found that even in
meetings that use the ieal-time collaboiative editoi E1uivv~u foi
collaboiative note taking, paiticipants may giavitate towaid the
built-in chat box foi discussion.
Screen sharing: Te ability of paiticipants to show each othei
what is on theii scieens becomes especially impoitant in peei
244 Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs
leaining, wheie we all have some things to show each othei.
Web tours: An alteinative to scieen-shaiing is the ability to dis-
play the same web page(s) to all paiticipants by enteiing URLs.
Interactive whiteboards A shaied space that enables paitic-
ipants to entei text, diawings, shapes, colois, to move and ie-
size media, and to impoit giaphic content especially if it allows
anonymous actions can fostei the feeling of paiticipating in a
collective intelligence. Collaboiative anonymous mind-mapping
of the discussion is one technique to tiy with whiteboaids. Te
whiteboaid can also be used to geneiate an emeigent agenda foi
an un-meeting.
Configuring Google+ Hangout - a free
alternative for up to 10 people
loi up to 10 people, each equipped with a webcam, micio-
phone, and bioadband connection, Goocii H~NcoU1 can pio-
vide high-quality audio-video confeiencing. By enabling the text
chat featuie and adding Google Docs (text documents, piesen-
tations, oi spieadsheets), scieenshaiing, and SketchUp (white-
boaid), it is possible to emulate most of what the commeicial
seivices oei. Adobe Connect and Blackboaid Collaboiate cui-
iently have the usei-inteiface advantage of displaying chat, video,
whiteboaid/slides as iesizable panes on one scieen, at piesent, the
fiee Google seivices can piovide a poweiful extension of the ba-
sic audio-video platfoim, but paiticipants have to shif between
dieient tabs oi windows in the biowsei. Note that it is possible
to s1vi~x ~ H~NcoU1 ~Nu vicovu i1 1o YoUTUni, again at no
cost to the usei. Weve used this tool extensively in the Peeiagogy
pioject.
Suggestions for real-time meetings
ln the nine online couises l have facilitated, the emphasis on
co-leaining encouiaged paiticipants to suggest and shape active
ioles duiing ieal-time meetings. By cieating and taking on ioles,
Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs 24
and shifing fiom iole to iole, paiticipants engage in a kind of col-
lective leaining about collective leaining which can be as pleasui-
able as well as useful. Typically we ist biainstoim, then analyze,
then oiganize and piesent the knowledge that we discovei, con-
stiuct, and ultimately convey togethei.
Roles for participants in real-time meetings
Searchers: seaich the web foi iefeiences mentioned dui-
ing the session and othei iesouices ielevant to the discus-
sion, and publish the URLs in the text chat
Contextualizers: add two oi thiee sentences of contextual
desciiption foi each URL
Summarizers: note main points made thiough text chat.
Lexicographers: identify and collaboiatively dene woids
and phiases on a wiki page.
Mappers: keep tiack of top level and secondaiy level cate-
goiies and help the gioup mindmapping exeicise at the end
of the session.
Curators: compile the summaiies, links to the lexicon and
mindmaps, contextualized iesouices, on a single wiki page.
Emergent Agendas: using the whiteboaid foi anonymous
nomination and piefeience polling foi agenda items, with
voice, video, and text-chat channels foi discussing nomina-
tions, a gioup can quickly set its own agenda foi the ieal-
time session.
The Paragogical Action Review
Chailie Dano and Joe Coineli slightly modied the US
Aimys Afei Action Review into a technique foi evaluating
peei leaining as it happens. Te ve steps in the PAR aie
24 Ri~i1ixi Mii1iNcs
1. Review what was supposed to happen
2. Establish what is happening
3. Deteimine whats iight and wiong with what we aie doing
4. What did we leain oi change`
. What else should we change going foiwaid`
Paiticipants can iun thiough these steps duiing live meetings to
ieassess the medium, the ieadings, the gioup dynamics, oi any
othei choices that have leaining ielevance. Te focus in the PAR
is on change as such, it piovides a simple way to help implement
the double loop leaining desciibed Chiis Aigiis [1].
Reference
1. Aigyiis, Chiis. Ti~cuiNc sx~v1 viovii uov 1o ii~vN.
Haivaid Business Review, 9.3, 1991.
Part X
Resources
cu~v1iv 32
HOW TO GET lNVOLVED lN THE PEERAGOGY
PROJECT
is page is for people who want to help develop/improve this
handbook.
If you want to get involved, write to Hov~vu RuiiNcoiu at
uov~vuvuiiNcoiu.cox.
Illustrations by Ax~Nu~ LvoNs.
Hello and welcome!
Te peeiagogy pioject was kicked o aiound the time of
Hov~vu RuiiNcoius Januaiy 23, 2012 RiciN1s Lic1Uvi at UC
Beikeley on Social Media and Peer Learning: From Mediated Peda-
gogy to Peeragogy. We have put togethei a handbook about peei
leaining youie ieading it maybe on oUv vinsi1i, oi in youi
hammock with the beveiage of youi choice and oui vviN1 oN ui
x~Nu papeiback. Oi maybe you giabbed oui ivii PDl oi some
othei iemixed veision in some othei foimat oi avoi fiom some
othei place (which would be cool').
But theies still moie woik to be done. We cieated this page
because you might be inteiested in geuing involved in impiov-
ing the book oi fuitheiing the pioject in othei ways. lf so, weie
happy to have you aboaid'
What you do heie is laigely up to you. Asking questions is
actually extiemely helpful theies almost always someone in oui
Goocii coxxUNi1v who would be happy to tiy to answei them,
249
20 Hov 1o ci1 iNvoiviu
oi iefei you to someone else who can. Oi just poke aiound the
public pages on peeiagogy.oig and leave a comment oi two. Bet-
tei still, nd an aiea wheie you feel knowledgeable oi aie will-
ing to leain and stait wiiting (oi lming, dancing, diawing,
building, etc.).
Te goal we have in mind foi oui book is foi it be a useful
guide to peei leaining' To achieve that goal we have in mind
multiple oppoitunities foi peeis to contiibute
Once we get to know you a liule bit well be happy to give
you a login on peeiagogy.oig and you can stait editing and
impioving this.
You can go iight ahead and post some links to ielevant ie-
souices, eithei in comments heie, oi in the G oi SMC.
Wiite the text foi a new sub-section (this page was once
new but its been ievised many times by now').
Weie paiticulaily inteiested in case studies about Peeia-
gogy in Action'
Oiganize a team to tackle a laigei section oi topic.
Make a video (like these on oui YoUTUni Cu~NNii),
Take notes of live meetings, oi cvov coNciv1 x~vs,
Oiganize a newsleuei foi youi gioup oi the whole team,
Add geneial puipose bookmaiks to 1uis Diico cvoUv, oi
post comments and editoiial notes about peeiagogy.oig in
1uis oNi, and
Hov 1o ci1 iNvoiviu 21
Discuss peei leaining maueis and this handbook infoimally
with us and with otheis'
lts up to you. lnstead of woiiying too much about the iules, join
oui conveisations, take advantage of the digital memoiy of the
foium to iewind the conveisation all the way to the beginning
(if you want to go that fai), listen in foi a liule bit if you want to,
and jump in whenevei youie ieady. We wont know what youie
up to until you speak up. You can have a look at the outstanding
tasks and teams that aie listed on 1uis Goocii Doc oui ioadmap
is a useful shaied iesouice too. You can add to these at any time.
We iegulaily use Google, Google Hangouts, foiums, and
email to communicate asynchionously and pieuy much continu-
ously. We also meet iiiegulaily as a gioup foi synchionous audio-
video sessions. luithei details about all these methods of commu-
nication can be found below.
ln shoit heies how it woiks
22 Hov 1o ci1 iNvoiviu
estions?
lf you have questions, thats good' Use Google oi the foiums,
post a comment on peeiagogy.oig, email the team eneigy centei
if you know who that is, oi email uov~vuvuiiNcoiu.cox.
cu~v1iv 33
PEERAGOGY lN ACTlON
We have been wiiting the missing manual foi peei-pioduced
peei leaining - the Peeiagogy Handbook (peeiagogy.oig).
Tioughout the building of this woik, we, ouiselves peei leaineis
in this quest, have been mindful of these foui questions
1. How does a motivated group of self-learners choose a subject
or skill to learn?
2. How can this group identify and select the best learning re-
sources about that topic?
3. How will these learners identify and select the appropriate
technology and communications tools and platforms to ac-
complish their learning goal?
4. What does the group need to know about learning theory and
practice to put together a successful peer-learning program?
lt is cleai to us that the techniques of peei pioduction that have
built and continue to impiove Wikipedia and GNU/Linux have
yet to fully demonstiate theii powei in education. We believe
that the Peeragogy Handbook can help change that by building a
distiibuted community of peei leaineis/educatois, and a stiongly
veued collection of best piactices. Oui pioject complements oth-
eis woik on sites like Wikiveisity and P2PU, and builds upon un-
deistandings that have developed infoimally in distiibuted com-
munities of hobbyists and piofessionals, as well as in (and beyond)
the classiooms of geneiations of passionate educatois. Heie, we
piesent Peeiagogy in Action, a pioject guide in foui paits. Each
pait ielates to one oi moie sections of oui handbook, and sug-
gests activities to tiy while you exploie peei leaining. Tese ac-
tivities aie designed foi exible use by widely distiibuted gioups,
23
24 Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN
collaboiating via a light-weight infiastiuctuie. Paiticipants may
be educatois, community oiganizeis, designeis, hackeis, danceis,
students, seasoned peeiagogues, oi ist-timeis. Te guide should
be useful foi gioups who want to build a stiong collaboiation, as
well as to facilitatois oi theoiists who want to hone theii piactice
oi appioach. Togethei, we will use oui vaiious talents to build
eective methods and models foi peei pioduced peei leaining.
