A colleague has pointed me in the direction of Ubiquitous Learning a couple of times now. It seems to have developed in parallel with the idea of feral learning, from a similar starting point, and spread much more quickly. And, as the name suggests, it seems to have a considerable amount of overlap.
My first impression was that the focus of the Ubiquitous Learning discussion is more firmly on the technologies of virtual and distributed learning environments (see for example the UbiLearn conference website, but reading Leigh Blackall's critique suggests to me that perhaps there is more overlap than I originally thought.
But, even so it seems to me that there is a fundamental difference in that the material I've found so far on Ubiquitous Leaning is still beginning from the perspective of the educator, and trying to extend it out, where Feral Learning - in my conception of it at least - begins with the individual, and perceives schooling or other forms of education, training, or instruction (when they work) as subsets of the learning and growing that we all do. I may be being precious about this - reality checks are welcome here - but I believe that is a substantive difference. We may all be headed for the same middle ground, but I think we are heading for it from somewhat different worldviews.
The stuff I've read about Ubiquitous Learning seems to start from the idea of ubiquitous technology, and extend that into the area of education and from there to informal learning. Feral learning starts with the human being's need to grow and develop. Learning is an intrinsic part of growing up, growing wise, and growing old.Technologies like the internet and mobile phones can be great enablers, but actually they're not necessary - people learn stuff wherever they are and whatever they do. It's part of the human condition. In other words, feral learning is a rather more anarchic and radical proposition than what I've read of Ubiquitous Learning suggests.
But, that said, it seems like it's a step in the right direction.
What do you think?
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5 hours ago
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI think we need to use our traditional educational infrastructure to promote self-directed investigative and discovery learning through a rich variety of media.
Traditionally, teachers tried to keep the whole class in sync. Reading ahead was often discouraged.
Now we need to promote independent learning as a 21st Century survival tool.
It's less about exactly what we learn than about how we learn, whether it's classroom learning, collaborative learning, or independent research.
Yes, I certainly agree. I believe this is necessary but not sufficient. What is also necessary is for the educational infrastructure to abandon the presumption that they "own" learning and have to sell it to learners, when in fact learners ...enter the education system owning their own learning, and are rapidly forced to abandon their own love of learning in order to comply. So I guess what I'm saying is yes, the ubiquitous learning ideas are important and valid, but they don't go far enough for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree.. drop the tools focus, including schools and teachers (as tools), and assume ubiquitous learning no longer related to ubiquitous computing, and instead make it about values and principles of learning useful to everyone, whether they be smelly ferals, or smell-less public servants. I haven't finished my critique yet, am struggling a bit actually.. but it is what I plan to get to in it - rejecting the computing reference, implied techno determinism, and general reactionary practices by our institutions. Instead, asserting that technology be subject to defined values and principles aligned with freedoms, the section I'm attempting to write now.. Thanks for your notes, hope you keep an eye on my progress and alert me to any flaws you see.
ReplyDeleteThanks Leigh. It sounds as if we are very much on the same age with this. I'll await the development of your critique with interest - and pen at the ready!
ReplyDeleteYou may find some of the material Jan Visser's book Learners in a Changing Learning Landscape is relevant (http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/learning+%26+instruction/book/978-1-4020-8298-6). It has very much the same focus. Chapter 6 is my take on the learning side of things - based on Carl Rogers and Jack Mezirow's work.
The main characteristics of feral / ubiquitous learning IMHO are that it is: holistic, seamless, a-curricular, respectful, complex, transparent and student-led. More on what I mean by each of those in the book or elsewhere in this blog.
Look forward to continuing the conversation!