This week’s Economist magazine describes how, in 1982 Fraser Mustard, a doctor,
founded the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) as a 'university
without walls', in which researchers could work across disciplines. CIFAR encouraged its fellows to share their
best ideas – often without much reward - rather than guarding them jealously. The result has been strong development in Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and other technologies in Canada, with profitable results and
making that country one of the world's leaders in AI and associated technologies.[1]
The story got my attention because
I have been thinking a lot about the topic we are currently working on in our
PBL group. Veering between enthusiasm
and a fair bit of scepticism, I wasn’t sure (still am not completely, I have to
admit) if networked learning and collaboration are everything they are cracked up
to be.
Borrowing from the ‘restaurant’ (À
la carte v Buffet) theme we were
working on in our group, it struck me that so much of South Africa’s cuisine is
based on collaboration (rather than co-operation) between the different cultural
groupings that make up our nation. One
of our public holidays, Heritage day (in September) has unofficially become ‘braai’
day (‘barbecue’ day) because barbecues are something most of the major cultures
here share. And the dishes prepared at
braai’s are themselves collaborative efforts – traditional Indian and Malay cooking and spicing styles
in combination with African and European approaches to preparing meat and
vegetables.
As a lawyer, I was also reminded that
when our young, newly minted law graduates go out to start their two years’ period
of ‘articles’ (apprenticeship) they are engaging in a process of networked
learning and collaboration: They learn their
trade by networking with other lawyers, magistrates, judges, law-office clerks
and with their clients. Without this
process they would never learn how to become lawyers.
Social learning systems, cross-cultural collaboration, connectivism as a
theory of learning – these have all been with us for a long time. We are human, and humans are social animals. In isolation we go into decline – the worst punishment
in prison is solitary confinement. But modern technology ups the ante – the
internet and other technologies allow the natural human gift for collaboration
to expand by orders of magnitude inconceivable just a generation ago.
Where my scepticism? I prefer to
work by myself, I believe I do my best work when I am focused on the task at hand. I do like to co-operate on a project. I also enjoy
the give and take of collaboration – but it must be ‘asynchronous’ collaboration. Too many chefs synchronously in kitchen, and my concentration
goes out the window. Is this a problem?
Reflecting then on my own position, still somewhat ambivalent, when it
comes to making full use of levels of collaboration that modern technologies
allow? Partly I will have to adapt, open
myself up to the possibilities.
This ONL172
course is already teaching me something of that. I will also increase the level of online
networking between myself and my students next year (Now that I’m following @realDonaldTrump
I’ve thought of a couple of good uses for Twitter in my International
law class in 2018 😕) (By the way, who would have ever have thought that over 40 million odd
people could receive messages directly from the hand of the President of the
USA, or from Ronaldo, or best of all Kim Kardashian?)
Sure is an interesting world.
[1] How Canada’s unique research culture has
aided artificial intelligence - https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21730905-country-has-made-virtue-out-limited-resources-how-canadas-unique-research-culture-has
Comments
Post a Comment