Lets get staited'
Seing the initial challenge and building a framework
for accountability among participants is an important
starting point.
Activity Come up with a plan foi youi woik and an agiee-
ment, oi infoimal contiact, foi youi gioup. You can use the sug-
gestions in this guide as a staiting point, but youi ist task is to
ievise the plan to suit youi needs. lt might be helpful to ask What
aie you inteiested in leaining` What is youi piimaiy intended
outcome` What pioblem do you hope to solve` How collabo-
iative does youi pioject need to be` How will the paiticipants
expeitise in the topic vaiy` What soit of suppoit will you and
othei paiticipants iequiie` What pioblems wont you solve`
Technology lamiliaiize youiself with the collaboiation tools
you intend to use (e.g. WoidPiess, Git and L
A
T
E
X, YouTube, GlMP,
a public wiki, a piivate foium, oi something else) and cieate a
ist post, edit, oi video intioducing youiself and youi pioject(s)
to otheis in the woildwide peeiagogy community.
Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN 2
Suggested Resources Te Peeiagogy Handbook, paits l (ln-
tioduction) and ll (Peei Leaining). You may also want to woik
thiough a shoit lesson called lxviixiN1iNc P~v~cocv, fiom the
eaily days befoie the Peeiagogy pioject was convened. loi a suc-
cinct theoietical tieatment, please iefei to oui liteiatuie ieview,
which we have adapted into a Wixiviui~ v~ci.
Further Reading Boud, D. and Lee, A. (200). Peer learning
as pedagogic discourse for research education. Studies in Highei
Education, 30()011.
Observations fromthe Peeragogy project We had a faiily weak
pioject stiuctuie at the outset, which yielded mixed iesults. One
paiticipant said l denitely think l do beuei when piesented
with a fiamewoik oi scaold to use foi paiticipation oi content
development. Yet the same peison wiote with enthusiasm about
models of entiepieneuiship, saying she was fieed of the iequiie-
ment oi need foi an entiepieneuiial visionaiy. ln shoit,
Other people can support you in achieving your goal
and make the work more fun too.
Activity Wiite an invitation to someone who can help as
a co-facilitatoi on youi pioject. Claiify what you hope to leain
fiom them and what youi pioject has to oei. Helpful questions
to considei as you think about who to invite What iesouices aie
available oi missing` What do you alieady have that you can
build on` How will you nd the necessaiy iesouices` Who else
2 Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN
is inteiested in these kinds of challenges` Go thiough the these
questions again when you have a small gioup, and come up with
a list of moie people youd like to invite oi consult with as the
pioject piogiesses.
Technology ldentify tools that could potentially be useful
duiing the pioject, even if its new to you. Stait leaining how to
use them. Connect with people in othei locales who shaie similai
inteiests oi know the tools.
Suggested resources Te Peeiagogy Handbook, paits V(Con-
vening a Gioup) and Vl (Oiganizing a Leaining Context).
Recommended Reading Schmidt, J. Philipp. (2009).
Commons-Based Peei Pioduction and education. liee Cultuie
Reseaich Woikshop Haivaid Univeisity, 23 Octobei 2009.
Observations from the Peeragogy project We used a stiat-
egy of open eniollment. New people weie welcome to join the
pioject at any time. We also encouiaged people to eithei stay in-
volved oi withdiaw, seveial times ovei the ist yeai, we iequiied
paiticipants to explicitly ieaim inteiest in oidei to stay iegis-
teied in the foium and mailing list.
Solidifying your work plan and learning strategy to-
gether with concrete measures for success can move the
project forward significantly.
Activity Distill youi ideas by wiiting an essay, making visual
sketches, oi cieating a shoit video to communicate the unique
Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN 2
plans foi oiganization and evaluation that youi gioup will use. By
this time, you should have identied which aspects of the pioject
need to be iened oi expanded. Dive in'
Technology Take time to mentoi otheis oi be mentoied by
someone, meeting up in peison oi online. Paii up with someone
else and shaie knowledge togethei about one oi moie tools. You
can discuss some of the diculties that youve encounteied, oi
teach a beginnei some tiicks.
Suggested resources Te Peeiagogy Handbook, paits Vll
(Co-lacilitation and Co-Woiking), Vlll (Assessment), and pait
lV (Paueins, Use cases, and Examples).
Recommended reading Aigyiis, Chiis. Teaching smait peo-
ple how to leain. Haivaid Business Review 9.3 (1991), and, Gei-
sick, Connie J.G. Time and tiansition in woik teams Towaid
a new model of gioup development. Academy of Management
Jouinal 31.1 (1988) 9-41.
Observations from the Peeragogy project Peihaps one of the
most impoitant ioles in the Peeiagogy pioject was the iole of the
Wiappei, who piepaied and ciiculated weekly summaiies of fo-
ium activity. Tis helped people stay infoimed about what was
happening in the pioject even if they didnt have time to iead
the foiums. Weve also found that small gioups of people who
aiiange theii own meetings aie ofen the most pioductive.
28 Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN
Wrap up the project with a critical assessment of
progress and directions for future work. Share any changes
to this syllabus that you think would be useful for future
peeragogues!
Activity ldentify the main obstacles you encounteied. What
aie some goals you weie not able to accomplish yet` Did you
foiesee these challenges at the outset` How did this pioject ie-
semble oi diei fiom otheis youve woiked on` How would you
do things dieiently in futuie piojects` What would you like to
tackle next`
Writing Communicate youi ieection case. Piepaie a shoit
wiiuen oi multimedia essay, dealing with youi expeiiences in this
couise. Shaie the iesults by posting it wheie otheis in the bioadei
Peeiagogy pioject can nd it.
Extra credit Contiibute back to one of the othei oigani-
zations oi piojects that helped you on this peeiagogical jouiney.
Tink about what you have to oei. ls it a bug x, a constiuctive
ciitique, pictuies, tianslation help, PR, wikignoming oi making a
cake` Make it something special, and people will iemembei you
and thank you foi it.
Suggested resources Te Peeiagogy Handbook, paits lX
(Technologies, Seivices, and Platfoims) and X (Resouices).
Recommended reading Stallman, Richaid. Wuv soi1v~vi
suoUiu ni ivii (1992).
Observations from the Peeragogy project When we weie de-
ciding how to license oui woik, we decided to use CC0, empha-
sizing ie-usability and hoping that othei people would come and
iemix the handbook. At the moment, weie still waiting to see the
ist iemix edition, but weie condent that it will come along in
due couise. Maybe youll be the one who makes it'
Piiv~cocv iN Ac1ioN 29
Micro-Case Study: The Peeragogy Project, Year 1
Since its conception in eaily 2012, the Peeiagogy Pioject has
collected ovei 300 comments in oui discussion foium, and ovei
200 pages of expositoiy text in the handbook. lt has given contiib-
utois a new way of thinking about things togethei. Howevei, the
pioject has not had the levels of engagement that should be possi-
ble, given the technology available, the global inteiest in impiov-
ing education, and the numbei of thoughtful paiticipants who ex-
piessed inteiest. We hope that the handbook and this accompa-
nying syllabus will piovide a seed foi a new phase of leaining,
with many new contiibutois and new ideas diawn fiom ieal-life
applications.
Micro-Case Study: The Peeragogy Project, Year 2
10 new handbook contiibutois joined in the piojects second
yeai. Weve begun a seiies of weekly Hangouts on Aii that have
biought in many additional discussants, all key people who can
help to fulll peeiagogys piomise. Te handbook has been con-
sideiably impioved thiough edits and discussion. Te next step
foi us is puuing this woik into action in the Peeragogy Accelerator.
cu~v1iv 34
RECOMMENDED READlNG
Which is more fun, skateboarding or physics?
On the subject of fun and boredom
1. Kano, J. (199/2013). Tui CoN1vinU1ioN oi JUuo 1o EuU
c~1ioN by Jigoio Kano.
2. Pale King, unnished novel, by David lostei Wallace
3. On the Poveity of Student Life, by Mustapha Khayati
How do we know if weve won?
1. loiming, Noiming, Stoiming, Peifoiming (fiom Biuce
Tuckman)
2. Te ve-stage e-modeiating model (fiom Gilly Salmon)
3. l, We, lts, lt (fiom Ken Wilbei foi an application in mod-
eling educational systems, see [1])
4. Assimilative, lnfoimation Piocessing, Communicative, Pio-
ductive, Expeiiential, Adaptive (fiom Maitin Olivei and
Giainne Conole)
. Guidance & Suppoit, Communication & Collaboiation,
Reection & Demonstiation, Content & Activities (fiom
Giainne Conole)
. Consideied in teims of Leaining Powei (Ruth Deakin-
Ciick et al.)
. Multiple intelligences (afei Howaid Gaidnei)
8. Te associated mental state (afei Mihaly Csikszentmiha-
lyi, see pictuie)
21
22 RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc
Motivation
1. Simon Sinek, Stait With Why How Gieat Leadeis lnspiie
Eveiyone To Take Action, Penguin Books, 2011
Case Study: 5PH1NX
1. Senge, Petei. Te fh discipline Te ait and science of
the leaining oiganization. New York: Currency Doubleday
(1990).
