Global Learning Framework - Flash Learning by Richard Close

7/31/2019 Global Learning Framework - Flash Learning by Richard Close

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The GLOBAL Learning Framework

and the Birth of Flash Learning in the Global Collaborative

Richard C. Close, CEO

Chrysalis Campaign, Inc.

http://globallearningframework.ning.com

Abstract

In the same way that dictators are waking up to flash protests and are shocked at how an entire nation can

overthrow an authoritarian trickle down knowledge structure in days, global collaborative learning is

overthrowing tradition academics. Educators need to take notice that the same revolution of human-technology is

taking place with students that have challenged the relevance of learning-in-a-box-facts that is dysfunctional with

our youths reality as a global collaborative.

While a classroom of students in a traditional classroom wade through indexed text books chapter by

chapter in order to pass Fridays test, a torrent of knowledge is streaming past and through them in their

cell phones. While the teacher at the head of class has a one way channel of dumping facts into empty

buckets, billions of people outside the classroom walls are exchanging terabits of fluid knowledge in

collaborative communities. As students look into their two year old history books, they reflect on CNNsreal time reporting of Middle East revolutions. Shaking their heads, they know the school does not get it.

And after leaving the classroom bubble, the child hangs out during recess with friends, opens up his

phone and once again unites himself with the global collaborative. We need to be aware of this revolution

because resistance is futile.

The entrenchment of colonial/industrial education is when a superior/expert group imparts their knowledge down

into the working classes/cultures. Democracy in Education has the masses fully empowered to explore, create andshare knowledge on equal footing between students, the same way billions of people typically use the Web today.

The disconnectedness between these two approaches of learning is vast, wide and now becoming antagonistic.

In addition, the argument that the digital divide is because affluence can afford technology and the poor cannot is

now growing weaker because the barriers to cell and PC access are fading. It is only about access and soon

everyone will have it. This will happen as the cell phone bypasses the PC as a personal network appliance.

1. Entrenched in the Industrial ModelColonial or industrial training is when people in authority such as

governments, educational departments or companies utilize a

learning process as a one way street to replicate the principles or

process they want the learner to perform. It is trickle-down,

authoritarian and industrial in its nature.

In Colonial training, there is not much personal responsibility for

learning as is evident in a do as you are told process of developing

good worker bees or soldiers. The eLearning buzz word for thisstrategy is workforce productivity. This is a pass or fail fit in or

get fired method. It is the opposite of the Web.

Figure 1. Illustrating this one-way flow of informational obedience.

2. Community, Not Facts Defines CompetenceColonial online learning fits the academic and business models well, because of the requirement to control the

following: brand, knowledge base, copyright, rights and student ownership. Yet even when we were developing

Microsoft Certification and others, we understood the limits of certification training that were eventually tested in

the courts. We could certify that the person knew the body of Microsoft NT knowledge, but not guarantee if they


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Copyright Chrysalis Campaign, Inc. http://globallearningframework.ning.com 2 | P a g e

were a good MS Systems Engineers because of variances in IT environments and the personalities of the

engineers. Tests only tell us that a person is competent in a self contained body of knowledge. Factual

certification does not necessarily mean that job competence has been developed, or that they are even a nice

person to deal with. The development of competence requires human collaboration with the real world to be valid.

This is also true of teacher testing. A teacher can get high technical marks but hide the fact that they are a

screamer, intimidator or even pedophile. Truth-be-known, with great teachers the ability to communicate is more

important than mastery of the facts. How do we certify mastery of context, values and feelings (i.e. being

human)?

3. Collaboration is Learning in the Context of the CommunityThe Web is not only knowledge, but it is knowledge connected together with other knowledge in context

of the communities in which it resides. By its very nature, context about a piece of information is often more

important than the piece of information itself. An image of the President of the United States in a U.S. social

community has a totally different meaning than in a radical terrorist community. Think of how you would make a

value or feeling towards something a tangible fact.

If we teach facts without localized meaning, values or feeling, we will educate people who simply do not care in a

school system that does not really care about them. Social context is what makes learning relevant in building

character. It is why Facebook and Twitter are so relevant.

Figure 2. Knowledge in Collaborative Context Model

In democratic/collaborative learning, we turn to the open community to challenge

if what we have learned is true and useful. We even have the choice to go directly

against the community regarding what they think is right, when we know that

what the community accepts is wrong, like I am doing in this paper. In

collaborative learning, sometimes it is right to be wrong . Sometimes the

inconvenient truth goes viral and flashes across the world, and sadly sometimes itis angry disinformation that yields millions of deaths.

This flexibility of collaborative context is what makes it too complex for traditional eLearning systems. The

global learning on the Web seems to manage this fuzzy grading system of publishing effortlessly.

