Introduction
This is primarily aimed at the people I coach and mentor
I am now at the end of
this course. What am I taking away from
it?
Before I commit to that,
it is pertinent to repeat that I am not in the business of ‘scholarly research
and publishing’. I am a coach and mentor
working with people who live and work in Zimbabwe. My work is to help people to learn how to do
their jobs better and how to build their personal capacities.
So some of what I learned
is relevant, but certainly not all. What
is relevant is “open access” and the growing body of people and organisations
committed to providing that access.
What is also very obvious
– and very relevant – is that scholarly people and scholarly institutions in
Zimbabwe are way behind the curve on these developments. While there may be some limited understanding
of the principles, there is no evidence at all that it is being applied.
Should I care about
this? Yes. Should I try to do something about changing
it? Perhaps. But as I am outside this field of academic learning,
I can do little of substance and if I try to do so, I will deflect myself from my
purpose. So let me stay with my
purpose.
Openness
One of the early learning
notes I have is that the concept of ‘openness’ does not mean simply freedom
from payment. It has a larger meaning –
free to collaborate, discuss, explore, create.
It is this ‘freedom’ that is being made available by scholarly
institutions and the Internet.
Another significant piece
of learning is that the ‘digital divide’ is not a division of data ownership;
it is a division of who can put the digital data to work.
Learning
Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than
what we know today
Open Access
From David Wiley I learned that Open Access is about the ‘4
R’s’ – the openness to Re-use, Revise, Remix and Redistribute
Digital Ethics
Latterly I have learned that the growing privacy concern –
identity theft, fraud, genetic testing, cellphone tracking, credit and card
fraud and internet privacy and security.
These concerns have the capacity to destroy the internet.
Coincidently I learned from outside this course about
Digital Ethics which has a direct relationship to the privacy concern. Gerd Leonhard who describes himself amongst
other things as a ‘futurist’ taught me something about the future of humans in
a connected world. Technology does not
have (or not have) ethics. It is people
who behave ethically or not. Ethics are
moral principles which govern a person or a group’s behaviour. Value systems, dictates of conscience,
virtues, moral code. The future of the Internet
depends on ethics. And as I followed
Leonhard’s views, it dawned on me that the Internet – and the country in which
I live – is filled with immoral behaviour.
I reflected on how to change this behaviour. Clearly Leonhard is trying to do so. What can I do to help? The future of the good that the Internet
provides depends on it.
Some interesting statistics: -
1.
We don’t have a choice on social media – the choice is how well we do it
2.
Worlds Populations – 1. China, 2. India, 3.
Facebook, 4. Tencent 5. WhatsApp. 6.
USA, 7.Google
3.
More people own a mobile device than a
toothbrush
4.
1 in 5 couples meet online
5.
The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is
grandparents
6.
Two new people register on Linked-In every
second
Amazing Learning
Alec Couros was an introduction – for me – into how some
people are using the internet for the most amazing learning projects.
Personal Knowledge Mastery
Suggests that we learn more if we ‘learn out loud’. Share your learning and you will increase the
depth of mental processing.
Paradoxes (Inconsistencies, Ironies, Contradictions)
Andrew Feenberg gave a boring presentation that many people
did not like. But he is an intellectual
who needs to learn how to present himself.
Perhaps there are many intellectuals who need to develop this
skill. He taught me about some paradoxes
–
a. The paradox of the obvious says that what is
most obvious is most hidden.
b.
The paradox of Origin tells us that behind
everything rational there lies a forgotten history.
c.
The paradox of the frame says that efficiency
does not explain success. Success
explains efficiency.
d.
The paradox of the means – the means are the
end. I am what I drive.
e.
The paradox of complexity – simplification complicates.
f.
The paradox of Value and Fact – Values are the
Facts of the future.
g.
Finally the paradox of Conquest – the Victor
belongs to the Spoils. (Something we
know in Zimbabwe where the victors enjoy enormous ill-gotten wealth at the
expense of the ordinary people).
Anyone can Make a Difference
Chandra Clarke told us that anyone and everyone can get involved in
bringing about a difference.
