Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping: Multidimensional Facets of Time in Online Learning

Abstract

p>A linear, sequential time conception based on in-person meetings and pedagogical activities is not enough for those who practice and hope to enhance contemporary education, particularly where online interactions are concerned. In this article, we propose a new model for understanding time in pedagogical contexts. Conceptual parts of the model will be employed as a “cultural technology” to help us relate to evolving phenomena, both physical and virtual. We label these constructs as pointillist , cyclical , and overlapping times.

Pointillist time and learning takes place in “dots” of actions that consist of small, discrete moments (e.g., tweeting). Producing, receiving, and sharing ideas in this context are separate points in each actor’s timeline. Cyclical time and learning emerges from intensive periods, which are highly visible in online forums. This construct reveals itself through interactions that often exist in multiple online environments. Overlapping time and learning involves various configurations of linear, pointillist, and cyclical layers, which are mainly evident through the simultaneous uses of social communication technologies.

Pointillist, cyclical, and overlapping time constructs enable new orientations for conceptualizing time in pedagogy. In this article we also introduce de-, re-, and en- modes of these pedagogies that connect with approaches to meet the needs of learners for individualization, personalization, and cyborgization.

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Full text

Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping: Multidimensional
Facets of Time in Online Learning
Abstract
A linear, sequential time conception based on in-person meetings and pedagogical activi-
ties is not enough for those who practice and hope to enhance contemporary education,
particularly where online interactions are concerned. In this article, we propose a new mod-
el for understanding time in pedagogical contexts. Conceptual parts of the model will be
employed as a “cultural technology” to help us relate to evolving phenomena, both physical
and virtual. We label these constructs as pointillist, cyclical, and overlapping times.
Pointillist time and learning takes place in “dots” of actions that consist of small, discrete
moments (e.g., tweeting). Producing, receiving, and sharing ideas in this context are sep-
arate points in each actor’s timeline. Cyclical time and learning emerges from intensive
periods, which are highly visible in online forums. This construct reveals itself through in-
teractions that often exist in multiple online environments. Overlapping time and learning
involves various congurations of linear, pointillist, and cyclical layers, which are mainly
evident through the simultaneous uses of social communication technologies.
Pointillist, cyclical, and overlapping time constructs enable new orientations for conceptu-
alizing time in pedagogy. In this article we also introduce de-, re-, and en- modes of these
pedagogies that connect with approaches to meet the needs of learners for individualiza-
tion, personalization, and cyborgization.
Keywords: Open learning; online learning; pedagogy
Pekka Ihanainen
HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences, Finland
John W. Moravec
University of Minnesota, USA

Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping Time: Multidimensional Facets of Time in Online Learning
Ihanainen and Moravec
Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 28
Introduction
In dialogues mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs), time often
deviates from the distinct, clear structures normally perceived in the “real world.” Individuals
may participate many times and in different ways. Messages, comments, questions, et
cetera can arise in asynchronous communicative activities at any time, occurring after
hours, days, and weeks, or, on occasion, immediately. Of course, these communications
take place during a certain time scale, but it is neither accurate nor absolute. The messages
may be viewed by different users repeatedly, and through this cycle, new meanings and
content may come into light. Viewed from a temporal perspective, past events regain new
life when examined (and reacted to) in different contexts. Often, online events exist in
isolation, becoming real only within the ow of the network. This facilitates the creation of
new virtual conceptualizations of time as it relates to social interactions.
We present two virtual extensions to the traditional, linear conceptualization of time that
emerge within ICT-enabled learning systems: (1) pointillist (dot-like) time, revealing itself
through discontinuous, separate acts that participants can return to; and (2) cyclical time,
illustrated by clusters of events in which intensive interactions occur for a period of time,
and then cyclically reemerge as bursts of activity in the same or different forums after a
certain amount of time has passed. These modes are not necessarily exclusive of each other,
but often overlap, creating a diverse ecology of time constructs within learning systems.
In this paper, we argue that linear time normally does not exist in online learning environ-
ments, but is instead supplemented or replaced by pointillist and cyclic temporal modes
(Ihanainen, 2006). For facilitators of learning in online environments, it is important to
recognize, understand, leverage, and construct new opportunities within any conguration
of these conceptualizations. We expand on this heuristic framework and identify ways to
maximize pedagogical performance based on these multidimensional understandings of
time in online education.
Multidimensional Conceptualizations of Time in Learning
Temponormative Learning
When most people hear the word pedagogy, they are likely to think of it within what we
label a temponormative framework. For those of us born before the 1990s, this is the
framework we are most familiar with. It is a pedagogy that embraces linear time, Cartesian
(linear) thinking, and continues to be the most prevalent framework within modern edu-
cational contexts. A linear conceptualization of time ensures that the learning process has
a beginning and an end, with predictable (and measurable) waypoints between. The causal
linearity of the temponormative frame allows the developmental procession of teaching
and learning that is often best suited for transmitting explicit knowledge to learners. This
mechanical process, for example, allows a group of learners to read a book progressively,
chapter by chapter, and recite information and facts that may be measured and evaluat-

Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping Time: Multidimensional Facets of Time in Online Learning
Ihanainen and Moravec
Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 29
ed summarily. Temponormative knowledge is typically encoded in predened curricula,
transmitted through “banking” pedagogies (see Freire, 2000), and transmits just-in-case
information and knowledge (e.g., memorization of the world’s capitals) that might be useful
outside of the learning event’s timeline.
The ongoing development of online learning environments that allow non-linear communi-
cations (both synchronous and asynchronous), however, suggest that the continuing reign
of the temponormative framework will become outmoded by the twenty-second century.
The three post-temponormative alternatives we identify in this paper utilize ICTs to expand
the temporal ecology of learning options beyond traditional, linear progression.
Pointillist Learning
When one sends a tweet1 about what one feels or does, to tell others about an idea, or to let
them know about an interesting Internet item (blog post, video, podcast etc.), an experi-
ential time point for the readers of the tweet is produced. Online readers and followers can
retweet that expression to others, producing a new time point. When one person follows the
tweets of others, he or she jumps into their time points for a while. This kind of microblog-
ging is pointillist both in a temporal sense and as an activity. Compatible with Bauman’s
(2007) “pointillist” concept, the term may also be employed generally to depict the life of a
modern and fragmented world. In this extension, we see pointillist time as a one-time real-
ity among simultaneous others.
Elements for pointillist learning are masses of fragments and pieces as used, for example,
within Twitter messaging. They transmit separately beginnings, middle-points, and end-
ings of events in an order that may seem perceptibly vague. Among others things, they
comprise experiences, opinions, perceptions, comments, and what-if scenarios.
Pointillist learning takes place in the middle of the timeline. Pointillist behavior and learn-
ing implies an ability to tolerate the insecure, uninterrupted, unanticipated and obvious
absurdity of the “moment,” but at the same time it indicates a capacity to differentiate the
essential from the unessential and to perceive the whole from fragments, almost as a fractal
construction of personal experiences and understandings.
The spontaneous nature of pointillist learning has always been a natural part of everyday
human activity.2 While physical–social–virtual activity has become the one unique reality
shared among most people within Western society, forces of globalization are gradually
forming an expanded mindset (global awareness), which increases possibilities of a greater
role for pointillist learning.

