Consensus, difference and ‘multiple communities’ in networked learning

Abstract

The article reviews the popularity in networked learning designs for values of collaboration, and in particular, of community. Examples of this are drawn from the networked learning literature, highlighting corresponding arguments for networked learning providing the basis for a more democratic ethos within higher educational programmes. The authors critique the notion of ‘community’, especially its association with consensus and pressures to conform. They argue for an interpretation of community which would be more likely to take account of differences, without suppressing or ‘managing’ them, and cite examples of network learning structures which seem to be based on principles more sympathetic to this aim.