Downes says:
Numerous writers, even, have called for what is often referred to as the “open society.” Tapscott, for example, writes about “the transparent burger” and “the naked corporation.” Mougayar tells us that “the future organization is an “open corporation.” And in a widely popular online essay Rob Paterson asked, “Is not the new “big idea” of our time to disintermediate the institutional middleman and to enable direct relationships? Are supermarkets eternal? Do we need factory universities to learn? Is our health dependent on a doctor? Is the news what we see on TV?” [11].
I love these questions. The essay itself, upon which they are based, alternates between depressing, dramatic and hopeful. Long, but worth the read just for the imagination… the notions… the liberation. These questions subject everything we know about the way we acquire services, knowledge… exist in the world… to question. It is almost libertarian meets crunchy… but at the same time very profound.
What does that mean for the learner? Paterson suggests in his essay that we make the assumption that learning/education is a linear process ending with the credential and sending us off into the world. I think there is general consensus that education is a lifelong process, though the cynic in me says that is just a marketing gimmick by desperate colleges and universities to tap into the seemingly unbounded “adult learning” market for purposes of revenue generation (I’ve worked on too many fragile college budgets in my day!).
In my own experience, until Fielding I’ve only known classroom learning…whether it was a physical classroom or online classroom…whether I was student or teacher (funny how I rarely think of myself as both… except when I’m actually in the classroom and articulate to my students how much I learn from them and they all snicker thinking I’m just looking for a good evaluation!) At Fielding I’ve observed my classmates be freaked out about the lack of structure… the effective disintermediation between the learner and the learning. A mentor is not the same as the proverbial sage on the stage. In my alter interest… higher education administration… I think a lot about accreditation and its impact on innovation. I wonder what effect the self-regulatory process has had on the liberating, scary, personally owned learning process at Fielding. I will learn more about that in my service on Scholarship and Praxis… but I digress.
Okay… so I’m the learner in charge of my learning. What do I do? Still working on that one.
I think an ‘innovative’ school will come up with the next generation of “on-line” College where they don’t even have to hire faculty because they give everyone a blog, a wiki and a subject and say “go for it”. Without the cynicism, the challenge is to the status quo. There is a revolution possible… and I think the concept of disintermediation is central to it. Otherwise, why would the concept of personal learning environment be so powerful. It is powerful, isn’t it?
Downes says:
In short, the structures and organization that characterized life prior to the Internet are breaking down. Where intermediaries, such as public relations staff, journalists or professors, are not needed, they are disregarded. Consumers are talking directly to producers, and more often than not, demanding and getting new standards of accountability and transparency. Often, they inform the productive process itself, and in many cases, replace it altogether. Passive has become active. Disinterested has become engaged. The new Internet user may not vote, but that is only because the vote is irrelevant when you govern yourself.