Paerns
Further readings on paerns
1. Tui Tixiiiss W~v oi BUiiuiNc, by Chiistophei Alexandei.
2. Aiticle, Manifesto 1991 by Chiistophei Alexandei, Pio-
giessive Aichitectuie, July 1991, pp. 108112, piovides a
biief summaiy of Alexandeis ideas in the foimof a ciitique
of mainstieamaichitectuie. Many of the same soits of ciiti-
cal points would caiiy ovei to mainstieameducation. Some
highlights aie exceipted uivi.
3. Wixiv~11ivNs
4. Tui OviciNs oi P~11ivN Tuiovv, 1ui lU1Uvi oi 1ui Tui
ovv, ANu Tui GiNiv~1ioN oi ~ LiviNc Woviu, Chiisto-
phei Alexandeis talk at the 199 ACM Confeience on
Object-Oiiented Piogiams, Systems, Languages and Appli-
cations (OOPSLA)
Other related work
1. CiUi1v~iN M~Niiis1o (the livs1 iui1ioN is available foi
fiee)
2. NivRUiis iov 1ui NivEcoNoxv(voUc~N~isovi~u 1ui
noox oNiiNi)
RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc 23
3. OpenHatch.oig, an open souice community aiming to help
newcomeis nd theii way into fiee sofwaie piojects.
On Newcomers
1. Wuv uo Nivcoxivs ~n~NuoN oviN soUvci soi1v~vi
vvoJic1s` (sildes by lgoi Steinmachei and coauthois)
Antipaerns
1. S~vivWuovi Hvvo1uisis
2. Bouidieus notion of svxnoiic vioiiNci.
3. Tuisi iii1iiN vvoviv1iis ~vi 1ui ciUi vuicu niNus
vuoiiNiss 1oci1uiv - Chiistophei Alexandeis moie ie-
cent woik, going beyond the idea of a pauein language.
Convening a Group
1. Engestim, Y. (1999). lnnovative leaining in woik teams
Analyzing cycles of knowledge cieation in piactice. ln Y.
Engestim, R. Mieuinen & R.-L-. Punamki (Eds.), Perspec-
tives on activity theory, (pp. 3-404). Cambiidge, UK Cam-
biidge Univeisity Piess
2. Geisick, C. (1988). Time and tiansition in woik teams To-
waid a newmodel of gioup development. Academy of Man-
agement Journal 31 (Oct.) 9-41.
3. Mimi ltos obseivations about x~Nc~ i~N cvoUvs co
ii~vNiNc J~v~Nisi
4. Rheingold U, MiNuAxv cvoUvs
. Shneideiman, B. (200). Cvi~1ivi1v sUvvov1 1oois ~c
ciiiv~1iNc uiscovivv ~Nu iNNov~1ioN. Commun. ACM
0, 12 (Decembei 200), 20-32.
. David de Ugaite, Phyles. (SUxx~vv) (Boox)
24 RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc
. Scheidel, T. M., & Ciowell, L. (194). ldea development in
small discussion gioups. arterly Journal of Speech, 0,
140-14.
8. Scheidel, T. M., &Ciowell, L. (199), Discussing and Deciding
- A Desk Book for Group Leaders and Members, Macmillan
Publishing
9. Paiagogy Handbook, How to Oiganize a MOOC
10. Cathy Davidson et al., Hov ~ Ci~ss Bicoxis ~ CoxxU
Ni1v
K-12 Peeragogy
amazing technology tools for your classroom:
Ricu~vu BvvNi
Svivi~ Toiis~No
C~i1iiN TUcxiv
Vicxi D~vis
How to develop your PLN:
Dicviis oi CoNNic1iu Ti~cuiNc by Rodd Luciei
Ti~cuTuoUcu1
Theory & philosophy of connected learning for classroom
transformation:
D~viu TvUss
S1iviN DovNis
Wiii Ricu~vusoN
RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc 2
Adding Structure with Activities
1. Tui u.scuooi Boo1c~xv Boo1iic (CC-By-NC-SA) in-
cludes lots of fun activities to tiy. Can you ciack the code
and dene new ones that aie equally cool`
2. Puzio, R. S. (200). On fiee math and copyiight boule-
necks. Free Culture and the Digital Library Symposium Pro-
ceedings.
Connectivism in Practice How to Organize a
MOOC (Massive Open Online Class)
1. Downes & Siemens MOOC si1i
2. Wu~1 CoNNic1ivisx ls by Stephen Downes
3. ANlN1vouUc1ioN1o CoNNic1ivi KNoviiuci by Stephen
Downes
4. l~ciii1~1iNc ~ M~ssivi OviN ONiiNi CoUvsi, by Stephen
Downes
. cRSSuovviv
. CoNNic1ivisx A Li~vNiNc Tuiovv iov 1ui Dici1~i Aci
by Geoige Siemens
. A CoNNic1ivisx Gioss~vv
8. Ruizoxis ~Nu Ni1vovxs by Geoige Siemens
9. Ruizox~1ic EuUc~1ioN CoxxUNi1v ~s CUvvicUiUx by
Dave Coimiei
10. KNoviNc KNoviiuci, a book by Geoige Siemens
11. Ni1 Sx~v1, Howaid Rheingold (about inteinal and exteinal
liteiacies foi coping with the always on digital eia)
12. M~ssivi OviN ONiiNi CoUvsis Seuing Up (StaitTo-
MOOC, Pait 1)
2 RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc
13. Tui MOOC cUiui
Co-Facilitation
1. Piiv EuUc~1ioN Tv~iNiNc oi Tv~iNivs M~NU~i, UN ln-
teiagency Gioup on Young Peoples Health
2. Co l~ciii1~1iNc Advantages & Potential Disadvantages.
J. Willam Pfeifei and John E Johnes
3. SUxx~vv of John Heions model of the iole of facilitatois
4. C~vi Rocivs, Covi CoNui1ioNs ~Nu EuUc~1ioN, Encyclo-
pedia of lnfoimal Education
. Piiv Miui~1ioN, Study Guides and Stiategies
. Col~ciii1~1ioN Tui Auv~N1~cis ~Nu Cu~iiiNcis,
Canadian Union of Public Employees
. Bouixi~ lN1iv~c1ivi CoxxUNi1v Wixi GUiuiiiNis
8. Baiieu-Lennaid, G. T. (1998) C~vi Rocivs HiiviNc Svs
1ix. JoUvNiv ~Nu SUns1~Nci, London Sage
9. Piii~vs oi Wixiviui~, fiom Wikipedia
10. Tv~iNiNc 1ui lovci (2002) US Aimy lield Manual -lM -0
(lM 2-100)
11. Li~vNiNc Riix~ciNiu P~v1iciv~1ovv, Piiv, Gion~i,
ONiiNi, by Howaid Rheingold
12. Risi~vcu G~1i is a netwoik dedicated to science and ie-
seaich, in which membeis connect, collaboiate and discovei
scientic publications, jobs and confeiences.
13. Cvi~1iNc ~Nu l~ciii1~1iNc Piiv SUvvov1 GvoUvs, by Te
Community Tool Box
14. l~ciii1~1ioN Tivs, by Villanova Univeisity
RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc 2
1. HivuiNc P~ssioN~1i C~1s Tui Roii oi l~ciii1~1ov iN ~
Piiv Li~vNiNc, by Pippa Buchanan
1. Riiiic1ivi Piiv l~ciii1~1ioN Cv~i1iNc Coii~nov~1ivi
SiiiAssissxiN1, by Dale Vidmai, Southein Oiegon Uni-
veisity Libiaiy
1. Eiiic1ivi Col~ciii1~1ioN, by Eveiywomans Centei,
Univeisity of Massachuseus
18. Ti~cuiNc sx~v1 viovii uov1o ii~vN by Chiis Aigyiis,
Haivaid Business Review 9.3, 1991, also published in ex-
panded foim as a noox with the same name.
Assessment
1. Moigan, C. and M. OReilly. (1999). AssissiNc OviN ~Nu
uis1~Nci ii~vNivs. London Kogan Page Limited.
2. Schmidt, J. P., Geith, C., Haklev, S. and J. Tieistein. (2009).
PiivToPiiv RicocNi1ioN oi Li~vNiNc iN OviN EuUc~
1ioN. International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning. Volume 10, Numbei .
3. L.S. Vygotsky MiNu iN Socii1v DiviiovxiN1 oi Hicuiv
Psvcuoiocic~i Pvocissis
4. RiiJo Mii11iNiN and J~~xxo VivxxUNiN, Evis1ixic On
Jic1s, Av1ii~c1s ~Nu Ovc~Niz~1ioN~i Cu~Nci, Organi-
zation, May 200, 12 43-4.
Technologies, Services, and Platforms
1. liene Gieif and Sunil Saiin (198) Data Shaiing in Gioup
Woik, ACM Tiansactions on Oce lnfoimation Systems,
vol. , no. 2, Apiil 198, pp. 18-211.
2. liene Gieif (ed.) (1988) Computei-Suppoited Coopeiative
Woik A Book of Readings, San Mateo, CA Moigan Kauf-
man.
