Abstract In this presentation, I discuss Phonar Nation, a free, open, five-week photography course that was offered twice during the North American summer in 2014 as part of the Cities of Learning initiative. Photographer and open education pioneer Jonathan Worth created and taught the non-credit course to individuals from 12-18 years of age through a website designed to work on mobile devices (http://phonarnation.org/). The author followed the course as his twelve-year-old son completed it from New Zealand. The community-based Phonar Nation initiative extends the work that Worth and his colleagues have done with Phonar (Photography and Narrative), an open, for-credit undergraduate course at Coventry University. I argue that Phonar Nation highlights several related developments in education that are leading to innovative approaches at different levels and in different contexts. Firstly, Phonar Nation is not only open access but it also uses and produces material that is open to be shared through the use of Creative Commons Licenses. Secondly, it is collaborative, both in the way that it is produced and taught, and in the way that participants are encouraged to engage with one another in community settings and through social media sites. Thirdly, Phonar Nation exemplifies an approach to learning that advocates call Connected Learning, which is accessible, interest-driven, socially situated and geared to extending educational and economic opportunities.

1. Phonar Nation and
Mobile, Connected
Learning
MINA — 2014 | Mobile Innovation Network Aotearoa
4th Mobile Creativity and Innovation Symposium
Nov. 20-21, AUT University, Auckland, NZ
Dr Mark McGuire
Design, Dept. of Applied Sciences
University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ
email: mark.mcguire@otago.ac.nz
Twitter: @mark_mcguire
Blog: http://markmcguire.net/
Dept.: http://www.otago.ac.nz/appliedsciences/staff/markmcguire.html
Phonar Nation Website http://phonarnation.org/

2. Key Trends
> Evolution of online learning.
> Ubiquity of social media.
> Integration of online, hybrid and
collaborative learning.
> Shift from students as consumers to
students as creators.
(Johnson, L., S. Adams Becker, V. Estrada, and A. Freeman. 2014. NMC Horizon
Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium)
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2014-horizon-report-higher-ed

3. How mobile learning can make a difference
(John Traxler 2011)
1) Contingent learning: react and respond to
environment in ways that cannot be pre-determined.
2) Situated learning: more meaningful by incorporating
the surrounding environment.
3) Authentic learning: direct relationship between
learning goals and tasks.
4) Context aware learning: access background
information that can enrich appreciation of a place,
artifact or event.
5) Personalized learning: customize ordering, pace,
presentation of content.
Traxler, John. 2011. “Introduction.” In Making mobile learning work: case studies of practice, edited by John Traxler
and Jocelyn Wishart, 4-12. Bristol, UK: HEA Subject Centre for Education, University of Bristol.
http://escalate.ac.uk/8250

4. http://phonar.org/

5. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phonar/id479530911

6. Jonathan Worth:
Twitter is “a listening device”
and a means “to tune the
network.” Each year “the journey
is different and the course
accrues a long tail of content”.
(“Free Online Class Shakes Up Photo Education.” 2014. http://www.wired.com/
rawfile/2011/08/free-online-class-shakes-up-photo-education/)
Phonar: a safe, mentored
learning environment
augmented and enriched by
connecting the classroom to a
public network where everyone
can create and learn together.
Twitter Search for #phonar Nov. 7 2014
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23phonar&src=typd

7. #phonar Twittersphere Nov. 7 2014 http://phonar.org/twitter-visualisation/

8. http://open.media.mit.edu/about-us/

9. http://www.digitalyouthnetwork.org/

10. http://www.citiesoflearning.org/

11. http://dmlhub.net/

12. Connected Learning
http://clalliance.org/why-connected-learning/

13. http://clalliance.org/

14. “open badging ecosystem, with a focus on shared values
including openness, learner agency and innovation”
http://www.badgealliance.org/

15. http://connectedcourses.net/

16. http://phonarnation.org/

17. http://phonarnation.org/

25. http://phonarnation.org/
sessions-challenges/

26. Phonar Nation: Open Learning
> No barriers to entry
> Openly accessible
> Open to improvement
> Open to being shared
— Jonathan Worth
Coursera, Udacity MOOCs: “open entry to
fully copyrighted courses with draconian
terms of use””. — David Wiley
http://phonarnation.org/session-3-telling-someones-story/
> 5Rs: Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute.
> An open education infrastructure (credentials,
assessments, resources, competencies)
Wiley, David October 18 2014. “Openness and the Future of Education and Society.” http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3602

27. Phonar Nation: Collaborative Learning
Bridgewater House Centre for Asylum Seekers

28. Phonar Nation: Connected Learning
Connected Learning: “broadened access to learning that
is socially embedded, interest-driven, and oriented
toward educational, economic, or political opportunity”
— Mizuko Ito et al.
(Connected Learning: An agenda for research and design. Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, Irvine, CA)
“I don’t think education is about centralized instruction
anymore; rather, it is the process establishing oneself
as a node in a broad network of distributed creativity”.
— Joichi Ito (Director of the M.I.T. Media Lab)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/joichi-ito-innovating-by-the-seat-of-our-pants.html?_r=0
Jonathan Worth on Phonar: “Students learn to speak
clearly with images and engage a connected audience.
They learn to leverage and to be empowered by the
network rather than feeling anonymised by it.”
http://phonarnation.org/about/

29. Thank You!
Dr Mark McGuire
Design, Dept. of Applied Sciences
University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ
email: mark.mcguire@otago.ac.nz
Twitter: @mark_mcguire
Blog: http://markmcguire.net/
Dept.: http://www.otago.ac.nz/appliedsciences/
staff/markmcguire.html
Casper_McGuire is very proud of the beautiful Salt Print made
of one of his @PhonarNation images by @darkroom_craig.
(Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/sELFXNvPFm/?modal=true)