The power of participation

The power of participation:

How collaborative platforms are changing education.
Laura Hall
Dr. Matiul Alam
ETEC 511/64A
December 11, 2015.

The power of participation

Introduction
The Internet is the largest source of information available in the world. Millions
of individuals create, post and collaborate online each day, changing not only the way we
interact but also the way we engage with and obtain our information. Margaret Mead
(1955) states in her book Cultural Patterns and Technical Change that, the ways of life
of whole peoples have been transformed by the introduction of new tools and new
technical procedures (p. 12). While this holds true as technology continually evolves and
presses forward, Mead (1955) illustrates how our realities are altered through the
development of technology around us.
One such shift in reality is the way knowledge is now created and transferred.
Open source platforms have fundamentally changed the way we retrieve and build
information. They have furthered our history through allowing for a collective to be
documented, removing the infinite control of access and production of information as
traditionally held by institutions. By allowing universal access, reconfiguring and
distribution of information, open source platforms have literally rewritten history through
a collective voice.
Open source platforms
Open source is a term that was coined in 1998 in a strategy building session in
Palo Alto, California (News | Open Source Initiative). The term open source originated to
describe the purpose to create an opportunity to educate and advocate for the superiority
of an open development process (News | Open Source Initiative). This process aimed to
engage a community between the users and software developers to improve upon the
product. Over the past seventeen years, the term open source has evolved to describe the

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participatory culture that is created in online communities. It is a platform where

individuals have the free available knowledge with the freedom to create and build on
other peoples knowledge. Henry Jenkins (2011) suggests that this shift means
individuals view knowledge through new media technologies and open source platforms
as a member of a participatory culture changing the focus from individual expression to
community involvement (2011, p. 184). This change in development of knowledge has
shifted the way that we interact, access and create information. In our shift to a digital,
more technology centered world, we have expanded what is possible.
Validity and authority of information
The debate about how to find validity in information arises from approaching
academic closed source information versus open source information. In the twenty-first
century, we have witnessed the removal of the controls of access and production of
information that have traditionally been held by institutions. The steady production and
supply of material available through the Internet is inundating students with data like
never before. In the world of education, the seemingly infinite amount of data is both a
blessing and a curse. No longer are educators concerned with how students access
information, rather it is now about how students filter through the information being
accessed. Ironically, in a technical age where even scholarly writings are in abundance
online, students are seemingly turning away from the writings of academia and towards
the collaborative and user-generated world instead.
Traditional acquisition and transfer of knowledge was constructed through
institutions sources of power that dictate, and in some minds still do, the authoritative
voice on a topic (Lee & McLoughlin, 2007). These notions have been reflected and

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affirmed throughout the world of academia. Individuals undergoing a formal education

were and still are required to analyse and to be fluent with scholarly writings, research
and information. If, as Winston Churchill claims, history is written by the victors, then
is the knowledge of the collective masses discounted by the words of the erudite few?
(Hastings, 2004). Philosopher Karl Marx argues that political changes rise from the
controlling of forces of production (Petrina & Kim, 2007, p. 1). It would seem that the
technological era has swept in political, social and most importantly, educational change
and has created a shift in who controls the production of knowledge.
In 2004, Google Books began the digitization of libraries to collaborate with five
major research libraries to digitize their print collections and make them available for
searching making information available via the Internet thus strengthening the move
towards open source platforms (Dempsey, 2013, p. 4). Not fitting with the traditional and
elitist means of information acquisition as traditionally upheld by academic institutions,
there has been a consistent need and desire to have an effective method for evaluating
and verifying validity of information accessed on the Internet. Daniel Paul ODonnell
observes that, Wikipedia and other manifestations of the participatory web do not fit
very well with the contemporary academic models for quality control and professional
advancement (2007). Despite the truth that ODonnell examines that institutions and
academic worlds do not hold open source platforms in high regards when it comes to
students work, research has shown that open source content is, of surprisingly high
quality (Kittur, Sun & Chi, 2008, p. 478). In comparison with other closed sourced
platforms, open source platforms are found to have only a slightly higher ratio of errors
(Kittur, Sun & Chi, 2008, p. 478). Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams (2008) reveal in a

