Learning Technologies Centre Connectivism Learning conceptualized through the lens of todays world George Siemens

Learning Technologies Centre Context Context-free Tree

Learning Technologies Centre My argument Exponentially developing knowledge and complexification of society requires non- linear models of learning (process) and knowing (state). We cannot sustain ourselves as learning/knowing beings in the current climate with our current approaches. Networked (social, technological) approaches scale in line with changes, but require a redesign of how we teach, learn (and see learning), and come to know.

Learning Technologies Centre Big changes change big institutions

Learning Technologies Centre What are knowledge trends? Intuitive Growth Fluidity Impact on authority Impact on certainty Technology

Learning Technologies Centre Fluid knowledge Product to process Creation, dissemination, distribution, end-user relationship

Learning Technologies Centre Architecture of participation powered by network effects

Learning Technologies Centre Knowledge Knowledge has changed (in quantity, if not core nature) Our reaction on institutional level has not We still see it primarily as a product Learning, knowing, cognition – distributed (Hutchins)

Learning Technologies Centre Abundance creates problems for existing approaches Inability to process – bounded rationality Require new skills Require new educational models

Learning Technologies Centre If you have three pet dogs, give them names. If you have 10,000 head of cattle, don't bother. David Gelernter

Learning Technologies Centre Where can we scale? Human capacity – yes, but bounded Technology capacity – augmentation - primitive Procedural capacity - Network intelligence

Learning Technologies Centre Hasnt it always been this way? Think of it two-fold: –Body – our understanding increases in what is there (understanding ourselves) –Technology – we create what isnt (extending ourselves)

Learning Technologies Centre Learning in relationship to knowledge and mind Distributed – –Hutchins – Not in skull –Spivey et. al. – not always inside brain –Bereiter – knowing outside the mind Externalization – Wittgenstein, Vygotsky Socialization – Papert, Piaget, Bruner, Bandura Ethical/moral obligations…structures – Freire, Illich, Papert, Dewey

Learning Technologies Centre What is a connection Awareness with potential for relationship

Learning Technologies Centre Connections of a certain type are valuable: Relevance Of value for information sharing Dense connections reduce adaptability (Beinhocker) making connections that generate insight (Cross, Laseter)

Learning Technologies Centre Roads no longer merely lead to places; they are places John Brinckerhoff Jackson

Learning Technologies Centre The power of networks…of doubling

Learning Technologies Centre Upgrading our relationship to information/knowledge From knowing about - to knowing where/who - to sensemaking/understanding Cognition – grunt level work handled by technology –Tag maps/clouds –Social bookmarking trends –We move to meaning making more rapidly

Learning Technologies Centre

Connectivism What is it?

Learning Technologies Centre A certain type of knowledge… Rapidly changing Complex Connected Global Social Technologically mediated

Learning Technologies Centre

Learning Technologies Centre But what does this look like practically? Learning is network formation Network Administrator Atelier Learning (JSB) Open tools – first generation – we are only now seeing what is possible

Learning Technologies Centre Future Combat Systems

Learning Technologies Centre Connected specialization

Learning Technologies Centre Undiscovered public knowledge When connections are weak…not more research, but better connections Undiscovered public knowledge (Don Swanson) – systems of information that are similar but distinct or not normally connected

Learning Technologies Centre Blog space as canary Blogs have dealt with information abundance for years. How do we cope? –Networks of trusted sources –Diversity –Openness –Aggregators

Learning Technologies Centre What skills do our learners need today? Pattern recognition Network formation and evaluation Critical/creative thinking Acceptance of uncertainty/ambiguity Contextualizing

Learning Technologies Centre To the neuroscientist, learning is a whole-person/whole-brain activity what confounds received organizations Theodore Marchese

Learning Technologies Centre Balance Formal and informal Think holistically: –Network (the history of ideas is a network of connections) – structures of openness –Ecologies – spaces of diversity Context drives approach

Learning Technologies Centre The role of technology Technology expresses a view…it isnt neutral Augments, enhances, extends cognition –Memory knowing about is external

Learning Technologies Centre The structure of the device becomes the structure of the knowledge James Bosco Book, courses Internet: network…connective pathways

Learning Technologies Centre All the knowledge is in the connections David Rumelhart

Learning Technologies Centre Concerns Adaptivity – adjust ourselves as our environment and technology adjusts –What is the balance between reacting to and influencing the space? Critical views…not utopia

Learning Technologies Centre Where is the connection formed? During repeated use? During reflection/rest? The rest principle states that connections within a pathway of neurons become stronger only if the neurons rest after firing and that the connections will get weaker if the neurons are fired repeatedly without rest.

Learning Technologies Centre What are the implications of this for our learning? Answer in Moodle forums…

Learning Technologies Centre Everything is an experiment Everyone is a creator

Learning Technologies Centre

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