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

Abstract

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.

Ad hoc solutions to wicked problems: Pandemics and other challenges in context

“…And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong! What we can learn from a systems view of life is that, under specific conditions, though everyone could be partly in the wrong, altogether could be in the right, as far as "it is the difference that makes the difference" in the words of Gregory Bateson (Brailas, 2020). Allowing through a group process for collective peer wisdom to emerge as the pattern that connects the otherwise isolated narratives (Brailas et al, 2017).…”

Exploring Instances of Deleuzian Rhizomatic Patterns in Students’ Writing and in Online Student Interactions

“…Studies have been conducted in recent years, in which a rhizomatic perspective has been implemented to transform the binary literacy practices in teaching and learning. These studies include those of Cormier (2008), Brailas (2020aBrailas ( , 2020b, Cumming (2015), Honan (2009), Hanley (2019), Johnson (2014), Johnston (2018), Kairienė and Mažeikienė (2021), Ko and Bal (2019), Mackness et al (2016), Martin and Strom (2017), Masny (2012), andWebb (2009). Webb's (2009) study, especially, paved the way on how academic writing could be taught in schools through the rhizomatic approach, as suggested by Deleuze and Guattari (1987).…”

“…A rhizome is a concept that was introduced by Deleuze and Guatarri (1987). These two scholars used the concept of a rhizome to critique authoritarian practices and hierarchical structures in academia (Bozkurt et al, 2016;Cormier, 2008;Brailas, 2020aBrailas, , 2020bHanley, 2019;Kairienė & Mažeikienė, 2021;Kinchin & Gravett, 2020); Mackness et al, 2016;Tillmanns & Filho, 2020;Webb, 2009). A rhizome is a botanical term referring to the roots of a plant growing from and spreading in different directions (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987;Ko & Bal, 2019;Tagata & Ribas, 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, a rhizomatic perspective regards student writing as messy and destabilised at the beginning; and consequently, it rejects linear, hierarchical models of students' writing. Most importantly, a rhizomatic approach to students' writing views students' writing as being in the process of becoming (Brailas, 2020a;Kairienė & Mažeikienė, 2021;Tagata & Ribas, 2021;Turmudi, 2020Amorim & Ryan, 2005Guerin, 2013).…”

Digital storytelling and the narrative turn in psychology: Creating spaces for collective empowerment

“…In recent years creative research methods that utilize multimodal artifacts are used more and more in educational research and practice (Mannay, 2015). The inclusion of non-verbal modalities in a community project allows participants to access and communicate their lived experiences in a radically new way (Brailas, 2020b;Vakali & Brailas, 2018). A digital story is any multimodal digital artifact that can be experienced offline or online and serves a specific aim, communicates a message, tells a story, by utilizing more than one modality (Brailas, 2017;Kress, 2010;Tham, 2015).…”