28 RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc
3. liene Gieif (1988) Remaiks in panel discussion on CSCW
What does it mean`, CSCW88. Pioceedings of the Confei-
ence on Computei-Suppoited Coopeiative Woik, Septem-
bei 2-28, 1988, Poitland, Oiegon, ACM, New Yoik, NY.
4. Kamneisgaaid, 1988
. Vessey & Galleua, 1991
. Noiman, 2001, 2003
. DeSanctis & Pool, 2004
Real-Time Meetings
1. Howaid Rheingolds webconfeiencing nooxx~vxs
Additional Tips from an open source perspective
Caie of UseiNeophyte on the Teaching Open Souice wiki.
1. Te Ait of Community
2. Open Advice
3. Te Open Souice Way
Forums
1. Rheingold, H. Wuv Usi iovUxs` Social Media Classroom.
2. Rheingold, H. (1998). Tui Av1 oi Hos1iNc Goou CoNviv
s~1ioNs ONiiNi.
3. Gallaghei, E. J. (200). GUiuiiiNis iov DiscUssioN Bo~vu
Wvi1iNc. Lehigh Univeisity.
4. Gallaghei, E.J. (2009).Su~viNc ~ cUi1Uvi oi coNvivs~
1ioN. Tui uiscUssioN no~vu ~Nu nivoNu. Te Academic
Commons.
. Academic Technology Centei. (2010). lxvvoviNc 1ui Usi
oi DiscUssioN Bo~vus. Woicestei Polytechnic lnstitute.
RicoxxiNuiu Ri~uiNc 29
Still more recommended reading
On Paragogy
1. Coineli, J. (2010). lxviixiN1iNc P~v~cocv. Lesson plan.
Wikiveisity.
2. Coineli, J. and C. Dano. (2010/2013). P~v~cocv.
On Learning vs Training
1. Hait, J. (Apiil 20th, 2012). ls i1 1ixi iov ~ BYOL (BviNc
YoUv OvN Li~vNiNc) s1v~1icv iov voUv ovc~Niz~1ioN`
Learning in the Social Space. Jane Harts Blog.
On PLNs
1. Rheingold, H. (2010). Suiiiv Tivviii Gion~i
Ni1vi~viv, CUv~1ov, PLN BUiiuiv. DML Central.
2. Richaidson, W. and R. Mancabelli. (2011). PivsoN~i
Li~vNiNc Ni1vovxs UsiNc 1ui Poviv oi CoNNic1ioN
1o Tv~Nsiovx EuUc~1ioN. Bloomington, lN Solution
Tiee Piess.
3. Howaid Rheingolds PLN links on Delicious
A word list for your inner edu-geek
You can iead about all of these things on Wikipedia.
1. CoNs1vUc1ivisx
2. Soci~i coNs1vUc1ivisx
3. R~uic~i coNs1vUc1ivisx
4. EN~c1ivisx
. CoNs1vUc1ioNisx
. CoNNic1ivisx
cu~v1iv 3
STYLE GUlDE
is is a How-To Handbook.
Keep it short. Te easiest sections to iead aie those that aie
shoitei and include some kind of visual (video oi image) and have
some peisonal connection (i.e. they tell a stoiy). loi anything
longei, bieak it up into sub-pages, add visuals, make suie each
sub-page is accessible to someone (who is it`). Tink cleaily of
this ieadei, talk to them.
Make it clear. Well illustiate this point by example. Te oiig-
inal full title of the book was Te Peeiagogy Handbook A ie-
souice foi self-oiganizing self-leaineis. But siiiovc~NiziNc
is a technical teim, and self-leainei is a confusing neologism.
We shouldnt use technical teims unless we explain them. So we
ieally shouldnt use it in the ist sentence oi paiagiaph, oi ti-
tle, of the book because well scaie people o oi confuse them.
lf we want to explain what self-oiganization means and why it
is ielevant foi peeiagogy, then we can take a chaptei to do that
much latei on in the book. At the same time, we shouldnt tiy to
say the same thing in a simplei way. We should tiy to get iid of
the technical concept completely and see whats lef. Te easiest
thing to do in such cases is to delete the sentence completely and
stait ovei when in doubt, speak plainly.
Dont overdo it with bullet points. Text can be veiy haid
to iead when theie aie moie than a few bullet points included.
Numbeied lists should also be used spaiingly. lt also seems that
when many disjointed bullet points appeai, sometimes the au-
thoi is ieally just indexing the main points that aie piesented
beuei in someone elses naiiative. Teiefoi, considei ieplac-
21
22 S1vii GUiui
ing an entiie bulleted list with a iefeience to someone elses
book/webpage/chaptei. ln todays hypeilinked woild, its easy
enough foi the ieadei to go elsewheie to get good content (and in-
deed, we should make it easy foi them to nd the best tieatments
aiound'). lt is not veiy pleasant to have to read a taxonomy.
Include activities. When ieading, editing oi otheiwise woik-
ing youi way thiough the book, please make note of any activities
oi exeicises that come to mind, and shaie them. Weie always
stiiving to be moie piactical and applicable.
Dont be overly chay. ln oui eoits to escape fiom
academia-speak and simplify the text in the handbook, its impoi-
tant to make suie we aie not heading towaids the othei extieme
being too conveisational. When weie having a conveisation
with someone, we tend to peppei oui ideas with tiansitional oi
pivotal phiases (ln any event, With that said, As l mentioned
elsewheie, etc.) that help to keep the talk owing. We also go o
on biief tangents befoie making oui way back to the main topic,
and sometimes expiess ouiselves in iun-on sentences. While this
is peifectly natuial in speech, it can be confusing and complex
in wiiuen text. Lets stiive foi the peifect balance of simple yet
piofessional wiiting.
Additional style bonus points
Avoid double lines afei paiagiaphs, this is a lefovei fiom
the age of typewiiteis and can cieate iiveis of white space.
Capitalize the ist woid of each itemin a bulleted list, espe-
cially if items include a veib foim (this list is an example').
Punctuate unifoimly.
Capitalize the ist woid of headings and subheadings,
lowei case all otheis.
S1vii GUiui 23
Format your HTML nicely. We need to be able to piocess
the content fiom the WoidPiess site and tuin it into vaiious foi-
mats like L
A
T
E
X and EPUB. Oui automated tools woik much beuei
if pages aie foimaued with simple and unifoim HTML maikup.
Some key points
Maik up youi links use Te Peeiagogy Handbook instead
of hup//peeiagogy.oig. lts best if the link text is somewhat
desciiptive.
Use a numbeied list to foimat youi iefeiences (see Con-
vening a Gioup foi one example of an aiticle that gets this
iight')
Use Heading 2 and Heading 3 tags to maik up sections, not
bold text. lf you use bold oi italics in youi paiagiaphs,
you should check that the maikup is actually correct. lt
should exactly suiiound the woids that youie maiking up
<em>like this</em> and it should not include extia
spaces aiound maiked up woids <em> NOT like this
</em>.
Be awaie that WoidPiess does not always add paiagiaph
tags to youi paiagiaphs.
WoidPiess also tiies to ieplace stiaight quote maiks with
smait quotes, but it sometimes doesnt achieve the aim.
lf you notice weiid quotation maiks (especially in the PDl
veision), you can add smait quotes into the HTML souice
by hand.
cu~v1iv 3
MEET THE AUTHORS
BryanAlexander USA, VT(Au-
thor) l ieseaich the ways new tech-
nologies change education, teach-
ing, leaining, and scholaiship. lm
passionate about stoiytelling, gam-
ing, pedagogy, and undeistanding
the futuie. My family homesteads
on top of a liule mountain, iaising
food.
Paul Allison USA, NY (Author)
Cuiiently, l teach English at the
BvoNx Ac~uixv SiNiov Hicu. An-
othei community that lm a pait
of is the Niv Yovx Ci1v Wvi1iNc
PvoJic1. lm the NYC Technology
Liaison foi the N~1ioN~i Wvi1iNc
PvoJic1. l help to manage YoU1u
Voicis and l co-pioduce Ti~cuivs
Ti~cuiNc Ti~cuivs.
2
2 Mii1 1ui AU1uovs
Mara F. Arenas Repblica Ar-
gentina (Author, Editor) lnde-
pendent consultant ieseaichei on
TlCS applied to Leaining, Digital
Communication, lnstitutional, Coi-
poiate. On line facilitatoi tutoiship.
Piofessoi on Semiotics, Social Com-
munication, Netwoiking.
Rgis Barondeau Canada (Au-
thor) l build biidges between ie-
seaich, piaxeology and technol-
ogy and l become cieative by
nding a likeness between things
which weie not thought alike be-
foie (Bionowski, 198). lm intei-
ested in complexity, cultuie, social
media especially wikis, education,
open goveinment and moie.
Doug Breitbart USA, NJ (Au-
thor, Meeting Support) l a cata-
lyst and piovocateui who has woin
the hats of auoiney, consultant, fa-
cilitatoi, coach, entiepieneui, fa-
thei, husband, student, teachei.
Mii1 1ui AU1uovs 2
George Bre USA, VAN (Au-
thor, Editor, Meeting Support)
Twiuei Bio autodidactic techno
aisty ciafsy eclecticist. Many
yeais as a diplomat foi lT tech-
nology as applied to ieseaich and
education. lm a teachei/tiainei,
consultant, analyst, info feiiet,
aitist, life-long leainei, and mem-
bei of a gieat family. Cuiient
challenges include best way to
shaie skills and expeiiences with
otheis and as a Gen-Boomei nding
moie steady woik.
