Abstract
This paper considers the positon of networked learning in higher education learning and teaching in the postdigital era. The underlying origins and principles upon which networked learning are based can be traced back to the critical pedagogy of Freire and emphasise a critical relationship with the digital, the human and the current socio-political and material higher educational context. We examine the theoretical and practical ideas around networked learning in which connections are forged between learners; between learners and their tutors; and between learning communities and learning resources. We describe two case studies to illustrate the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning for contemporary higher education learning and teaching. One from the perspective of the online distant learner and their experience of networked learning; the other from the perspective of tutors, which focuses on the challenges they face in moving into the digital world. We conclude by claiming that the way networked learning has developed in theory and practice means it is an approach and pedagogy that makes it entirely suitable for a postdigital world.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, I. D., & Alexander, F. (2018). Designing an inclusive intercultural online participatory seminar for higher education teachers and professionals. In N. Bonderup Dohn, S. Cranmer, J. A. Sime, M. de Laat, & T. Ryberg (Eds.), Networked learning: reflections and challenges (pp.125-148). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74857-3_8.
Arasaratnam-Smith, L. A., & Northcote, M. (2017). Community in online higher education: challenges and opportunities. Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 15(2), 188–198.
Barczak, G., Lassk, F., & Mulki, J. (2010). Antecedents of team creativity: an examination of team emotional intelligence, team trust and collaborative culture. Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(4), 332–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00574.x.
Bates, T. (2018). The 2017 national survey of online learning in Canadian post-secondary education: methodology and results. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0112-3.
Benson, V., & Kolsaker, A. (2015). Instructor approaches to blended learning: a tale of two business schools. The International Journal of Management Education, 13(3), 316–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2015.10.001.
Berge, Z. L. (1995). Facilitating computer conferencing: recommendations from the field. Educational Technology., 35(1), 22–30.
Berger, P., & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. London: Penguin Books.
Bird, L. (2002). Action learning sets: the case for running them online. In Proceedings of networked learning conference 2002. http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2002/proceedings/index.htm. Accessed 30 October 2018.
Blitz, C. L. (2013). Can online learning communities achieve the goals of traditional professional learning communities? What the literature says (REL 2013–003). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs. Accessed 22 October 2018.
Brookfield, S. (1994). Tales from the dark side: a phenomenography of adult critical reflection. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 13(3), 203–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260137940130303.
Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X018001032.
Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: education, knowledge and action research. Brighton: Falmer.
Cerf, J. M. (1995). Guide du tuteur en enterprise. Paris: Foucher.
Choo, C. W. (1998). The knowing organization: how Organizations information to construct meaning, create knowledge, and make decisions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Collinson, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S., & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: effective strategies for moderators. Madison: Atwood.
Conroy, J. (2018). Flipped classroom struggles to catch on in Europe. Times Higher Education, 23 October. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/flipped-classroom-struggles-catch-europe. Accessed 1 November 2018.
Cook, S. D. N., & Brown, J. S. (1999). Bridging epistemologies: the generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing. Organizational Science, 10(4), 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.10.4.381.
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: a guide for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Cousin, G., & Deepwell, F. (2005). Designs for networked learning; a communities of practice perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 30(1), 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507052000307795.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: an introduction to the philosophy of education (1966th ed.). New York: Free Press.
Dewey, J. (1991[1938]). Logic: the theory of inquiry. In J.A. Boydston (Ed.), John Dewey: the later works (pp. 1925—1953), vol. 12. Carbondale: SIU Press.
Elden, M., & Chisholm, R. F. (1993). Emerging varieties of action research. Human Relations, 46(2), 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600201.
Eliasoph, N. (2011). Making volunteers: civic life after welfare’s end. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ellsworth, E. (1989). Why doesn’t this feel empowering: working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 59(3), 297–324. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.59.3.058342114k266250.
Englund, C., Olofsson, A. D., & Price, L. (2017). Teaching with technology in higher education: understanding conceptual change and development in practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(1), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1171300.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.
Fawns, T. (2018). Postdigital education in design and practice. Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0021-8.
Ferreday, D., Hodgson, V., & Jones, C. (2006). Dialogue, language and identity: critical issues for networked management learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 28(3), 223–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/01580370600947389.
Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin.
Gallagher, M. (2018). Amira’s complexity and cosmopolitanism: the role of disposition in mobilities and mobile learning. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Networked Learning (pp. 189–196).
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Gergen, K. J. (1973). Social psychology as history. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26(2), 309–320.
