Connectivism

1. Connectivism A learning theory for today’s learner

2. General info • Session is being recorded • Type questions into chat box (just above participants names) • Presentation will last 30 minutes • Discussion will be held after • Using the microphone

3. Metaphors of learning • What is learning like? • Filling an empty container? • Creating a jigsaw puzzle? • An ecology? • Creating a network of interconnected information points?

4. How does learning happen? • Is knowledge external and knowable? Of is it internal and subjective? • Is knowledge gained through experiences and emotions? Or is it acquired through cognition? • Is knowledge constructed in the mind of the learner? • Does knowledge reside is social institutions? • Epistemology (what is true and how do we come to know something as true) is the base.

5. What’s going on? • Multiple careers • ½ life of knowledge (time span from knowledge gained to obsolescence) • Informal learning • Learning as a life-process • Alterations in our thinking – our tools shape our thinking (http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=5989&bhcp=1)

6. What’s happening to learners? • Change: scarcity to abundance. Our tools are geared to scarcity • Rising education – more educated workforce • Interplay of learner and organization (due to increased sociability of each) • Global, cultural • Know-where is more important than know-how • When competence and knowledge rest on a continuum, being relevant happens as soon as one is plugged into a network (degrees of competence, not stages)

7. Failure of learning and education "America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools - even when they're working as designed - cannot teach all our students what they need to know today." Bill Gates http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050227/ap/d88gh7do0.html

8. What are existing learning theories missing? • Rapidly evolving knowledge • Today’s knowledge and learning will be obsolete tomorrow. Knowing is not as important as being able to continue to learn • Core foundations shifting (society, media, and knowledge itself • Interplay of organization and individual • Theories state: learning occurs inside a person, fail to account for “external” learning • Fail to account for organizational learning • Learning perceived as an event – not as the actual process of becoming competent through completing task require of learning (i.e. the task is the learning tool).

9. Behavriourism • Black box – don’t care what goes on inside • Desired outcomes are created through response/stimuli

10. Cognitivism • Computer model: inputs, managed in short term memory, encoded for long term retrieval

11. Constructivism • Learners create knowledge in process of understanding experiences. • Learners are not empty vessels, but active “meaning-makers”

12. Backdrop of connectivism • Chaos • Self-organization • Social networks • Networks, small worlds, weak ties, decentralized • Learning is a process that occurs within the nebulous environments of shifting core elements (many beyond learner control). • The capacity to know more is more important than what is now known • Learner controlled and driven

13. What is connectivism? • A learning theory for today’s learner and organization • What does that mean? • Information changes quickly • Connections to stay current is what’s really important • Learning is actuated knowledge

14. What is connectivism? • Learning can reside in non-human appliances (i.e. the network itself) • The pipe is more important than what’s in the pipe • Learners have to develop a new series of meta-skills in evaluating usefulness of information and means of managing information. Pattern recognition and connection creation also important • Interplay of organization and learner

15. What is connectivism? • Learning is process of plugging into new knowledge sources • Emotions, cognition play role in actuation • Functioning often requires “acting blindly” as information is only revealed as action is taken • Core assumptions shift. Continual reflection and evaluation needed to ensure currency of decisions and actions

16. Theory implementation • Which theory should be used when? • Criteria: • How rapidly does information change? • How is information linked to the organization? • Soft skills? Technical? • Nature of learning – formal? Informal? Communities? • Reason for learning: skill development, belief formation, personal competence

17. Cognition and emotions • Fractured logic • Duality of logic and emotion • Motivation to use knowledge

18. Connectivism and learning organizations • Learner to organization to learner • Organization possesses a certain zeitgeist • Learning, change initiatives, knowledge management, social networks all contribute to success of learner and organization

19. What’s next? • http://www.connectivism.ca • Includes: • Wiki • Blog • Discussion forum