Powerful PROs of Connected Learning

#Clmooc reflection

I write my reflection between conference sessions at the American Library Association Convention 2013 in Chicago. Traveling yesterday was grueling due to traffic jams, flight delays, crowded elevators, and confusing bus shuttles. I finally made it to my hotel, extremely hungry and exhausted. As I turned on my digital device to check the #clmooc, I realized how easy it is to learn through online virtual connectivity. Although I enjoy attending and presenting at conferences where I can network with colleagues face-to-face, the rising costs of travel make it difficult and I spend hours and hours to get to a session where I listen to a colleague thinking I should get the name so we can connect online.

I started thinking of the inevitability of virtual connected learning due to the

Powerful Pros

1. Cost effectiveness

2. Time saving

3. Personal intense learning

4. Global connections

5. Efficient (No sore feet from walking miles and miles through a convention center. I say that as someone who loves hiking.)

So now, in a beautiful ballroom at the convention, I sit anxiously awaiting a speaker who is “the father of virtual reality”- Jaron Lanier. I will revisit this post after his speech. Lanier wrote “You are Not a Gadget” which is on my list of cyborgs-beware reading (along with Nicholas Carr, Sherry Turkle and others). While I embrace a positive attitude toward the future, I have uneasy feelings about our rush to plunge into digital culture without the skills needed to survive.

Perhaps a metaphor I could use as an information literacy librarian would be my role as “deep sea diving trainer”. Surviving the sea of chaos requires some life-saving skills.

#clmooc and my summer learning begins

A colleague from online virtual communities encouraged me to participate in #clmooc. Learning at the speed of light! That’s been my mantra for the past few years and I realize that we have to make choices in where and how we learn because the options are increasing exponentially.  Our students will have an incredible number of learning opportunities to choose from in participatory digital culture.  So I begin my summer of learning by asking a few questions of myself.

Who will I learn from?
It can be serendipitous when we collide in online spaces. I often run into the same individuals in networked spaces (Youtube, Vimeo, twitter, virtual worlds, or others) because of shared interests. An example: I ran into Mal Burns, who lives in the UK, several times in virtual spaces, realized he followed me on youtube, and learned how to use scoop-it through his example.  We don’t live on the same continent but kept bumping into each other!  I believe that is an example of connected learning, as I have never met Mal Burns in the physical world. Identifying our personal interests is a good starting point.

How will I connect and collaborate?
Zoe (the colleague I mentioned earlier) suggested I meet with others in the virtual world of Second Life at the Community Virtual Library. As a digital archivist and museum curator in Hawaii, Zoe (Monika Talaroc) specializes in physical librarianship but also in virtual librarianship. Her goal for the #clmooc is to create a virtual archive of the Berlin Project (a role play simulation). I met another colleague today, Cynthia Davidson, who teaches writing at a university and shares similar goals for creating immersive learning environments through collaboration this summer.  Finding others and choosing collaborative tools is critical to learning in our networked global world.

Meeting colleagues virtually

Meeting colleagues virtually

 

 

Discussing the #clmooc

Discussing the #clmooc

 

What will I learn?

 

I really want to learn more about augmented reality. Perhaps I can use #clmooc to find a network that can teach me best educational uses.  I also want to share my knowledge and skills of virtual world learning with others.

 

 

 

What will I make?

 

As I brainstorm what I might make this summer, I want to branch out beyond my comfort zone. My initial ideas are: creating virtual books at the UW Island of Seasons (a metaphor of learning through the life cycle), working with Zoe to create a virtual exhibit, and collaborating with fellow #clmoocers as I peruse spaces I may not yet have encountered.

 

Summer time and the learning is easy!