Week 7   Engagement activity #2

Some findings and thoughts about Connectivism

According to George Siemens (2004), the last 20 years has seen technology reorganise how we live, communicate and learn.  Siemens posits that the classical learning theories – behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism, have a central tenet where learning occurs inside a person. He goes on to suggest that “these theories do not address learning that occurs outside of people … and fail to describe how learning happens within organisations” (Siemens, 2004).

Siemens  (2004) concludes by suggesting that connectivism presents a model of learning that recognises huge changes in society where learning is no longer an “internal, individualistic activity”. This change has seemingly occurred because using new technological tools influences how people work and function (Siemens, 2004).

Kop and Hill (2008) critically analysed connectivism within the context of previous learning theories and concluded that connectivism will “…continue to play an important role in the development and emergence of new pedagogies”, however they do not warrant it being treated as a separate learning theory . This was supported by Kerr (Kop & Hill, 2008 after Kerr 2007) who suggested that existing theories already address learning requirements in today’s “technologically connected age”.

Supporters of connectivism purport a model of learning based on the importance of online networks. It is interesting to note that although language is ubiquitous and not always noticed, it too could be regarded as an important existing network (Kop & Hill, 2008).

I think the diagram presenting the alignment of epistemological and learning frameworks (Kop & Hill, 2008 Figure 1) is very useful for contextualizing the suggested new theory and the three universally accepted ones. The question begs – does the concept of ‘distributed knowledge’ stack up to be a learning theory when aligned with objectivism, pragmatism and interpretivism?

Bates (Kop & Hill, 2008 Figure 1) maintains that “a connectivist view of knowledge is where the nature of knowledge is radically transformed by the technology of the internet”. Bates agrees that Siemens’s work on connectivism has profound implications for teaching and learning, however regards it as more of an epistemology or view of the nature of knowledge, rather than a theory of teaching.

The phrase often used with the term connectivism is ‘ a learning theory for the digital age ("Connectivism," nd). This illustrates the effect technology has on contemporary society – how we live, communicate and learn and in turn why some believe connectivism should be a new theory of learning.

List of references

Connectivism. (nd).   Retrieved 27 April, 2014, from 20 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism>

Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9 (3), 8.

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.   Retrieved 8 April 2014, from 7 http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm