Technological Chickens and Informational Eggs: Cogeneration to Breed Communication

Abstract

A paradox exists in online learning: While the technologies that are used to deliver educational data exhibit features of uncompromising, rectilinear “hard architecture”, learning is a “soft” phenomenon. But simple ways exist to help educators adapt the digital hardness of technology to the often analogical soft architecture of worldwide information. Offshore ideas in information science, including freely available systems from around the world, provide alternatives to the standard course-in-a-box or ready-made learning materials. And sociologist, psychiatrists, and architects offer useful ideas as well. These globally oriented, “sociopetal” systems are customizable to individual learners’ needs and may open their minds to new ways of seeing the world.