With Empowerment comes Responsibility
Brian Conly’s parents taught him that he could do anything
but with it (whatever he does) comes responsibility. We need more of that understanding in
Zimbabwe. ‘Empowerment’ does not mean
the freedom to do anything. With
empowerment comes responsibility to do ‘the right thing’ (ethics)
The Internet will bring Freedom
Evgeny Morozov thinks that the Internet will bring democracy
and through it, we will never have another Rwandan genocide. Nice thoughts. I don’t agree. There are far too many places
in this world that are still ruled by fear and it is likely to continue. (I keep asking myself how we can change the
behaviour of unethical people and governments within the boundaries of ethical
behaviour change. The Christian Church
has been trying to do it, without success, for 2000 years)
The “Prosumer”
Vincent Manzerole was somewhat oblique but I understood the
overall message – consumers are being led by the nose by the ‘capitalists’ who
market and sell their products and services. Consumers want what everyone else
is perceived to already have, so the smartphone has been developed to create an
audience for advertising and marketing products. We can see this in the release of the iPhone
6. Once one person buys one, everybody on the globe must have one too. Do we
really need one? Probably not, but the perception that we must have one is
generated through social media. So the rich become richer and the rest of us go
back to work to earn more money to buy the next version of whatever it is we
already have. We are now described as
‘prosumers’ – people who produce and consume all at the same time. Are we on this free MOOC at Stanford
prosumers? I guess we are. We are consuming knowledge and at the same time
producing it in some small way, as well providing Stanford with a multiplicity
of data analytics, which is why are getting a ‘free lunch’ perhaps?
Citizen Journalism
Henry Jenkins told us that the Internet brings hidden
challenges to ethics. “If it’s on the
Internet it must be true”. Citizen
journalists are at risk of telling untruths to get attention. (In my experience it is also ‘professional’
journalists. A look at what The Herald
publishes almost daily will tell you that. We need to help young people learn
ethics (hear, hear!) and to have enquiring, research oriented minds. We need to teach children to play, to
simulate, to perform, to appropriate, to multitask, to distribute cognition, to
work at collective intelligence. We also
need to teach them judgement to network and to negotiate across diverse
communities.
Copyright and Fair Use
We learned about copyright and fair use. How the Internet is changing the face of
scholarly publishing.
Social production is a real fact, not a fad. It is the
critical long-term shift caused by the Internet. Social relations and
exchange become significantly more important than they ever were as an
economic phenomenon. In some contexts, it's even more efficient because of
the quality of the information, the ability to find the best person, the lower
transaction costs. It's sustainable and growing fast. But it is threatened by
the incumbent industrial systems in the same way that everything new is
threatened by the status quo.
Intellectual Property Rights and the History of Publishing
Richard Stallman told us that ‘intellectual property rights’
are nothing more than monopolistic policy rights introduced by the rich against
the poor. Hmm! I wonder if that idea will take hold.
John Willinsky gave us insight into the history of
publishing. The most interesting
learning for me was that in the 17th Century, John Locke created the
concept of ‘common property rights’ – and the first time in history property
did not belong to the King, but to everyone for his labour. What a pity that John Locke’s principles do
not apply in Zimbabwe where property still belong to “The King” and he has the
right to distribute it to whomsoever he sees fit.
The Polymath Problem
From Michael Nielsen we learned of the ‘polymath’ problem –
a successful collective solution was enabled through collaboration online. This project gives rise to the idea that
collective learning and ‘crowd science’ will
solve more and more problems in less and less time than hitherto and we are on
the threshold of a massive spike in global knowledge.
The Khan Academy
Khan is changing the rules of education. Others – opponents to the status quo – are
calling the Khan Academy ‘hacked education’.
What matters is does it help people to find and/or create opportunities.
Open Educational Resources (OER)
In October we were asked to engage in an activity – to access
an OER (Open Educational Resource) and evaluate it. I looked at an OER on Emotional Intelligence. I rated it highly, albeit that I found some
parts of it that I did not like at all.
Later I found myself in conversation with two of my
colleagues. This was a huge step forward
in my educational progress on this course – the opportunity to
collaborate! Professor Peter Johnston
suggested that in the past and present people have been and are judged on
pieces of paper but in the very near
future people will be judged by continuous assessment – on what they can do –
rather than on whether their parents were rich enough to send them to a
particular college. Thus the people who
are willing to adopt a policy of ‘lifelong learning’ will rise to the top.
The three rules to spark learning: -
1.
Inspire curiosity
2.
Sort out the mess (by trial and error)
3.
Encourage reflection
Open Journal Publishing
The last month of the course was devoted largely to the
progress being made in Open Journal Publishing as it relates to scholarly
publications. While this had its points
of interest, it is largely outside my personal frame of reference.
But some gems: -
Predatory publishers
Predatory Publishers are, just like e-mail spammers,
corrupting Open Access. These predators
exist mainly in Nigeria, India and Pakistan.
Scholars must be wary of them for they seek to seduce research
scientists to publish in exchange for tenure at a university.
Publishing
Information Overload
In Week 10 we learned of ‘Information Overload’ and its
cause – ‘Filter Failure’. Clay Shirky
tells us we need to learn how to filter.
