The document discusses the concept of a "Republic of Learning" as an alternative model of education based on self-accredited, interest-driven learning. It outlines 13 steps for building the Republic of Learning, including trusting learners, allowing open and emergent learning, participatory co-creation, and building on cultural folksonomies rather than institutional taxonomies. The Republic of Learning is presented as a post-institutional model that moves beyond traditional academic structures towards more open, contextual, and learner-centered forms of education and learning.

1. Post-institutional Education is #SocialImprov
The Republic of Learning @fredgarnett
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

2. Plato’s Academy; pagan, oral culture. 2,500 years ago Learning was formal, talking to the wise, informal peer
conversations in the orchards, non-formal, physically working off the activity in the Gymnasium
Renaissance Platonic Academy; monotheistic, patriarchal, written culture. 500 years ago. Academic model is built
around libraries and remembering what “great” men are recorded as having said.
Ac
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy
Florence

3. The Republic of Learning is Self-accredited Learning
Self-accredited Learning for Individuals is #WikiQuals
Self-accredited Learning for Institutions is The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy
Florence

4. 13 Steps to… The Republic of Learning
1. Trust the Learner; everyone wants to learn; not necessarily what you want to teach
2. Allow interest-driven (community development) models of learning
3. Enable open context-responsive learning; especially post Web 2.0
4. We are an emergent species, enable emergent learning
5. Design participatory co-creation with architectures of participation
6. Trust curiosity “artfully-crafted student-centred learning experiences”
7. Support Ambient Learning in City 2.0 Aggregate then Curate
8. Encourage self-accredited learning WikiQuals “We are rhizomatic”
9. Before and After MOOCs we need multiple fit for context learning
10.Build participatory organisations 3 E’s; Enable, Explore, Evaluate
11.Everything is a Metaphor nothing is real so reconceptualise the metaphor
12.Build on our slow cultural folksonomy NOT! Their fast scientific taxonomy

5. Step 1 Trust the Learner
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

6. WikiQuals; What we’ve learnt…
Learners want to learn (so, trust them)
Once accreditation is understood…
They are not interested in quals
They are interested in doing
Structured conversations with Sqolars
Not structured interrogation by exam
Building their own personalised
learning environments…

7. Step 2 Interest-driven Learning
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

8. Community Development Model of Learning
Community Development Model of Learning
Attractor Stage;
Open, welcoming Locations, Learners follow interests
Self-supporting “learning community”
Engagement Stage;
Timely Interventions, Goal Articulation, Discussion
Counselling and Courses
Needs “Trusted Intermediaries”

9. Step 3 Open-Context Learning
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

10. P A H
Teacher
School
Teacher/
Learner
Learner
Research
Cognition Epistemic
Cognition
Meta-
Cognition
Adult
2008 Open Context Model of Learning; PAH Continuum
A Web 2.0 Model of Learning
Andragogy
Collaborate
Pedagogy
Content
Heutagogy
Create
A Craft of
Teaching

11. Step 4 Emergent Learning
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

12. 2010 Emergent Learning Model; design tool
For new learning projects; Ambient Learning City / WikiQuals

13. Step 5 Architecture of Participation
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

14. Towards an Organisational Architecture of
Participation
“The Answers are already
here!
We are just asking the wrong
Questions…”
Adaptive Institutions working
across participatory networks

15. Step 6 I Am Curious (#Digital) LINK
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

16. Transformation comes from;
Designing “Artfully-constructed,
student-centred learning experiences”

17. Step 7 Ambient Learning beyond the classroom
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

18. Social Cities of Tomorrow
Some Answers
New metaphors
New relationships
Object-centred sociality
Participative curatorial strategies
Aggregate then Curate
Post-institutional thinking
Participatory Cities
Social cities not smart cities

19. Step 8 Learning Psychotherapy WikiQuals
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

20. WikiQuals “Yes You Can!”
Learning not Education
Liminal not Institutionalised
Bio-diversity not Monoculture
Learner-centric not Student-centred
Learner-generated not Course-defined
Community as Curriculum not Syllabus defined
Community of Sqolars not Community of Practice
Personal Learning Networks not Content-delivery
Quality Assured not Quality Controlled
Affinity not Supervision
Emergent not Linear
Trust the learner to find their own Identity
Alternative University and WikiQuals Learning Models
2011 The
University
Project –
WikiQuals

21. Step 9 Fit for Context Learning
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

22. Pedagogies are not enough
Learning is Emergent; http://heutagogicarchive.wordpress.com/
Emergent Learning Model http://www.slideshare.net/fredgarnett/fg-ouemergenttable
Learning is Emergent not institutionalised! We need to
design for emergence and create tools to support that in a
wiki-based collaborative world – Fit for Context Learning
Emergent Learning Model rethinks learning as
i. Social Processes not classrooms
ii. Content Creation or Curation not textbooks
iii. Quality Assurance not high-stakes assessment
We needed to build new learning exemplars of ‘non-
linear dynamic systems’

23. Step 10 Participatory Institutions
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

24. Before & After Business MIS Institutions
Level Responsibility Aim
Strategic Planning Senior Managers Technical
Infrastructure
ENABLING
Platform
Learning Management Course Team Learning Resources EVALUATING
Learning Ecology
Learner Behaviours Students Union New Technologies EXPLORING
Resource Discovery
Enabling>> Exploring>> Evaluating
(Before and After Institutions)

25. Step 11 Everything is a Metaphor link
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

26. Your metaphors change how you see
Affected by;
•Cultural Context
•Values
•Meaning
•Purpose
What Metaphors are you designing for?

