By: Pamela McLean

Pamela McLean — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:22:36 +0000

Ref Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum – Dave Cormier

Dante – thank you for pointing us towards this useful article. It seems to me to cross the boundary between the established academic community and people like me (who are learning through informal Internet-enabled study, strongly enabled by discussion). How great to have a name now for what we do in our Online Communities of Learning – it is “Rhizomic Education”.

I recognise the “Rhizomic Education” description as fitting how I have been learning about ICT for Education and Development (ICT4Ed&D) in the last eight years. It probably describes how the World Without Poverty study group will develop as well described more at http://learnbydoinguk.blogspot.com/2008/08/five-months-catch-up.html. My ICT4Ed&D studies have been a mixture of practical work combined with deliberation and discussion on the Internet. I move from one online Community of Interest /Learning to another, depending on what I need to discover. (I can think of membership of each of these communities as different modules in my course of study.)

My repeated problem has been a culture gap between academia and informal communities of learning. On a personal level I have been helped enormously by many academics who have included me, in ways far beyond my hopes and expectations (after all – I am a complete outsider). However when I have entered into a certain level of discussion with traditional academics, whose reference points are all within academic norms rather than within the experience of rhizomatic education, there have been problems. Our reference points are different. For my part I forget that they need to consider the curriculum and assessment, instead of just the need to learn something, and that they are accountable to others. These are people who are paid for their work, or they are doing formal studies. They belong in a different world to me. I have no formal support, but equally I have no formal constraints. I can keep re-directing my own learning according to what I have just learned.

I have also found it difficult to explain “where I am coming from” because I am not part of any formal academic institution. I am not employed by any university and I am not registered as a student, and yet I leap in to online groups and join in discussions. I do it because I need to share what I am trying to learn, in order to clarify my thoughts and learn from others. Of course, as an outsider I don’t find a way to contribute formally what I have learned. I am not part of the culture of published papers and dissertations. I don’t know the academic references etc that would be needed to make my contributions academically acceptable. My initial attempts to cross that boundary were, rightly, dismissed by reviewers as unacceptable according to their culture (just journalism, i.e. reports not research) so I decided to keep away.

Perhaps the Rhizomatic Education article will help me to cross that divide. I think we do need to connect more. Maybe this academic description will act as some kind of passport if, in future, I venture out of my Online Communities of Learning into the culture of the academics.

Many thanks for this academic analysis of how “rhizomatic education” happens through informal online Communities of Learning.

By: Dante-Gabryell Monson

Dante-Gabryell Monson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:47:34 +0000

Its interesting to feel there is a increased awareness about learning. I have no doubt that I am not alone , and others too become aware of the futility of specific artificially limited learning settings. An artificial creation of scarcity in learning : where there is one teacher , or even , one ” specific ” facilitator.
I used to brainstorm about my choice to step out of imposed expectations.
It has now been a long time I have been living this alternative life , so much so that I start to forget what it is to be stuck in other peoples expectations. For me , and no doubt many of us , OUR EXPERIENCE OF LIFE IS OUR MUTUAL LEARNING PLATFORM.
Some practices seemed proper to accelerate the potential of ” reflexivity “. For example , the multiple reality reflexivity of traveling through space and cultures – and even more so forms of traveling with reduced expectations.
For example , traveling without money , as to not be able to impose your expectations ,
yet increased intention , which can inspire others to join and create synergies and mutual empowerment. A good example being hitch hiking and hospitality. Such characteristic seem to extend to anything we do , including through the p2pfoundation ecology :
Living with a consciousness of shared intent , instead of a world of imposed expectation.
Such shift often demands surrendering our ” specific expectations ” , coming to a state of detachment which is reached through increased awareness , and as the awareness grows , remember our intentions , and the co-creative paths in which we feel intrinsically motivated to manifest them with the world. LEARNING AS A LIFESTYLE , AS A CO-CREATIVE PROCESS.
The Rhizome is always there , yet the awareness facilitating its navigation through creation , might not always be.

Comments on: David Cormier on Rhizomatic Education

By: Pamela McLean

By: Dante-Gabryell Monson