Designed to allow for Emergence: A Learning Rhizome

New Directions in Rhizomatic Learning

2023

Today, we live in an era characterized by unprecedented technological development and the rise of artificial intelligence mediated technosocial spaces. In this context, it becomes more and more evident we need a different conception of learning that shifts the focus from the consumption of disembodied knowledge to the catalyzation of personal and collective development through the formation of meaningful and transformative synergies. knowledge exists only in a web of relationships and education's primary goal should be to facilitate the development of learning communities where students can engage in meaningful relational activities with their peers and with the world outside.Rhizomatic learning networks are self-organized collectives able to demonstrate emergent properties like novelty and innovation. In this article, we try to envisage a new nomadic pedagogy for the 21 st century that facilitates the development of learning rhizomes, negentropic islands in an entropic environment, self-organized and evolving learning organizations. We suggest there is something in learning that you can realize, understand, and take advantage of, only if you look at it as the developmental process of a living rhizome.

Section: The Call For a New Pedagogy For The 21st Centurymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhizomes, nomads, and complexity

New Directions in Rhizomatic Learning

2023

“…Designed to allow for Emergence: A Learning Rhizome (Brailas, 2020) is a non-linear multimodal research exposition, the equivalent to a research article in traditional academic journals. This kind of virtual exposition delivers epistemic surplus by inspiring multiple ways to explore the knowledge (re)presented rather than imposing specific interpretations.…”

Section: Traditional Articles and Research Expositionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhizomatic Learning in Action: A Virtual Exposition for Demonstrating Learning Rhizomes

2021

Preprint

In this paper, we developed a virtual exposition as a model to visualize and demonstrate the dynamic and non-linear affordances of a learning rhizome. Virtual expositions are non-linear multimodal web installations that facilitate the creation of interconnections through which the research as practice and the practice as research are highlighted and communicated more effectively. Through a specific virtual exposition platform, we created a visual and performative representation of a rhizomatic learning course, allowing visitors to experience the complexity, multiplicity, unpredictability, and multivoicedness of such an approach in an isomorphic way. A complex learning rhizome is a performative confluence of human and non-human actors that engages people, resources, processes, and contextual parameters. As such, it is impossible to be represented in any representational format. The virtual exposition developed here attempts to offer a fair approximative model of rhizomatic learning which is far better than text-only linear representations. This paper offers a new view to rhizomatic learning as an applied practice that can enhance teaching and catalyze learning through complex synergies and dynamics. The originality of this paper lies in its attempt to bridge linear with non-linear academic research formats in order to offer a multimodal and performative model of rhizomatic learning. Theoretical and practical implications for learning and teaching are discussed.

“…This meta-narrative should go beyond what is directly expressed in the words of the individual reflections, revealing the unspoken beliefs, the underlying group processes, and the issues raised, reframing what has been shared on a higher level of complexity (Salichos & Polychroni, 2018). This is a fundamental shift in perspective, seeing individual contributions as one network of interconnected nodes, a learning rhizome in the becoming (Brailas, 2020). Systems thinking is necessary to create, as well as to understand, this rhizome.…”

Section: Systems Thinking In Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systems Thinking Approach to Reflective Practice in Blogs: Implications on Social-Emotional Learning and Resilience Building

2021

Preprint

In the present paper, we propose a model for reflective practice in blogs based on Systems Thinking aiming to promote social-emotional learning, and we discuss its theoretical underpinnings. Reflective blogging can be an invaluable tool for peer learning and professional development, particularly in appreciative environments where people feel safe to share their experiences. The proposed model introduces Systems Thinking as an effective way to facilitate group reflective practice for social-emotional learning and resilience building in a blended learning environment. Participants practice how to acknowledge different perspectives and how to integrate them into a coherent group narrative, the collective story of their community. Systems thinking entails a shift of focus from the parts to the relationships between and treats any group of participants as a living network, a learning rhizome in the becoming. In this view, collective intelligence rises as an emergent system property. We provide the case of a recent implementation of the proposed model to reflect and elaborate further on practical aspects of the approach, such as how to cultivate reflective writing among the participants, how to synthesize a group meta-narrative, how to evaluate individual contributions, and how to nurture a learning organization. The aim is to present a concise and authentic account of this approach so as to enable other educators and practitioners to get inspiration, make necessary adaptations, and utilize it in their own practice.