In 2006, Times Magazine made "YOU" the person of the year. "YOU" won! "YOU" made it! What does this mean?! Are "YOU" a celebrity, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, a world hunger campaigner? No! "YOU" simply have the mind to do anything that "YOU" put your mind to do. According to Brown and Adler, if our minds were on fire for learning, we could accomplish and achieve so much in a lifetime. The problem is too many people take learning for granted. Our minds are build on a A Circle of Knowledge Building and Sharing (Bonk et. al 2008) but we don't necessarily take advantage of this circle. We can obtain knowledge by many ways but it depends on if we choose to do so. For example, the Cartesian View of Learning states that knowledge is substance and the pedagogy as knowledge transfers where as the Social View of Learning states that understanding is socially constructed (Bonk et. al 2008). What is sad is that some people would prefer not to do any learning.
In my immediate small family which consists of my mother and I, I have always been told that learning is a gift and I should NEVER take advantage of it. Since my mother grew-up in the poverty stricken country-sides of Jamaica, school was the one place (other than church) where she could get away from her real life, learn, and expand what she know. My mom has always instilled it in me that there is plenty of knowledge out there to be gained by those who choose to do so and I am one that has to gain that knowledge. I took it for what it was but now as I am currently working on my Masters, I have realized that learning is something that I will forever do until the day I die.
A perfect example of learning that I have received over the past few months is the entire Wikimedia. Wikimedia includes Wikis, Wikipedia, and Wikibooks that make learning that easy! When I first learned about wikis a few years ago, I was told by my professors NOT to use them for any research or citing for projects, papers, etc. I did not understand why as information was so clearly written out. I learned that we, people, were the ones that posted and edited the information on Wikipedia for example. With this in mind, one task for this week was to go onto a specific Wiki page and make a change or edit. I have never done so as I thought that only the elite did so. One thing I got from this weeks class was how simple it was to change anything on Wikipedia. I halfway now understood why my professors frowned upon using this in researching but at the same time I didn't. Since learning comes from the outside and we learn from others, wouldn't editing Wikipedia help us to learn? I think yes. I have generally taken what I have learned with a grain of salt. When I hear a topic that I am very interested in, I do not fully understand, or I do not agree with it, I tend to do my own research to make more sense of it to myself. To me, this is learning. In fact, to anyone, this should be seen as learning. With Wikipedia, I can take what is posted with a grain of salt an find other articles, books, and components to back up the information. If done correctly, Wikipedia and other Wikimedia will be great tools for learning transfers.
Why someone would not want to take advantage of learning especially since we are never to old to learn and there are endless opportunities to do so daily is beyond me.
References:
1. Brown, J. S. and Richard Adler. Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0. Educause Review, January-February, 2008.
2. Bonk, Curtis, Mimi Miyoung Lee, Nari Kim, and Grace Lin. "The Tensions of Transformation in Cross-Institutional Wikibook Creation, Critique, and Collaboration: Looking Back Twenty Years to Today" PowerPoint. AERA. NY, NY March 2008 and Chicago April 2007.
Hi Elke,
ReplyDeleteNice job on the Wikis topic. I don't blame your professor for not wanting Wikipedia as one of your sources. Even the information there is amazingly organized and clear, still it lacks the credibility that makes research what it is. In my case, I use Wikipedia for general knowledge and as a starting point for looking up articles and other publications.
If you think about it, as there are much people who wants to learn and create common knowledge, there are also people who are driven by negative reasons to edit a wiki.
Learning never ends as it starts from the second we born into this world, maybe even before! Sharing the luxury of being able to learn, now that's another story that should hold dear and spread among less fortunate people.
So yes "YOU" are the person of the year since you are starting to share and help others learn, Wikipedia is only one option!
Abdullah