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Ihanainen and Moravec
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Cyclical Learning
In online forums, where participation (usually discussion) occurs within threads as a dia-
logical activity, learners experience both densication and diffusion of learning intensity.
These kinds of forums are, for example, discussion areas inside closed platforms, open so-
cial media chatting and interaction hubs, commenting tools in blogs, et cetera. Based on
our experiences in such forums, we have customarily been very passionate and eager to
discuss, comment, ask about, and develop specic thematic units. However, after a period
of time this intensity decreases and even ceases. Later on, the topic or an evolved form of it
reappears on that same forum or a different one.
This activity can be called a cyclical performance. The idea of cyclical learning relates to
“orient” approaches for repeating cycles of seasons (for example, see Briers, 2010), but here
we examine cycles in a smaller and disordered online scale. Phases of intensive activity and
calm alternate with each other, and together they construct a pulsating interaction within
the environment. Because the pulse activity is usually connected with specic themes and
content, it almost always is directed toward something. This does not mean that the activity
is determined by explicit objectives, but instead by goal-seeking encounters (i.e., as “strange
attractors” in the language of systems thinking) and processes with forum discussants.
Cyclical activity and learning is connected with the ability to observe intensive periods of
online interaction and join them. New competencies emerge in the perception of pulses
from emerging processes of thoughts, emotions, and understandings (among others). It
is also very important in cyclical learning and activity to be aware of and understand the
role of intervals. When participants take part in these cycles of processes, they develop
individual perceptions of the artifact explored. Participants therefore develop a new com-
petency, gaining the ability to perceive and acquire new knowledge within intensive peaks
of learning.
Overlapping Learning
The three frameworks we have described do not necessarily exist exclusive of one another,
but can coexist and overlap in simple or complex relationships (see Cynen framework,
2011). Overlapping may occur as (1) fragments within fragmentary entities, or (2) waves
within pulsating content processes. With regards to the former, for example, overlapping
incorporates the ability to move from pointillist activities to cyclical learning and vice versa.
The latter includes an ability to construct new insights, conceptualizations, and contextual
applications for knowledge within pulsating waves of cyclical, pointillistic, and/or tempo-
normative learning sets. Overlapping learning can take place through the overlapping uses
of technologies. For example, in online education, microblogging (a pointillist activity) may
be layered with intense activity within discussion forums (a cyclical activity).
Educators nd that the management of learning in this layered framework requires a keen
ability to cope with uncertainty and ambiguity in outcomes, which may be driven by the
complex interactions between components of the system (such as “mashups” of online
tools). For example, a forum discussion could serve as a launching point for sharing ideas

Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping Time: Multidimensional Facets of Time in Online Learning
Ihanainen and Moravec
Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 31
in microblog posts, which immediately draw new insights and reactions from actors outside
of the learning group in the form of blog comments, Twitter responses, and so on. This new
knowledge may be fed back into the forum discussion and/or additional microblog posts,
igniting pulsating waves of new knowledge generation within the learning group, beyond
the learning group, and in the spaces between. In such a scenario, learning happens in in-
stances and waves, independent of a denable pedagogical time.
Table 1
Characteristics of Temponormative, Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping Learning
Temponormative Pointillist Cyclical Overlapping
Pedagogy Traditional De- Re- En-
Systems analogy Cartesian, linear Moments Pulsating Chaordic
Knowledge pro-
duced
Explicit Personal (explicit
and tacit)
Personal and
social
Personal and
social
Learning hap-
pens through…
Direction Serendipity Evolution of
dialogue
Intersection
of direction,
serendipity, and
evolution
Predened
learning out-
comes
Yes No Sometimes No
Teleogenic? No No Yes Yes
Examples Lectures, readings Microblogging Online forums Mashups,
MOOCs
Note. In online contexts for learning and education, activities and behaviors are embedded
within the four identied time modes: temponormative, pointillist, cyclical, and overlap-
ping. For teaching and learning, it is important to recognize them and how they interplay in
educational settings and practices.

