Abstract

No longer bound by the confines of the campus, workplace, or virtual learning environment, learning on and through the Internet has redefined who learns what, from whom, where, when, and under what circumstances. Offline, online, and in combination, the new e-learning is rewriting communication networks, creating new spaces and relationships, restructuring knowledge networks, challenging identities, and changing the location, evaluation, and accessibility of information resources and people. In keeping with the ‘Rethinking communication, space and identity’ theme of the 2015 Australia and New Zealand Communication Association conference where a talk on this topic was first given, this paper calls for a rethinking of learning that recognizes and builds on the way new Internet-enabled spaces, structures, and communication routes are supporting and transforming knowledge exchange and production. Drawing on research and perspectives on online communication, learning, and social networks, the paper presents a view of contemporary learning practice, i.e., social, network based, and network shared. This perspective calls for a change in the questions we ask about learning and media use, and thus how we value and work with new configurations of learning networks. This paper argues that taking a network view not only helps understand contemporary changes in learning, knowledge, and communication practices, but also provides insight into the development of new practices for learning, knowledge, and education in the twenty-first century.

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