Suz Burroughs - USA, CA (Au-
thor, Designer) l enable the con-
nections between the teachei and
leainei in all of us by designing
iobust, measuiable leaining envi-
ionments wheie people shaie theii
knowledge and expeiience with
each othei. Leaining Designei, De-
sign Tinking facilitatoi, Visiting
Piofessoi of lnnovation.
Teryl Cartwright - USA, PA (Au-
thor) l amhonoied to be pait of this
pioject and look foiwaid to seeing
how cieative leaining will evolve
fiom this collaboiation.
28 Mii1 1ui AU1uovs
Joe Corneli U.K. (Author, Ed-
itor) Joe Coineli does ieseaich on
the anthiopology of modein math-
ematics. He is a membei of the
boaid of diiectois of the US-based
nonpiot, PlanetMath.oig, and a ie-
seaich student at the Knowledge
Media lnstitute of Te Open Univei-
sity, UK.
Jay Cross USA, CA (Author)
Jay is the Johnny Appleseed of
infoimal leaining. Te lN1iv
Ni1 Tixi Aiii~Nci, which he
chaiis, helps coipoiations and gov-
einments use netwoiks to accelei-
ate peifoimance.
Charles Jerey Dano USA,
IL (Author) Chailes is the Ownei
of Mi. Danofs Teaching Laboia-
toiy, an Educational Publishing and
Seivices imhe established in 2009.
He staited co-publishing ieseaich
on Paiagogy, Peeiagogys inspiia-
tion, in late 2010.
Mii1 1ui AU1uovs 29
James Folkestad - USA, CO (Au-
thor, Editor, Designer, Devel-
oper) My appioach to education
has shifed fiom an emphasis on my
teaching, to a moie cential focus
on student leaining, and nally to
an activity-systems appioach as l
have come to iealize that the two
(teachei and leainei) aie insepaia-
ble paits of the leaining ecosystem.
John Glass - USA, TX (Author)
John Glass is a sociologist who
teaches at a community college in
Noith Texas. He is inteiested in as-
sisting in the fuitheiance of peei to
peei leaining as a way of advanc-
ing knowledge and skills among hu-
mans on the planet.
John Graves - Australia (Editor)
loundei of SlideSpeech. Giaduate
of Singulaiity Univeisity.
280 Mii1 1ui AU1uovs
Gigi Johnson, EdD USA, CA
(Author, Developer) l mix foimal
leaining piogiams with piogiams
to help leaineis begin to woik, live,
and cieate eveiywheie. My own ad-
ventuies include wiiting, singing,
video, teaching, and paienting 3
teens.
Anna Keune Ger-
many/Finland (Co-author,
Designer) l design technology foi
leaining and l like it. lm aliated
with the Media Lab Helsinki, Aalto
Univeisity School of Aits, Design
and Aichitectuie.
Kyle Larson FL, USA (Editor)
Kyle Laison is an undeigiaduate
thesis student at New College of
lloiida. His ieseaich inteiests in-
clude composition theoiy, ihetoii-
cal theoiy, computeis and compo-
sition, and pedagogy.
Mii1 1ui AU1uovs 281
Roland Legrand Belgium (Au-
thor) lm a nancial jouinalist,
heavily involved in expeiimenting
with social media and new foims
foi iepoiting and community con-
veisation.
Amanda Lyons USA, NY De-
signerl am a Visual Piactitionei,
Oiganization Development Consul-
tant & Expeiiential Educatoi. l
love helping people communicate
via visual tools that geneially in-
clude maikeis and papei. l think
oui education system could benet
fiom using visual communication
tools as well as text based methods.
Christopher Neal USA, WA
(Communications and Media) l
am diiven by technology and its
ability to modify viitual communi-
ties and social media, and a passion
foi SocialLeain, SocialiA, Situated
Cognition, Social Leaining Teoiy,
Connectivism, etc.
282 Mii1 1ui AU1uovs
Ted Newcomb USA, AZ (Au-
thor, Project Management) Hap-
pily ietiied giandpa, cuiating on
digital cultuie, sociology of the
web, inteiested in collaboiation and
coopeiation in digital netwoiks that
iesult in positive change.
Howard Rheingold USA, CA
(Author, Editor) lnspiied by
Chailes Dano and Joe Coinelis
woik on paiagogy, l instigated the
Peeiagogy pioject in oidei to pio-
vide a iesouice foi self-oiganizing
self-leaineis. Leaining is my
passion.
Paola Ricaurte Mexico (Au-
thor) My believe education and
technology aie essential tools foi
social change. My challenges ac-
tivist, teachei, mothei, immigiant.
My philosophy l am what l am be-
cause of who we all aie.
Mii1 1ui AU1uovs 283
Peter Taylor USA, MA (Alert)
Petei Tayloi diiects the giadu-
ate piogiam on Ciitical & Cie-
ative Tinking and the Science in a
Changing Woild tiack at the Uni-
veisity of Massachuseus Boston.
His woik exploies the conditions
that make it no longei possible
to simply continue along pievious
lines.
Fabrizio Terzi Italy (Inven-
tor, Designer, Translator) l am
involved in social and educational
piojects ielated to public access to
knowledge and cultuial diveisity. l
am an active membei of lSl and the
lTG woiking on liee Cultuie.
Geo Walker U.K. (Author) A luithei
and Highei Education Lectuiei and Tutoi,
social netwoikei, e-leaining advocate.
cu~v1iv 3
WEB PAGES ClTED lN THlS BOOK
p. 1
l told the stoiy of how lve used social media in teaching and
leaining http://vimeo.com/3824
p. 2
wiki http://socialmediaclassroom.com/host/
peeragogy/
p. 9
Wikipedia aiticle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Peer_learning
seaich on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/
results?search_query=peeragogy&sm=3
G community https://plus.google.com/
communities/u38234v824v4u
p. 24
Platon Cave Saniaedam (104) http://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:
Platon_Cave_Sanraedam_u4.jpg&oldid=82
p. 2
StoiyCoips http://storycorps.org/about/
p. 39
Challenge vs. Skill http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File%3AChallenge_vs_skill.svg
p. 4
Next Dooi Cafe https://www.nextdoorchi.com/
p. 4
Peeiagogy Acceleiatoi http://commonsabundance.
net/docs/help-build-the-peeragogy-
accelerator-work-in-progress/
Coopeiation in a Peei Pioduction Economy Ex-
peiimental Evidence fiom Wikipedia https:
//cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/events/
28
28 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
luncheons/2u3//jerome
p. 2
Laughing Heait http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
bHOHiueouA
p. 4
Captuie the event on video & post it to youi blog.
http://alarhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/2u2/
2/feats-of-wisdom-_.html
p.
lutuie of Woik Repoit 2013 http://www.slideshare.
net/PSFK/psfk-presents-future-of-work-
report
p. 9
m http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/OLPC-.html
e http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/OLPC-2.html
m http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/OLPC-
3.html
o http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/OLPC-4.html
s http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/OLPC-.html
p. 1
Paueins of Sofwaie http://dreamsongs.net/Files/
PatternsOfSoftware.pdf
p. 3
suggested http://socialmediaclassroom.com/host/
peeragogy/wiki/rolesdivision-labor
wiki page http://socialmediaclassroom.com/host/
peeragogy/
p.
knowledge caitogiaphy http://
knowledgecartography.org/
meaning making http://www.hitl.washington.edu/
publications/r-v-4/two.html
p.
examples http://campus.ftacademy.org/wiki/
index.php/Free_Technology_Guild#Learning_
design
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 28
lndependent Publisheis of New England http://IPNE.
org
p. 80
piogiessive stack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Progressive_stack
Nick Haus http://www.nickhaus.com/2uu/u2/
afternoon-remembered-complete-with.html
p. 83
Qoted by Andiew Muiphy http://nine.
fibreculturejournal.org/
p. 8
Misundeistanding Powei (Laws) http://
socialmediaclassroom.com/host/peeragogy/
forum/anti-patterns-concerns-complaints-
and-critiques#comment-84
p. 8
Massively Distiibuted Authoiship of Academic Papeis
http://altchi.org/submissions/submission_
wmt_u.pdf
size of cities http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/
marrewijk/geography/zipf/index.htm
eneigy use http://pricetags.wordpress.com/2uu/
u/2/kleibers-law-growth-and-creativity-in-
cities/
p. 8
Te Unceitainty Piinciple, Volume ll, lssue 3 http://www.
theuncertaintyprinciple.danoff.org/v2i3.html
Zipls law http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Zipf%2s_law&oldid=uvv4
Beating the aveiages http://www.paulgraham.com/
avg.html
p. 88
double bind http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_
bind
lsolation http://socialmediaclassroom.com/host/
peeragogy/forum/anti-patterns-concerns-
complaints-and-critiques#comment-22
288 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
Navel-Gazing http://socialmediaclassroom.
com/host/peeragogy/forum/anti-patterns-
concerns-complaints-and-critiques#comment-
8u8
p. 89
Caiiying Capacity http://socialmediaclassroom.
com/host/peeragogy/forum/patterns-and-use-
cases#comment-232u
p. 90
lacebook and the Stiength of Weak Ties http:
//www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thinking-
about-kids/2uuu/facebook-and-the-strength-
weak-ties
p. 91
Kevin Slavins TED talk http://www.ted.com/talks/
kevin_slavin_how_algorithms_shape_our_
world.html
All oui giievances aie inteiconnected http://www.
