Rethinking learning spaces: networks, structures, and possibilities for learning in the twenty-first century

Abstract

No longer bound by the confines of the campus, workplace, or virtual learning environment, learning on and through the Internet has redefined who learns what, from whom, where, when, and under what circumstances. Offline, online, and in combination, the new e-learning is rewriting communication networks, creating new spaces and relationships, restructuring knowledge networks, challenging identities, and changing the location, evaluation, and accessibility of information resources and people. In keeping with the ‘Rethinking communication, space and identity’ theme of the 2015 Australia and New Zealand Communication Association conference where a talk on this topic was first given, this paper calls for a rethinking of learning that recognizes and builds on the way new Internet-enabled spaces, structures, and communication routes are supporting and transforming knowledge exchange and production. Drawing on research and perspectives on online communication, learning, and social networks, the paper presents a view of contemporary learning practice, i.e., social, network based, and network shared. This perspective calls for a change in the questions we ask about learning and media use, and thus how we value and work with new configurations of learning networks. This paper argues that taking a network view not only helps understand contemporary changes in learning, knowledge, and communication practices, but also provides insight into the development of new practices for learning, knowledge, and education in the twenty-first century.

Keywords:

• learning networks
• networked learning
• e-learning
• learning spaces
• social network analysis
• crowdsourcing
• online communities

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on the keynote presentation ‘Learning networks: Rethinking spaces, structures, and possibilities for learning in the twenty-first century’ given at the 2015 Australia New Zealand Communication Association conference, Queenstown, NZ. My thanks go to the organizers Donald Matheson and Michael Bourk for the opportunity to present, and to fellow conference attendees for discussions while there.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by a grant to Anatoliy Gruzd and the author from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada: Learning analytics for the social media age.

Notes on contributors

Caroline Haythornthwaite

Caroline Haythornthwaite is Professor, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia (UBC), where she was Director from 2010 to 2015. She joined UBC after 14 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and 10 years in the computing industry. She has an international reputation in research on e-learning, virtual community, and distributed knowledge from a social network analysis perspective, and the impact of computer media and the Internet on work, learning, and social interaction. Current initiatives include: her role as a founding member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (http://solaresearch.org/), an organization focused on exploring the role and impact of analytics in support of teaching, learning, and academic achievement; research on social media and learning supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada; and continued examination of motivations to contribute to open, online initiatives. Major publications include E-learning Theory and Practice (2011, with Richard Andrews), The SAGE Handbook of E-learning Research (1st edition, 2007, with Richard Andrews; 2nd edition, 2016, with Richard Andrews, Jude Fransman, and Eric Meyers), The Internet in Everyday Life (2002, with Barry Wellman), and recent journal special issues on New Media, New Literacies, and New Forms of Learning, International Journal of Learning and Media (2014, with Eric Meyers) and Learning Analytics, American Behavioral Scientist (2013, with Maarten de Laat and Shane Dawson). Further information can be found on her website http://haythorn.wordpress.com/.