Do Worlds Collide? Revisiting Experiential Learning Martin Hall, University of Salford Full text at:

Mali one of the world’s earliest centres of learning more than scholarly manuscripts dating to the 13th century many now digitally copied, providing global platform for research and teaching Abdoulaye Niang: Bamako foundation for sustainable development

Milton Keynes Martin Bean, JISC April 2010: The Learning Journey: From Formal to Informal threshold between formal learning structures of the past and informal, socially networked world of the future Established, “institutionally accredited learning” has a “fixed granularity” “informal learning” is accredited by mentors and by the platforms on which it is delivered

Clouds and staircases? Are formal learning and informal learning worlds in collision? Or are they rather complimentary technologies that enhance a spectrum of ways of learning?

Content first Moore’s Law corollary: because increases in digital capacity are exponential, the development of digital content is invariably slow and inherently unsatisfactory Castells’ “Information Age” : global flows of information Foray’s “Economics of Knowledge”: tacit knowledge and codified knowledge

Tacit and Codified Knowledge Tacit knowledge: immediate, exploratory and loosely structured. Apprenticeships to advanced scientific laboratories, workshops and conferences. Exchange, modification, adoption, abandonment Codified knowledge: structured, exchanged easily through mass communication. From printing press and book to digital media and the Internet. Massive expansion of codified knowledge through digital modes of communication.

Knowledge in the Information Age Technologies of the Information Age have changed the nature of, and relationship between, codified and tacit knowledge. Codified knowledge massively expanded by increased in digital storage capacity, reach and speed and computing power. Tacit knowledge extended by ubiquitous social networking platforms,: , Facebook, Second Life, YouTube, Twitter Interoperability with mobile devices is liberating the user from the technology of the desk and chair. Abdoulaye Niang: Bamako foundation for sustainable development

Staircases and Clouds? Martin Bean: at JISC: Open Content and social networking are all “clouds”, confronting the rigid and hierarchical world of conventional learning? But this privileges technology over epistemology Rather, Open Content is codified knowledge, and social networking is not inherently tacit knowledge The wrong metaphor??

Experiential Learning Kolb, D Experiential Learning. Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall

Experiential Learning in a Digital Environment Four stages of the cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation Each stage will use a combination of tacit and codified knowledge, ranging from informal discussion, through written texts to abstract, highly codified, formulations In each stage, all forms of digital technology can enhance and extend the learning process

Back to Bamako Niang Abdoulaye Foundation : education for sustainable development Nonotechnology, papaya production and local enterprise Global network for local knowledge Professional education, sharing local experience to find generalized solutions Digital platforms that combine tacit and codified knowledge

In conclusion Rather that “worlds in collision”, or staircases and clouds, digital technologies allow the massive extension of the full range of knowledge dissemination, from immediate and tacit to codified and highly abstract Putting epistemology (such as experiential learning theory) before technology will free the full potential of digital communication to be realized Paper available at: Abdoulaye Niang: Bamako foundation for sustainable development