THE WEB OF LIFE

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LEARNING COMMUNITIES Webs of Life, Literacy
Learning
Ron Faris Oct. 4, 2007 Truro http//members.shaw.
ca/rfaris
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THIS WE KNOW,ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE THE
BLOOD WHICH UNITES ONE FAMILY .WHATEVER BEFALLS
THE EARTH,BEFALLS THE SONS AND DAUGHTERSOF THE
EARTH.MAN DID NOT WEAVE THE WEB OF LIFEHE IS
MERELY A STRAND IN IT.WHATEVER HE DOES TO THE
WEB, HE DOES TO HIMSELF.Ted Perry, inspired by
Chief Seattle
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KEY GLOBAL TRENDS

• Three inter-related drivers of change
• Globalization market ideology
• Technological change
• New knowledge and learning
• From resource-based to knowledge-based economy
• Human social capital
• New literacies
• Learning technologies

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KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY

• Constant change Continuous learning
• Investment in education/learning results in
  significant returns to organizations, individuals
  
• society
• Human social capital are intangible assets
• Human capital Formal educational attainment
• Social capital Trust, networking shared values
• Social/human capital synergy
• Social capital the cradle of human capital

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LEARNING COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

• EUROPE
• OECD Learning Regions - Spain, France,
  Denmark-Sweden UK
• Learning Communities Network Test-beds - UK
• Learning Villages - Finland, Portugal Italy
• AUSTRALIA
• Learning Communities Network
• Victoria State Learning Towns
• CANADA
• Community Learning Network projects in B.C.
• South Island Learning Community (SILC) project

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A LEARNING REGION MODEL
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING
ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
SOCIAL CAPITAL
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
SOCIAL INCLUSION
Source OECD, 2001
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES AN
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

• Neighbourhoods, villages, towns, cities or
  regions that explicitly use lifelong learning as
  an organizing principle and social/cultural goal
  in order to promote collaboration of their civic,
  economic, public, voluntary and education sectors
  to enhance social, economic and environmental
  conditions on a sustainable, inclusive basis
• communities of place

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R.Faris 2006
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LEARNING COMMUNITIES A NESTED CONCEPT

• LEARNING COMMUNITIES OF PLACE
• Learning Organizations
• Peter Senge
• Academic Learning Communities
• Alexander Meiklejohn
• Communities of Practice
• Etienne Wenger
• Learning Circles
• Miles Horton Kurt Lewin

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PURPOSES

• SUSTAINABLE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
• Economic
• Environmental
• Social/cultural
• SOCIAL INCLUSION
• Building First Nation non-First Nation bridges
• COMMUNITY CAPACITY BUILDING
• Human capital - Individual attainment
• Social capital - Trust, Networks, Shared Values
• Built capital - Infrastructure
• Natural capital - Ecology

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LEARNING COMMUNITIES A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Community Partners civic economic
public education voluntary
Outcomes economic regeneration social
inclusion increased community capacity lifelong
learning
Inter-related Strategies adult literacy
community econ development expanded IT use
at-risk youth initiatives
Input
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LEARNING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
CIVIC Municipal - Band Shire - Prov-Fed
ECONOMIC Private - Social
PARTNERSHIPS
PUBLIC Libraries - Museums Social - Health
Agencies
EDUCATION K -20
COMMUNITY/ VOLUNTARY
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LEARNING COMMUNITIESSUCCESS DETERMINANTS

• 3 Ps of success
• Partnership - learning to build links among all
  sectors and mobilize their shared resources
• Participation - learning to foster participation
  of all learners and involve the public in the
  policy process
• Performance - learning to assess progress and
  benchmark good practice

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LEARNING COMMUNITIES THE 3 PS
Performance
Assessment Benchmarking
Civic, Economic, Public (e.g. libraries, health
social services), Education,
Voluntary/Community
Partnership
Info Tech
Learners, Organizations, Ethnic Aboriginal
communities
Media, Public forums, Website/Listservs
E-portfolios
Participation
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ADULT LITERACY AN INVESTMENT

• A one percent rise in adult literacy scores is
  associated with an eventual 2.5 percent relative
  rise in labour productivity and a 1.5 percent
  rise
• in GDP per head (C18 billion)
• Three times greater effect than investment in
  physical capital
• more important to economic growth than
  producing highly skilled graduates
• C. D. HOWE INSTITUTE (2005) Coulombe
  Tremblay

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SUSTAINABLE TRIPLEBOTTOM LINE
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
IKEA
SUSTAINABILITY
ECO-JUSTICE
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SOUTH ISLAND LEARNING COMMUNITY (SILC) PROJECT

• GOALS
• Bridging First Nation non-FN Communities
• Building Community Organizational Capacity
• Testing Innovative Literacy Approaches
• Open Source Technologies
• Learner E-Portfolio Learning Plans
• Developing Service-Learning Opportunities

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SILC FORMATIVE EVALUATION

• From Awareness to Involvement
• From Involvement to Understanding
• From Understanding to Commitment

