Learning in the Digital Age

Abstract

John Seely Brown reflects upon the nature of information and knowledge and the social context of learning. He suggests that perhaps the key distinction between information and knowledge is that information is usually considered independent of any particular individual (it can be looked up in a book or retrieved online), whereas knowledge is associated with a knower. Knowledge entails understanding information rather than merely holding it. Thus, the resources for learning lie not simply in information, but in the practice that allows people to make sense of it and in the practitioners who know how to use it. Learning is a remarkably social process.