Gergen, K. J. (1999). An Invitation to Social Construction. London: Sage.
Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: cultural workers and the politics of education. New York: Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City: Doubleday.
Goodyear, P., Banks, S., Hodgson, V., & McConnell, D. (2004). Advances in research on networked learning. Dordecht: Kluwer Academic.
Gore, J. (2001). Disciplining bodies: on continuity of power relations in pedagogy. In C. Paechter, R. Edwards, R. Harrison, & P. Twining (Eds.), Learning, space and identity. London: Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd..
Gracia-Lorenzo, L. (2006). Networking in organisations: developing a social practice perspective for innovation and knowledge sharing in emerging work contexts. World Futures, 62, 171–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604020500509520.
Gross, M. A., & Hogler, R. (2005). What the shadow knows: exploring the hidden dimensions of the consumer metaphor in management education. Journal of Management Education, 29(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562903260034.
Hanson, J. (2009). Displaced but not replaced: the impact of e-learning on academic identities in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(5), 553–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510903186774.
Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 1997, 124–134.
Heron, J. (1984). Self and peer assessment. In T. Boydel & M. Pedler (Eds.), Management self- development. London: Gower.
Hodgson, V. E., & Reynolds, M. (2005). Consensus, difference and ‘multiple communities’ in network learning. Studies in Higher Education, 30(1), 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507052000307768.
Hodgson, V., McConnell, D., & Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L. (2012). The theory, practice and pedagogy of networked learning. In L. Dirckinck-Holmfeld et al. (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning (pp. 291–305). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0496-5_17.
Hodgson, V.E., Watton, E.L., & Ralph, N.D. (2016). A practical action perspective and understanding on becoming a networked learning educator. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning (pp. 405–413).
Illich, I. (1977). Deschooling society. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Ingleton, C. (2000). Emotion in learning—a neglected dynamic. Research and development in higher education, 22, 86–99.
Iszatt-White, M., Kempster, K., & Carroll, B. (2017). An educators’ perspective on reflexive pedagogy: identity undoing and issues of power. Management Learning, 48(5), 582–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507617718256.
Jandrić, P. (2017). Learning in the age of digital reason. Rotterdam: Sense.
Jandrić, P., Knox, J., Besley, T., Ryberg, T., Suoranta, J., & Hayes, S. (2018). Postdigital science and education. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 50(10), 893–899. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1454000.
Jones, C., & Steeples, C. (2002). Perspectives and issues in networked learning. In C. Steeples & C. Jones (Eds.), Networked learning: perspectives and issues. London: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0181-9_1.
Jones, C., Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L., & Lindström, B. (2006). A relational, indirect, meso-level approach to CSCL design in the next decade. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 1(1), 35-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-006-6841-7.
Keddie, N. (1971). Classroom knowledge. In M. F. D. Young (Ed.), Knowledge and control. London: Collier-Macmillan Publishers.
Knowles, M. (1975). Self-Directed learning: a guide for learners and teachers. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge.
Kolb, D. A., Rubin, I. M., & McIntyre, J. M. (1974). Organizational psychology: a book of readings (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Combridge University Press.
Lee, K. (2018). Everyone already has their community beyond the screen: reconceptualizing online learning and expanding boundaries. Educational Technology Research and Development, 66(5), 1255–1268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-018-9613-y.
Leonardo, Z. (2004). Critical social theory and transformative knowledge: the functions of criticism in quality education. Educational Researcher, 33(6), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033006011.
Levinsen, J. L., & Nielsen, O. D. (2012). Problem oriented project studies: the role of the teacher as supervisor for the study group in its learning processes. In L. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, V. Hodgson, & D. McConnell (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning (pp. 3–24). New York: Springer.
Mann, S. J. (2005). Alienation in the learning environment: a failure of community? Studies in Higher Education, 30(1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507052000307786.
Mann, S. J. (2008). Study, power and the university. Milton Keynes: Open University/Society for Research into Higher Education.
McConnell. (1998). Developing networked learning professionals: a critical perspective. In S. Banks, C. Graebner, & D. McConnell (Eds.), Networked lifelong learning: innovative approaches to education and training through the internet. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.
McConnell, D. (2000). Implementing Computer Supported Cooperative Learning. (2nd edn). London: Kogan Page.
McConnell, D. (2005). Examining the dynamics of networked E-learning groups and communities. Studies in Higher Education, 30(1), 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/0307507052000307777
McConnell, D. (2006). E-learning groups and communities. Maidenhead: OU Press.
