Comments on: Building Ecologies – making room for communities and networks

By: David White

David White — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:00:51 +0000

Is your idea of ‘earning’ a place in a community similar to traditional notions of ‘rite of passage’? I’m intrigued by the idea that healthy communities do seem to have hierarchies and roles. The important factor is not total equality but a feeling that you could move roles if you put the right effort in.

By: Phil’s JISC CETIS blog » Blog Archive » Repository Ecology: the Metaphor

Wed, 30 May 2007 13:44:20 +0000

[...] slightly different). It’s also interesting to see that Dave Cormier and others have been thinking of ecologies too. Anyway, it’s difficult to explain what a Repository Ecology is, but I thought I would [...]

By: Future of Education - snowclones and ‘cliches’ | Dave’s Educational Blog

Wed, 30 May 2007 00:01:04 +0000

[...] Building Ecologies – making room for communities and networksCADE/AMTEC – day 2 – Best Online Course Ever?CADE/AMTEC – day 1CADE/AMTEC – Connections in the global villageDisposable Learning ObjectsDegree is Social Networking – debate in Will?s commentsEmbedding Flash into Moodle (or whatever)Kathy Sierra, the private public and the anonymousMembership, Collaboration and the InterwebsWriting the digital and Second Life architecture. [...]

By: compos (ting » who are the sheepwalkers–students or us?)

compos (ting » who are the sheepwalkers–students or us?) — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:31:47 +0000

[...] I agree with Siemens, but I also have to take it one step more. The comment “don’t use technology in teaching, be engaging instead” gets me right where I live. People commenting on his blog post rightly asked “Why is it either/or?” But no one looked at the logic embedded in the second half of that statement. Is it really the highest calling of a teacher to “be engaging?” Night club singers, comedians, and dramatic actors, yes. Teachers? I don’t think so. Engaging students in learning is different from “being engaging.” My understanding of learning has changed so much in the last ten years. I feel physically ill when my own children talk about their school daze in a system which insists on shoveling content. I now what what a course can be like. I hope for my own kids that they will someday get to experience learning with mentors like Barbara Ganley . I think courses at their best are learning communities. And community is at the heart of Web 2.0. You can argue wether we are creating networks or ecologies [...]

By: Jay Cross

Jay Cross — Thu, 24 May 2007 04:29:57 +0000

Dave,

I share the malaise of knowing we have some of the pieces but are clueless about the overall puzzle. Ecology is an appropriate term IMHO. However, learning ecology is too restrictive a concept. Learning is but an aspect of our ecology; it’s actually what enables us to adapt and prosper in the larger frame. In an era of collective intelligence, distributed cognition, and group mind, learning may not be the lens we need to look through.

Just a thought.

jay

By: You are Never Alone » Dynamics in an online community - 3 - building

You are Never Alone » Dynamics in an online community - 3 - building — Wed, 23 May 2007 23:16:26 +0000

[...] (May 23) at http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=40278Â has linked me to Dave Cormier’s Building Ecologies – making room for communities and networksÂ This entry was written by Kerrie Smith and posted on May 24, 2007 at 8:41 am and filed under [...]

By: dave cormier

dave cormier — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:21:55 +0000

I’m worried about the same thing Stephen… I’ve been thinking about it like an ant colony in those weird glass things. Ant hills absolutely work better. No doubt. But, if you’re careful, you can set things up so that a colony will work. Same said for fish tanks. Are they are nice as a coral reef… of course not. But it’s pretty tough to let a coral reef naturally develop in your house… i suppose it possible

If we want communities (the Emerge group in the UK comes to mind) to deal with situations… because we know that networks/communities do better jobs than appointed groups in a traditional bureaucratic structure… then we have to do something

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:53:04 +0000

> An ideal ecology for a learning community would have some basic structures about it.

Dave – do ecologies have the properties you outline here?

When I think of an ‘ecology’ I think of a network of interconnected life, such as in a jungle or in a swamp. These are characterized by the fact that there is no purpose, there is no value – it’s just a bunch of life-forms doing their own thing, interacting with each other.

Fo me, the ecology metaphor came to life in 2004 when I read this: “If we can revise our attitudes towards the land under our feet, if we can accept a role of steward, and depart from the role of conqueror, if we can accept the view than man and nature are inseparable parts of the unified whole – then Tasmania can be a shining beacon in a dull, uniform, and largely artificial world.” Olegas Truchanas, 1971.
http://www.downes.ca/post/20

I think we typically want to impose some order onto an ecology – but in so doing we wreck the ecology. Our values, principles, laws – these are for ourselves as individuals, and neither characterize nor describe an ecology.

By: Brent Schlenker

Brent Schlenker — Mon, 21 May 2007 22:57:01 +0000

Dave,
Excellent food for thought. Rhizome was a new one for me. Of course I’ve out of the blogosphere for a while and missed your earlier posts. but I plan on checking them out.
You make some great points about ecologies. I’ve toying the term for a while now as well, but have not put specific elements in to help define learning ecologies. This makes me think a lot. Thanks! Brent