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study conducted by MIT confirmed that Wikipedia on average takes 1.7 minutes to
remove content where obscenity is randomly placed. This, along with the reliability and
trustworthy aspects of open source platforms, is attributed to the collaborative elements
of building upon knowledge as a collective and the high level of transparency as provided
through users entries (Tapscott & Williams, 2008, p. 480). Affirming a high level of
trust, open source learning is changing the direction of education. Petrina (2007) explains
that, in saying yes to open access and yes to the freedom of information and the free
circulation of ideas, you say no to elitist, monopolistic and oligopolistic control of
knowledge (p. 4).
A participatory culture: constructivism
Collaborative online platforms, most notably Wikipedia among other usergenerated sites, provide students with a broader scope of information, a deeper sense of
engagement and a greater ability to direct their own learning compared to conventional
academic resources. Constructivist theory supports the platforms of open source learning
as it calls for students to be active participants in their construction of knowledge in
order to draw thoughtful and meaningful information (Schneuwly, 2008). Theorist Ernst
Von Glasersfeld (2008) explains, to see it and gain satisfaction from it [construction of
knowledge], one must reflect on ones own constructs and the way in which one has put
them together (p. 48). This new blending of entertainment and education is tapping into
a more holistic way of learning online one that caters to the social and academic self,
while creating a more personalized and focused experience. Frank Rennie and Robin
Mason (2008) promote the use of open source and collaborative platforms stating, users
have the tools to actively engage in the construction of their experience, rather than

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passively absorbing existing content (p. 4-5). As teacher directed methods of education
become increasingly blended, developing and promoting engagement of students, it is
only fitting that our online components in learning should be student-driven as well.
Looking back, the emergence of the World Wide Web in the 1980s was the
beginning of a change in the way we saw our world (History of the Internet). Technology
has changed not only the way that information is produced and stored, but also the way
we access information. The Internet is effectively the first place people turn to gain
information. People no longer consult newspapers, encyclopaedias and libraries as their
primary source of information as they once did; rather, the convenience of laptops, smart
phones and tablets has made information more accessible than ever before. Voithofer
(2005) observes that we change the world by changing the way we make it visible,
drawing our attention to the fact that it is not just the material being created but also the
way in which the material is presented and accessed (p. 3). This creation and access to
information is essential in examining the collaborative methods of open source platforms.
Preparing students for twenty-first century society
The ultimate goal of education is to prepare students to actively participate in our
global community. The New London Group in the 1996 manifesto describe the mission
of education as having the, fundamental purpose [] to ensure that all students benefit
from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, and
economic life (p. 60). Affording students with real-world opportunities and modes of
interacting with knowledge is critical in engaging students in lifelong learning. To
effectively participate in our technology infused world, students must be prepared with
skills to access and contribute to material. Rennie and Mason (2008) illustrate this shift in

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noting that, it requires us to ask whether our current education system, premised not
upon networks but upon individualized acquisition of content and skills, is likely to
support the development of the competencies needed to flourish in such environments
(p. 6). With the increase in the usage of technology in informal, social learning and work
environments, many institutions find themselves re-evaluating their methods of
instruction to better reflect these practices. Open source learning has changed the playing
field for education. Preparing students to participate in twenty first century society
requires participation in the creation and curation of information like never before.
Marjorie Siegel (2012) states, students will need to become designers of meaning with
facility in the full range of design elements or modes of meaning making including
visual, audio, gestural, spatial and multimodal meanings in order to successfully
navigate the diversities of texts, practices, and social relations that are part of working
lives, public lives and personal lives in new times, further extending the need for
participation for meaningful and practical learning (p. 672).
Within the educational context, open source platforms are allowing learners to
engage in direct participation with their resources. Students are now, not only able to
research using traditional means, but also interact and participate with the content. It is
this participatory evolution that has fundamentally altered the online learning
environment (Siegel, 2012). By going beyond simple reading comprehension,
collaborative open source sites bolster the psychosocial aspect of the learner, which
Griffith and Liyanage (2008) claim to include the facilitation of identity exploration,
provision of social cognitive skills such as perspective taking, and to fulfil the need for
social support, intimacy and autonomy (p. 7). Indeed, with a generation of students who