McConnell, D., Hodgson, V., & Dirckinck-Holmfeld, L. (2012). Networked learning: a brief history and new trends. In L. Dirckinck-Holmfeld, V. Hodgson, & D. McConnell (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning (pp. 3–24). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0496-5_1.
McLaren, P., & Jandrić, P. (2015). The critical challenge of networked learning: using information technologies in the service of humanity. In Critical learning in digital networks (pp. 199–226). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13752-0_10.
Mercer-Mapstone, L., et al. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners., 1(1). https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119.
Mitchell, L. D., Parlamis, J. D., & Claiborne, S. A. (2015). Overcoming faculty avoidance of online education: from resistance to support to active participation. Journal of Management Education, 39(3), 350–371. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562914547964.
Nelson, D., & Parchoma, G. (2018). Toward theorizing spatial-cultural ‘othering’ in networked learning and teaching practices. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Networked Learning.
Nielsen, J. L., & Danielsen, O. (2012). Problem oriented project studies: the role of the teacher as supervisor for the study group in its learning processes. In Dirckinck-Holmfeld et al. (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning (pp. 257-272). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0496-5_15.
Pedler, M. (1981). Developing the learning community. In T. Boydell & M. Pedler (Eds.), Management self-development: concepts and practices. Aldershot: Gower.
Pedler, M. (1996). Action Learning For Managers. London: Lemos & Crane.
Perriton, L., & Reedy, P. (2002). Walk on by: anarchist possibilities for the reconceptualisation of the virtual community. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Networked Learning. http://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/past/nlc2002/proceedings/symp/06.htm#06c. Accessed 1 November 2018.
Perriton, L., & Reynolds, M. (2018). Critical management education in challenging times. Management Learning, 49(5), 521-536. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507618795090.
Peters, M. A., & Besley, T. (2018). Critical philosophy of the postdigital. Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0004-9.
Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. Gloucester: Peter Smith (Reprinted:1983).
Ponti, M., & Hodgson, V. (2006). Networked management learning for managers of small and medium enterprises, In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Networked Learning 2006. Lancaster: Lancaster University.
Preston, D. (2018). The move to online teaching: a head of department’s perspective. In: J. Baxter, G. Callaghan, J. McAvoy (Eds.), Creativity and critique in online learning. Springer.
Raffaghelli, J. E., & Richieri, C. (2012). A classroom with a view: networked learning strategies to promote intercultural education. In Dirckinck-Holmfeld et al. (Eds.), Exploring the theory, pedagogy and practice of networked learning. New York: Springer.
Redpath, L. (2012). Confronting the bias against on-line learning in management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(1), 125–140. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2010.0044.
Revans, R. (1979). The nature of action learning. Management Education and Development, 10, 3–23.
Reynolds, M., & Vince, R. (2004). Critical management education and action-based learning: synergies and contradictions. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3(4), 442–456. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2004.15112552.
Ross, J., & Macleod, H. (2018) Surveillance,(dis) trust and teaching with plagiarism detection technology. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Networked Learning.
Ryberg, T., & Sinclair, C. (2016). The relationship between policies, boundaries and research in networked learning. In T. Ryberg, C. Sinclair, S. Bayne, & M. de Laat (Eds.), Research, boundaries and policy in networked learning. Switzerland: Springer.
Salomon, G. (2000). E-moderating. London: Kogan Page.
Shotter, J. (1994). Conversational realities: constructing life through language. London: Sage.
Tsoukas, H. (1996). The firm as a distributed knowledge system; a constructionist approach. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250171104.
Whitead, J. (1989). How do we improve research based professionalism in education? A question that includes action research, educational theory and the politics of educational knowledge. British Educational Research Journal, 15(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141192890150101.
Willis, P. (1977). Learning to labour: How working class kids get working class jobs. Routledge.
Winter, R. (1989). Learning from experience: principles and practice in action research. London: Falmer.
Yoon, K. H. (2005). Affecting the transformative intellectual: Questioning ‘noble’ sentiments in critical pedagogy and composition. JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics, 25(4), 717–759.
Acknowledgments
The research report from 2006* is an unpublished report written during a CEL project on Networked management learning for educational leaders and was based on input from Debra Ferreday and Chris Jones in addition to its lead author Vivien Hodgson.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the staff at Lancaster University Management School for allowing us to reference some of the findings from their research on digital and educator disruption.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hodgson, V., McConnell, D. Networked Learning and Postdigital Education. Postdigit Sci Educ 1, 43–64 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0029-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0029-0