The Challenge of Coherence

The challenge of coherence and deep learning: implications for social networked learning

George Siemens, PhDSeptember 4, 2012

Presented to: University of South Africa

“Damn it, we're going to crash... This can't be happening!”

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/20/opinion/opinion-alec-ross-tech-politics/index.html

As educators, we constantly hear about the wonderful opportunities of new technologies

Learners can create and connect!

We’ll finally do away with industrial-model education!

Everyone can access content! Teaching!

etc.

A peripheral voice asking about “information validity” and “depth of learning”

is often treated as an idea expressed by a 3 year old

“there, there, you don’t understand it yet”

But there is a real concern here:

How do learners develop a nuanced and deep understanding of how concepts are related when learning occurs in fragments?

Recognition is growing of complexity and networks as underpinning attributes of social, science, education

http://drunks-and-lampposts.com/2012/06/13/graphing-the-history-of-philosophy/

http://drunks-and-lampposts.com/2012/06/13/graphing-the-history-of-philosophy/

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004803

http://linkeddata.org/

Within complexity and networks, we seek coherence and relatedness

“orientation about the meaning and value of information elements based on how they are connected, structured, and related”

(Antonovsky 1993)

Medical situations/diagnosis

“fit together in a coherent causal scheme” (Klein, Moon, and Hoffman 2006)

Agents in a system possess only partial information

(Miller and Page 2007)

…to make sense and act meaningfully requires connections to be formed between agents

“decisions are made effectively and comfortably when based on coherent mental models”

(Simon 2004)

In language and discourse, coherence relations are “meaning relations that connect discourse segments”

(Kamalski et al. 2008)

“a vague conception . . . toward a more clear understanding of the problem with a coherent conceptual structure”

(Vakkari 1999)

Knowledge development, learning, is (should be) concerned with learners understanding relationships, not simply memorizing facts.

i.e. naming nodes is “low level” knowledge activity, understanding node connectivity, and implications of changes in network structure, consists of deeper, coherent, learning

Knowledge relatedness and conceptual errors are often not made explicit (tests don’t always surface these errors)

http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html

Existing coherence forming systems

BooksNewspapersTV news programsMagazines

(anything that is structured and that the end user can’t speak into and alter)

Knowledge in pieces

As we become connected globally, new knowledge configurations will arise

Knowledge creation will be influenced – constrained - by integrated ecosystems (the iTunes/Microsoft model)

Solving challenging problems: surfacing and connecting what individuals know

What does this mean to you as an educator?

Importance of learners creating artifacts that reflect how they view a concept/discipline

Assisting learners in thinking in networks (relationship between concepts)

Teaching and learning in networks…

(new) Goals of Harvard General Education

1. General education prepares students for civic engagement

2. General education teaches students to understand themselves as products of—and participants in—traditions of art, ideas, and values.

3. General education prepares students to respond critically and constructively to change

4. General education develops students’ understanding of the ethical dimensions of what they say and do

Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2007

http://open.mooc.ca/

Starts September 10, 2012

http://lakconference.org

http://edfuture.net/

October 8-November 16, 2012

gsiemens @gmailTwitterSkypeFBWherever

www.elearnspace.org

www.connectivism.ca

www.learninganalytics.net