nycga.net/files/2u//DeclarationFlowchart_
v2_large.jpg
p. 92
Multiple PSK31 tiansmissions on the 20m digital modes band
at aiound 14.0 MHz https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:PSK_matrix.jpg
p. 9
A. T. Aiiyaiatne http://www.sarvodayausa.org/
learn/a-t-ariyartne/
collected woiks http://www.sarvodaya.org/about/
philosophy/collected-works-vol-/rural-
self-help
p. 9
Simon Sinek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_
Sinek
p. 100
Big Blue Buuon http://www.bigbluebutton.org/
Adobe Connect http://www.adobe.com/products/
adobeconnect/features.html
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 289
Blackboaid Collaboiate http://www.blackboard.com/
platforms/collaborate/overview.aspx
Tuckman-like outline http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Forming-storming-norming-performing
p. 101
Of Conict in Viitual Leaining Communities in the
Context of a Demociatic Pedagogy A paiadox oi
sophism` http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/
organisations/netlc/past/nlc2u2/abstracts/
pdf/ozturk.pdf
p. 10
Go http://senseis.xmp.net/?MythOfOrigin
Chess http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Success-
Using-Strengths-Children/dp/uv82
Oblique Stiategies http://www.rtqe.net/
ObliqueStrategies/
Clip Kino http://clipkino.info/
p. 10
obseives http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-
downes/the-role-of-the-educator_b_vuv3.
html
Connected Educatois Staitei Kit https://dl.
dropboxusercontent.com/u/38vu444/starter-
kit-final.pdf
p. 108
follow othei useis on Twiuei http://www.
fractuslearning.com/2u2/u/2/twitter-
follow-education-technology/
educational Twiuei chats http://cybraryman.com/
chats.html
blogs http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.ca/
2u2/u4/ten-best-education-blogs.html
lacebook http://www.edsocialmedia.com/2u/
u2/the-advantage-of-facebook-groups-in-
education/
Edmodo http://www.slideshare.net/cmsdsquires/
edmodo-for-teachers-guide
290 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
Linkedln http://www.emergingedtech.com/2u2/u2/
8-great-linkedin-groups-for-educators/
blog http://edudemic.com/2u2/u8/education-
blogs/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=
twitterfeed
wiki http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/
Examples+of+educational+wikis
Classioom 2.0 http://www.classroom2u.com/
Steve Haigadon. http://www.stevehargadon.com/
Blackboaid Collaboiate http://www.
futureofeducation.com/page/past-interviews
p. 109
stiategies http://storify.com/digiphile/how-to-
build-a-personal-learning-network-on-twitte
Connected Leaining TV http://connectedlearning.
tv/howard-rheingold-social-media-and-peer-
learning-mediated-pedagogy-peeragogy
TechTalkTuesdays http://techtalktuesdays.
global2.vic.edu.au/
VolunteeisNeeded http://learning2gether.pbworks.
com/w/page/322u4/volunteersneeded
SimpleK12 http://simplek2.com/webinars
K12 Online, http://k2onlineconference.org/
CEET http://www.learnnowbc.ca/educators/
moodlemeets/default.aspx
EdTechTalk http://edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/
3u
P2PUs https://p2pu.org/en/schools/school-of-
ed-pilot/
TeachTought http://www.teachthought.com/
PD On Demand http://www.livebinders.com/play/
play_or_edit?id=42vuv
EduCon http://educonphilly.org/
EdCamps http://davidwees.com/content/what-
edcamp
THATcamp http://thatcamp.org/
ConnectedCA http://connectedcanada.org/
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 291
p. 110
infogiaphic http://farmv.staticflickr.com/8u/
8vuu_vb2a4ca_h.jpg
p. 111
Self-Oiganizing Leaining Enviionment http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_Organised_
Learning_Environment
p. 112
A visualization of the facilitated peei to peei SOLE
(hup//goo.gl/StkJK) http://goo.gl/StkJK
p. 113
Sugata Mitia http://sugatam.wikispaces.com/
SOLE Tool Kit http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_
toolkit
Univeisal Design foi Leaining http://www.udlcenter.
org/aboutudl/udlguidelines
hole in the wall http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_
mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html
p. 114
oveiwhelming inuence, on leaining http://scholar.
lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-uv232uu-
22u3u/unrestricted/SElmasryETDbodytext.pdf
loosely connected adaptive complex systems
http://nourdiab.wordpress.com/2u/u2/23/the-
theories-of-christopher-alexander/
leaining a game http://www.academia.edu/
32v/Game-based_Learning_and_Intrinsic_
Motivation
hidden cuiiiculum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hidden_curriculum
tiansfoimed leaining enviionment http://www.scribd.
com/doc/8u8vu2/Transformed-Learning-
Environment-Analysis
p. 11
just-in-time leaining http://www.wordstream.com/
blog/ws/2u3/u/u2/just-in-time-information-
hacks
292 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
dichioic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichroic_
filter
Univeisally Designed Context http://www.cast.org/
library/UDLguidelines/
leainei geneiated syllabus [ http://www.theatreprof.
com/2u/active-learning-student-generated-
syllabus/
usei geneiated education http://
usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/
p. 119
lacebook as a Supplemental LMS http://community.
telecentre.org/profiles/blogs/facebook-as-
a-supplemental-lms
Recipiocal Appienticeships http://starwars.wikia.
com/wiki/Reciprocal_apprenticeship
About Sugata Mitia http://sugatam.wikispaces.com/
Te SOLE Toolkit http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_
toolkit
Univeisal Design foi Leaining Guidelines http://www.
udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines
Te child-diiven education http://www.ted.com/
talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_
education.html
Game-based Leaining and lntiinsic Motivation by Kiisti
Mead http://www.academia.edu/32v/Game-
based_Learning_and_Intrinsic_Motivation
Hidden Cuiiiculum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hidden_curriculum
p. 120
Tiansfoimed Leaining Enviionment Analysis http:
//www.scribd.com/doc/8u8vu2/Transformed-
Learning-Environment-Analysis
lntegiation Paueins of Leaining Technologies
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/
available/etd-uv232uu-22u3u/unrestricted/
SElmasryETDbodytext.pdf
ln-loiming singulai/pluial design, Te Teoiies of Chiisto-
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 293
phei Alexandei http://nourdiab.wordpress.
com/2u/u2/23/the-theories-of-christopher-
alexander/
Oveiwhelmed with Blog Tips` Hack Leaining with Just ln
Time lnfoimation http://www.wordstream.com/
blog/ws/2u3/u/u2/just-in-time-information-
hacks
Dichioic liltei http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Dichroic_filter
UDL Guidelines http://www.cast.org/library/
UDLguidelines/
Active Leaining Student Geneiated Syllabus http:
//www.theatreprof.com/2u/active-learning-
student-generated-syllabus/
Usei Geneiated Education Blog http://
usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/
lacebook as a Supplemental LMS http://community.
telecentre.org/profiles/blogs/facebook-as-
a-supplemental-lms
Recipiocal Appienticeship http://starwars.wikia.
com/wiki/Reciprocal_apprenticeship
p. 12
oui papei http://paragogy.net/ParagogyPaper2
p. 12
Open Knowledge Confeience (OKCon) http://okfn.
org/okcon/
paiagogy.net http://paragogy.net
p. 133
Peei leaining as pedagogic discouise foi ieseaich ed-
ucation http://manainkblog.typepad.com/
faultlines/files/BoudLee2uu.pdf
Paiagogy http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3v/paper_.pdf
Peisonalised and Peei-Suppoited Leaining Te Peei-to-Peei
Leaining Enviionment (P2PLE) http://greav.ub.
edu/der/index.php/der/article/view/88/33u
Paiagogical Piaxis http://paragogy.net/
ParagogicalPraxisPaper
294 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
p. 13
Zed Shaws task-management tiick http://
learnpythonthehardway.org/book/intro.html#
comment-4uvv2v
p. 139
KS ToolKit http://www.kstoolkit.org/KS+Methods
Designing Eective and lnnovative Souices
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/
coursedesign/tutorial/strategies.html
p. 14
questions that iequiie stoiytelling http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Incident_
Technique
supeilative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Superlative
close-ended questions http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Closed-ended_question
Connectivist http://www.elearnspace.org/
Articles/connectivism.htm
p. 14
netiqueue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Netiquette#Netiquette
aming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_
%28Internet%2v
shaied calendai http://support.google.com/
calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=3v8
p. 14
shaied document https://support.google.
com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=
4323&topic=2uu&ctx=topic
spieadsheet https://support.google.com/drive/
bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=4v&topic=
2u32v&ctx=topic
foim http://support.google.com/drive/bin/
answer.py?hl=en&answer=88uv
p. 11
Couiseia https://www.coursera.org/
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 29
edX https://www.edx.org/
Udacity http://www.udacity.com/
E-leaining and Digital Cultuies https://www.coursera.
org/course/edc
p. 12
categoiies of leaining theoiies http://ryan2pointu.
wordpress.com/2uu/u/2/taxonomy-of-
learning-theories/
connectivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Connectivism
disputed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:
Connectivism
p. 13
Change11 http://change.mooc.ca/about.htm
change.mooc.ca http://change.mooc.ca/index.html
how it woiks http://change.mooc.ca/how.htm
p. 1
Daily Newsleuei http://change.mooc.ca/
newsletter.htm
site http://change.mooc.ca/index.html
gRSShoppei http://grsshopper.downes.ca/index.