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Implications: De-, Re-, and En-Pedagogy
The pointillist, cyclical, and overlapping extensions operating beyond temponormative
conceptualizations of pedagogical time allow us to revisit and recontextualize our tradi-
tional views of pedagogy. We label these de, re-, and en-pedagogies.
A pointillist activity requires the learner to have spatial and temporal independence in the
different contexts of (virtual) responses and events. This capacity also creates sensitivity to
hectic communication processes and fragmented content items. Within these situations of
cognitive uncertainty and obscurity, the question of emotional certainty and trust emerges
for the learner.
Pointillist learning is, on one hand, learning in separatenesses (separate interactions and
content items), and, on the other hand, it is emergent, forming a gestalt of separatenesses
based on the learner’s personal interests. Pointillist learning is also tacit, but can acutely
and situationally become explicit, only to change again into a tacit form. The pointillist
emergent gestalt has both an unexpected and intuitive character: It takes place on its own.
Pointillist learning pays attention to culture and activity, and Twitter emerges as a powerful
example of this. The attention space or horizon maintains the individual’s attunement to
learning, producing her own reciprocal or separate awarenesses. Learning is facilitated by
this state of attunement and the attention-producing activity.
When pointillist learning is examined from a pedagogical point of view, it presents itself as
an anti- or de-pedagogy. This means that pointillist learning cannot be taught—it just hap-
pens! And because it happens so frequently, it is one of the most natural forms of learning
for humans (Cobo & Moravec, 2011). Based on this argument, we label pointillist peda-
gogy (if there is such a thing) as de-pedagogy, in which continuous—both interrupting and
restarting—pointillist presence is essential. It does not emerge from any planned or con-
sciously intended activity, which may also include pointillist learning. Pointillist pedagogy
is the pedagogy of serendipity.
The greatest challenge de-pedagogy presents to educators is that we must trust that valu-
able and signicant learning is actually taking place. For pedagogical activity, de-pedagogy
means that as facilitators of learning, we have to give up our role as teachers and start work-
ing as colearners and peers within our own pointillist environments.
De-pedagogy can also be viewed from a perspective of individualization (Dorninger, 2008;
Ray, 2005) that is different from personalization. Individualization in the context of de-
pedagogy means that single investments, such as tweets, messages, blog entries, articles,
or other (multimedia) content, are appreciated and learners are encouraged to produce
and use them individually (Bruns, 2008; “produse” in Produsage, n.d.). In this sense, de-
pedagogy is an expression of pedagogical individualization.
The serendipitous nature of pointillist de-pedagogy becomes especially visible in the con-
text of Twitter as the service limits communications to 140 characters or less. Users who

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Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 33
have embedded themselves in the communication style of the 140-character limit feel the
empowerment and impact of de-pedagogy, although the experience cannot be explained
explicitly with rational and causal terms. Of course, de-pedagogy is also present in real-life
interactions, but its power is more apparent when real life realms are actively connected
with the virtual in real time.
Pointillist de-pedagogy may also trigger re-pedagogy. Often times, people wish to continue
their explorations and re-understandings of pointillist events and contextualize the knowl-
edge to better suit their own needs and interests. This activity often takes place in online
discussion forums, which make ongoing communication and collaboration possible.
In cyclical activity, the same themes and topics arise in discussion and other activities semi-
regularly on either the same online forum or on different ones, where the topic is recontex-
tualized. In other words, the topic may be examined in new or different environments. The
cyclically repeating activity creates a reinforcement of its concepts and includes concepts
that are closely connected with it. In cyclical activities, learners develop the capability to
apply knowledge, competencies, and skills in new interactive contexts.
The recontextualization of learning through conceptual reinforcements and innovative ap-
plications of knowledge in new and different interactions means that individuals, groups,
and networks are able to build up the knowledge and capabilities produced in previous
cycles. New learning takes place in these cyclical renewals.
We therefore describe cyclical pedagogy as re-pedagogy. It builds and supports frameworks
in which previously learned knowledge and competencies may be reconstructed to be used
in new situations and contexts. The cyclical pedagogy is re-pedagogy, in which something
is done again, but in a different way (recontextualized). The substance of re-pedagogy is
not new, but it is not old or the same either; it is a mode of learning that provides for the
evolution of knowledge.
Re-pedagogy is synonymous with educational personalization.3 The core activity in person-
alization is multilateral interaction and negotiation, in which shared experiences, knowl-
edge, and orientations are made explicit for participants. This pedagogical personalization
is always a joint and equal process, not an external “marketing” endeavor to produce de-
sired behaviors for the benet of a single party.4
Pointillist and cyclical activities as experienced in life and learning overlap each other. We
describe them as coexisting within layer-like membranes of time and behaviors. The over-
lapping activity has the capability to attend to and orient participants exibly in complex
events and contexts. It has the capacity for simultaneous temponormative, pointillist, and
cyclical modes and outcomes.
Overlapping learning is knowledge-building of everything/anything, everywhere/any-
where, and at all times/anytime. In other words, overlapping learning is boundless in its
scope and capabilities. When examined from a pedagogical point of view, it can be seen as

