Social evolution - past, present, and future

Originally published to eBridge on Thursday 21 June 2012

As a result of taking part in Harold Jarche's PKM course and connecting with him on Google+, I came across this fascinating video by David Ronfeldt (2012). He describes how our complex society can be regarded as being composed of four distinct forms of organisation: Tribes, Institutions, Markets and Networks (T-I-M-N). Each form brings benefits for survival and cultural development, but can lead to its own problems.

It got me thinking about the current problems in the education sector, and how recent suspensions of examiners (Orr, 2011) seem to imply that market pressures are leading some education providers to indulge in unfair and illegal practices. Whilst I can comfortably (I hope!) say that no faults are to be found within my organisation, it's an ongoing concern. As a matter of fact my current project is to produce anti-bribery e-learning to complement our policies.

Earlier today I noticed an article on MSN news (link here - the story is evolving as I write this!) which initially disclosed details about a leaked document, in which Michael Gove was apparently laying out plans to axe GCSEs, re-institute something similar to the old O-levels, and bring all secondary education under a single exam board. Now apart from my concern for my own (and my colleagues') future employment, it struck me as being very much counter to the progression that Ronfeldt describes. Here we have problems caused by market being fixed by institutions? I'm glad to see that the Liberal Democrats have reacted angrily to this document, hopefully shooting it down in flames before it can take hold!

So what next? I came across this concept by participating in a network, so perhaps the answers are out there waiting....

References:

• Orr, J. (2011).  Exam boards: examiners suspended in 'corrupt practices' row.  The Telegraph Online  [online] 8 December.  Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/8943300/Exam-boards-examiners-suspended-in-corrupt-practices-row.html> [Accessed 21 June 2012]
• Ronfeldt, D. (2012).  TIMN in 20 minutes: social evolution — past, present, and future.  [video online]  Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBulH9_04vc&feature=player_embedded> [Accessed 21 June 2012

Personal Knowledge Management

Originally published to eBridge on Wednesday 13 June 2012

I've managed to find a solution to my problems - I hope! I've got started on Harold Jarche's online course, and I've been thinking about the Seek - Sense - Share model that he presents for producing actionable knowledge from the vast amount of information available on the web. In particular the sharing aspect, particularly with people outside of the original group, gives us a greater chance of being able to find it again, not only because it's in multiple locations (helpful if one of them degrades!) but we've also made important decisions about what to share and how.

Decision making is a vital aspect of learning more deeply, and I'm hoping to bring this into future designs of learning resources, particularly as I've been asked to get involved with some anti-bribery e-learning. The banality of compliance e-learning has been rearing its head in the background for some time, but now I feel ready to take on the beast with a new perspective. I could throw a stream of information and multiple choice questions at learners, but I've come to know better than expecting mere information recall!

Asking people to make decisions and seeing believable feedback can help to make the desired behaviours come more instinctively. Ask people to become experts in quoting rules back at you and they'll either switch off straight away, or develop bad ideas about how to use them because they haven't got the time to become an expert on the subject. Either way you're hitting the limit of time that they have to pay attention to you, which is either little or zero. If you can get them to make a few decisions within an engaging scenario, perhaps a little of the desired message will really stick, perhaps they'll even come back for a second helping - one can only hope!

Keep an eye out for the PKM course running again and remember that it's not just the raw material on the course that counts, but the opportunity to connect with people from across the world.

'Chance favours the connected mind' (Steven Johnson)