Social Learning is Voluntary; Collaboration Platforms are Enablers
Sahana Chattopadhyay, ID and Other Reflections, 2014/10/21

I've used the phrase 'free learning and control learning' in the past to highlight the same distinction, but while my terminology didn't really take off, perhaps Jane Hart's 'social learning and fauxial learning' will fare better. I'm not betting on it. But the distinction is valid, and so is the recognition that people can depend on people other than teachers to support their own learning. "Organizations can no longer exist in silos -- either internally or in relation to the external ecosystem. Cooperation and collaboration will yield greater benefits than competitiveness. Employees will no longer tolerate being treated like replaceable cogs."

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Review of ‘Online Distance Education: Towards a Research Agenda.’
Tony Bates, online learning and distance education resources, 2014/10/21

Although Tony Bates considers this book "essential reading for anyone who wants to take a professional, evidence-based approach to online learning (distance or otherwise)" he suggests that "we need a better way to disseminate this research than a 500 page printed text that only those already expert in the field are likely to access." It doesn't help that there's no open access version (at least that I could find). Moreover, writes Bates, "I groaned when I first saw the list of contributors. The same old, same old list of distance education experts with a heavy bias towards open universities."

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