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Ihanainen and Moravec
Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 34
pedagogy of encoding. We understand and recognize the pointillist de-pedagogy and cycli-
cal re-pedagogy mainly in virtual realms. The overlapping phenomena we have described
in this article can only be experienced in authentic virtual realities. It is possible to collect
the phenomena via mashups and other tools into understandable entities for purposive
applications (for example, to familiarize oneself with explicit knowledge about a certain
element, development, or research project). They may be purposefully encoded with ICTs.
We therefore label overlapping education en-pedagogy.
In online education, en-pedagogy transforms technology into virtual teachers’ activities
through the use of mashups (which we dene as combining web tools in creative ways).
What was formerly perceived as chaos or noise is instead presented and made available for
understanding in new and resourceful ways.
Parallel with de-pedagogy/individualization and re-pedagogy/personalization, we regard
en-pedagogy as pedagogy of cyborgization. This does not mean the creation of human-
technology hybrids, but rather recognizes the “normal,” already ubiquitous use of mobile
ICTs by humans. Cyborgization is an educational activity incorporating overlapping linear,
pointillist, and cyclical content and behavior for the learners’ everyday learning and study-
ing through ICTs. Access to mobile technologies becomes so uid that they represent exten-
sions of the human body (hence we use the term cyborgization).
Table 2
Summary of Implications of Pointillist, Cyclical, and Overlapping Learning for Pedagogy
De-pedagogy Re-pedagogy En-pedagogy
Learning status Exists in itself Exists in meeting Exists in encodings
Educational orientation Trust in individual
productivity
Organized interaction
in forums
Organized through
“mashups”
Educational specica-
tion/emphasis
Individualization Personalization Cyborgization
Typical classroom learning has instilled in most educators a strong tradition of temponor-
mative orientation. In de-, re-, and en-pedagogical contexts, educators should view classes
as malleable places and gatherings of people that resemble studios and workshops more
than classrooms.
Pathways for Maximizing Pedagogical Performance: Examples
The pointillist and serendipitous de-pedagogy is impossible to describe with concrete ex-
amples, unless we speak about individual experiences. As Sugata Mitra illustrates in his
talk, The Child-Driven Education (TED, 2010), this question emerges through the shared

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Ihanainen and Moravec
Vol 12 | No 7 Research Articles November 2011 35
tales of tacit learning experiences. The “holes in the wall” (computers) in his research cor-
relate (in the beginning) to pointillist learning moments for children, and later these mo-
ments can evolve into self-organized conversations and learning activities. The re- and en-
pedagogies instead may be illustrated by certain activities and cases.
The idea of re-pedagogy is illustrated through an example John Francis (in TED, 2008)
shared in his TED talk.5 Mr. Francis remained silent (did not speak) for 17 years. During
his silence, he still found opportunities for teaching. When he taught without words, he
used a unique sign and body language. Students then recoded his messages themselves and
interpreted their own individual meanings. Through this experience, Mr. Francis reports
that his students sometimes understood the content better than he himself had intended
to teach. Re-pedagogy is the perfect description for Mr. Frances’ case. In the real-life situa-
tion—which often is a cyclical process—there are various content items within communica-
tions, multimedia, traditional documents, and so on. The participants in the situation then
reproduce the content in a unique way that meets their own needs and purposes.
The pedagogical activity in re-pedagogy is the evolving reproduction of the knowledge it-
self and can also be labeled situated or personalized knowledge and competencies. For re-
pedagogy, teachers must trust in people within the situational moment. Their task is to try
to arrange environments and places for learners to interact and collaborate. Re-pedagogy is
a pedagogy that facilitates or curates ideas and experiences (Siemens, 2007).
Re-pedagogy is visible in activities that happen in simulational learning and replaces the
just-in- case learning of the temponormative paradigm (that is, rote memorization) with
“what if?” virtual, pointillist, and de-pedagogical opportunities. This approach allows ser-
endipitous learning that can provide solutions to past and present problems. In either poin-
tillist or cyclical forms, simulational learning also permits preactive, foresight-generative
thinking that allows students to consider and act upon solutions to problems that do not
yet exist. It is plausible to consider the genre of online simulations as an example of re-
pedagogy.
Chaordic learning is an en-pedagogy, attending to the chaordic systems of overlapping
cyclical, pointillist, and temponormative learning.6 Chaordic environments balance cha-
os (elements that cannot be controlled) and order (such as temponormative pedagogies)
within a system (Amidon, 2003), and “mold chaos and order for their design serendipities”
(Harkins & Moravec, 2011, p. 132). Examples of chaordic learning include videoconferenc-
ing with remote experts (pointillist) to overlap a series of lectures (temponormative) or
mashups of learning environments with ambient computing. The learning facilitator, how-
ever, needs to focus on the interaction between the various elements because they can lead
to learning outcomes that may deviate from what he or she formerly planned. A chaordic
approach can maximize the horizontality of relationships between facilitators and learners
and engage all actors in the construction of new knowledge. As Moravec (2006) postulates,
intelligent applications of information and communication technologies may be best lev-
eraged to facilitate such chaordic learning. As articial intelligence technologies improve,
we can expect the ecology of chaordic learning options to expand and diversify. We believe

