Empowering Learners as Producers and Creators

The Internet allows people without programming skills to create and post content to be shared with millions of people. Consequently, people can create content, collaborate, and critique the ideas and works of others relating to any topic one can imagine. Moreover, a learner can connect quickly with a small community scattered geographically around the world to become knowledgeable about a very specialized topic and develop real expertise

At first, learners identify relevant social networks within and surrounding the virtual world that can serve as a resource for their learning. The learners lurk in the virtual worlds and observe more experienced players and the cultural norms and rules for participation. As they become more comfortable with the learning context, the learners contribute small amounts of information or time to the network. As they become more experienced and knowledgeable, they create their own material, perhaps modifying some aspects of the digital environment or making elaborations to a game. In the final stage, they lead, which includes mentoring new learners or managing networks they belong to. In this process, novice players often receive explicit mentoring or tips from fellow players.