A couple of things jumped out at me while reading Complexity and Information: Overload in Society: Why increasing efficiency leads to decreasing control (Heylighen, 2002). First is the idea that as we reduce the friction between complex network connections, we increase the speed at which unanticipated or untended consequences occur. As the network grows, these consequences or side effects become increasing difficult to predict and control. This explains how a variety of problems, like red tape, seem worse than before we had modern mail and communication systems.
The second thing that I reacted to in the article was the idea of opportunity overload which results from a decrease in friction in a network so that a person is offered many options that formerly were not available. For example, with the advent of the Internet, I can now receive job postings that meet certain criteria sent directly to my email in-box. These are opportunities that, a few years ago, I might never have known about. However, now I have to think about whether any of them might be worthy of some follow-up. Opportunity overload can result in confusion, stress and fear of not being able to take advantage of the "right" opportunities.
So I was wondering about how this opportunity overload might affect students. If we "de-frictionize" the connections and offer a multitude of ways in which to learn, might students not become distressed over these options and feel stressed to explore every single one of them? I know I felt overwhelmed by the number of tools and information in this course and I am a very self-directed learner. Do we have a responsibility as educators to help students limit the opportunities available in a course so that they don't feel overwhelmed while still allowing them the options they need? Or is our responsibility to open up as many opportunities as possible for students?
In the article, Developing Online from Simplicity toward Complexity: Going with the Flow of Non-Linear Learning (R. Phelps), Phelps outlines the conversion of a linear web-based computer skills course to a more non-linear format. I could particularly relate how Phelps described non-linear learning in the practical terms of learning to be a parent. Coming from an educational background, I've had a difficult time imagining what non-linear learning might look like, but this example was perfect! There is no one class that people take to become the "perfect parent". People may take different classes, read books, talk to others and so on, but many of us just experiment to see what works best. We're told this is a more natural form of learning and it's better for learners.
The question is how to sell this idea to learners. My experience with non-instructor led, non-linear learning was just dismal. The students rebelled and literally demanded that I spoon-feed them the information - going all the way to the college president about my "horrible" teaching methods. Luckily for me, the president understood what I was trying to achieve and backed me up. In retrospect, I probably should have given them more rationale and maybe even tried to wean them off the spoon-feeding routine. It's hard for me to imagine students like these dealing positively with opportunity overload, but perhaps using an approach like Phelps' would help.
Teachers also "teach in the way they were taught", but Phelps makes a compelling case for leaping off that moving train to benefit a new generation of students who are much more used to learning in non-linear fashions. I'm looking forward to next week's materials about instructional design and connectivism.
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2 comments:
I find it interesting that your students would rebel against the opportunity to be more autonomous in their learning! I work with adult learners and would like to encourage more self-direction. Could you be more specific as to the course topic, your approach, and the problems you encountered?
Sorry, I didn't realize I had actually connected my blog to the course, so I just realized today that there were comments on it :-)
The students I wrote about were third-year respiratory care students who were attending class once a week and had several hours of clinical instruction during the remainder of the week. They should have been very self-directed, but had become what I call lazy learners. They wanted to come to class and sleep (many of them worked night shift).
My approach to the course was that they divide the quite extensive content into portions, use class time to research using any resources available to them and share their knowledge with the rest of the class at the beginning of the next week. The subject was neonatal respiratory care and there were (I thought) many interesting directions from which they could build as they had lots of previous knowledge with adults.
It should have worked and in trying to evaluate the situation, I talked to some peers who reported the same kinds of behaviors. Can I blame it on those particular students or our general population of community college students?
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