4. Context is the Fluid Glue of Knowledge ObjectsIn collaborative learning, the human element (context) becomes equally (if not more) important than the

knowledge object. Lets say I hold up a U.S. dollar bill in a U.S. sales meeting. I get excitement and cheers. There

are places in the world where if I held a U.S. dollar up, the hatred for it could get me shot. The paper bill (fact) is

innocent; however the human context around that paper is highly significant. Human collaboration around an

object or idea is what gives it context. Context is the fluid glue between bricks of knowledge. Whether we healcancer or blow up the world is defined in the context of how we perceive the use of nuclear energy. Context

through human collaboration is what makes the brick relevant to the community building. Learning systems and

methods must adapt to handling context with knowledge.

5. Micro Learning Paths the Process of a Global Learning FrameworkCan we find a method in this madness of global exchange of information? Is

it possible to facilitate collaboration in the classroom, business and global

community? Can we teach in such chaos? Absolutely, yes we can.

To understand how Web collaborative education works in contrast to assess-

teach-test is to move from flat index learning into 3-D weave of human

context and knowledge sharing. I used to believe that on-demand search

learning would accomplish this, but now I see that human collaboration and

publishing are all inseparable processes in the education of global social

Figure 3. KO and Context

Figure 4. Micro Learning Paths


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communities.

The Global Learning Framework is a weave of humanity concurrently performing five simple educational

processes:

5.1 Problem: Web learning starts with a need or a problem. We turn to the global Web with How do I findout?

5.2 Discovery: Next, enter a discovery process. Often we discover that we are asking the wrong question orlooking in the wrong place. As the Web keeps offering search results, we find ourselves reformulating ourquestions until we finally come to a place where we think weve found what solves the problem. On the

Web, we are forced to discover the truth and not blindly accept what we are told by an authority.

5.3 Adopt: Once we discover what we are looking for, we choose to adopt it either as the fact we need or theaction we would like to take. Either way, at this point, we take ownership of that knowledge. With

ownership comes a level of trust that is enough to embrace it into our life.

5.4 Collaborate: Knowledge alone is useless unless tested or applied with other people in the real world. Afterlearning new cake recipes or drip irrigation, I can try it with the physical world or present it to other

people. Collaboration is a field of testing the new knowledge with the reality around us. If it is not

accepted, we may have to go back to discovery again. Collaboration also reassures us to move ahead or goback to the problem.

5.5 Publish: Once we go through these steps and trust our conclusion, we publish it in a variety of ways.Publishing can be writing your conclusion on a homework blog, planting burn resistant seeds, or baking

the ultimate brownies you just researched (only to discover that your date is allergic to chocolate).

Publishing is a statement that what we have learned is worth giving back to the world or local

community.

6. Web Education Flows Within a Non Linear Global CommunityThis sequence of Problem>Discover >Adopt>Collaborate>Publish seems like another linear method; however it

is anything but linear. It is a path 100% integrated with innumerable other Micro Learning Paths all concurrently

running at the same time and at different stages in the educational experience. Although it seems like five niceboxes, the contents of those processes (within the boxes) are dynamically changing.

When we share our thoughts or search (Publish), it integrates with other Micro Learning Paths around theglobe. In fact, all learning is impacting other learning on a massive scale. Just repeating a paths moments later

may yield completely different discoveries and outcomes.

Just like a heated town hall meeting, democracy bursts out with everyone talking at once. Yet in the end,

collaborative conclusions of greater accuracy are the final outcome. What we should be able to conclude at this

point is that the power of human collaboration is, in its ability to rapidly evolve and change, the worlds

knowledge base as a whole.

With the Micro Learning Path, we can see how frequently solutions to lifes problems are often outside of

the classroom, certification program, community education and even the countrys educational bubble. This is a

staggering leap in educational theory and practice. How ironic that any child who has a smart phone is already

there.A single Micro Learning Path always feeds into anothers path at various stages of the learning

experience. When a group publishes something, it impacts anothers groups discovery process. One groups

collaboration process intersects another problem or publishing stage. In a fantastic way, all of the problems and

solutions in the world become not only integrated in a theoretical sense, but in a physical digital/network way as

well. The world ends up teaching itself simultaneously. From a Knowledge Management point of view,

Knowledge Objects are crashing together in a sea of social context of feeling and associations.


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Figure 5. Flash Learning

7. Flash Learning The Creator of Global RevolutionsYes, cell and Internet technology creates flashes of collective

awareness, adoption and fact sharing into revolutions such as the

Islamic spring or presidential elections. We call these fast collective

gestalts Flash Learning. Dictators who once had control over their

people wake up to discover an entire country demanding their

expulsion. But Flash Learnings collective power runs even deeperthan what we can imagine. While global collective learning

involves, the mental integration of Micro Learning Paths bleed over

and impact seemingly unrelated learning paths. Layers upon layers

of learning facts and context are virtually influencing one anothers

learning processes simultaneously. Think of it, the place you

booked your flight is also where you learn about weather, food,

housing, local wildlife and disasters. It is all connected to your hand

held device from sources around the world and you can give your opinion, reaction and guidance on all of it.

