Connectivism

Throughout the course of this program, I’ve had to define what “learning” means to me several times. Every time I’m asked to think about it, I look at it from a different angle and come up with different thoughts on the word/idea/process. Must be all this reflecting they’re forcing us to do!! Learning to me isn’t just about what you know and acquiring new pieces of information, it’s about knowing HOW to connect with sources to enrich yourself and build on your current ideas. I think a lot of learning has to do with attitude – about wanting to open yourself up to the thoughts and ideas of others and do so in a self-reflective manner.

Wow, did I actually just say that? If I met me a year ago, prior to this program, I would not have recognized me.

After watching a few podcasts by some leading education experts, I realized how much learning has transformed over the years and how much people’s ideas of learning needs to change if we want to make learning successful in our ever-changing networked generation. I think we really need to start shifting our perspective from learning being something that a person does individually on an internal level, to something that can be more powerful in a group setting on an external level. In a podcast (The Changing Nature of Knowledge), George Siemens described how knowledge exists external to an individual, and that it is a function of the network itself. If we do not take the network within which learning is occurring into account in our expectations, we as educators are not setting ourselves (and our children) up for the success that can be possible.

To “know” something is so much more that being able to access and regurgitate information from a source. Networks do not only serve as means to locate knowledge, for knowledge can reside in a network! Again, referencing Siemens (from podcast on “Network is the Learning”), in a networked learning environment, when one connects with a new “node” (a person, a database, an info source, etc), the entire network is amplified. The competence of the network is increased exponentially. So not only does the “learner” gain from the experience, but the entire network gains knowledge from each connected interaction.

My "re-worked" concept map of my learning network, created using bubbl.us:
You can click on the +/- on the top left to increase/decrease size. You can also drag the image around to see all aspects of it.