Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

What Are Cultures of Learning?

September 12, 2013
Keynote presentation delivered to ALT-C, Nottingham, UK.

In the previous three days delegates will have explored all aspects of cultures of learning, ranging from digital literacies to learning landscapes, classroom environments, VLEs and open courses. But beyond examining the leaves and the trees, what can we say of the forest? A culture of learning – and for that matter, a learning culture – is composed of more than classes and schools and subjects, it is composed of the attitudes and enquiries of a culture of experimentation, curiosity, and quirkiness. In this closing keynote presentation, Stephen Downes will outline the framework of a culture of learning, identifying from examples and experiences the fundamental values that must be modeled and demonstrated by society’s leaders, and will comment on implications to practice, research and policy.

How are workers currently using social tools? Mostly for internal collaboration, according to an Ipsos study commissioned by Microsoft to survey 9,908 global information workers about how they use social tools to get work done, available at The Worldwide Watercooler.