1. Connectivism: A Learning Theory for a Digital Age
George Siemens

2. What’s happening? Decentralizing Democratizing Distributed
Changed dynamics of what it means to know
Acceleration

3. Learning theories
A model or representation of how learning occurs

4. Behaviourism Black box Stimulus/Response
Theorists: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Thorndike

5. Cognitivism Information processing Input, processing, storage, output
Computer-modeled
Theorists: Ausubel, Gagne, Bruner, Piaget, Vygotsky

6. Constructivism Learning is process of active construction of knowledge
Learners make sense of their experiences
Theorists: Bruner, Vygotsky, Piaget

7. What’s missing?

9. Democratizing Learning
In all cases? What about educational standards?
Link tool with intent
Facets - Bloom, Fink, Wiggins:
Integral
“Small pieces, anywhere, any tool, any time”
News, media, advertising, learning – all these fields are “breaking apart” content and giving control to the end user. Meaning is no longer communicated as the communicator would have it, but instead occurs through a complex process of pattern recognition and interaction with multiple sources…concepts are understood over a period of time, with diverse expressions and multiple encounters. “I speak, you listen and understand” has been replaced with “many people speak, we select and understand”.
Diverse tools are required to make this work

10. It’s coming undone…
“Things fall apart; the Center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” (Yeats)

11. Decentralization and distributed representation of knowledge
Critical in diverse, rapidly developing knowledge spaces
Conundrum:
complex environments, without a filtered center, are overwhelming

12. Our current solution

13. Connectivism
Learning as a connection-forming process (neural and external)
The learning is in the network
Diversity
“Know where”…know who
Pattern recognition

14. Learning Theories Theory Learning model Learning resides Behaviourism
“Black box”
Behaviour demonstration
Cognitivism
Computer-model
In the mind of the individual – processed
Constructivism
Creation or construction of meaning (Building)
In the mind of the individual –constructed
Connectivism
Networks and ecologies, connections
Distributed, in network

15. Move from creating content to creating space in which content is explored

16. Connectivism Taxonomy
Awareness and Receptivity
Connection-forming
Contribution and Involvement
Pattern Recognition
Meaning-making
Praxis

17. What skills are needed? Anchoring Filtering Connecting Being human
Creating and deriving meaning
Evaluation/authentication

18. What skills are needed? Critical/creative thinking Pattern recognition
Navigate knowledge landscape
Acceptance of uncertainty
Contextualizing

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