Our old school esthetic distance with the pages of history books has been replaced by the real time cries of Syrian

youth being murder by their government on a TV screen right behind the counter while we purchase our DunkinDonuts. We can even Tweet the reporter to give them our impression. Our education will define whether we see

these images like video game illusions or in a tragic human context to be acted upon.

Knowledge is no longer black type on the white pages of an indexed book. It is dynamically woven in the fabric

of all of our lives and broadcasted into the furthest reaches of space. This is the ultimate invention of the human

race, one fluid Global Learning Framework moving through a socially networked technology called the Internet.

Works Cited

Webinar:

Close, Richard. C. (2006, March). Colonial Industrial Training Vs. Democratic Web Education Our New Global

Learning Framework Nov 19th 2010 Global Education Conference Webinar http://tinyurl.com/34fjue8

Writings:

Close, Richard. C. (2011, December). Best practices The Impact of the Internet on African Youth and Poverty.Africa Peace & Conflict Journal UN Mandated University for Peace, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, PDF Article,

http://tinyurl.com/7voth42Close, Richard. C. (2006, March). Best practices for healthcare professional e-learning. Healthcare

Compliance Strategies, Inc., Webinar and White paper http://www.hccs.com/

Close, Richard C. (2007, November). Internet filtering and Web 20. Why cant they get along? BASCOM.com,

Webinar http://www.screencast.com/users/chrysalismtg/folders/Default/media/fec9edde-1a9d-42a5-afb6-

542eec271770

Close, Richard C. (20007, November).Best Practices for Nurse Educators. Presented for Decision. Critical, Inc.

Webinar http://tiny.cc/jd0xg

Close, Richard C. (2009, May). Web 2.0 in the classroom Global Learning Framework. 4C Initiative. DublinCity University. The Learning, Innovation, and Knowledge Research Center. Webinar. http://tiny.cc/f07do

Close, Richard C. (2009, October). Web 2.0 and the Global Learning Framework. Presented at Distance

Learning Association Conference at Penn State University. Webinar and White Paper.

http://www.slideshare.net/richardcclose/padla-lecture-global-learning-framework-richard-close

Close, Richard C. (2010, April). Global Learning Community Center for Developing Countries White Paper,

http://globallearningframework.ning.com

Close, Richard C. (2010, May). The Global Library Framework. ETTIE India Library Conference.

http://ettlis2010.ning.com/

Close, Richard C. (2010, Spring). Colonial-industrial training vs. democratic Web education: The experts vs. the

people? International Society Technical Education,Journal for Computing Teachers.http://www.iste.org/


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Dewey, John. (1916). Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan.

Kramer, Dianne., & Close, Richard C. (2005, February). The Revolution in e-learning. Peakskills Learning

Systems.

Julian, Ellen., & Close, Richard C. (2000). The ever-changing e-learning elevator. eLearning 2000 Conference.

References

Close, Richard C. (2009, October). Figures 1-6. The Global Library Framework,

http://globallearningframework.ning.comYou will find the roots of these ideas by exploring Wikipedia on John Dewey, Constructivism and Singularity.

ABOUT

Richard is currently Servant-CEO of Chrysalis Campaign, Inc., a U.S. and International Educational NGO that

empowers youth and the poor with Adult Learning and Internet based education programs. He is also Acting

Director of Education at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission in CT, USA. [email protected].

He has published white papers and several books on Africa and American Rescue Missions. He is an International

conference speaker, industry strategist, Adult Learning curriculum developer of the Global Learning Framework

at: http://globallearningframework.ning.com. Richard designed and built, in the U.S., its first profitable

commercial Technology Center in New York City called the Netlan Technology Center.

Chrysalis Campaign, Inc is currently being sponsored by UNESCO Power of Peace Network to launch aYouTube story telling contest called I am Africa. This is my story http://i-am-the-story.ning.com. Chrysalis

is building Chrysalis Community Learning Centers in U.S. cities. Chrysalis is exploring opportunities for building

community learning centers in Africa and a youth empowerment tour called CyberDays.

Services:

Profits from Richard Close speaking, books, consulting and development services go to US and African poor

learning programs. Contact: [email protected]

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Chrysalis Campaign, Inc.

13 Geiger Rd.

New Milford, CT 06776

Cell: 860.248.5424

Email: [email protected]

Site: http://globallearningframework.ning.com

Twitter: @richardcclose

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardccloseWeb Education System and Global Chalkboard are trademarks of Bascom, Inc.

I AM AFRICA.THIS IS MY STORY CONTACT INFORMATION:

UNESCO seeded Social Community site: http://i-am-the-story.ning.com

Twitter: @IamAfricaStoryYouTube: ThisIsMyStoryAfrica

Global Learning Framework - Flash Learning by Richard Close

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