5.+Connectivism+Section

=Connectivism=

**What?**

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George Siemens, University of Manitoba, explains Connectivism and the creation of his course "Connectivism and Connective Knowledge". He describes how he was teaching courses using traditional technology and, at the same time, the learning he was engaged in for professional development was occurring in a non-traditional way (**connectivism **). He and his colleagues became interested in providing their students with a similar learning experience- creating their own depth of knowledge on their own terms.

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This video was inspired by George Siemens as well as the Common Craft videos that explain so many technology topics in easy to understand language. The video provides a visual demonstration of connectivism. 


 * Who? **

There are two men who analyzed the role that technology has on our everyday lives: how we live, communicate and learn. They were George Siemens and Stephen Downes. Their research also proved there were limitations with other learning theories when applied to technology driven learning.

While Siemens and Downes established connectivism, a major part of connectivism is the network of learners. eLearnSpace included this description of the role of individuals in connected learning: "//The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual."//


 * When? **

Because of the variety of learning or delivery methods of information, connectivism happens all the time. It is a 24/7/365 day occurrence.

To truely see the extent of learning, check out Twitterfeeds. Different search results or # hashtags will provide different lessons. #CCK09 will show the live feed for the discussion about Connectivism. People are adding to the conversation on a daily basis.

Blogs: @http://www.connectivism.ca/ @http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/cck09-connectivism-and-constructivism/ @http://drsmetty.com/2009/10/25/my-position-on-connectivism @http://bnleez.blogspot.com/2009/10/cck09-social-dimension-within.html

Wikis: [|WikiUniversity for Connectivism]

The learning does not take place in the confines of a classroom. Motivation is almost completely interest driven. People decide what and when they want to learn. To be successful with their learning goals, they have to have the network and connections to support them.


 * How? **

 Take a look at the syllabus and Wiki for the University of Manitoba's on-line [|Connectivism and Connective Knowledge] course, offered in September 2009. This course explores some od the "hows" of Connectivism's role in contemporary learning. Because it was It was FREE to anyone and also formally for credit, the professors (facilitators), George Siemens and Stephen Downes have nicknamed it "a rather large open online course", and, indeed it has scores of participants.
 * How is Connectivism becoming a key element in learning?**

[|University of North Texas] i s redesigning some of their courses to promote active learning. The initiative was undertaken to make large-enrollment classes more interactive for students. The courses include introductory science classes such as Biology and Chemistry as well as courses in the humanties. Take a tour of some of their [|Next Generation courses], learn more about the development of the courses, and read what students have to say.

**Why?**

Because we can.

The technology advances have made it possible to have all the information we need (and more) at our fingertips. Most people realize they can search for an answer digitally faster than they can recall it from the depths of their memory.

Why would I want to memorize the capitals of every state in the United States? In less time than trying to learn all the state capitals I searched and found a [|map], a [|list] with links about each place, a [|game], a [|quiz], and a video with all the answers.

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 * Is Connectivism a learning theory? **

George Siemens has authored a well referenced article, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age The premise for this learning theory is based on current research. It provides a framework for explaining why mechanisms of social learning are important factors in acquiring knowledge. This new way of learning described processes and tools that allows for contemporary learners to: · keep up with current knowledge (Vaill, 1996) · compensate for the shrinking half-life of knowledge (Gonzalez, 2004)  · connect with others when forming knowledge (Stephenson)  ·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">make sense of the chaos of available information and recognize <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">self-organization as a learning process (Wiley and Edwards, 2002)

**What are some examples of Connectivism?**

The following link is a commentary on Connectivism using a comic book style blog. Connectivism Comic

Connectivism theory identifies how we organize information. Interestingly, we organize our brains in some of the same ways we are organized socially and even genetically as illustrated in the documentary Connected: Six Degrees of Seperation.

Our brains are organized like all of the airports in the world. Each airport hub groups like information and sends information to other hubs through paths. Our cities and towns are organized in this manner and well. Roads take us from one town to the next. Some are bigger and some are smaller. Interestingly, six degrees of separation demonstrates that we are socially connected in the same manner. A busy receptionist in a big city law firm may be the "airport hub" for social networking. The film demonstrates that even genetics is organized in such a fashion and even genetic diseases can be identified by such clusters. We may be on the brink of a new dawn of understanding how nature organizes us mathematically like the discovery of Fibonacci Mathematics. The film illustrates this new way of understanding and challenges the learner to consider the new possibilities about how we connect socially, learning and through nature.

Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk founded Connexions, "a free, open-source, global clearinghouse of course materials." It's like Wikipedia for college courses. Using Connexions, teachers around the world can edit the online, free courses as they want, creating "modules" that can be assembled any way the user wishes. The fact that it is connecting people together around the world and letting them create these modules together is what makes it an example of Connectivism. More about Richard Baraniuk Baraniuk's TED talk Connexions - open, collaborative courses
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