E-flections

Co-creating a living curriculum

I work with the online Masters participants entirely virtually utilising a variety of web 2.0 and social networking approaches, creating a ‘learnscape’ (Cross, 2004), a series of overlapping interactive spaces that act as a ‘virtual commons’  replicating the physical spaces in a face-to-face environment. This approach is informed by Schön’s work on developing the ‘reflective practitioner’ and the concept of a ‘Practicum’ (1983) as an intermediate space between the worlds of work and study; and Wenger’s (1998, 2002) ideas  of Communities of Practice and his newer ideas on creating ‘Digital Habitats’ (2009), where technology serves to enhance the ecology of learning by extending the potential for interaction and collaboration in a virtual world.

Central to this approach is the notion that we are all learners; in the fast changing world of digital media, we are all, including me, my staff, visiting professional tutors and the students, trying to understand and evaluate the evolving landscape of practice. I therefore endeavour to create a non-hierarchical space where we all work together to comprehend the complex world that we engage with.

I collaborate with the students in an exploration of the affordances of technology, firstly identifying the pedagogic goal(s) we need to achieve, and then experimenting with a solution. In this process, we co-create the learning space, trialling various ideas and solutions to find the ones that work best for the group. My learning design philosophy is based on the concept of a ‘living curriculum’ maintained in conjunction with the student cohort, with whom changes and modifications are negotiated. I am also keen to use the most suitable available technologies to address the pedagogic issues of the moment, moving to better alternatives as they emerge, in a ‘Best of Breed’ approach to selecting learning tools, whilst recognising that the focus should always be on creating a student-led learning environment (Wenger 2002).