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COMMUNITY VALUES

• Balance citizen rights responsibilities
• Devolve resources and power to communities with
  increased capacity of learning and information
  communications technologies
• Mobilize human/social capital to foster
  sustainable local economic development, social
  inclusion community capacity

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• Men and women have within themselves and their
  communities the spiritual and intellectual
  resources adequate to the solution of their own
  problems.
• Canadian Association for Adult Education
• Statement of Purposes, 1946

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THE WEB OF LEARNING LEARNING COMMUNITIES
Private Social Enterprise
Local Government
Economic Sector
Universities
Community Colleges
LEARNERS
Civic Sector
Education Sector
Service Clubs
Institutes
Schools
Libraries
Museums
Public Sector
Voluntary Sector
Community Associations
Health Agencies
Social Service Agencies
Faith Communities
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SENGE Creating Quality Communities
Building learning organizations is not an
individual task. It demands a shift that goes all
the way to the core of our culture. We have
drifted into a culture that fragments our
thoughts, that detaches the world from the self
and the self from the community. We are so
focused on our security that we dont see the
price we pay living in bureaucratic
organizations where the wonder and joy of
learning have no place. Thus, we are losing the
spaces to dance with the ever-changing patterns
of life. We need to invent a new learning model
for business, education, health care, government
and the family. This invention will come from the
patient, concerted efforts of communities of
people invoking aspiration and wonder. As these
communities manage to produce fundamental
changes, we will regain our memory the memory
of the community nature of the self and the
poetic nature of language and the world the
memory of the whole.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHYEARLY LEARNING

• Keating, D. C. Hertzman, 1999, Developmental
  Health and the Wealth of Nations Social,
  Biological and Educational Dynamics, The Guilford
  Press, New York.
• L. Irwin et al, 2007, Early Child Development A
  Powerful Equalizer, WHO Commission on the Social
  Determinants of Health, Geneva.
• Schweinhart, L., 2006, The High/Scope Perry
  Preschool Study Through Age 40 Summary,
  Conclusions, and Frequently Asked Questions,
  High/Scope Educational Research Foundation,
• Ypsilanti, Michigan.

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ADULT LITERACY ROI

• Coulombe, S. J. Tremblay, 2005, Public
  Investment in Skills Are Canadian Governments
  Doing Enough?, C. D. Howe Institute Commentary,
  No.217, Toronto.
• Hartley, R., J. Horne, 2006, Social and
  economic benefits of improved adult literacy,
  National Centre for Vocational Education
  Research, Adelaide.
• Sticht, T., 1999, Adult Basic Education
  Strategies to Increase Returns on Investment
  (ROI), Applied Behavioral Cognitive Sciences,
  Inc.

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A PERMANENT UNDERCLASS?

• Butterwick, S. C. White, 2006, A Path Out of
  Poverty Helping BC Income Assistance Recipients
  Upgrade Their Education, CCPA, Vancouver.
• Institute for COMPETITIVENESS PROSPERITY, 2007,
  Prosperity, inequality, and poverty, Working
  Paper 10, (September 2007), Toronto.
• - Morisette, R., Zhang, X., 2006, Revisiting
  wealth inequality, PERSPECTIVES (Dec. 2006),
  Statistics Canada, Ottawa.
• - Myers, K., Lebroucker, P., 2006, Too Many
  Left Behind Canadas Adult Education and
  Training System, Research Report W/34 Work
  Network, CPRN, Ottawa.

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HUMAN SOCIAL CAPITAL

• - Duke,C. et al, 2006, Making knowledge work
  Sustaining learning communities and regions,
  NIACE, Leicester.
• - Mowbray, M., 2005, Community, the State and
  social capital impact assessment, Rebalancing
  the social and economic Learning, partnership
  and place, NIACE, Leicester. Pp. 47-61.
• - OECD, 2001, The Wellbeing of Nations the Role
  of Human and Social Capital, Centre for
  Educational Research and Innovation, Paris.

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NORDIC vs N. AMERICAN MODELS

• - Brooks, J. Hwong, T., 2006, The Social
  Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation A
  Comparison of High- and Low- Tax Countries,
  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa.
• - Rubenson, K., 2006, The Nordic Model of
  Lifelong Learning, Compare A journal of
  comparative education, Vol. 36, Issue 3 (Sept.
  2006), pp. 327-341.
• - Veeman, A. N., 2004, Adult Learning in Canada
  and Sweden A Comparative Study of Four Sites,
  unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
  Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.

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PAN-CANADIAN LITERACY STRATEGY

• Alexander, C., 2007, Literacy Matters A Call for
  Action, T D Bank Financial Group, Toronto.
• Faris, R., Blunt, A., 2007, Report on the CMEC
  Forum on Adult Literacy, Prince George, British
  Columbia (June 19-20, 2006), Council of Ministers
  of Education Canada, Toronto.
• HRDC, 2005, Towards A Fully Literate Canada,
  National Advisory Committee on Literacy and
  Essential Skills (Bradshaw Cmtee), Ottawa.