Three Basic CNL formats

Selecting a CNL format
I have implemented Three basic CNL formats successfully. Each of the formats has its own unigue challenges and appropriateness.

• All Electronic in which participants accomplish
  their learning and co-creation of knowledge all on-line in any
  virtual meeting "space." The electronic digial, mediated form could be text-based, audio or video collaboration or any mix of media. Regular audio and video conferences for sharing ideas,debriefing and developing strategies are also common examples of
  this form of collaboration.


• Before or After an in-person group meeting, such as the
  electronic pre- meeting or organization. Before a face-to-face
  meeting, electronic interactions provide an opportunity
  for all participants to review and share basic background
  content prior to real-time interaction. After an in-
  person meeting, the group can continue the interaction
  and address new issues as they occur.


• Mixed mode in which participants meet together in person
  or listen to broadcast video in conjunction with
  interacting on-line. A "blended" or "hybrid" group
  provides collaborators an opportunity to interact
  with each other between face-to-face meetings. Mixed-mode formats
  often integrate, video broadcasts,text based materials, networked collaboration with co-located meetings.

Communication and Learning System Continuums

Continuum of Communication Goals

Learning...Personal Exploration...Knowledge
Known      and Discovery of      Creation/Personal 
Answers    of Established        Transformation
           Knowledge

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Corollary Continuum for message and lesson design structure

Fixed  Path...Guided Exploration...Open Ended 
                                   Access & 
                                   Experience

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Corollary Continuum of User/designer Control

Designer       User Driven
Control----Bounded Exploration-----Self-directed

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Closed and Open Models of Learning and Knowing

Closed Systems..................Open System 
Models of Learning              Models of Knowing

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Traditional Education, Training and CNL Models

Traditional Education and Training Models	CNL Models
Topics are stable	Topics are unstable or being created
Problems or questions has a known answer	A problem or question has no clearn answer yet
Someone (teacher, expert, course developer) has the answer	No one person has the answer--it emerges from within a group or organization
The answer is "transmitted" through a familiar learning technology	The "answers" are obtained by groups in cooperation,who may not be co-located
Learner receives and knower gives	Knowledge needs to be captured, synthesized, generated, filtered and summarized
A structured (linear)approach is usually taken	An associative structured or networked approach is taken
Interaction with other learners or knowers is minimal (e.g. classroom lecture,DVD, or Courseware)	Interaction may be asynchronous or synchronous between co-learners
Packaging Information	Networking co-learning

Open and Closed Systems of Learning and Knowing

Closed Systems Models	Open Systems Models
Topics are stable	Topics are unstable or being created
Problems or questions has a known answer	A problem or question has no clearn answer yet
Someone (teacher, expert, course developer) has the answer	No one person has the answer--it emerges from within a group or organization
The answer is "transmitted" through a familiar learning technology	The "answers" are obtained by groups in cooperation,who may not be co-located
Learner receives and knower gives	Knowledge needs to be captured, synthesized, generated, filtered and summarized
A structured (linear)approach is usually taken	An associative structured or networked approach is taken
Interaction with other learners or knowers is minimal (e.g. classroom lecture,DVD, or Courseware)	Interaction may be asynchronous or synchronous between co-learners
Packaging	Human Networking

Open Communication and self-organizing, inductive learning

Open communication systems and the life of self organizing, inductive learner
The life of the learner is a self organizing, inductive process. Skill decay occurs in a relative closed system where the learner does not engage in on going learning. The integrated, col­laborative system I wish to address are ones which are open learning environments. One key aspect of these environments is the use of technology to support open communication among learners. Open communication systems provide access to information from any vari­ety of sources on an on-going basis on demand. But the learning environment does stop with access it also includes support for learning. I wish to address both of these issues (1) open communication systems that provide for collaborative networked learning and (2) highlight features of software that will facilitate the learner in the learning process. Thinking about open systems gives on an entirely different way of how to define learning. Rather than being due to the presence or storage of some substance in the mind, one thinks of learning in terms of pattern or connections. In essence, learning through intake of stimulus results in mental ordering and re-ordering within the living organism.
Open communication systems, which allow any learner to engage in live, private multiple-media communication with anyone else on the global or the access the stored mes­sage in any media format from any location on the network. Ultimately, the learner would not have to know the physical location of another communicator or the database of stored messages, instead s/he would search or receive customized feeds to any located or mobile device. Currently virtualization is providing the technology and standards which will make open communication systems a practical, pervasive reality. Learning in the open system environ­ment of unlimited, open access to expert ubiquitous messages has potential for amazing changes in the way one learns and the control of the distribution and creation and re-presentation of knowledge.

Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL) Overview

Collaborative Networked Learning Overview
Much work in the information age enterprise involves collaborative, team oriented tasks. Learning workers share information with one another in order to accomplish common tasks in a small group. Professionals share information with each other, and learn some­thing about each others specialization in order to reach consensus on a common problem. Assembly line workers have increased pro­ductivity when workers learned from each other how their different individual parts of the task fit together to produce the whole. All of these different learning workers are engaging in activities which involve collaboration.
Life-long learning in the workplace is becoming a necessity rather than an ideal. The need for collaboration is great and will continue. By facilitating collaborative methods of learning, we could help workers acquire individually and collectively the rapidly, changing knowledge required in the high-tech workplace.
3. Collaboration is a condition of learning in the information work­place.
While the worker in the industrial era factory learned how to ma­nipulate objects and memorized actions, the worker in the modern organization learns how to think, learn and apply information to a task.
• Workers need to engage in activities that allow them to ap­proach problems from different vantage points, testing out assumptions,and redefining meanings,i.e.creative thinking in order to develop new viewpoints.
• Workers need to engage in the social,collaborative exchange of ideas in order to pose hypothetical problems, general hypothe­ses, conduct experiments and reflect on outcomes. Basically, workers are learning in groups to make meaning out of infor­mation. Not only do workers need to make meaning out of the information but in order to actually perform their jobs they need to be able to share that meaning with others.
This blog is to serve as a basic resource for individuals planning, implementing, and participating in Collaborative Networked Learning (CNL) communities as co-learners. The general guidelines and discussion here draw upon published research and from experience with successful applications of different CNL models.