Networked Learning · Ongoing or long-form (e.g., 4-week modules to multi-year communities of practice)

Rhizomatic Education (Community as Curriculum)

A decentralized learning model where the curriculum is not a fixed set of content but the living community of learners itself. It treats knowledge as a fluid, negotiated process that evolves in real-time based on the needs and contributions of the participants rather than a static canon.

When to use Rhizomatic Education (Community as Curriculum)

Most effective in rapidly evolving fields where information becomes obsolete quickly, such as technology, digital media, or emerging sciences, and where no single 'expert' can claim a monopoly on current truth.

How Rhizomatic Education (Community as Curriculum) works

Facilitators act as curators and connectors rather than lecturers, providing entry points into professional networks and collaborative platforms. Design sessions around open-ended problems where learners must use social tools (wikis, blogs, forums) to co-construct the 'syllabus' and document their findings as they navigate the subject matter.

Phases of Rhizomatic Education (Community as Curriculum)

  1. Community Formation: Learners form a network of peers around a shared interest, with no fixed syllabus. The facilitator hosts introductions, surfaces what each person brings and sets up spaces to connect.
  2. Knowledge Negotiation: The community decides together what is worth knowing and how, based on members' needs and contributions. Sessions use open questions and discussion where the facilitator is one voice among many.
  3. Rhizomatic Mapping: Participants trace connections between ideas, people and resources as they grow in many directions rather than one path. Groups build shared maps, wikis or boards that keep changing.
  4. Contextual Validation: Knowledge is judged by whether it works in members' own contexts, not by an external authority. Participants test ideas in practice and report back what held up.
  5. Network Integration: Learning spreads beyond the group into wider networks and members' work, and new people join. The facilitator encourages sharing outputs publicly and linking to other communities.

Key principles

  • The Community is the Curriculum
  • Knowledge as Social Negotiation
  • Non-linear and Decentralized Growth
  • Contextual Utility over External Validation
  • Mutable and Negotiated Learning Goals

Best for

  • Social Learning
  • Professional Development in Tech
  • Graduate-level Research
  • Communities of Practice

Considerations

  • Requires high learner autonomy and digital literacy
  • Resists traditional standardized assessment and grading
  • Can feel chaotic or overwhelming for learners accustomed to expert-led, linear instruction

Attribution & sources

Developed by Dave Cormier (2008), based on the philosophical concepts of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1987)

Primary source

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