[iDC] 10 things that i think i've learned about learning ecologies (draft)

[jeremy hunsinger]

here is a draft of some ideas that i've had floating around on the topic of learning ecologies. feel free to eviscerate it, disagree with it, critique it, etc.:)  
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10 things that i think i've learned about learning ecologies(that may lead to future inquiry)
jeremy hunsinger 

1. human beings learn, we don't stop learning, we learn while we are awake, we learn while we are asleep, we learn when under stress, and we learn when comfortable and happy.
2. human beings don't always learn what others know, the truth, the right, the good, or anything else that is socially or culturally endorsed. in fact, we frequently learn what isn't endorsed, and what is around the endorsed, what structures the endorsed and what endorses the endorsed, etc. etc. instead of learning the endorsed.  the learning around the endorsed learning may be the most important learning in the end.
3. learning is a process, it is not an object, nor a product.  it must be performed, but awareness of its performance does not always improve it.  human beings are not the only things that learn.
4. speed and change occur in ecologies and thus affect learning and learning ecologies.
5. learning constructs relationships. relationships are frequently labeled objects, essences, qualities, etc. but what we are doing is learning to relate one thing or set of things(subject, object, or quasi-object) to another thing or set of things. frequently when learning these relationships, we make them too 'unchanging', thus requiring future unlearning and relearning.
6. learning is social, there are always other human beings, other humans exist as learners implicit in everything, from our language, to our actions, to our texts, and to our world.  even if there are no 'physical subjects' other than yourself present when you learn, there are tens of thousands of subjects, a virtual society, around you.  we learn from and with those human beings.  
7. human beings build and inhabit 'assemblages' which are systems of relationships which persist through time such as institutions, environments, ideologies, etc. etc.  we build structures for learning too.  we also build 'mechanisms' which structure relationships with an intention of producing or re-producing in whole or in part assemblages.  the structuring and/or mechanizing of learning can prevent or hinder the learning, as much as it can help and encourage it. 
8. assemblages and mechanisms are internal to our learning ecology, but we do not always learn about them, sometimes they are purposefully hidden from us, sometimes justifiably.  sometimes these assemblages and mechanisms augment human being's capacity to learn.
9. when we structure and/or mechanize learning, we change its ecology, which necessitates the creation of relationships or the changing of relationships, thus we need to learn the relationships in the ecologies anew.
10. human beings have always been tool users, tools are technologies, and we have always learned about and through technologies.  technologies, as such, are part of our learning ecology and play parts in structuring and mechanizing learning. technologies have always mediated relationships, and all media are technologies.  there is a 'craft' to all technologies that must be learned, and in learning that craft, we create new relationships that we share with others.

Jeremy Hunsinger
Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
Virginia Tech
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.tmttlt.com

Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student.
-George Iles