Connecting and reflecting

Connectivism - George Siemens, Associate Director, Learning Technologies Centre, University of Manitoba

OK - so you have the video, heres the transcript (in terms of my very loose interpretation of the key messages that hit me.

This was the one I was really looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint, despite a very fast gallop through some complex theories about learning and knowledge that roll off the tongue of the speaker but take a bit more grasping from the audience (as the questions at the end revealed -not just me then).

The basic premise with Connectivism is that learning in a digital age happens differently. Most learning theories are based on a different era of knowledge production and George asks the question ' How does learning change when knowledge growth is overwhelming and technology replaces many basic tasks we have previously performed? The answer is through networking.

At its simplest, information is a node which can be connected - when connected, it becomes knowledge - the combined nature of many connections results in understanding

The tools which enable the greatest possibility of connection forming provide the greatest possibility of knowledge growth. Hello and welcome Web 2.0!

He still argues the need for the academic 'expert', claiming it can take up to 10 years to develop a true discipline knowledge - but sees the role changing to one of relationship builder, connecting the learner to other experts and knowledge builders. The importance of blogging as a means of connecting 'small worlds' to build knowledge is a key skill.

More controversially he calls for academics to get out of their closed publishing networks and get into the open spaces of knowledge that their students inhabit. Access and currency are the most important issues for consumers of information today and if our academics are not going to where the students access information they can't complain about the quality of the stuff out there - he likens it to an academic preferring not to teach in the draughty lecture hall (even though it can accommodate 100's of students) and teaching instead in a small seminar rooms and excluding the many?

Practising what he preaches, much of his work is available through the following sites, blogs and wikis.

www.e-learnspace.org

www.knowingknowledge.com

www.connectivism.ca