Let me tell you a story. It’s the story of how I found you.

I found you while looking for myself. I found you via a very special network – my personal learning network.

Here’s how it went…

The Blue Bird Tweeted:

RT @carlaarena: Cheating and the new value of knowledge #rhizo14http://t.co/gdjkJOV0AP via @c_durley A relevant discussion indeed #mustread

— Clarissa Bezerra (@Clarissamfb) January 23, 2014

My dear friend and mentor, Carla Arena, shared this delicate gem via Twitter. A beautifully lapidated piece by a lady called Carolyn Durley. These words instantly struck a chord deep within:

“I realized and finally succumbed to the truth of the situation: we are at a cross roads between a historical view of acquiring knowledge and the contrasting way we acquire information in a networked world.”   – Carolyn Durley

Carolyn, being a teacher as myself, ventured into the universe of education and how ‘cheating’ may actually bring down walls and pedestals, from whose heights we – teachers – stand. We, teachers, the repositories of all knowledge. It might have been (and it most certainly was) through sweat and tears that we got to where we are in terms of acquired knowledge and experience, so our students should just endure the same hardships and be worthy of becoming – one day – knowledgeable. It was poetic. It was subversive. I had to pass it on to my personal learning network, among whom I was certain there would be those wo’d be moved/disturbed deep within. I RTed and I followed @c_durley down her rabbit hole. And then…

Another thought-provoking post by @c_durley > On Enforcing Independence #rhizo14 http://t.co/nuZrO4jh7t #autonomy

— Clarissa Bezerra (@Clarissamfb) January 27, 2014

Enforced independence. Quite paradoxical, indeed, Carolyn. I was hooked and mesmerized by it all – the ideas, the sensations. We humans are naturally wired for movement forward, intrinsic motivation is in our very DNA. We, teachers, may foster independence, nudging our students forward, being role models of autonomy and independence ourselves. Not only as teachers, but as learners – as people. I felt compelled to jump in the discussion:

Carolyn and I became co-followers and co-readers of each others’ writings. I had been entangled by the rhizome that stemmed from A Fine Balance, and Twitter, and the entanglement continued.

Down the Rabbit Hole http://t.co/ePKCrn3j73 via @cathleennardi#rhizo14

— Carolyn Durley (@c_durley) February 3, 2014

And I ended up – literally – stumbling upon yet another gem. Had to share it.

On my way down the rabbit hole, I stumbled upon this video http://t.co/VMPDHxbAqg what a #gem#rhizo14 prospected via http://t.co/Au6E0iHY0O

— Clarissa Bezerra (@Clarissamfb) February 3, 2014

And so it was that, another rhizo prospected that gem, and also ran into me.

I’d come full circle in the rhizome, just to find that it had spiraled into yet another branch, another rabbit hole.

I stared into its darkness, and asked rhizo-Dave: “Too crazy to leap, ya think?”

And then the next thing you know…

Rhizomatic learning is, for me:

• non-linear learning
• prospecting gems
• ethnographic discovery
• discovering how you’re wired
• connecting with otherness and then with yourself
• how I go about my professional and personal development in this brave new world of all things technological