Since I started this blog, in Oct 2005, I feel I’ve been learning at warp speed. Why? Well, I didn’t do a brain-swap or a radical attitude change, but I did create a learning network: a collection of trusted, online sources of information, help, and discussion that keeps me constantly thinking, learning, and participating.
ChinesePod is part of my learning network. Connecting to the Big Brain (the learners, listeners, bloggers, forum members, that make up the ChinesePod community) for example, allows me to learn from people, and learn non-stop.
Here’s an interesting thing: When you’re plugged into a network, you don’t have to process all the information on it. You kind of offload the processing to the network and take the bits you need, when you need them. This can make learning from networks really, really efficient. (It’s also the only way when you have as much information as we all have these days.) The efficient learner in the internet era, is not the guy who can process the most stuff, but the one who can find the right stuff to resovle the issue at hand.
We’ve tried to build ChinesePod in the image of a network: content, community, and connections to people with shared objectives - things that the Mandarin learner needs access to. In the language learning context, content is primary, but connecting to learners and practitioners also provides critical knowledge and other benefits.
Another example. I’m interested in the subject of learning. (It’s kind of, er, related to my job.) When I want to learn about learning I go to my bookmarks - people like Jay Cross, George Siemens, Etienne Wenger, and Will Richardson are nodes on my network and experts on the topic. (Actually, this post was inspired by Will Richardson.) Most of them blog regularly, so I can get fresh ideas regularly. Again, you’ve got content and connections -a network.
Networks are going to dominate how we learn in the future, or so the prononents connectivism believe. They could be right.
What do you think?
Ken Carroll
When you’re plugged into a network, you don’t have to process all the information on it. You kind of offload the processing to the network and take the bits you need, when you need them.
When you open up a book, you don’t have to process all the information in it. You can skim, and then dive into the sections that interest you, and then come back to the well, time and time again.
For me, the internet, and these networks you mention have advantages and drawbacks. The advantages include the fact that information is at your fingertips, along with others. However, one of the big disadvantages is that it is kind of like a garbage dump. While there are gems to be found, you have to sort through all the crap to find them
I remain sceptical regarding the analogy to a “network” or a “brain”.
Most of the communication here is of the hub-and-spoke-type. You pose a question and get lots of singular answers to it, mostly unrelated to each other, sometimes loosely connected by phrases like “I agree with [X], but”. Sometimes you get some short discussions between some hardcore posters, but what dominates is the lonely, disjoint type answer.
It is a little different in the Forums, as there subjects are entered by the users themselves. It makes it a tick more n-m. But even in the forums most of the content follows a linear question-answer-pattern.
That is all very unlike a creative face-to-face brainstorming session, where one cannot tell in the end who actually came up with that outstanding idea, because of that chaotic interaction that produced it. Such sessions I would much rather compare with a “network” or a “brain”. A “collective brain” of that type demands physical presence, though. Even a high-quality videoconference seriously constricts the necessary richness. Asynchronous text-based communication will never get there.
That is not necessary bad though. Because of the huge amount of people here what you indeed have are huge economies of scale and a maximum utilization of division of labor. Even if every user only shares a tiny bit of her or his knowledge and experience the sum can and is truely significant.
The community provides the stimuli. But the actual “big brain” is the CPod team that has to interconnect all the various and often fuzzy signals and mold them into a coherent picture.
Networks are very important. One of the problems I had in studying back in the States — back in pre-Chinesepod days, of course (can we call it ‘B. CPod?’) — was in finding people who were doing the same thing as me, or were even interested in doing so. One of the great things about moving to China was finding a community of people who were also really passionate about Chinese - foreigners and CHinese both - and talking to them about things. These days, now that I’m working as a translator, I’ve got a network of translator friends with whom I share info — on employers, job opportunities, and the best way to translate certain pesky words that just don’t seem to go well into English.
So far as the signal-to-noise problem online that Richard mentioned — one of the nice things about that is finding ways to get around it. Wikipedia (for all of its faults) has certain quality control guidelines; sites like this have a high enough preponderance of people who know what they’re talking about; in the case of personal networks, one knows, or usually has a good idea, of who does and doesn’t know their stuff. This kind of thing reduces the crap-sorting to a minimum, at least ideally.
Brendan says:
Networks are very important. One of the problems I had in studying back in the States — back in pre-Chinesepod days, of course (can we call it ‘B. CPod?’) — was in finding people who were doing the same thing as me, or were even interested in doing so. One of the great things about moving to China was finding a community of people who were also really passionate about Chinese - foreigners and CHinese both - and talking to them about things.
My current formal classes are very good, because we have fun. When learning is fun, you learn more. When you are not afraid to make mistakes, because you know that people will laugh with you, you learn lots more.
ChinesePOD is great because I can learn lots before class and then practice what I have learned in class.
Further, here is my take on the social aspects of all this.
Language is a social activity. If you can practice what you have learned in a social situation, you are more likely to retain it and build on it.
