In a chat on Twitter, this weekend, Kevin said that our little postcard project was one of the “most connected/enjoyable” CLMOOC activities.
That got me thinking back to the meaning of connected learning and whether this project qualifies.
Here’s my mapping of the CL principles and values to this project.
- Interest-powered — Yes, we are all doing this because it is of interest to us.
- Peer-supported — Yes, this project only happens because we all support it and each other.
- Academically oriented — ??? Perhaps if you consider general communication (writing, media literacy, etc.) to be an academic orientation, but otherwise, not so much. (I have to say though that personally, I have often turned away from this principle as a part of CL.)
- Shared purpose — Yes, our purposes are shared: to connect, to make cool postcards, to get happy mail.
- Production-centered — Yes, we are creating these cards ourselves.
- Openly networked — ??? CLMOOC as a whole sought to be openly networked and to bring together different institutions, groups, and individuals. Participation in this postcard project too was extended to everyone, but in reality, it was mostly a small group of us who already knew each other who participated. (See more on this below.)
- Equity — ??? Again, while we aim for equitable participation, it’s not evident we’ve achieved it. (What could we do achieve broader participation? More offline activities? More promotion in different spaces? What about a make-a-postcard station at a f2f maker event or in a library? Other ideas?)
- Social connection — Yes, we are connecting with each other through the good old fashioned post.
- Full participation — ??? See above
This may seem like an overly academic analysis of this project. (I mean, the amount of happiness and joy it has inspired has been enough!) However, I am curious about how things like this might be mapped to other learning, and of course, it’s always interesting to to see how theoretical constructs of learning apply to real world experiences.
Thinking about connected learning
I’d agree that connected learning need not have an academic focus. Lots of fun, lots of connections, and some learning for me though.
Thinking about Connected Learning https://t.co/ZNrWzllaC6 by @kfasimpaur #ConnectedLearning #CLmooc
You know what I find interesting, too, is the smaller scale of it all. Like a mini ooc. There is just enough variety on the list of folks who signed up to make it personal but also allows it feel like a small community of friends. Yes, we can overanalyze it all (that’s what we do) but in the end, it is the generosity and connectedness, and humanity, that makes the postcard project work.
Kevin