In a course I teach each summer in USM’s Adult & Higher Education master’s program, I have my students compare learning theories, and share which resonates with their own experience the most. Social learning theory trends towards the top, an indicator of the power of interaction. I myself tend to learn best with others, which may be in part due to my extroverted preference: sharing with others helps me to clarify my own thoughts and feelings. It also is about purposefully seeking out new information, ideas, and perspectives. One of my favorite podcasts is Make Me Smart, and the hosts’ tagline is, “All of us are smarter than one of us.”
Connections offer a vehicle for both the creation and spreading of ideas. We become part of a network of many through making even one new connection. This week’s experience with Twitter illustrates this point. I followed some of the recommended personalities; not only did I almost immediately find some valuable “nuggets” associated with my professional interests, I followed additional people who were connected to those initially suggested. It used to be that one of the few ways of making professional connections was to physically attend a conference, with ongoing collaboration achieved via phone, email, or good ol’ fashioned handwritten correspondence. Now we can forge connections from a smartphone while sitting out on the deck by the fire pit on a summer evening to the sounds of the Red Sox losing again due to a weak bullpen.
The readings and other resources shared for Week 2 of our #DigPINS adventure included window into possibilities along with cautionary perspectives about digital networks. Regarding the latter, Nicky Case’s narrative game, The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds, touched upon concepts such as the Majority Illusion. One of my responsibilities in my first gig at USM a few decades ago was to address the culture of high-risk alcohol use, one of the examples illustrating the Majority Illusion. Back then, social media platforms didn’t exist, but it was still easy to spread misinformation and develop skewed perceptions of reality. It’s easy to accept what’s in front of us, and not struggle with the possibility that there is another perspective that may be more accurate. Struggle, though, is necessary if actual learning is to occur.
I try to be metacognitive about my own beliefs, including what steps I take to challenge them. One reason for doing so is to attempt to better understand the “other”, since most of my time (physical and virtual) is spent around people who have similar interests and experiences. That is, I am cognizant that I risk being influenced by an echo chamber of my own making. In the article Personal Learning Networks: Knowledge Sharing as Democracy, Alison Seaman noted, how an “echo chamber can obscure alternate viewpoints and prevent learning from taking place”. I notice this with Twitter: people retweet perspectives with which they agree, and much like a Facebook feed very quickly one’s Twitter-verse can be filled with a loud, consistent message. I will continue to make connections, being the social learner that I am, both to create and spread information I think is valuable, but also to challenge and expand my own thinking, not just reinforce my existing perspectives.
Damien says
You are absolutely correct, Paul. The Sox need to sure-up the bullpen! But on a serious note, you highlight the need to guard against confirmation bias in our media diets, and I struggle with just how to do this and how we can teach these skills in our hyper-connected times.
Michael Stevenson says
I’m intrigued by the extent to which your “extroverted preferences” make electronic networking a comfortable environment within which to engage others. As a lifelong introvert, I work pretty hard to get my thoughts clarified before sharing them with others. (In fact, it’s taken me FAR TOO LONG to draft, review, edit, proof, and post this brief reply!) That doesn’t mean that I do not appreciate engaging with others or that I believe I am capable of arriving at the best outcome without benefit of others’ wisdom. Nonetheless, I wonder if these tendencies contribute to my perception that platforms like Twitter have little real value. As I reflect on your post, I also wonder if my approach to online pedagogy favors, in some way, the introspective/reflective types who prefer to work alone when they are afforded that opportunity.
Paul Dexter says
Thanks for your comment, Micheal. I have found that, when teaching online or blended courses, asynchronous interaction avenues (such as VoiceThread) tends to “even out” what would have been lopsided participation if in the classroom together. It offers both introverts and extroverts the same pathway for expression, without the pressure of speaking in the moment before a thought is fully formed. I do encourage students to dialogue without being as concerned about the completeness or polish of their thoughts, as I want them to take some positive risk and learn through the interaction itself. As an extroverted learner, it’s not so much a comfort with electronic networking, rather an opportunity to put an idea out to a broader audience to inform my own “in progress” thinking.