This is a short blog item I posted to our new internal community at the Master's Program in Learning & Organizational Change at Northwestern University (MSLOC). The "water cooler" references a section of the community where all the participants can engage more informally, outside of structured classes. This has become one of my favorite new … Continue reading Real (digital) conversation at a virtual water cooler
Here's a bit more on my Blog Posts I Wish I Had Written piece from yesterday, which pointed to the Hybrid Pedagogy post Udacity and Online Pedagogy: Players, Learners, Objects. I really do find all of @HybridPed's work spot on - in part because they pay attention to crafting well-written pieces. But this particular one … Continue reading The space where learners create learning
Twice each year I teach a course that depends a great deal on students thinking-out-loud in blog posts and various forms of online discussions. Most of this is conducted in a private community space we use specifically for the course but at times the conversations seeps out into Twitter or Google+. Each time the course … Continue reading Brave enough to go half-baked
"Artefacts without participation do not carry their own meaning; and participation without artefacts is fleeting, unanchored and uncoordinated." - Etienne Wenger in “Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept” in Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice, 2010. (Chris Blackmore, ed.). It is the beginning of the third week of … Continue reading Seeing the sense-making dance
This week's topic in the Change11 MOOC -- collective learning -- captures my attention because it taps into a long-running conversation I've been having (primarily with my colleagues) about re-imagining the practice of learning & development and knowledge management. And along with that: teaching in higher education. It's timely also because I'll be talking about … Continue reading Collective learning
Jeff Merrell 