Connectivism

I am a very happy user of moodle as a VLE - my first love was WebCT and then moodle stole my heart. I am now starting to explore different learning theories to better understand how to design effective pedagogical materials for use within the VLE etc. I came across george Siemens connectivism "A learning theory for today's learner". Ref: http://www.connectivism.ca

Here is the conclusion from his paper

"Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era."

Ref: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Not everyone agrees with George Siemens

"George Siemens may be one of the most controversial speakers on many e-learning conferences, including the SURF Onderwijsdagen in mid November. In his article "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" from 2004 Siemens denounces the limitations of behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism and introduces connectivism as a learning theory for the digital era. Pløn Verhagen, professor Educational Design at the University of Twente shares his opinions on connectivism at the request of the E-learning theme site."

Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen http://elearning.surf.nl/e-learning/english/3793

Some of ourconcepts are likely to change, one of the problems being that because we have been taught in one way we feel we must pass on our knowledge in the same way,(it worked for us). Do you remember the teacher that really enthused you, now do you remember if it was their knowledge or their enthusiasm for the subject that carried you along. I'm betting it was the enthusiasm, they made the connections for you and once you seen the connections you gathered the knowledge yourself.

I like teh following quote, but cant remember were I got it from! Can you help?
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

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Comment by Sylvia Martinez on June 17, 2007 at 11:43am: Hi Bruce,
I attended an online conference given by George Siemens (who is behind Connectivism). It's a bit of a mish-mosh of populist jargon if you ask me. The word "connect" makes it seems sort of Internet-like, and I think a lot of people are worried (or excited) about how all these connections are changing the world as we know it. So a new theory is born, books get sold, and keynotes get presented.

I guess I'm still finding lots of gold in the learning theories of Papert, Vygotsky, Dewey, and others.

Papert especially makes sense these days. His theory, called constructionism, is about how children learn by making things, doing real things, from painting to programming a computer, and how that impacts teaching and learning. (Papert was a student of Piaget, too, which is a cool historical link)

Papert put his constructionism theory out as a direct opposite to instruction. He makes the case that we will not improve learning by instructing (presenting) more or better, but by facillitating classroom conditions where children can learn more, by giving them the tools, time, and materials to construct their own knowledge.

Papert "This vision ... illustrates the sense of the opposition I like to formulate as constructionism vs. instructionism when discussing directions for innovation and enhancement in education.

I am asking what kinds of innovation are liable to produce radical change in how children learn. Take mathematics as an extreme example. It seems obvious that as a society we are mathematical underperformers. It is also obvious that instruction in mathematics is on the average very poor. But it does not follow that the route to better performance is necessarily the invention by researchers of more powerful and effective means of instruction (with or without computers)."

I think a lot of people worry about the amount of information out there, and feel that teaching students to search better, or deal with it more efficiently is very important. I think that's simply based on adult fears, not children's needs. Twenty years ago, we would never claim that simply moving a classroom into a library would enhance learning, even if you did nothing but teach the Dewey-decimal system really really well.

Information is not the heart of the matter, teaching children that they can master a situation on their own is, whether they are dealing with lots of information, solving a problem, or asking deep questions that interest them.

More on Papert & Constructionist learning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionist_learning

Comment by Durff on June 17, 2007 at 12:01pm: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." sounds like Karl Fisch to me.
I disagree with Sylvia in her dismissal of the jargon, not because i disagree with her assessment, but because when education seeks a change then a successful media campaign is in order.
Presenting a new jargon behind which people can rally has historical context. Think of past political parties, the Democratic party for example.
I don't think that the men Sylvia mentions would disagree with the theory. Connectivism just seems like an extension of all these other theories. It connects them to raw information.
Information is the point of the matter, and teaching kids how to connect information that is important to them with increasing speed will facilitate them in gaining knowledge.

Comment by Sylvia Martinez on June 18, 2007 at 12:30pm: I'm fine with jargon in terms of breaking a complex idea down to digestible bites. However, a learning theory has to have more behind it. The article with disagreements about connectivism by Bijdrage van Pløn Verhagen http://elearning.surf.nl/e-learning/english/3793 makes the case well.

I also disagree that the men I cited would agree with this new theory. I think they would have a very high bar about what constitutes a theory and how this would inform practice, and why connecting to raw information has anything to do with learning.

Teaching kids is the point, but I would completely disagree that teaching kids how to "connect to information" is what is important. Gaining knowledge comes from doing something, not connecting with something.

Comment by bruce nightingale on June 19, 2007 at 2:20pm: Sylvia and Durff (great hat) - Thanks for your comments. I am still reflecting on them. Meanwhile, here is a link to a podcast by George Siemens if you would like to hear him outline his thinking on connectivism.

Cheers - Bruce

Comment by bruce nightingale on June 19, 2007 at 2:20pm: ooops - guess what I missed ...

http://blogs.educationau.edu.au/seminar/2006/10/18/global-summit-siemens-connectivism/

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