Osgemeos: working together, learning and acquiring knowledge: Week 6 reading response

" if you obey all the rules, you end up loosing all the fun"

The sibling team of Osgemeos's work can be seen around the world, the two have been collaborating since birth and have worked with names like Banksky, JR and other top contributors in the industry. Their work speaks to current adversities and global issues all the while being aesthetically pleasing and a bit humorous. Their work is a gentle reminder of the loss of innocence and play that happens as we grow older, and what I think is happening in education today. With so much focus on testing and finding a implement that is a do all for all, I find myself 'breaking the rules' more so than not. 

"This is a version of social learning as a process of proactivity for desirable outcomes."Lanksher & Knobel 2011

Osgemeos's 'Liberate Expression' sums up perfectly this week chapter in whole. The whole idea of social learning is to allow the individual to express in a group, as part of a group, to a group for a common goal or interest. Without the liberation of expression, and social learning we are only digesting that which is given to us, and the question becomes if we are learning anything at all. There is a 'push' ( this now seems backwards to say as Lankshear and Knoble express pushing as giving information rather than pulling from the individual. ) for PBL or Project based Learning, but what is being lost is the social aspect. Having a student follow directions to complete a project is not PBL nor is it social. The act of learning according to Lankshear happens when multiple things occur at a social level. When the individual is aware of themselves and their contributions, and contributes proactively then they are learning. 

Proactivity: adjective

1.

serving to prepare for, intervene in, or control an expected occurrence or situation, especially a negative or difficult one; anticipatory:

Changing my own perceptions of being active in the previous week, this proactivity, stuck in my thoughts again. As Lankshear and Knobel suggest, learning occurs as we become participants and proactive in the learning environment. This proactivity recently brought a vandal to justice, as people used the online community to communicate her whereabouts, speak out about her choices and end the end locate her through the very affinity that she was posting. With out the act of social learning and community this person may well still be 'tagging' up up our National Parks. 

Passion also resurfaced this week, we all know that it is important to be passionate, but we need to remember this for educational purposes too. Lanshear and Knobel suggest that the web allows students to not only learn socially, but to also harness passions that connect with other like minded individuals and groups. We witness this passion as Remi speaks out against a 'gag' order of sorts on his presentation for a conference. Without the passion and these affinity spaces, one might feel alone in their fight against hedronormativity, racism, sexism, and institutionalized systemic education. Reading the multiple posts and comments, reminded me that community occurs at many different levels and this is what we need to be teaching. It was a community that came to Remi's defense, just as a community of people the same that may have never met before, might not even live in the same country came together to proactively come to a common goal and outcome to stop this young white privileged female from defacing the outdoors. 

'in this city there are in this city there are many serious problems that need results! Do not spend time $ erasing graffiti!'

It is not the internet, the web, Facebook,Instagram,Snapchat, Reddit, etc, etc that plague the young minds of the students that we are trying to teach, it is that we don't understand and that we are afraid of change. The change in the social paradigm that has the teacher leading the class and being in control, that allows students to become the leader and choose their own path. They (students) have so much to teach us about being social, perhaps we should listen.  Change the focus of what we perceive as the problem! 

One question that I found completely interesting in the reading: 

Many writers and researchers have drawn a distinction between ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning

My response:  

OHH - good question, are the two synonymous? I feel like learning something means that you have not yet experienced the authentic task, whereas acquisition seems to reference that you are able to draw conclusions and use what has been acquired to develop new questions and ideas.

What do you think? Are acquisition and learning the same or or is there a distinct difference?