Modes of Learning: Distributed Collective

The distributed Collective learning mode assumes that people can learn without a hierarchal structure and that this learning is triggered and motivated by networks of common interest.

A network of common interest is a collection of people who share the same interest but with varying degrees of expertise and knowledge in the are of their interest.

What is this mode all about?

The goal of this mode of learning is to share the knowledge among a group whose members serve as teachers and learners. So, people can engage in many learning activities at the same time.

Here the learner chooses what to learn about, with what groups of people and how much interaction he or she is going to have with the group.

A very interesting feature of this mode of learning is the fact that the roles of the “student” and the “teacher” are not fixed; so the individual might take the role of a student for some time and the role of a teacher for another time. This is because the roles are determined by who has knowledge. Think for example about a family discussion about using social media (Twitter for example) here you can notice that the 12-year old child might take the role of the teacher and the parent (or grandparent) takes the role of the student.

How this learning happens?

The starting point for this mode lf learning is sharing the same interest, values and preferences. Once there is a set of people who share the same interest they can start the learning exercise right away.

Practically, the learning can take place either in the real world or virtually. The community of learners allows more flexibility in relation to other modes of learning.

This mode of learning is similar to the Distributed Individual in the capacity of regarding humans as natural born learners and that learning is dictated by our biological imperative. The difference, however, is that this mode of learning is collective meaning there is the assumption that learning happens best when people engage with others.

The other difference between the two distributed modes is that this one defines success from the point of view of both the individual and the collective (as opposed to the Distributed Individual mode that defines success solely from the point of view of the individual)

Mohammad Waseem Sandouk : 13 Aug 2014 06:09 |  Tags: Elmore Gse2X Harvardx Leaders Learning |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem