Task 3B The Networked Professional

Even with the benefit of a very useful campus session I have found it difficult to fully understand some of the concepts outlined in the reader and in the references mentioned in the reader on Professional Networks. At a basic level networking and learning are activities I have been engaged in all my life. But I had never appreciated that there is so much theory and thinking developing around them.
   I take a simple view of the part played by new technologies which is similar to my general view that I have no real interest in knowing how new technologies work. But I do try to obtain the most benefit from them in the things that I do day to day. The fact that video, audio, communications and computing technology has converged through a learning process during the course of my lifetime is largely immaterial to me I simply use my phone and laptop which embody all this convergence as an integral part of my day to day working and social life. I am pleased that I can do this since it allows me to communicate, network and learn so much more readily than my parents and grandparents were able to do.
   There are two distinct aspects to the theory, networking and learning. Although the theory separates the two things they are in my view part of the same process. Whilst we as individuals think mostly about our own part in a network and how our own learning is progressing we might with some benefit to others and to ourselves consider both aspects from other members of our networks point of view. They say it takes "two to tango" and in a network of say six to twelve members it needs everyone to play their part in putting in their ideas and responding to others ideas if maximum benefit is to be achieved by everyone in the network.
   I was interested in "game theory" but thought that it suggested a very selfish approach to networking and not at all helpful in keeping a long term network alive. If we simply use other members ideas selfishly and then ditch them when it suits us I don't think we would keep our friends for very long. I like the idea of long term affiliations. In particular the idea of controlling your level of contact within the network to increase it or decrease it as time goes by and as circumstances change. There is an old saying that "you should respect your friends when you are going up because you might need them when you are coming down". I sometimes feel that both I and my friends are guilty of using facebook to reward and punish friends by limiting or increasing contact with them in order to influence their behaviour. I'm not sure how good that is as a way of managing contacts.
   I appreciated the extract from Siemens, G. (2004) as a clear explanation of the three broad theories of learning. The current trends in learning show a helpful list which will provide a valuable basis for understanding how networking and learning are part of the same whole. Driscol (2000) provides a concise outline of the topics on which debate was and it seems to me still are centred. For me it also provides a useful set of definitions of the three traditions of learning, objectivism, pragmatism and interpretivism.
   Coming now to the relevance to the work involved in the B.A. course I believe that the structure of the learning process involved is built around this theory of professional networking and that I will gain much from having studied the theory. It is also as a performer very important to understand affiliation theory, in particular homeostatis in order to control the level of contact I have with the networks which I have established. As performers we know implicitly the importance of contacts. Indeed neopotism is normal. But if you have no family contacts in performing arts you need to work even harder at your contacts to get back on terms with others who do have family contacts.
   I feel I can most closely associate myself with the work of Karen Stevenson and can relate to the principles of connectivism in the current age. This facilitates a process where people and technology come together to create a powerful training/ learning/ information tool which will improve as experience and knowledge increase.
   I am looking forward to using these techniques both through the remaining modules of the course and beyond in my professional career.