Workshop Leading Networks: Facilitation,Knowledge and Learning

On the Learning Networksand Learning within Networks Initiative conducted by the Omar Dengo Foundation

GK3 Parallel EventKuala Lumpur, MalaysiaDecember 9-10, 2007

Melania Brenes Eduardo MongeOmar Dengo FoundationCosta Rica

Outline

Omar Dengo FoundationLearning Networks and Learning within Network Environments (RaaR)RaaR`s Event / Nov. 2007What`s next?

Omar Dengo FoundationEducation, Technology and Development A private, non-profit organization based in Costa RicaHas led the introduction of digital technologies in the country as resources to foster learning, thinking and creativity and to create development opportunities and social mobilityEducational informatics in public schoolsResearch and development projects in Costa Rica and the LAC region

ODF`s Area of Cognition, Creativity and Digital MediaOn-lineLearning CognitionCreativityDigital MediaProcesses and Learning experiences /Learning Environments MobileDevicesLearning NetworksRobotics and Learning by designProgrammingThinking and Visible Learning Thinking DevelopmentNature of LearningModels, methodologies, proposals and tools

Why Learning Networks and Learning within Network Environments (RaaR)?Redes de Aprendizaje y Aprendizaje en Red (RaaR)What are people learning in networks andhow are they learning in networks?

It is a dispersed topic that has not been deeply studied

There is still not enough information to answer these questions

Research QuestionsWhat is a network and what isn`t ?How is learning produced in a network?Which and what kind of learning is constructed in networks?What are the conditions and characteristics of efective learning networks?What is the impact of learning networks in current society?

International Forum on Learning Networks and Learning within Network EnvironmentsSan Jose, Costa RicaNovember 1-2, 2007Web site: www.fod.ac.cr/raar

Our Goals

Opening an international discussion around what people are learning and how people learn in networks

Generation of collaboration/partnership routes and specific group-work among networks

Dissemination and publication of results and active knowledge-sharing efforts

Networks 48 participants24 networksCentral and South America12 GKP members13 non-GKP members

Discussion & Sharing

Priority to the spaces for discussing andsharing learning experiences betweenparticipants

Keynote addresses and panels

Focus groups

Exchange sessions among networks (One to One sessions)

John Connell*a unique symposiunThe Forum on Learning Networks, is a small-scale symposiumthe discourse being generated by this intense learn-in is deep and broad and engrossing in a way that I have not heard before in a single event.

*RaaR`s keynote Speaker, Education Business Development Manager, Emerging Markets, Cisco Systems http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=562 Everyone here is well aware of the criticality of the technology base for network learning, but equally no one is really talking about technology, other than in the context of the abiding need across this region to extend access to a greater and greater proportion of their countries populations.

*RaaR`s keynote Speaker, Education Business Development Manager, Emerging Markets, Cisco Systems http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=562

Topics and discussionsFIRST SESION. Learning in Networks: The role of learning and technology in individual andsocial productivity in today`s society

Presentation 1

Learning in Network Environments: The Role of Learning &Technology with Individual and Social Productivity Panel 1 What is the nature of the learning being produced in networks?

Red ALFORJA, Costa Rica: Networked work : weaving complexities and strengths

Instituto de Medicina Topical, Alexander Von Humbolt: Health and Youth

Argentinean Association of Regional Agricultural Experimentation Centers (AACREA): What is the nature of the learning that is produced in networks? Examples from practice.

Second SessionLearning Networks: The power of Collaboration, the Learning Distribution and social interaction

Presentation 2 The Power of Learning in a Networked World Panel 2Learning to collaborate & collaboration in networks: lessons from the practice.

Fundacin Chasquinet, Ecuador,: Above all, networks are human.

Rural Youth Networks, Costa Rica. Escuela Superior Politcnica del Litoral (ESPOL): Latin-American Network of Educational Technology.

Above all: social networksDigital technologies invigorate and expand the possibilities of communication and exchange in networksThere are different kinds of networks and diverse kinds of learningLinks/Connections are made of common interests and objectives A network is an organic entity. The development of networks is based on people values.

Main Ideas

In some networks, it is possible to describe how learning is taking place only if conditions were previously designed for this purpose.It is possible and necessary to analyze learning in networks but also learning about the network itself. In a network, conditions for inclusion have to be intentionally incorporated from the beginning. Networks need to identify which structures favor sustainability and promotion through practice.The sense of participation in networks is developed by the idea that others know something that they can teach me, and I know something that others can learn from me.

Main Ideas

What`s next?ActionsContinue discussion at an online forum at: www.fod.ac.cr/raar Complete the networks` inventory Publish a document of lessons learned and research findingsHolding a 2nd International Forum in 2008

Forum`s participants indicated interest in participating in events related to networks and :GovernabilitySustainabilityFinancesDevelopmentConnectivityMediation Intellectual propertyResearchAssessment and self-evaluation