This film examines the overflowing abundance of knowledge, expertise, and social connectivity in the networked age and the power of bringing people together who want to learn together through the internet and social media.

We commissioned filmmaker Nic Askew (http://soulbiographies.com) to make a series of films about connected learning, a new approach to learning he called “courageous” and “transformational.”

Guided by six learning principles and three core values, connected learning is the outcome of a six-year research effort supported by the MacArthur Foundation into how learning, education, and schooling could be reimagined for a networked world.

The film asks:

  • ‘Might the information age free us to pursue learning centered on individuals and not institutions?’
  • ‘Perhaps each of us has a part to play in the possibility of education?’
  • ‘Might a broader definition and responsibility for education bring us all closer together?’

The interview subject is cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito, a leader in the field of youth, technology, culture and learning; research director of the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub; and chair of the Connected Learning Research Network, which is supported by the MacArthur Foundation as part of its Digital Media and Learning initiative (http://macfound.org/programs/learning).

Other films in the connected learning series: