BODY/CONNECTIONS

Maybe one or two sentences per each, use paraphrases instead of block quotes, get the one sent

This draws on the notes at http://metameso.org/~joe/body-connections.html

The first point of connection is to andragogy, Malcom Knowles's theory/practice of adult education.  In succinct form, Knowles's five  principles of andragogy are as follows: (1) that adult learners are  self-directed; (2) that they bring a wealth of experience to the  educational setting; (3) that they enter educational settings ready to  learn; (4) that they are problem-centered in their learning; and (5) that they are best motivated by internal factors. (squish and/or move to previous section) Blondy points out both uses and challenges to each of Knowles principles of  andragogy. For example, "Cheren stated that while learners may express a  desire to be self-directed in their learning, most lack the required understanding of learning necessary to be self-directed and thus need  guidance and encouragement in the learning process."

In  short, unlike andragogy (which basically takes the point of view of the  adult educator), and unlike heutagogy (which focuses on self-directed  learners), paragogy looks at the learning environment as a whole.   Accordingly, it relates to other theories of an "ecological" and  contextual nature, drawing inspiration in this regard particularly from  Nishida's notion of basho ("shared context in motion") which helps us  think about how a context constrains or supports different types of  (inter-)actions, and also about how we can (re-)shape the contexts we  find ourselves in.

Additional  connections are basically in two subsections: "human ecology", and  "theories of learning".  There are significant points of overlap.

the view from human ecology

Strategic Niche Management is focuses on system change, zooming in on three levels...

This is relevant because we're talking about a system (like P2PU.org or a given class like Collaborative Lesson Planning, etc.) and looking at how change works within that system

«The  multi-level perspective argues that transitions come about through  interactions between processes at three levels: niche-innovations (peer) build up internal momentum, through learning  processes (meta-learning) , price/performance  improvements, and support from powerful  groups; changes at the landscape level create pressure on the regime; destabilisation of the  regime creates windows of opportunities for niche innovations.» (Can be reinterpreted to talk about a learning context.)

The  internal processes themselves have three phases: "coupling of  expectations", "articulation/learning", and "network formation".  (Feed these ideas back into our best practice framework and vice versa -- sort of an independent check.)

the view from theories of learning

  Contrast with P2PU defaults (are tasks sufficiently challenging?) (incorporate us "testing" ourselves by writing this paper and learning about paragogy?)

My  own current view is that learning needs (a) testing/challenges;  (b)  compatibility with the way the learner thinks (cf. The Myth of Ability - the real life "Good Will Hunting" good at different things and the recent unpublished study on JUMP Math -- it would be interesting to have a dialog with him and/or see what sorts of ideas can be re-used) -- also cite stuff by Anna De Liddo on "Cohere" sketching concepts, articulation here, compare the RSS feed table on metameso; and (c) real motivation,  e.g. related to power.  And they get pissed off when they are motivated, but they're not being satisfied!  "It's not working the way I wanted it to, but I still learned... weird response.(very paragogical) "

Putting this all together (trim and make succinct/concrete)

 We  can cite Engestrom and Schmidt (and referenced Wenger) to drive home the  point  that learning is an important part of any productive process,  and that  it is especially key in Commons Based Peer Production (CBPP).



We can also look at "The Nature of the Firm" as an example of another type of system for managing productivity.

«Given  that production could be carried on without any firms at  all, why and  under what conditions should we expect firms to emerge? Coase noted that  there are a number of transaction costs to using  the market; the cost  of obtaining a good or service via the market is  actually more than  just the price of the good. This suggests that firms will arise when  they can arrange to produce what they need internally and somehow avoid  these costs.»

To sum up

We  are looking for conditions of effective learning and effective  production, particulary how to learn produce conditions where learning is effective, but also how learning plays a role  in any effective productive enterprise.

How do people learn how to contribute to the Free World?