A Web of Learning Opportunities

Abstract

For at least two decades, politicians, academics and other stakeholders have advocated cooperation across sectors, administrative layers and other institutionalised boundaries to achieve objectives of what are called ‘learning regions’ and the ‘lifelong learning perspective’. Boundaries between geographical, institutional and sectors are becoming more porous. Regions and cities may be seen as complex adaptive systems (CAS), and hence do not necessarily follow the logic of formal institutions. While formal institutions have innate interests in regulating interaction and communication between their members, networks develop according to evolutionary or selectionist dynamics, in that the processes of change can be seen as analogous to natural (Darwinian) selection. Networks may be seen as the architecture of complex systems. Research on networks has been relatively extensive in the last 20 to 30 years in mathematics, sociology, anthropology, and biology. There is an emerging science of networks that studies the structure and function of systems. There is also substantial research on the features in the interconnectedness or interdependencies within the system that contribute to explaining the functionality of that system. In this perspective, we may view a learning region as a web of learning opportunities.

Factors affecting student interest in web-based learning in higher education

“…Independent learning for students will be more easily realized if it by technology that has been close to their environment. Computer technology is one tool that can provide facilities for innovation in the preparation of these creative and innovative teaching materials (Chang, Sung & Hou, 2006), (Andersen, Ree, & Sandaker, 2010). One of the learning technologies that can be used is web-based learning, which is increasing rapidly nowadays (Gosper et al, 2016).…”

Complexity in the oil and gas industr he problem of emergency: a study into exploration and exploitation in integrated operations

“…As recognized by the authors, companies struggle to survive if they do not meet the needs of their surrounding market environment. In evolutionary terms, this challenge may be understood as the need to match the complexity of an ever-changing environment by allowing internal variation and facilitating processes of interaction from which innovation may emerge (Andersen, Ree & Sandaker, 2010). This study aims at contributing to understanding this relation by looking at exploitation at exploration at the organizational level from an evolutionary perspective: therefore interaction and variation are the central elements of the conceptual framework operationalized here.…”

“…For instance, there is an increasing recognition of the evolutionary and continuous rather than revolutionary character of processes of change in organizations (Warner Burke, 2013). As highlighted by Andersen et al (2010), both learning and selection are relatively constant processes in natural systems but it would be a misconception to assume that selection is goal-oriented and necessarily leading to improved outcomes. From this perspective, the very concept of learning loses the rather normative value usually implied by learning organization models.…”