Networked, Connected Learning

We are witnessing transformations in the way we think about learning, reflecting the convergence of new technologies, digital media and tools, and network thinking. The MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Project identified three major transformations:
  • A shift from education to learning. Education is what institutions do­—learning is what people do. Digital media enable learning anywhere, anytime; formal learning must be mobile and just in time.
  • A shift from consumption of information to participatory learning. A new system of learning must be peer based and organized around learners’ interests, enabling them to create as well as consume information. It encourages learners to experiment and create, to produce and design things.
  • A shift from institutions to networks. In the digital age, the fundamental operating and delivery systems are networks, not institutions such as schools, which are a node on a person’s network of learning opportunities. People learn across institutions, so an entire learning network must be supported 

At the heart of this transition to twenty-first century learning is the question: What if learning adapted to each person instead of expecting each person to adapt to the curriculum or the program? The central themes of the transformation in learning need to be central features of congregational faith formation: putting learners at the center of our thinking; enabling and trusting learners to co-creators of their learning experiences; connecting learning authentically to life concerns and real world issues; making room for new modes of learning and new methods of teaching; fostering collaboration in learning; and organizing structures around learners’ needs.

What if we reimagined congregational faith formation as a network of relationships, content, experiences, and resources—in physical places and online spaces? This networked model of faith formation is lifelong—each stage of life from birth to death—and life-wide—everywhere, anytime learning within a network of mentors, teachers, family, and peers. It provides a wide variety of engaging and interactive content and experiences in online and physical settings (home, congregation, community, world). It offers faith formation content and experiences to respond to the diverse religious and spiritual needs of people today—from the spiritually committed and engaged to the spiritual but not religious and the unaffiliated. It enables congregations to become centers for lifelong learning and faith growth for all people by utilizing the best of the new digital technologies to bring an abundance of meaningful and engaging faith forming experiences—in the congregation and the world, and in a variety of media—to people of all ages.
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  • To learn more about the new connected, network learning model of faith formation go to Chapter Three in the Reimagining Faith Formation book from Lifelong Faith. Purchase at www.LifelongFaith.com.

Practices: Networked Learning
Evolution of Learning - LRNG
www.lrng.org
​LRNG is transforming how young people access and experience learning. Working together with schools, city leaders, businesses, and community institutions such as libraries and museums, LRNG is building an ecosystem of learning in a seamless network that is open and inviting to all youth.
​Sparking Interest with Informal Learning - Diana Rhoten
www.Edutopia.org
Sociologist and digital learning expert Diana Rhoten founded the New Youth City Learning Network to help organizations like museums and libraries design digitally-enabled learning activities built to tap into kids' interests and teach 21st-century skills.
Introduction to Connected Learning - ConnectedLearning.tv (MacArthur Foundation)
http://connectedlearning.tv/what-is-connected-learning
This film introduces the thinking behind connected learning, which builds on the basics to make learning more relevant. It connects learning to people's interests, to real life, real work, real communities, and to the demands and opportunities of the digital age. The film asks: 'Might the information age have presented us with the opportunity for a fundamental reimagining of the way we educate our children?' 'How might education come to life if children were to possess a burning need to know?' 'Might we each have a part to play?' 'Might this digital age hold the possibility of bringing us closer together?'
A Glimpse into the Future of Learning
http://knowledgeworks.org
This infographic tells the big story of KnowledgeWorks’ third forecast on the future of learning, Recombinant Education: Regenerating the Future of Learning.  Comprised of twelve key insights with accompanying graphics, it points the way toward a diverse learning ecosystem in which learning adapts to each child instead of each child trying to adapt to school.

​Download Infographic

Practices: Networked Faith Formation

Twenty-first century faith formation will look and feel and operate as a network. It will no longer resemble the linear, one size fits all model of earlier eras. As a network it will provide a diversity of religious content and experiences for all ages and generations, 24x7x365, in face-to-face (physical) and online (virtual) settings. It will be guided by the following practices.
  1. Faith formation provides a variety of learning experiences that can engage the whole person in learning. 
  2. Faith formation provides a variety of experiences, programs, activities, resources, and social connections that are available anytime and anywhere, in physical places and online spaces, and conducted in variety of settings—self-directed, mentored, at home, in small groups, in large groups, church-wide, in the community, and in the world. 
  3. Faith formation incorporates formal and informal learning. 
  4. Faith formation provides the opportunity for personalized and customized learning and faith growth, giving people an active role in shaping their own learning and moving along their own personal trajectories of faith growth. People are guided by trusted mentors/guides who find the right programs, activities, and resources to match with their learning needs. 
  5. Faith formation recognizes that learning is a process of active inquiry with the initiative residing within the individual. Faith formation networks recognize that the motivation for learning is intrinsic to the person and is driven by a need for autonomy (self-directedness), mastery, and purpose and meaning.
  6. Faith formation incorporates digital platforms (websites) that integrate all of the content (programs, activities, resources), connect people to the content and to each other, provides continuity for people across different learning experiences, and is available anytime, anywhere, anyplace, 24x7x365. 
  7. Faith formation integrates online and face-to-face learning, blending them in a variety of ways from online programs with minimal interaction in physical settings to programs in physical settings that utilize online content or extend the program using online content.

Examples: Faith Formation Networks

Digital Tools for Learning