Have you ever come up with a phrase, thought you invented it and were probably
a genius, only to find out later (when you Googled it) that it had been around
for years?
No?
Just me?
Maybe it's because we are coming off the holidays....binge eating. Maybe it's because I just - finally - got Netflix....binge watching. And maybe, it's because I am sitting at a conference, trying to assimilate a lot of information and thinking about models of learning....that I (did not) coin the phrase "BINGE LEARNING."
Everyone is on a binge these days. Look at Beyoncé. Tease an album and release a single? No! Surprise drop an entire album, releasing all the songs with accompanying videos. Binge -er. So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that someone beat me to this term. I found it mentioned once in 2008/9, and then much more beginning in 2013. (Remember 2013?)
Now to be clear, the metaphor does not entirely hold water, mostly due to the troublesome word learning. Whereas sitting and watching an entire season of Breaking Bad is a passive reception of one-way communication, learning is generally a different program altogether. Just work with me here.
So, what is binge learning? What are the pros and cons?
Binge Learning:
Usually,
by accessing on-demand content, a person indulges an interest in a topic and
vigorously pursues it until achieving some form of mastery or another interest
supersedes it. Online content is accessed to support the endeavor.
Sometimes this takes place in MOOCs - Massive Open Courses. But even those can be meted out at a pace that does not permit the rapid consumption of content that is a hallmark of binge learning.
Pros of the best versions of BL:
-Interest-based
-Just in time and on demand
-Desired level of intensity, at your pace
-Focus on singular tasking, decreases the noise of multitasking
-Less context switching, fewer task/focus shifts (ex. As in moving from class to class/ideas/subjects)
-Potential for use in formal education
Sometimes this takes place in MOOCs - Massive Open Courses. But even those can be meted out at a pace that does not permit the rapid consumption of content that is a hallmark of binge learning.
Pros of the best versions of BL:
-Interest-based
-Just in time and on demand
-Desired level of intensity, at your pace
-Focus on singular tasking, decreases the noise of multitasking
-Less context switching, fewer task/focus shifts (ex. As in moving from class to class/ideas/subjects)
-Potential for use in formal education
-Potential
for cost savings
Cons of BL:
-Purging knowledge - Decreased retention versus longer term designs
-Purging learners - high attrition, most "students" of this method do not persevere
(For example it is common for over 90% of those engaging in MOOCs to not complete the course.)
-Difficult to implement or institutionalize in the context of seat time and credit hours
-Slimmer bandwidth of content, due to interest-driven nature
When was the last time you binged on learning? (Was there a subsequent purge?)
I wonder, if positively harnessed, what kind of potential this metaphor might have when applied to formal education? Or, is it best made available only informally?
Cons of BL:
-Purging knowledge - Decreased retention versus longer term designs
-Purging learners - high attrition, most "students" of this method do not persevere
(For example it is common for over 90% of those engaging in MOOCs to not complete the course.)
-Difficult to implement or institutionalize in the context of seat time and credit hours
-Slimmer bandwidth of content, due to interest-driven nature
When was the last time you binged on learning? (Was there a subsequent purge?)
I wonder, if positively harnessed, what kind of potential this metaphor might have when applied to formal education? Or, is it best made available only informally?
How would it look?
Think on that. I've got to go finish the last season of Game of Thrones.
-Suzann Girtz
References
1- http://theumlaut.com/2013/03/06/binge-learning-is-online-educations-killer-app/
2- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-gilbert/should-universities-mimic_b_3354671.html
3- https://blog.provost.georgetown.edu/mooc-morphing-binge-learning-and-whats-happenin-over-the-summer/
I binge learned how to edit videos for my YouTube channel, including how to remove audio from a piece of video, clean up the quality and raise the levels, then put it back onto the video and add a second audio track of music. I edited three short videos. When I went back a month later to do another, I couldn't remember and had to learn it all over again. But then, I'm of-a-certain-age and my brain is a sieve.
ReplyDeleteMind like a steel trap! (With a few holes....) I resemble that remark. Thanks for reading, Mary! :)
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