Easier said than done but a worthwhile lesson. Howard Rheingold told us how to detect ‘crap’
information through ‘critical consumption’.
Simply put: Don’t believe everything
you read/hear. Be critical in your
consumption of knowledge.
During my research on Information Overload I came across an
article from one of my student colleagues.
One Dave Pollard told us that he believes we are in the early stages of
collapse: -
1. Corporations have given up the pretence of being
ethical
2. Politicians have given up the pretence of being
representative
3. Lying has becoming rampant, overt and even
socially acceptable.
4.
Widespread use and
acceptance of “ends justify the means”
5.
Human activity
(litigation, security, financial “products” etc.) is focused on defending the
status quo rather than producing anything of value.
6. The illusion of growth has become totally
dependent on increases in oil and in debt
7. Acceptance of obscene inequality
8. Denial of reality, across the political spectrum
9. Widespread cynicism and acceptance of conspiracy
theories
10. Search for and willingness to believe in
charismatic people and magical solutions
11. Ubiquitous spying and corporatist surveillance
12. Self-colonization and the emergence of
“apologism” and mandatory optimism
13. Widespread anomie and the trivialization and
co-opting of dissent by professional activists.
I had to look up the term ‘anomie’. It means a disconnection between one’s
personal values and one’s community’s values.
In winding up Pollard
tells us: -
“Today, after several centuries of
adversarial strife, we are left with several classes of professionals who
practice politics for profit, and who are bent upon revenge. They seem to
measure their success exclusively by the failure of their opponents, and their
only interest is in gaining some kind of advantage, regardless of its effect on
the country as a whole. They do not fear the voter because history has taught
them that the U.S. voter has a very short attention span and can easily be
misled, bamboozled and confused.”
This is not pleasant reading.
It enters the realms of ‘state of fear’.
Pollard is talking about America, not Zimbabwe! Apply the 13 reasons to our own system of
governance. What do you come up
with? What can we do – all of us – to change
this? Do we have to change the
system? Perhaps we do.
Adults are like Children (and vice-versa)
I sent Pollard’s URL to my
son in the UK. He didn’t like its
pessimism but he sent me another URL titled ‘The Printing Press, Literacy and
the Rise and Fall of the Secret Society of Adults’. A fascinating look at how the Internet and
television have made children more like adults and adults more like
children If you have the time and the
inclination: -
Information Literacy
Through the Internet we also learned how ‘critical
information literacy’ enables students to believe that they have the ability to
change the world. The Information
Literacy Users Guide: -
1.
Identify: Understanding Your Information
Need
2.
Scope: Knowing
What Is Available
3.
Plan: Developing Research Strategies
4.
Gather: Finding What You Need
5.
Evaluate: Assessing Your Research Process
and Findings
6.
Manage: Organizing Information
Effectively and Ethically
7.
Present: Sharing What You’ve Learned
8.
Visual Literacy: Applying Information Literacy to Visual Materials
9.
Science Literacy: Information Literacy in the Sciences
The Intentional Learner
And then – “The Intentional Learner”. INTENTIONAL LEARNERS can adapt to new
environments, integrate knowledge from different sources, and continue learning
throughout their lives
Are YOU an Intentional Learner? Learner Centred Education places the STUDENT
at the centre of learning, and the teacher (trainer/mentor/coach) takes second
place.
Information Literacy
Michael B. Eisenberg told us that “Information Literacy” is
the set of skills and knowledge that allows us to find, evaluate and use the
information we need, as well as to filter out the information that we do not
need. And Jagtar Singh told us that
people may have different viewpoints of Information Literacy but it is a hard
fact that only the info-literate’s can stay ahead in this era of discontinuous
change and fierce competition.
The Social Progress Index (SPI)
From Michael Green we learned of the “Social Progress Index”
(SPI) which he suggests is a more relevant index for judging the state of a
nation’s progress than the GDP. I
Googled the SPI and found hundreds of countries with a measure. But Zimbabwe is not one of them. We are not on the list!
MOOCs
Dr Maria Martin from South America writes an open article
suggesting that the MOOC would soon become the norm for Higher and Vocational
education. Maria Konnikova disagreed.
Closing Remarks
If I am to practice what I preach I must now ‘Learn Out Loud’
and share what I have learned by passing this on to you so that you can learn.
There are some learning gems here. On what we should be doing as learners. On Intentional Learning, on learning so that
we can take care of the future (which is more important than what we know
today), on being critically competent.
On putting the learner at the centre of learning and letting the ‘teacher’
take second place. This means taking our
own responsibility for learning and not asking or waiting for others to do it
for us.
If you want to change the world or perhaps just change
yourself and help your business to grow – you know now what you have to do.