I personally think that ability to learn is an individual thing. Some have it more than others, but that we are all highly tuned to being able to learn in social situations, and so every time you try to use your new language skills in social situations you are bound to improve.
Following on further from my comments, my ideal computer learning environment would be an intelligent computer that can simulate multiple, friendly, communication participants, who understand your level of achievment, but who insist on extending your competence. They insist on introducing new ways for you to say what you have just said, and they carry on a conversation with you. (Eliza, anyone?)
Sometimes they taunt you and tease you about your clumsy phrasing or pronunciation, but they do it in a gentle (caring, oh god, is that an overused word) way …
And, it’s all non-threatening (unless someone else gets hold of the logs of your learning sessions
China bans opening new Internet cafes
BEIJING, China (AP) — China will not allow any new Internet cafes to open this year, state media reported on Tuesday.
Xinhua News Agency said 14 government departments, including the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Information Industry, had issued a notice saying that “in 2007, local governments must not sanction the opening of new Internet bars.”
It said there are about 113,000 Internet cafes in China. Many are smoke-filled rooms with rows of computers set up for online gaming.
The Chinese government promotes Internet use for education and business but tries to block its public from seeing material online that is deemed subversive or pornographic.
In January, President Hu Jintao ordered Chinese Internet regulators to promote a “healthy online culture” to protect the government’s stability. He specifically made reference to Chinesepod.com, an on-line Mandarin learning website, as an example of a “healthy internet culture”.
China’s online population grew by 23.4 percent last year to 137 million people, about 10 percent of its 1.3 billion population, the China Internet Network Information Center reported last month.
The figure puts China on track to surpass the U.S. in the next two years as the nation with the most Internet users, the government had said.
>”Language is a social activity. If you can practice what you have learned in a social situation, you are more likely to retain it and build on it.”
I think reading for pleasure (rather then boring and outdated learning material) is also very supporting. Not so easy with Chinese, but by far not as difficult as most people think.
>”China bans opening new Internet cafes”
After the very successful ban on prostitution 网吧 is next…. There was also a law that you need to register with your ID at the wangba, never seen anybody doing that, or asking me. Another paper law…..
Those interested in the power of networks should check out “Wikinomics”, the new book by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams (www.wikinomics.com).
Wikinomics examines how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before by using collaboration technologies. They are co-creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, and inventing new cosmetics.
The book’s central theme of massive collaboration goes beyond more conventional notions of communities of practice. We are not only connecting and learning from each other, but we are co-creating value.
Wikinomics suggests that businesses can enlist customers to co-create products and services. Creation of economic value comes from the network.
I think we can apply these principles to the development of learning programs.(corporate training programs, language training programs etc).
What do you think?
MORE INPUT - Although Chinesepod serves me very well to keep me engaged in ‘learning about’ Chinese, I still find it up to myself to build my ‘Chinese language’ network or world as you may.
It’s been a struggle to link up with others in a way that makes me communicate more in Chinese, write & read more in Chinese, and listen to more Chinese (at my level).
I found that JohnP’s Sinsosplice site and comments usually do much to further engage my Chinese network. For example he’s provided links and info on to How to Search for MPs in Chinese on Baidu.
Of course I can search and discover this on my own, but often it’s easier if someone points the way. I don’t think Cpod does enough of this in an organized way. The Forum does a lot of it, but it depends mostly on newbies, elementaries guiding each other.
I realize that Chinesepod is not going to be the one-stop-shop for all one’s Chinese language needs, but is it also just a place for the some mp3s?
(And I realize I’m also just rephrasing our shared opinion, as Ken said “In the language learning context, content is primary, but connecting to learners and practitioners also provides critical knowledge and other benefits.”)
My distinction is that Chinesepod is great at linking up learners, tools, websites, but it is not so good at being specific about finding CHINESE-LANGUAGE input in the form of other partners, tools and websites.
I think unless a learner is able to develop this Chinese-language network (written in hanzi, produced by Chinese people, consumed by other Chinese-speaking people), it is almost impossible to acquire all the vocabulary and exposure necessary to gain certain levels of mastery. This kind of network needs to increase the input to a level that the learning becomes easy, automatic, and fun: just as Ken explained.
Can’t Chinesepod help me to build a Chinese-input network:
1. Recommend some blogs in Chinese to read
2. Have a site page with recommended readings for various themes and levels.
3. Have a site page with recommended listening sources
4. Produce some read-alongs for existing real-world written materials so that I can have both listening and written input.
5. Have a site page that recommends other Chinese-language websites that have tools and services basically in line with Cpod’s philosophies. (Cause there’s a lot of crap out there)
6. Have a place on the site for ’shared bookmarks’ of other students.
7. If this takes additional staff time and resources, why not just put some of it in the free-public area and others in the premium space.
…等等
p.s. And actually I wonder if the ‘modern’ era wasn’t kind of a blip in shared communities. People from the past seemed to traverse across vast oceans, learn many languages and interconnect in ways I think is often intruded upon by modern 9-5 schedules, suburbs, and other conveniences. That said, nobody’s gonna yank away my broadband connection!
