When Disney Meets The Research Park

This is a rather interesting paper published in the Journal of the Internet and Higher Education.

When Disney meets the research park: Metaphors and models for engineering an online learning community of tomorrow

Author: Ronald J. Chenail

Abstract: It is suggested that educators look to an environment in which qualitative research can be learned in morecflexible and creative ways—an online learning community known as the Research Park Online (RPO). Thiscmodel, based upon Walt Disney’s 1966 plan for his ‘‘Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow’’c(EPCOT) and university cooperative research centers, proposes universities, through qualitative engineering,cdevelop online learning communities dedicated to faculty and students’ explorations. The RPO resourcescwould be constructed from ‘‘Contextualized Learning Objects for Constructing Knowledge’’ (CLOCKs)cthrough which park goers can generate new knowledge and technology, blaze personal pathways tocknowledge, engage park guides to traverse well-worn trails, and design experiences to meet lifelong learningcneeds. In the RPO, attractions, such as Methods Commons, University Communities, and CLOCKWorks,cwould be engineered so that students and faculty could learn and research at their own rates and according toctheir own needs.

You can read the WHOLE PAPER here.

Zz.