Historically,
lifelong learners have always learned from each other but in school
systems learning from other students was often seen as cheating and
primarily learning was seenas a process that happened via a teacher
instructing 30 students with some minor feedback back to the teacher
from the students. In this environment there are two nodes; the teacher
and the student as in the diagram below.
In
traditional learning networks within a classroom most of the accessibility
to the nodes and the connections are opened at the direction of the
teacher. The teacher also limits access to some of the available nodes
and actively prevents access in some cases. Availability for feedback
is minimal in the first “book-based” education paradigm
with limited nodes and connections.
Within
a Web-based education paradigm suddenly we have the potential for unlimited
nodes and connections representing the possibility of creating a fully
nodal network community where information, knowledge, discussion, debate,
research is carried out at the instigation of numerous members of the
community. Ownership of the process is shared across the community and
limits to potential nodes and connections are kept to an absolute minimum.
The Internet itself is a nodal network where individuals through to
governments are able to control access to nodes and connections and
distance is no longer a limiting factor.