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seemingly thrive in a technological landscape, exploring learning environments that are

conducive to what makes them comfortable only seems natural. The collaborative and
personalized learning elements offered through open source learning and online
opportunities provides students with a more engaging and informative pursuit as they
collect and take ownership of their acquisition of knowledge. Melinda Dooly (2008)
explains:
Collaboration entails the whole process of learning. This may include students
teaching one another, students teaching the teacher, and of course the teacher
teaching the students, too. More importantly, it means that students are
responsible for one anothers learning as well as their own and that reaching
the goal implies that the students have helped each other to understand and learn
(p. 1)
If student engagement is at the heart of education, tapping into a world where the learner
is offered a more personalized experience, thus leading to greater participation and
enjoyment of learning, seems fitting. Why then, are some educators still hesitant to jump
at the opportunities afforded by students learning and networking on open source sites?
Social learner affects the academic learner
At first, open source information left something to be desired there was no
authoritative voice, no assurance that the information was accurate. This discontent has
been left in the past, in many cases, in favour of promoting and encouraging a collective
engagement of individuals to interact and build upon one anothers knowledge. The
collaborative platform that open source creates for the users functions to motivate and
engage the user to, not only access information, but also to build upon it. Dooly (2008)
describes the collaborative learning principles as being aimed at getting the students to
take almost full responsibility for working together, building knowledge together,
changing and evolving together, and of course, improving together (p. 1). If what

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educators seek is for students to become self-directed, independent learners that can
contribute to the larger community, open source learning offers such a platform. It
affords the practice of the learner thinking critically about different viewpoints or
perspectives, all the while offering them the ability to share their own voice. This
collaborative model involves the individual learning from a larger collective, but also
teaching others their understanding and knowledge.
The social learner affects the academic learner. Throughout the past decade, there
has been much research conducted examining how the social and academic learners are
intertwined. Even before this was the exploration of construction and building of
knowledge through inquiry and sharing of information amongst peers (Dooly, 2008).
This participatory culture increases the level of motivation and engagement as presented
by students (Jenkins, 2009). Creating environments of creativity, productivity and
validity, open source learning is fostering a reflective and authentic experience for
students. No longer passively absorbing existing content, students are interacting with
the most up-to-date information requiring students to not memorize content, but rather to
critically analyze its value and place (Rennie & Mason, 2008, p. 5).
Conclusion
Collaborative and open sourced materials are fast growing in our academic world.
Working on the World Wide Web has opened the possibilities related to development of
information. We are no longer restricted by a history curated by sources of power, we are
collectively producing, contributing and sharing information like never before. The
Internet and, more specifically, open source platforms have altered our reality in the ways
in which we access, interact and produce information. Looking forward to a world of

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participatory culture, it is critical that we engage and motivate students, not only to learn
using these modes of communication, but also to reflect and interact using these
platforms (Siegel, 2012). Collaborative platforms enrich the learning environment so that
students can access information specifically tied to their area of interest while developing
a more personalized and reflective practice. The practice of interacting online requires
students to construct and build upon their knowledge through the development of their
critical thinking skills. The changes in control in the production of knowledge are
affectively altering society in creating a more engaged society. Open source platforms
provide students with real world opportunities helping them to take responsibility for
their learning. Open source platforms are changing education and our world for the better
in the twenty-first century. By participating in the production of knowledge through open
source platforms, we are giving power to our students.

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