Networked Learning: A New Paradigm?

Abstract

THE BOOK IS LINKED ELSEWHERE, FOR SPECIFIC CHAPTERS. This book is largely about how people connect with each other and with digital technologies, and how this affects their learning. It reviews existing literature on networked learning and describes the role of universities and academics in that approach. Jones’s book targets anyone interested in learning technology, and— if you are in that group—I recommend that you borrow a copy for a while. Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan. Networked learning describes howpeople develop and maintain connections with each other, with technologies, and with information, and how such connections affect their learning. It describes how people collaborate and support each other’s learning and research, so it depends on social theories of learning. It takes a “relational stance” to argue that “connections” are central to learning, and that learning requires relations between people aswell as relations with non-human learning resources. The rhetorical structure of the book is “general-tospecific”. It moves from broad issues and perspectives to local topics and human issues. It begins with a wide and general perspective on networked learning and gradually narrows down to a more focused and specific treatment of the topic. Throughout the book, the author examines and analyses networked learning in a comprehensive way, and describes its place in, and impacts on, education in present-day networked and digital societies. The author moves from a long view of the connections between technology, learning and social life in the starting chapter, to a close scrutiny of theories and concepts in networked learning in Chapters 2–4. He then narrows his perspective further in Chapters 5–8, in which he discusses the agents and actors of networked learning. His smart structuring of the book enables him to posit his theory of networked learning as a new paradigm and thus a specific field of research and scholarship. Perhaps the main merit of the book is its thorough and comprehensive overview of networked learning. It describes developments in digital and networked technologies and explores their bearing on learning as well as on social life. Jones explains how institutions, academics and students use sociomaterial contexts (for short called “infrastructures”) to experience networked learning, and also accounts for their perspectives on networked learning. He addresses issues such as the changing roles of universities in current educational systems and the importance of academics in networked learning. He describes the position of academics in presentday educational settings, the changing contexts in which they operate, and what people and policy makers expect from them. In addition to these broad fields, the author also dedicates parts of the book to discussions of such topics as learning analytics, enterprise resource planning, teamworking, learner experiences within learning networks and even MOOCs (massive open online courses, which engage networked learning methods in the structure of online courses). More specifically, in the final chapter, Jones embarks on a redefinition of the key concepts of networked learning (so-called affordance, agency and assemblage), discusses the role of politics in networked learning and its political nature, and suggests a research agenda for networked learning. The difference between this and other books on the topic is that, tomy knowledge, this is the only one to see the applications of networked learning in academic settings and its benefits for them. In my view, the author has succeeded in achieving the tacit goals of the book which, among other things, include: 1 introducing readers to networked learning; 2 providing relevant resources and guidance for readers; and 3 trying to consolidate networked learning. The range of topics covered in the book is wide, and it has a direct bearing on learning technology. The author himself argues that networked learning is defined by digital and networked technology, but at the same time suggests that, “. . . although these technologies are necessary for networked learning’s development, they are not sufficient to cause it. Networked learning requires these technologies for support, but networked learning is a research field and a praxis, an orientation to practice with technology that is informed by distinct values” (p 241). We also find discussions of such topics as computer-supported collaborative learning, elearning, technology-enhanced learning, digital scholarship and so on—all common fields of learning technology. All in all, the topics covered in this book include issues that surround and support networked learning and make its implementation possible. Its tacit theme is to suggest that “forces beyond education and most certainly beyond networked learning are likely to set the conditions in which networked learning will develop” (p 240). The author’s tacit conclusion is that, among other things, rapid urbanisation, development of new workforces, mutations of city culture, and explosive growth of networked and digital technologies are likely to have profound impacts on education, and to illuminate the future direction of this field.