Five Waves of Conceptualizing Knowledge and Learning for Our Future in a Networked Society

This chapter describes five waves of learning mediated by information-communication technologies. Each wave is identified with particular pedagogies and technologies, and – critically – particular social conceptions of education that those pedagogies and technologies helped bring into being: Wave 1 – information dissemination and consumption; Wave 2 – constructivism and mind tools; Wave 3 – collaborative and social learning; Wave 4 – distributed Intelligence; and Wave 5 – eudaemonic learning. We argue that Wave 5-inspired research requires an epistemological shift, taking into account the mix of intentional and unintentional, engineered vs. accidental, and emergent vs. designed aspects of learning. We demonstrate how the research presented in this book moves toward a vision of research and design of eudaemonic learning. That is – the learning in a networked society research looks at learning as a component of how individuals and society mutually develop each other, while studying how technology helps create the conditions for such learning.