Learning from a curriculum and learning from a network.

The curriculum vs. the personal learning network. George Siemens on learning communities and learning networks:

[...] learning communities allow us to become knowledgeable in a specific area of interest...much like courses teach one specific subject matter.

Most of us belong to more than one learning community. These multiple communities form a personal learning network. If a learning community equates somewhat with a course, then our learning network is equivalent to a degree program.

Yes! Definitely. Precisely. Spot on. As the evolution of the different fields of knowledge speeds up, each crosses a threshold point where it makes more sense for most learners to give up on courses and embrace learning networks. In IT this is already happening.
[Seb's Open Research]

While I agree that learning from other people, outside of formal curricula, is (and always has been) important, I don't know that I can exactly agree that "our learning network is equivalent to a degree program." Some problems with this concept of equivalence include accountability, accuracy, and completeness. Communities are certainly repositories of information - much of which, unfortunately, may be wrong.

Why is the original headline posed as a "vs." relationship? Wouldn't it be much more appropriate to make it an "and" relationship?

4:26:18 PM