Workshop “Leading Networks: Facilitation,Knowledge and Learning”

On the Learning Networksand Learning within Networks Initiative

conducted by the Omar Dengo Foundation

GK3 Parallel EventKuala Lumpur, Malaysia

December 9-10, 2007

Melania Brenes Eduardo MongeOmar Dengo FoundationCosta Rica

Outline

Omar Dengo FoundationLearning Networks and Learning within

Network Environments (RaaR)RaaR`s Event / Nov. 2007What`s next?

Omar Dengo FoundationEducation, Technology and Development

A private, non-profit organization based in Costa Rica

Has led the introduction of digital technologies in the country as resources to foster learning, thinking and creativity and to create development opportunities and social mobility Educational informatics in public schools Research and development projects in Costa

Rica and the LAC region

ODF`s Area of Cognition, Creativity and Digital MediaODF`s Area of Cognition, Creativity and Digital Media

On-lineLearning

On-lineLearning Cognition

CognitionCre

ativ

ity

Creat

ivity

Digita

l Med

ia

Digita

l Med

ia

Pro

cess

es a

nd L

earn

ing

expe

rien

ces

/

Lear

ning

Env

iron

men

ts

Mobile

Devices

Mobile

DevicesLearning Networks

Learning Networks

Robotics and Learning by

design

Robotics and Learning by

design

ProgrammingProgramming

Thinking and Visible Learning

Thinking and Visible Learning

Thinking Development

Nature of Learning

Models, methodologies,

proposals and tools

Why Learning Networks and Learning within Network Environments (RaaR)?“Redes de Aprendizaje y Aprendizaje en Red” (RaaR)

What are people learning in networks andWhat are people learning in networks and

how are they learning in networks?how are they learning in networks?

It is a dispersed topic that has not been deeply studied

There is still not enough information to answer these questions

Research QuestionsWhat is a network and what isn`t ?How is learning produced in a network?Which and what kind of learning is

constructed in networks?What are the conditions and characteristics

of efective learning networks?What is the impact of learning networks in

current society?

International Forum on Learning Networks and Learning within

Network Environments

San Jose, Costa Rica

November 1-2, 2007

Web site: www.fod.ac.cr/raar

Our GoalsOpening an international discussion around

what people are learning and how people learn in networks

Generation of collaboration/partnership routes and specific group-work among networks

Dissemination and publication of results and active knowledge-sharing efforts

Networks 48 participants24 networksCentral and South

America12 GKP members13 non-GKP members

Health Agriculture

Education

RaaR

Ecology

Tourism

SocialDevelopment

Discussion & SharingPriority to the spaces for discussing andsharing learning experiences between

participants

Keynote addresses and panels

Focus groups

Exchange sessions among networks (One to One sessions)

John Connell*…a unique symposiun“The Forum on Learning Networks, … is a small-scale

symposium…the discourse being generated by this intense “learn-in” is deep and broad and engrossing in a way that I have not heard before in a single event.”

*RaaR`s keynote Speaker, Education Business Development Manager, Emerging Markets, Cisco Systems http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=562

“Everyone here is well aware of the criticality of the technology base for network learning, but equally no one

is really talking about technology, other than in the context of the abiding need across this region to extend

access to a greater and greater proportion of their countries’ populations.”

“Everyone here is well aware of the criticality of the technology base for network learning, but equally no one

is really talking about technology, other than in the context of the abiding need across this region to extend

access to a greater and greater proportion of their countries’ populations.”

Topics and discussionsFIRST SESION. Learning in Networks: The role of learning and technology in

individual andsocial productivity in today`s society

Presentation 1

Learning in Network Environments:The Role of Learning &Technology with Individual and Social Productivity 

Panel 1 What is the nature of the learning being produced in networks?

Red ALFORJA, Costa Rica: Networked work : weaving complexities and strengths

Instituto de Medicina Topical, Alexander Von Humbolt: Health and Youth

Argentinean Association of Regional Agricultural Experimentation Centers (AACREA): What is the nature of the learning that is produced in networks? Examples from practice. 

Second SessionLearning Networks: The power of Collaboration, the Learning

Distribution and social interaction

Presentation 2The Power of Learning in a Networked World 

Panel 2Learning to collaborate & collaboration in networks: lessons from

the practice.

Fundación Chasquinet, Ecuador,: Above all, networks are human.

Rural Youth Networks, Costa Rica.

Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL): Latin-American Network of Educational Technology.

1. Above all: “social networks”

2. Digital technologies invigorate and expand the possibilities of communication and exchange in networks

3. There are different kinds of networks and diverse kinds of learning

4. Links/Connections are made of common interests and objectives

5. A network is an “organic” entity.

6. The development of networks is based on people values.

Main Ideas

7. In some networks, it is possible to describe how learning is taking place only if conditions were previously designed for this purpose.

8. It is possible and necessary to analyze learning in networks but also learning about the network itself.

9. In a network, conditions for inclusion have to be intentionally incorporated from the beginning.

10. Networks need to identify which structures favor sustainability and promotion through practice.

11. The sense of participation in networks is developed by the idea that “others know something that they can teach me, and I know something that others can learn from me”.

Main Ideas

What`s next?• Actions

– Continue discussion at an online forum at: www.fod.ac.cr/raar

– Complete the networks` inventory – Publish a document of lessons learned and research

findings– Holding a 2nd International Forum in 2008

• Forum`s participants indicated interest in participating in events related to networks and :– Governability– Sustainability– Finances– Development– Connectivity– Mediation – Intellectual property– Research– Assessment and self-evaluation