27. Step 12 Third Place Cultural Folksonomy
The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

28. Participatory City Futures in Third Places
Cultural folksonomies from Origin of Spaces (EU)
ZAWP – Bilbao (Basque/Espana)
Rolling process of hyper-local partnerships, permanently debating w/the
council “from action to process”
LX Factory – Lisboa (Portugal)
Hyper-cool Coworking hub, designing in a social mix. “Hoxton in a factory” a
“post-welfare state” solution
ROJC – Pula (Croatia)
Rebuilding Civil Society (post Civil-War) through NGOs
Darwin – Bordeaux (France)
Ecological transitions to a sustainable economy
Co-creating Coworking Spaces

29. Step 13 Alchemical Places are…
…The Republic of Learning
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

30. History is full of temporarily useful eccentricities
Universities,
cities, the
nation-state,
taxonomies,
stories we tell
once solved a
problem and
timely met a
urgent need
Lets create
our own
Republic of
Learning
where we
decide how
we learn and
what we have
learnt

31. How we might think
Alchemical magic; Natural Philosophy
& the Republic of Letters 1550-1660
King
Charles II
Approved
“Great
Man”
thinking of
Science &
the Royal
Society
1650-2021

32. SocialImprov “Yes You Can!”
Re-enchantment not Disenchanted
Slow not Fast
Ecology not Urban
Walking not Driving
Folksonomy not Taxonomy
Learning not Education
Dialogical not Dialectical
Context not Brand
Pastelaria not Starbucks
Third Place not Workplace
Serendipity not Rule-based
Participation not Representation
Trust the citizen to create their own Context
The Republic of
Learning is
#SocialImprov

33. Taxonomy or Folksonomy?

34. All You Need is Social Improv (w/others)
FSL not ESL
A brief history of #socialimprov
Created a soccer league, soccer
club, run all day, draw a map of
the world, playwright,
drummer, band, editor (paper,
journals) occupier, film festival,
benefit concerts, student union
study group, new subjects,
learning platform, urban
ecology, community centre (2),
public technology group, open
research group, WikiQuals

35. 13 Steps to… The Republic of Learning RESOURCES
1. Trust the Learner (everyone wants to learn; not necessarily what you want to teach
2. Allow interest-driven (community development) models of learning
3. Enable open context-responsive learning; especially post Web 2.0
4. We are an emergent species, enable emergent learning
5. Design participatory co-creation with architectures of participation
6. Trust curiosity “artfully-crafted student-centred learning experiences”
7. Support Ambient Learning in City 2.0 Aggregate then Curate
8. Encourage self-accredited learning WikiQuals “We are rhizomatic”
9. Before and After MOOCs we need multiple fit for context learning
10.Build participatory organisations 3 E’s; Enable, Explore, Evaluate
11.Everything is a Metaphor nothing is real so reconceptualise the metaphor
12.Build on our slow cultural folksonomy NOT! Their fast scientific taxonomy

36. #SocialImprov Post-institutional Education
The Republic of Learning @fredgarnett
Plato’s Academy Athens Renaissance painting of Platonic Academy Florence

37. We live in a Quantum Universe
But in Mechanical Societies
Jean liked
my poetry;
“Words are
Buckets for
our
Emotions”
We are talking
about the
quantum
duality of
everything being
both a wave and
a particle
We confuse
the map
with the
Territory

38. We confuse fast thinking (institutions)
With slow thinking (contexts)
Thinking fast;
answers at the
ready
“No change is
possible”
This is how we
survive…
Thinking slow
reflecting on
actions
“transformation
is possible”
But - this is how
we evolve…

39. Technology is “order imposed on nature”
We need to evolve away from anthropocene Technology

40. “Technology is the essence of politics”
It reframes possibilities! But are we e-enabling or transforming?

41. 2012 Ambient Learning City – beyond the classroom learning
An Open City of Open Scholars #Timisoara 2023

42. Life can only be understood backwards
But it most be lived forwards (SK)
Future
predictions
always propose
“same as the
past only more
intense”
Future Thinking
can be helped by
using
“development
frameworks”
Here’s a couple

43. Education is bullying and grooming
Silicon Valley big tech is bullying and grooming
Education
Is monetised
accreditation
“there is no
alternative”
Fast thinking
Big Tech
is monetised
advertising
“without advertising
we only buy what
we need”
Fast buying

44. No one will
pay you to
think for
yourself;
“Invent your
own
projects”
#Socialimprov
We need to dance to the music
of transformation
Feyerabend – Against Method

46. We know the
world is
false, not
what is true
So trust your own
felt experiences

47. A cultural folksonomy for Enchanted Cities
Some Resources&Links
Unsmart Cities blog
Ambient Learning City
Social Cities of Tomorrow
Participatory City
Third Places and City 2.0
Learning City 2.0
Citizen-Generated Contexts
Deptford Creekside Centre
What is Web 2.0?
Open Context Model of Learning
World Heutagogy Day (Heutagogy resources)
Against the Smart City

48. 13 Steps to… The Republic of Learning RESOURCES
1. Trust the Learner (everyone wants to learn; not necessarily what you want to teach
2. Allow interest-driven (community development) models of learning
3. Enable open context-responsive learning; especially post Web 2.0
4. We are an emergent species, enable emergent learning
5. Design participatory co-creation with architectures of participation
6. Trust curiosity “artfully-crafted student-centred learning experiences”
7. Support Ambient Learning in City 2.0 Aggregate then Curate
8. Encourage self-accredited learning WikiQuals “We are rhizomatic”
9. Before and After MOOCs we need multiple fit for context learning
10.Build participatory organisations 3 E’s; Enable, Explore, Evaluate
11.Everything is a Metaphor nothing is real so reconceptualise the metaphor
12.Build on our slow cultural folksonomy NOT! Their fast scientific taxonomy