html
p. 1
Add a New leed http://change.mooc.ca/new_feed.
htm
p. 1
leed43 http://feed43.com
cieate an email news leuei http://www.wpbeginner.
com/wp-tutorials/create-a-free-email-
newsletter-service-using-wordpress/%2u
how to design and build an email newsleuei without loos-
ing youi mind http://www.smashingmagazine.
com/2uu/u/v/design-and-build-an-email-
newsletter-without-losing-your-mind/
p. 18
lacilitating a Massive Open Online Couise http://www.
downes.ca/presentation/2vu
29 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
How this Couise Woiks http://change.mooc.ca/how.
htm
What is a MOOC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
eW3gMGqcZQc
Success in a MOOC http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=r8avYQZqMu
Knowledge in a MOOC http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=bWKdhzSAAGu
lntioduction and invitation http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=mqnyhLfNH3I
p. 1
hup//cct.wikispaces.com/CEt http://cct.wikispaces.
com/CEt
hup//cct.wikispaces.com/CEp http://cct.
wikispaces.com/CEp
hup//bit.ly/etguide http://bit.ly/etguide
Suppoiting change in cieative leaining http://wp.me/
pgwfa-vv
p. 12
Te Community Tool Box http://ctb.ku.edu/en/
tablecontents/section_8u.aspx
p. 13
Leaining Re-imagined Paiticipatoiy, Peei, Global,
Online http://dmlcentral.net/blog/
howard-rheingold/learning-reimagined-
participatory-peer-global-online
p. 180
Neutial Point of View http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view
p. 181
Pioject Management Body of Knowledge http://www.
pmi.org/PMBOK-Guide-and-Standards.aspx
Piogiam Evaluation and Review Technic http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/PERT
Ganu chait http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_
chart
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 29
90/9/1 iule http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2_
rule_%28Internet_culture%2v
p. 184
as many as http://%2uhttp://www.readwriteweb.
com/archives/wikipedias_goal__billion_
monthly_visitors_by_2u.php
empiiical fact http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/
whowriteswikipedia
p. 18
mathematical fact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-
sphere#Volume_and_surface_area
notoiiety http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2u/
u/swartz-arrest/
p. 18
Coases Penguin http://www.yale.edu/yalelj/2/
BenklerWEB.pdf
quoting http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/
perfectinstitutions
PlanetMath planetmath.org
p. 189
iules foi the evolution of coopeiation http://isites.
harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic4243.files/
five_rules.pdf
p. 191
Peei Pioduced Peei Leaining A Mathematics Case
Study http://metameso.org/~joe/thesis-
outline.html
live iules foi the evolution of coopeiation http://www.
sciencemag.org/content/34/8u/u.full
p. 19
Eective Giading A Tool foi Leaining and Assessment
http://books.google.com/books?id=EJxyuyX_
NoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=
onepage&q&f=false
p. 212
90/9/1 iule http://www.wikipatterns.com/display/
wikipatterns/vu-v-+Theory
298 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
p. 219
Human-Computei lnteiaction http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Human-Computer_Interaction
Computei-Suppoited Collaboiative Woik Systems (CSCW)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-
supported_cooperative_work
p. 223
Blooms Digital Taxonomy Pyiamid http://www.usi.
edu/distance/bdt.htm
p. 224
on Google Docs http://goo.gl/Hu2fMA
p. 22
Design piinciples foi tools to suppoit cieative thinking
http://repository.cmu.edu/isr/8
Giudin http://www.interaction-design.org/
references/authors/jonathan_grudin.html
Buxton http://www.interaction-design.org/
references/authors/william_buxton.html
Gieenbeig http://www.interaction-design.org/
references/authors/saul_greenberg.html
p. 229
Google Docs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
VVFbqHhkb-k
Google Hangouts http://www.google.com/+/
learnmore/hangouts/
Blackboaid Collaboiate http://www.blackboard.com/
Platforms/Collaborate/Products/Blackboard-
Collaborate.aspx
Adobe Connect http://www.adobe.com/products/
adobeconnect.html
Big Blue Buuon http://www.bigbluebutton.org/
bbs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_
board_system
p. 230
guidelines foi discussion boaid wiiting http://www.
lehigh.edu/~indiscus/doc_guidelines.html
shaping a cultuie of conveisation http://
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 299
academiccommons.org/commons/essay/shaping-
culture-conversation
Tis shoit piece on how to host good conveisations
online http://www.rheingold.com/texts/
artonlinehost.html
p. 231
how foium posts aie evaluated http://www.wpi.edu/
Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Idea/boards.
html
p. 232
David Wooley http://thinkofit.com/whoweare.htm
loium Sofwaie foi the Web http://thinkofit.com/
webconf/forumsoft.htm
loium and Message Boaid Hosting Seivices http://
thinkofit.com/webconf/hostsites.htm
2003 suggestions on how to choose a foium
https://docs.google.com/document/d/
DuuSfVD3pxHulbf2mOOhIdXvrkVe3hSYeE/
edit
p. 233
Waid Cunningham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Ward_cunningham
wiki in plain english http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=-dnLuuTdmLY
p. 234
Google Docs https://docs.google.com/
Etheipad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etherpad
WYSlWYG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG
wiki maikup language http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Wiki_syntax
Hackpad https://hackpad.com/
neutial point of view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
NPOV
p. 23
Mediawiki http://www.mediawiki.org/
Tiki http://www.tiki.org/
loswiki http://foswiki.org/
300 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
p. 23
wiki faim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_
hosting_service
Wikimatiix http://www.wikimatrix.org/
Heie http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TopTenWikiEngines
p. 23
Massive Open Online Couises (MOOCs) http:
//socialmediaclassroom.com/host/peeragogy/
wiki/connectivism-practice-how-organize-a-
mooc
leaining context http://socialmediaclassroom.com/
host/peeragogy/wiki/organizing-a-learning-
context
Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/
connectivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Connectivism
Diigo link http://www.diigo.com/user/regisb/
wiki%2ueducation
p. 238
Appiopedia http://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_
to_Appropedia
sustainability http://www.appropedia.org/
Sustainability
poveity http://www.appropedia.org/Poverty
inteinational development http://www.appropedia.
org/International_development
piinciples http://www.appropedia.org/Principles
appiopiiate technology http://www.appropedia.org/
Appropriate_technology
pioject http://www.appropedia.org/Project
Teahouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wikipedia:Teahouse
p. 239
Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Towaid a complex adaptative intelligence community -
Te wiki and the blog http://ssrn.com/abstract=
vu4
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 301
La gestion de piojet cioise le wiki http://www.
regisbarondeau.com/Chapitre+4%3A+Analyse+
du+cas#Synth_se
p. 242
Blackboaid Collaboiate http://www.blackboard.com/
platforms/collaborate/overview.aspx
Adobe Connect http://success.adobe.com/en/
na/sem/products/connect/uv_u_connect_
webinars.html
Google Hangout http://www.google.com/+/
learnmore/hangouts/
Skype http://www.skype.com
Mumble http://mumble.sourceforge.net/
Big Blue Buuon http://www.bigbluebutton.org/
Big Maikei http://www.bigmarker.com/about
Dim-Dim http://www.dimdim.com
Howaid Rheingolds http://delicious.com/
hrheingold/webconferencing
Robin Good http://www.mindmeister.com/223323/
best-online-collaboration-tools-2u2-robin-
good-s-collaborative-map
p. 243
Etheipad http://etherpad.org
p. 244
Google Hangout http://lifehacker.com/842v/
google%22B-hangouts-adds-screen-sharing-
google-docs-collaboration-and-more
stieam a Hangout and iecoid it to YouTube http://www.
google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/onair.html
p. 24
Teaching smait people how to leain http://pds8.
egloos.com/pds/2uu8u/2u/8/chris_argyris_
learning.pdf
p. 249
Howaid Rheingold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Howard_Rheingold
Amanda Lyons http://www.visualsforchange.com/
302 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
Howaid Rheingolds http://rheingold.com/
Regents Lectuie http://vimeo.com/3824
oui website peeragogy.org
piint on demand http://www.lulu.com/shop/howard-
rheingold-and-peeragogyorg-editors/the-
peeragogy-handbook/paperback/product-
2uu42.html
fiee PDl http://peeragogy.net/peeragogy-
handbook-v-.pdf
Google community https://plus.google.com/u/u/
communities/u38234v824v4u
p. 20
YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/channel/
UCIQY4ja8e4Br-ivUKnmyZQ
giow concept maps, http://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/
rid=K8VLSK-RLuRQ4-WZK/Peeragogy%2uCmap.
cmap
this Diigo gioup http://groups.diigo.com/group/
peeragogy-handbook
this one http://groups.diigo.com/group/peering-
into-peeragogy%2u
p. 21
this Google Doc https://docs.google.
com/document/d/_2I-z-PtNUKk-
fpy4jsqxFeXbWS4ao4sIhkxCcRVeI/edit#
p. 2
lmplementing Paiagogy https://en.wikiversity.
org/wiki/User:Arided/ImplementingParagogy
Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Peer_learning
p. 28
Why sofwaie should be fiee http://www.gnu.org/
philosophy/shouldbefree.html
p. 21
Te Contiibution of Judo to Educationhttp://judoinfo.
