linarmstrong’s posterous

Theories are made in their own context and Barry Wellmans "Little boxes "paper suggests it is a time for individuals ad their networks not for groups .Glocalization and networked individualism.A change in networked capital where people interact and exchange information music and e-sources from each other."autonomy opportunity and uncertainty are the rule" .
I am reflecting that this is a reality for at least 50% of the learners at college-probably less for the tutors who remain unable to operate their e mail at our college.So is it horses for courses or differentiation we are talking about? For the learners who do not have internet and use their 1 house phone to contact relatives once a week would a learning theory that suggests learning is in the individual's head do they expect the tutor to teach or transmit all they need.
But for folk all hooked up with x box , msn, face-book, lap top and mobile for every family member would i use another learning theory?They have the ability t learn through connectivity.
this is about the lens of what is knowledge and who constructs it and what it is for.
If knowledge is for employment the information given by the tutor or collected in bri-collage way by the learner has to remain in the candidates heads (synaptic gaps neurons etc) for exams and come flowing out of lexicons and memory retrieval sites at the right time to be manipulated into proper sentences with full stops and capital letters.
But if education is not about the learner as a useful piece of workforce but as a product of education and a consumer of education then a wider ,more ethical stance is needed-to prepare people to take a full role in civic society to be included o their own terms as contributers of film,words ideas then we need to connect them in a way that fills their personal and social learning needs.

We do learn by doing  but also by watching-Lurkers according to someone's research must find it. (OR Bandura's social learning theory.We learn through interaction with a peer group and social situation .Vygotsky. (although size of class is not quite been bottomed out if you study "How college affects students"The methodology measures course grades as a measure of learning  s doesnt take other social advances added value into acount.classes are best?" by Pascarela and Terenzinis )

We learn in many ways but need firm hubs or maps to navigate when the learning must take us to a specified curriculum.To increase sense between the learner's personal view  and other meaning makers aha moments or findings must be coagulated and recorded so others can see and criticize or add to it. If we always forget our history of development we will always repeat it Dewey was a great theorist for recording and creating connections with learners.  

the theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner) suits a lot of people but a theory is only as good as the sense it makes to the learner.Tony Buzan has a strong theory about how the brain  works and logs things and has developed mind maps ...this cou ld not have been visualized before the development of theories about the brain and plastic brain studies and neuro-linguistic programming also would not settle easily in past times .

so maybe we need a new learning theory to fit todays context .

Little boxes,glocalization and networked individualism by Barry wellman

This paper helped me to reflect on my teaching and research. Network capital and digital divides
are of great interest because i teach in a college of FE where the assumption from tutors
is the learners are all too poor to get connected
yet in a survey across child studies students all but two in any class of 30-40
have multiple appliances to link them to face book MSN texts utube etc. Yet the majority of these do not use their class moodle site .(THose that hit it said it was to get enough content to pass an assignment)
. Moodle is authored and set up by tutors but rarely used by learners.


There has to be some thinking of how we use moodle to support social networks . This will take a culture shift because the norm in college is to block face book and msn at college because its not considered work.
i read another article -lost the title for the moment -about the creation of context being as important as content.The students should have a "my space at college" . Will set up a wiki!!

The needs of a learner outside college can be met inside -especially belonging needs .this will help retention and achievement. This article talks about a sense of belonging ,support ,
companionship and information. for socially excluded youngsters who attend college because they failed at school and survive in little boxes being included in civic society will be just what they need for a second chance to join mainstream voices. collge policies can still be excluding people due to inexperienced, unaware staff.
Am also going to use the paper for my degree students to read as a backdrop to their education in other countries section. Developed technology could mean education changes in that country as a way out of poverty.Also downloaded the song from 1963 malverna Reynolds -this brings back memories as i remember it the first time around and loved to join in the chorus how sad but i never realised I had learnt that. As Stephen downes said once learnt its difficult to unlearn!! (Loved his u stream)