Welcome to LCN600 Connected Learning, a unit of study in the QUT Master of Education
This unit has been designed for you to explore connected learning as a contemporary learning approach for formal and informal learning contexts, including school, higher education, libraries, workplace and community settings. You will also develop your digital identity as a connected educator.
The unit is built upon, and aims to model, connected learning principles. It supports an evolving network of people, ideas, information and digital technologies. Learning activities and assessment are interwoven. They are designed to be transferable to contemporary learning contexts.
In the spirit of connected learning we will use a suite of social media in this unit. The unit materials are mainly located on this website. For privacy reasons some materials such as the links to our web-conference tutorials and the tutorial recordings will be located in our unit Blackboard site. We will interact via closed Padlet pages, and via Twitter, using the hashtag #LCN600.
In this unit you will experience connected learning theory and practice from multiple perspectives: as learner, educator, designer and critic.
- You will relate the principles of connected learning to differing social and educational contexts and your own educator role
- You will discover first-hand how connected learners and educators shape their own connected learning environments through shared production of resources and knowledge with your LCN600 peers
- You will develop your own connected learning network by participating in the unit’s Google+ community
- You will explore a wide range of social media
- You will independently design and evaluate a connected learning environment
- You will develop and critique your own professional learning network based on a specialised area of interest
People not enrolled in the unit and who are interested in engaging with us on connected learning are welcome to use the resources on this website and to interact with us via Twitter using the hashtag #LCN600.
An overview of the theories and concepts we will address through this unit is below. Please feel free to explore by clicking on the black hotspots. Hover over the image with your mouse to view hotspots and to access options to enlarge, like or share the map.This ecology has been adapted from the work of Dr Mandy Lupton.
Pedagogical note
Connected learning is essentially experiential (Moon, 2004). So this unit encourages you to explore and experiment, to learn through doing and reflecting on what you have done. Experiences and insights you gain as connected learners will enrich your practice as connected educators. As Will Richardson (2010, p. x) comments:
In order for us to prepare our students for what is without question a future filled with networked learning spaces, we must first experience these environments for ourselves. We must become connected and engaged in learning in these new ways if we are to fully understand the pedagogies of using these tools with our students. We cannot honestly discuss twenty-first-century learning skills for our students until we make sense of them for ourselves.
References:
– Moon, J. A. (2004). A handbook of reflective and experiential learning: Theory and practice. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
– Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. 3rd. ed. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.