The best part about CPod, besides being a great network for finding info, learning the language, and having discussions within other Chinese enthusiasts,etc., is that you can do all of the above on your own time.
I work a full-time job and freelance on the side, so when I get home at 9 or 10pm I can’t attend a class…but I can always log on to CPod and listen to a lesson, do some vocab exercises, and talk about cultural topics in the forum. For people who aren’t in China and who don’t otherwise have a large network of people to learn from and practice with, CPod is the next best thing.
It’s just so easy to turn on the computer…as opposed to finding a class that fits your schedule, paying several hundred dollars for 8 classes, and having to schlep there in the dead of winter.
Lantian — there’s a fairly good Chinese blog portal up at www.bullog.cn. (Full disclosure - mine is on there, but really — the rest of them are pretty good.) I like reading 胡缠, drunkpiano, and 冯唐’s blogs. 王小峰 (www.wangxiaofeng.net) is pretty popular as well, though I’ve never really gotten into him.
Hi Brendan, thanks!
Hey Cpod,
In that pingback above with my name, is that spam?! What is that? Blow it away!
At one level, ChinesePod is like 乐高, a big game of LEGO which you can play with, alone in your own time and at your own pace, or with friends, for long or short sessions. You can play challenging games on your own, or relax with kindergarten friends, theorize in Hanzi, babble in broken English or, more frequently, the converse.
The ChinesePod crew provides both building blocks for us to assemble, and complex structures for us to deconstruct. When all of this is too much we can talk about what pieces we should get, and how ChinesePod should package them, some might even spend more time doing playing the packaging game rather than construction per se.
As to being a brain, I tend to agree with Henning but it’s really down to definitions. Collective intelligence certainly, but if it’s all brain where’s the brawn? I for one don’t want Eliza to talk back to me or any robot for that matter ‘guide’ me in my studies.
That’s one reason I don’t particularly like classroom learning, other than time constraints and flexibility of this medium, the fact that beginners classes are plenty but more advanced ones are few and far between where I live.
One thing, I would suggest, with networks is that, like any other form of organization, they vary in their characteristics and effectiveness.
Centrality is a key concept is this regard. Some networks have a central actor or limited number of central actors. These would resemble the hub-and-spoke system that was mentioned earlier. Other networks, in contrast, do not operate around such central focal points.
Another key idea is density, the number of actual connections between network participants (relative to the number of connections that _could_ occur in the network). Again, some networks are characterized by high density, while others involve far fewer connections among individual nodes.
As far as I can tell, the evidence is pretty mixed on what traits are correlated most closely with network effectiveness. Resources and leadership, though, seem to be key elements for networks of all types and purposes. On that last score (leadership), the learning network here is obviously in great hands.
goulnik,
I like the Lego analogy. We take bits and pieces here and there to build our own ever-growing language complex.
No two people’s knowledge set is ever exactly the same, and no two people’s needs are exactly the same. That’s why CPod as a toolkit rather than an defined learning path is such a great idea.
I am having problems downloading Intermediate lesson 33. I downloaded 34 today OK (apart from the service glitch) and it plays OK, but whether I download 33 via my home Linux system or my work XP system, I cannot play the resulting MP3 file.
Can someone else try it to comfirm whether I am going crazy?
It turns out that if I try to listen to the lesson in my browser, all is OK.
However, if I right-mouse click over the link to the MP3 file, and select save as (or, I try to save the mp3 file from the browser after it has loaded) the resulting MP3 file is corrupt, and RealAudio will refuse to play it.
WIT - Hey Brendan,
Is this blog writer Chinese? I haven’t seen this kind of sarcasm before, that was in Chinese I could understand… I think you may have helped me find some ‘readable’ content!
” 如果谁还说听不了，那你把电脑从窗户扔出去。”
http://blogs.chinesepod.com/20.....-networks/
Well, I finally got to listen to Intermediate lesson 33 my way.
I downloaded it from an alternate link the Eileen provided, but it was still bad. Then I loaded it into Audacity, which read the file OK, and then I exported it from Audacity, and now RealAudio and Windows Media player can deal with the file.
However, I have to give ChinesePod people negative points for not listening to me and trying to access the file the way I was accessing it.
Hmmm, well, one obvious difference between ChinesePod Intermediate 33 and others is the following:
chinesepod155_C33_20060310-1.mp3: MP3 file with ID3 version 2.3.0 tag
chinesepod155_C33_20060310.mp3: MP3 file with ID3 version 2.2.0 tag
chinesepod059_C5_20051201.mp3: MP3 file with ID3 version 2.3.0 tag
That is, for some reason, C33 was created with ID3 V2.2.0 tags, while all the others were created with ID3 V2.3.0 tags.
It seems that RealPlayer 10 and Windows Media Player 11 both choke on something with V2.2.0 tags, while Audacity can handle them and will output V2.3.0 tags.