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Ihanainen and Moravec
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massive open online courses (MOOCs), originally organized by Steven Downes and George
Siemens (Downes, 2008; Mackness, 2010), are examples of en-pedagogy.
Apart from exploring new pathways for maximizing pedagogical performance, educators
need to rethink assessment and evaluation in non-temponormative education. De-pedago-
gies produce outcomes that may be unexpected and not quantitatively measurable through
legacy regimes. Likewise, the cyclical nature of re-pedagogies builds personal knowledge
and competencies that cannot be measured directly. Finally, the chaordic nature of learning
in en-pedagogical systems cannot be controlled. Rather, as Allee (2003) suggests, chaordic
systems need to be attended to, not managed. The challenge for educators is therefore to
broaden the scope of expected outcomes in an environment that may seem ambiguous or
uncertain. Educators need to ensure that these systems have strong teleogenic (goal-seek-
ing) attributes.
Summary
As stated above, we argue that temponormative time normally does not exist in online
learning environments, but is instead supplemented or replaced by pointillist and cyclic
temporal modes. Together these form an overlapping mode of time. We provided an expan-
sion of this heuristic framework with pathways for maximizing pedagogical performance
based on these multidimensional understandings of time in online education. Recognition
of this framework with expanded temporal characteristics, however, calls on us to develop
new, purposive approaches that embrace and maximize the best congurations of de-, re-,
and en-pedagogies. So in lieu of a conclusion, we leave educators—particularly online edu-
cators—with a challenge: Afforded the post-temponormative enabling of online environ-
ments, how can we best leverage these opportunities of pedagogical time to facilitate mul-
tidimensional learning and meaningful new knowledge production?

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Endnotes
1 A tweet is a post on the Twitter network (see http://www.twitter.com), which lim-
its messages to 140 characters or less.
2 For a detailed discussion of the relationship between formal, non-formal, infor-
mal, and serendipitous learning, see Cobo and Moravec, 2011.
3 For a discussion of educational personalization, see Leadbeater, 2004, 2005.
4 In the private, for-prot sector, “personalization” often refers to activities that col-
lect information about customer behavior and desires, and then produce “personalized”
goods to sell to those same people. For our approach in learning, context personalization
is given a different meaning to enable the joint meeting and interaction of participants to
create something new.
5 TED is a technology, entertainment, and design conference series. The talks are
available to download for free at (http://www.ted.com).

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6 The term chaordia was coined by Dee Hock, and was originally applied in the area
of management theory during his tenure as CEO of VISA International. For more informa-
tion, see Hock & VISA International (1999).