com/kano.htm
p. 22
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 303
Te Timeless Way of Building http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building
heie https://plus.google.com/u/u/
u8v8u438242u/posts/agWYcqPhqSN
Wikipaueins http://www.wikipatterns.com/
display/wikipatterns/About
Te Oiigins of Pauein Teoiy, the lutuie of the Te-
oiy, And Te Geneiation of a Living Woild
http://www.patternlanguage.com/archive/
ieee/ieeetext.htm
Cluetiain Manifesto http://www.cluetrain.com
liist editionhttp://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.
html
New Rules foi the New Economy http://www.kk.org/
newrules/contents.php
(you can also http://www.kk.org/newrules/
contents.php
iead the book online http://www.kk.org/newrules/
contents.php
p. 23
Why do newcomeis abandon open souice sofwaie
piojects` http://lapessc.ime.usp.br/public/
papers/382/CHASE3_present.pdf
Sapii-Whoif Hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Linguistic_relativity
symbolic violence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Symbolic_violence
Tese feen piopeities aie the glue which binds whole-
ness togethei http://www.livingneighborhoods.
org/ht-u/fifteen.htm
manga fan gioups co-leaining Japanese http:
//mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/hanging_
out.pdf
MindAmp gioups http://socialmediaclassroom.
com/host/mindamp/lockedwiki/main-page
Cieativity suppoit tools acceleiating discoveiy and innova-
tion http://doi.acm.org/u.4/32388.3238v
304 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
Summaiy http://david.lasindias.com/phyles/
Book http://deugarte.com/gomi/phyles.pdf
p. 24
How a Class Becomes a Community http://news.
rapgenius.com/Cathy-davidson-how-a-class-
becomes-a-community-theory-method-examples-
chapter-one-lyrics
Richaid Byine http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
Sylvia Tolisano http://langwitches.org/blog/
Caitlin Tuckei http://catlintucker.com/2u//2-
tech-tools-that-will-transform-your-
classroom/
Vicki Davis http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.ca/
Degiees of Connected Teaching %2uhttp://
thecleversheep.blogspot.ca/2u2/u/seven-
degrees-of-connectedness_u.html
TeachTought %2uhttp://thecleversheep.blogspot.
ca/2u2/u/seven-degrees-of-connectedness_
u.html
David Tiuss http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/
Steven Downes http://www.downes.ca/
presentation/24
Will Richaidson http://willrichardson.com/
p. 2
Te d.school Bootcamp Bootleg http://dschool.
stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2u/u3/
BootcampBootleg2uuv2SLIM.pdf
MOOC site http://change.mooc.ca
What Connectivism ls http://halfanhour.blogspot.
com/2uu/u2/what-connectivism-is.html
An lntioduction to Connective Knowledge http://www.
downes.ca/post/33u34
lacilitating a Massive Open Online Couise http://www.
downes.ca/presentation/2vu
gRSShoppei http://grsshopper.downes.ca/index.
html
Connectivism A Leaining Teoiy foi the Digital Age
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 30
%2uhttp://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/
connectivism.htm
A Connectivism Glossaiy http://en.wikiversity.
org/wiki/Connectivism_glossary
Rhizomes and Netwoiks http://www.connectivism.
ca/?p=32v
Rhizomatic Education Community as Cuiiiculum
http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol4_
issue/Rhizomatic_Education-__Community_
as_Curriculum.pdf
Knowing Knowledge http://www.amazon.ca/Knowing-
Knowledge-George-Siemens/dp/43u3u23u
Net Smait, http://www.amazon.com/Net-Smart-
ebook/dp/BuuDUPvG
Massive Open Online Couises http://www.
learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/88/
p. 2
Te MOOC guide https://sites.google.com/site/
themoocguide/
Peei Education Tiaining of Tiaineis Manual http:
//www.scribd.com/doc/444v2//TRAINING-
TOPIC-Co-facilitation-skills
Co lacilitating http://www.breakoutofthebox.com/
Co-FacilitatingPfeifferJones.pdf
Summaiy http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/
3__what_do_facilitators_do.htm#8_WAYS_OF_
FACILITATING_ACTIVE_LEARNING
Cail Rogeis, Coie Conditions and Education http://www.
infed.org/thinkers/et-rogers.htm
Peei Mediation http://www.studygs.net/peermed.
htm
Co-lacilitation Te Advantages and Challenges
http://sk.cupe.ca/updir/cofacilitation-
handouts.doc
Bohemia lnteiactive Community Wiki Guidelines
http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Bohemia_
Interactive_Community:Guidelines
30 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
Cail Rogeis Helping System. Jouiney and Substance
http://openlibrary.org/works/OL2u432W/
Carl_Rogers'_Helping_System
Pillais of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.
org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Five_
pillars&oldid=u42
Tiaining the loice http://www.africom.mil/WO-
NCO/DownloadCenter/%C4uPublications/
Training%2uthe%2uForce%2uManual.pdf
Leaining Reimagined Paiticipatoiy, Peei, Global,
Online http://dmlcentral.net/blog/
howard-rheingold/learning-reimagined-
participatory-peer-global-online
Reseaich Gate http://www.researchgate.net/
Cieating and lacilitating Peei Suppoit Gioups
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/section_
8u.aspx
lacilitation Tips http://www.villanova.edu/
content/villanova/artsci/vcle/resources/
toolkit/_jcr_content/pagecontent/download_8/
file.res/FacilitationTips.doc
p. 2
Heiding Passionate Cats Te Role of lacilitatoi in a Peei
Leaining http://pippabuchanan.com/2u/uv/
u4/herding-passionate-cats-the-role-of-
facilitator-in-a-peer-learning-process/
Reective Peei lacilitation Ciafing Collaboiative Self-
Assessment http://webpages.sou.edu/~vidmar/
SOARS2uu8/vidmar.ppt
Eective Co-lacilitation http://www.umass.edu/ewc/
ea/Facilitation%2uSkills/important%2utips.
doc
Teaching smait people howto leainwww.ncsu.edu/park_
scholarships/pdf/chris_argyris_learning.
pdf?
book http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-People-
Harvard-Business-Classics/dp/4222uu
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 30
Assessing Open and distance leaineis. http://www.
amazon.com/Assessing-Distance-Learners-
Flexible-Learning/dp/u4v42883/ref=tmm_pap_
title_u?ie=UTF8&qid=388vv4&sr=-
Peei-To-Peei Recognition of Leaining in Open Educa-
tion http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/
article/view/4/38v
Mind in Society Development of Highei Psychological
Piocesses http://books.google.com/books?id=
RxjjUefze_oC&printsec=frontcover&source=
gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
Reijo Mieuinen http://org.sagepub.com/
search?author=Reijo+Miettinen&sortspec=
date&submit=Submit
Jaakko Viikkunen http://org.sagepub.com/
search?author=Jaakko+Virkkunen&sortspec=
date&submit=Submit
Epistemic Objects, Aitifacts and Oiganizational Change
http://org.sagepub.com/content/2/3/43.
abstract
p. 28
bookmaiks http://delicious.com/hrheingold/
webconferencing
Why use foiums` http://blip.tv/file/23u48
Te Ait of Hosting Good Conveisations Online http://
www.rheingold.com/texts/artonlinehost.html
Guidelines foi Discussion Boaid Wiiting http://www.
lehigh.edu/~indiscus/doc_guidelines.html
Shaping a cultuie of conveisation. Te discussion boaid and
beyond http://www.academiccommons.org/2uuv/
u/shaping-a-culture-of-conversation-the-
discussion-board-and-beyond/
lmpioving the Use of Discussion Boaids http:
//www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/
Idea/boards.html
p. 29
lmplementing Paiagogy http://metameso.org/~joe/
308 Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox
docs/paragogy-lesson.pdf
Paiagogy http://paragogy.net
ls it time foi a BYOL (Biing Youi Own Leain-
ing) stiategy foi youi oiganization` http:
//www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2u2/u4/2u/is-it-
time-for-a-byol-bring-your-own-learning-
strategy-in-your-organization-byol/
Shelly Teiiell Global Netweavei, Cuiatoi, PLN
Buildei. http://dmlcentral.net/blog/howard-
rheingold/shelly-terrell-global-netweaver-
curator-pln-builder
Peisonal Leaining Netwoiks Using the Powei of Connec-
tion to Tiansfoim Education http://www.amazon.
com/Personal-Learning-Networks-Connections-
Transform/dp/v3432X
Constiuctivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Constructivism_(philosophy_of_education)
Social constiuctivism http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Social_constructivism
Radical constiuctivism http://www.english.iup.
edu/mmwimson/Syllabi/8u3/2/Radical%
2uConstructivism%2u%2u%2u2.htm
Enactivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Enactivism_(psychology)
Constiuctionism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Constructionism_(learning_theory)
Connectivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Connectivism
p. 21
self-oiganizing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Self-organization
p. 2
Bionx Academy Senioi High http://bronxbash.com
New Yoik City Wiiting Pioject http://
nycwritingproject.org
National Wiiting Pioject http://nwp.org
Youth Voices http://youthvoices.net%2u
Win P~cis Ci1iu iN Tuis Boox 309
Teacheis Teaching Teacheis http://
teachersteachingteachers.org
p. 28
lnteinet Time Alliancehttp://internettimealliance.
com/
p. 309
Cieative Commons 0 copyiight waivei http:
//creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/.u/
hup//socialmediaclassioom.com/host/peeiagogy http://
socialmediaclassroom.com/host/peeragogy
cu~v1iv 38
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