RECEIVING THROUGH GIVING: SCIENTIFIC MEMOS OF WEB BASED LEARNING

Abstract

In this article the author has offered constructivist grounded theory scientific memos of professors and their students self-regulated learning in social networks. Memos were written following posthuman philosophical tradition seeking to clarify the processes emerging when human web residents having meaningful and valuable real-world experiences navigated in virtual settings. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 5 professors and instructors and 12 their students from four different universities in two main Lithuanian towns. The grounded theory data still lack saturation and at this stage the substantive grounded theory named Receiving through giving showed the complicated process of collective sharing. Empirical data indicated the vibratory flow of sharing: the respondents demand to receive from the experts and withdrawal while presenting personal knowledge and skills. The oscillation of motivation for sharing depended on the strength of net activities. The differences in sharing nature were observed: professors and instructors protected their data and purposively managed the networked time, while students expressed openness and knowledge grab from various channels with low selection. The author treated social network as a thing controlled by the respondents and as a companion species influencing its occupier’s goals and desires, raising the questions about the researcher’s role either as an observer or active participant of the net processes.

Keywords: posthuman learning in nets, researcher as a rhizomatic system, receiving through giving, web as a liquid learning body.

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2015.104