This post is a response to the ideas presented by Jon Dron and Terry Anderson titled, Can the Crowd Teach? I made some revisions to the original post -

I removed the dead link, and added more details about the source; I also need to add some context here. I am following up on a post I did in which I collected basic details on three sources, so this post delves into more detail about one of those sources in this blog post

I added a note to self to check up on possible loose strings of thought, and look for some supporting sources to back up my assertions;

I added headings to organize the post a bit more

I added keywords within the post (possibly for content analysis later on)

I think that the Individual is the significant unit of analysis, and not the Group, the Network or the Collective. There is a need to provide a balance between the importance of the social construction of knowledge and the individual construction of knowledge. Not all learning is socially constructed; the majority of insights occur within individual learners.

The Importance of Solitude

Not all learning is obvious, explicit, or shared; in fact, most significant learning occurs in solitude. How does theory account for the importance of solitude, particularly in terms of how individuals navigate and negotiate the web's resources? So much learning activity is first done in solitude, followed by a shifting of perspective, in which individual learners choose to "scope out" others' perspectives, searching for, scanning, evaluating, selecting, responding and interacting with others' ideas. So much of this activity is passive, that is, not directly involving, or requiring, the participation or involvement of others.

Lurking Revisited

The act of lurking has received negative associations. The act of self-withdrawal is considered unworthy somehow of consideration (note to self - what examples am I referring to when I assert this?) - yet it is this activity that merits further study and discussion. The role of educators is to empower individuals by engaging them in learning partnerships to become autonomous users of blogging (and other personal publishing) technologies. The zones of concern for lifelong learners are primarily twofold:

1. Within groups, in which individuals participate to meet a number of needs:

- The need for certification and accreditation, in which participants are required to trade off independence for conformity to rules, norms and external assessors to satisfy requirements and meet standards;

- The need for affinity, to engage in creative or confessional sharing among a trusted group of peers;

- The need for synergistic learning circles, which are based on reciprocal, respectful interactions, in which an individual's participation is autonomous, independent, and not contingent on others' feedback, but inviting and appreciative of others' contributions;

- The need for belonging, for collaboration with others, in which an individual's participation is embedded, dependent and contingent on others;

2. Within networks and collectives, in which learners engage in non-formal and informal learning, participating independently in acts of homesteading, harvesting, berry-picking, and sense-making, to create life-streams, and participate and evolve within life-roles.