Learners’ control, creation and chaos: @gsiemens’ convictions are more interesting than what he’s left behind
George Siemens himself has focused attention on the questions he’s no longer asking about the role of technology in learning. But along the way he gives a concise summary of the convictions about what makes learning work that he’s gained from his experience. I can’t help feeling this list is more important than the list of things that now feel irrelevant.
I’m firmly convinced of the following:
1. Learners should be in control of their own learning. Autonomy is key. Educators can initiate, curate, and guide. But meaningful learning requires learner-driven activity
2. Learners need to experience confusion and chaos in the learning process. Clarifying this chaos is the heart of learning.
3. Openness of content and interaction increases the prospect of the random connections that drive innovation
4. Learning requires time, depth of focus, critical thinking, and reflection. Ingesting new information requires time for digestion. Too many people digitally gorge without digestion time.
5. Learning is network formation. Knowledge is distributed.
6. Creation is vital. Learners have to create artifacts to share with others and to aid in re-centering exploration beyond the artifacts the educator has provided.
7. Making sense of complexity requires social and technological systems. We do the former better than the latter.
Agile Learning 
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