ABSTRACT
A rhizome is a plant stem that sends out a tangled mass of roots to collect nutrients and help the plant to grow. Rhizomatic learning is gaining knowledge by exploring in many directions, interconnecting with others. Academics who bid for and run large research multi-national research projects often engage in rhizomatic learning. For an educator, supporting rhizomatic learning requires helping to create that context within which the participants build the curriculum and construct knowledge. Rhizomatic learning has mainly been practised in higher education, particularly on postgraduate courses and in online learning where students can engage with a global network of peers and resources. The learning experience may build on social and conversational processes, as well as personal knowledge creation, linked to unbounded personal learning networks that merge formal and informal media. Perhaps there are ways to nurture communities of young learners so they are simultaneously engaged, challenged and supported.
