Personal Blogs

Summary of Connectivism.

• Existing descriptions of learning were developed before the impact of technology and they are used to design online learning environments.
• One major impact is the life of knowledge, this used to be slow (often over decades) now it is short, and knowledge develops quickly. So much so that knowledge is obsolete soon after it has become relevant.  This has had the following impacts
  • People switch careers a lot.
  • Learning happens all over the place, not just in formal settings.
  • Learning is lifelong.
  • Technology is rewiring our brains.
  • Knowledge management means we need to explain the link between individual and organizational learning.
  • Much of previous learning theory can now be handled by technology (doesn’t specify which).
  • We now need to know where to find the knowledge.
  • Driscoll’s (2000) theory can be connected to previous learning theory in terms of the idea of “learning as a lasting changed state (emotional, mental, physiological (i.e. skills)) brought about as a result of experiences and interactions with content or other people.”
  • His theory debates “valid sources of knowledge”, “content of knowledge” and “three epistemological traditions in relation to learning: Objectivism, Pragmatism, and Interpretivism”.
  • All learning theories address how we learn. He then goes on to describe how this happens in the three major theories, behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.
  • The limitations of these three
    • They all say that learning happens in the brain, but what about technologies that now learns for us, i.e. Outside the person.
    • They also fail to address learning in an organization
    • They are not concerned with describing what is worth knowing, which is something we have to be able to do with the internet.
    • We also now do stuff outside of our own knowledge base, so “The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill.”
    • It’s no longer enough to tinker with existing theories, we need a new one.
    • He then posits questions that need to be considered when thinking about a new theory
      • How is learning changed when learning is no longer linear?
      • When information storage and retrieval is now done by technology, how does that impact learning theory?
      • How to stay in current in a “rapidly evolving information ecology”
      • What does learning theory say about when “performance is needed in the absence of complete understanding?”
      • “What is the impact of networks and complexity theories on learning?”
      • “What is the impact of chaos as a complex pattern recognition process on learning?”
      • With more connections between fields, “how are systems and ecology theories perceived in light of learning tasks?”
      • Taken in the light of technology and connection as part of learning “we derive competence from forming connections”
      • Chaos is the new reality and in this paradigm “the learner's challenge is to recognize the patterns which appear to be hidden” (but aren’t)
      • Because of the ‘butterfly effect’ we have to be able to adjust to changing conditions, “The ability to recognize and adjust to pattern shifts is a key learning task”.
      • There is more importance given to self-organisation in the learning process and the need to “create useful information patterns”.
      • Everything is networked and as a result you effect something in the network it has a ripple effect.
      • "the likelihood that a concept of learning will be linked depends on how well it is currently linked".
      • Explains the notions of weak ties.
      • Next we get to a definition of connectivism "Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories".
      • "Learning can reside outside of ourselves, is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing".
      • the principles of connectivism are:
        • learning and knowledge are found in lots of opinions
        • learning is a process of connecting nodes.
        • learning can rest in machines.
        • being able to know more is more important than what you know.
        • connections need to be nurtured so you can learn more.
        • ability to see connections is crucial
        • being current is the aim of all " connectivist learning activities".
        • "Decision-making is itself a learning process".
      • Connectivism addresses learning in organisations because it talks about being able to connect the right people with the right knowledge (in databases).
      • "In a knowledge economy, the flow of information is the equivalent of the oil pipe in an industrial economy".
      • talks about the importance of understanding social network hubs in understanding learning models in a digital age.
      • Connectvism starts with the individual who feeds into the network who feeds back to the individual. The success of the individual depends on the success of the network.  "The cycle of knowledge network".
      • John Seeley Brown "connections created with unusual nodes supports and intensifies existing large effort activities".