Knowledge and learning in a fragment age

Knowledge & Learning for a Better World

Department of psychology and behavioral sciences

Knowledge and learning in a fragment age

SHENTU Teng

August , 2010 Hangzhou, China

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The incoming contents

1 The powerful Internet 3

2 Knowledge and learning in a fragment age 7

Connectivism as a learning approach 10

How Internet shape our world 17

A learning case 22

3 Tips for a better learning environment 27

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It’s not just a tool

The power of Internet is underrated

Most people may still think Internet as a tool, just like radio or TV, that's true indeed 10 years ago.

But with the arrival of Web2.0 and the incoming Web3.0, the Internet shows himself as the dawn of a new age, the fragment age.

Then what's that has anything to do with knowledge?

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The Internet and Writing

Let's roll back to 2400 years ago, when the characters and writing just came out. The Socrates and his apprentices Plato look down to the writing.

The writing is toy for children, the speech is wisdom of adults.

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The Internet and Writing

Time changes, and the wise can be wrong.

The knowledge for the first time can break through the limit of Time, and become permanent treasures of human beings.

That's how we stand on the shoulders of giants.

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The Internet and Writing

Would it be possible that the mighty Internet help us break through the spatial

limit?

If you prefer it's YES, then let's move on.

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Knowledge and Learning

What is knowledge?

Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary

Expertise and skillsFacts and informationAwareness or familiarity

BUT

We often forget the information as knowledge.

The information flows on Internet is the same as the knowledge bear in our mind.

Can we learn from Internet?

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Knowledge and Learning

How to dodge a snakebite

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The incoming contents

First, introduction of the connectivism as a learning theory.

Then, how Internet make it possible to learn in this way.

At last, we will try to dodge the snakebite.

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Connectivism

Connection matters

From Wikipedia

Connectivism is a learning theory used in computer science

which is based on the premise that knowledge exists in the

world rather than simply in the head of an individual.

We all know our brain is just a huge

network of neurons. But your computer

seems not work in that way. The idea

of create an artificial network to

compute leads to connectionism.

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Different program models

The traditional program model

The If-then model

if …then … ;

if …then … ;

if …then … ;

The possible problem and solution is coded by programmer.

The program is preset.

The knowledge is beard in mind of programmer, who write the program to make it explicit.

Like a guide book

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Different program models

The connectionism program model

The network model

ProblemTraining

input

Answer Expected output

Solutions

The programmer build up network without any code.(a blank network)

Train the network with some input and expected output.* *(Learning)

Solve new problems in some degree

The knowledge is beard in the network and implicit

Like a student

*The training process will change the connection between nodes. e.g. enhance the right path.

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Different learning approach

Taking a course or reading a book is like install a software. Maybe you only need one simple function, but the programmer doesn’t know what the function is, so most of the IFs are just in case.

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Different learning approach

But connectionism take a different approach, you can always get the answer of the problems in the domain where the network has trained. The answer may be not good enough, but the network learns at the same time, so next time, it would be better.

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The society as a network

What if we see the entire society as a network and every individual as a node

Problem Answer

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It’s happening in everyday life

You won’t be the first one who meet such kind of problem, there’re someone who know how to deal with it. But,

Can you find them?

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Internet for the rescue

Thanks to Internet, now the people we meet in one day can be more than that of Socrates’ whole life.

On what level has the world changed?Especially after the buzz word Web2.0 comes out.

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How Internet shape the world

Be visible online

Web2.0 technologies make the Internet user friendly, so the content is user generated, which means more people are visible online.

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How Internet shape the world

Be short and shorter

The content is short fragment rather than a chunk of systematic knowledge.

A Page A Blog A Tweet

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How Internet shape the world

Be fast and faster

Therefore information spreads fast in this network.

One hour after the news of Jackson's death hits the internet, the first mainstream news source publishes a confirmation article.

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How Internet shape the world

Information reorganization

What’s google’s content?

More than 80% content of this page is taken from other website.

Google just collects information and tell you where it is.

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What would the learning be like then?

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Still remember the case?

How to dodge a snakebite

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In Web1.0 or before

Sorry, good luck next time, find a website about jungle exploring before you are in danger.

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In Web2.0

This is what you get NOW, You may find a Blog about how to dodge it, or a Video clip of a real example.

But still sorry, before you click and see what’s that, you have already been bitten.

If there’s a “snake bite dodging club” on Internet, things may slightly different. Because the experts there know where to find the guide, and collect it, so it’s faster to get the really helpful information.

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In Web3.0

In Web3.0, the Internet is a Semantic Network, which means the internet can understand what you want. So it’s like asking a Mr. Known-all rather than searching.

Congratulations, now you dodged a snake bite successfully. Why not write down your experience and share with your friends?

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It may take decades for

the Web3.0 to come, but

there’re something we

can do now to improve

the environment for

learning.

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What to do

Tips for a better learning environment

Encourage more people to contribute to Internet and share knowledge.

More Resource

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What to do

Tips for a better learning environment

Change the form of knowledge on Internet. Tear it into fragments and reorganize them according to problem.

More Problem-based

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What to do

Tips for a better learning environment

Improve the quality of connections, deliver not only information but also knowledge.

More Professional Social-Network

Knowledge & Learning for a Better World

Department of psychology and behavioral sciences

Thank You

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