Cecilia Cela - Analia Guerrero - Ma.Florencia Deluca
TEXT 1.
Connectivism
as a learning theory:
Social Context and
Connectivism
George Siemens, who
is considered as the precursor of Connectivism defines his
theory as a learning
theory for the digital age (Siemens, 2004). Therefore, readers may
consider the emergence of
Connectivism in a societal context, characterized by the
creation of economical
values through networking human intelligence, in order to create
knowledge based products
(Floridi, 2008). Considering this new scenario, where
technology plies a
significative role, the old industrial era’s structure is
transforming into
a society where “The
information technology revolution has transformed modes of doing
business, the nature of
services and products, the meaning of time in work, and the
processes of learning”(
Fenwick, 2001, p. 4).
This process of
change is named Globalization and is defined by Finger (2005) in
Merrian, Caffarella &
Baumgartner (2006) “as a movement of economic integration, of
cultural homogenization,
and of technological uniformization” (p.11).In this context,
learning strategies and
educational institutions are changing dramatically. Educational
institutions are becoming
part of the market, selling knowledge as a product in a
competitive environment.
Consequently, many students are coming to consider
themselves as customers
rather than learners (Merriam, et al., 2006). This atmosphere
of change also involves
what, how and where people are learning. As a consequence of
the global economy work
practices require a different training and preparation (Merriam,
et al. 2006).The
continually technological development is forcing workers to
continually
update their knowledge and
skills. This process is known as “long life-learning”.
During the last
several decades, the offering of online programs has increased
dramatically. Online based
education has contributed to expand the opportunities of
learning in formal, no
formal and informal settings (Merrian et al. 2006). As a result, the
ways of learning are
changing. Educational programs are using technologies as an
essential tool in a
learning experience. The importance of technology is describes by
Merriam,et al., (2006) as
“Technology is integral to the global economy and has
contributed to, if not
caused, the shift to an information society, which is creating
dramatic changes in the
workforce” (p. 26). Some people assume these changes are an
opportunity for developing
their life career with more flexibility and entrepreneurship. On
the other hand, Fenwick
(2001) describes the increasing of privatization, deregulation,
reduction of social
supports and temporization of workers as a consequence of the
global changes in
economics and technological fields.
Within this
complex and often contradictory environment emerges the
Connectivism as a new
learning theory. Following is offered a summary of the main
ideas elaborated by George
Siemens and his supporters, and also some criticism about
Connectivism is included.
According to
George Siemens his developer, Connectivism is a learning theory
which is contextualized in
a digital era characterized by the influence of technology in
the field of education.
Currently Siemens is the Associate Director of Research and
Development at the
Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba in
Canada.
Siemens is an
influential thinker on the topic of education and technology, and
most of his works are
found on a variety of different web sites, such us
www.connectivism.ca,
www.elearnspace.org, www.wikipedia.com among others.
According to
Siemens (2004) “learning is a process that occurs within nebulous
environments of shifting
core elements – not entirely under the control of individual”. In
addition, Siemens (2006)
defines learning “as chaotic, continual, co-creation,
complexity, connected
specialization, continual certainty”.
Connectivism
defines learning as a continual process which occurs in different
settings including
communities of practice, personal networks and work place task.
Siemens has defined the
fallowing principles of Connectivism:
Learning and
knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
Learning is a
process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
Learning may
reside in non – human appliances.
Capacity to know
more is more critical than what is currently known.
Nurturing and
maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
Ability to see
connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
Currency
(accurate,up – to - date knowledge) is the intent of all
connectivist learning
activities.
Decision making is
itself a learning process.
Choosing what to
learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the
lens of a shifting reality (2004).
Siemens (2004)
suggests that Connectivism is also concerned with how
corporations are facing
the challenge of management of knowledge, what resides in
databases which need to be
connected with the right people at the right moment. This is
a crucial difference
between Connectivism and traditional learning theories.
Fuente. http:// t4tl.wikispaces.com
TEXT 2.
What is connectivism?¿Qué es el conectivismo?
by S. Thüer
“At its heart, connectivism is the thesis that knowledge
is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that
learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those
networks”.
Stephen Downes, What Connectivism Is.
Welcome to connectivism blog!
Let’s start with presentations. My name is Sebastián Thüer, I have a
degree in Communication Science and I’m attending for doctorate in New
Technologies and Communication at Malaga University (Spain). This blog
is a space that born from the online course I’m doing about Connectivism
and Connective Knowledge.
Connectivims is a theory about learning that, as says the quote
above, proposes the basic activity of learning is construct networks
thought nodes of information. The main connectivism theorists are George
Siemens and Stephen Downes.
The metaphor of learning as a network is not new. As
Siemens says,
every new theory has roots in previous ideas updated to the actual
context. The point is to know if these ideas are useful to build an
explicative model that allows to know better the reality.
A interesting way to approach to connectivims is to compare it with other learning theories. Brenga Mergel (1998) has a
paper where his quote Peeg Ermet and Tomoty Newby to make five questions the get the basis for a learning theory. The questions are:
- How does learning occur?
- What factors influence learning?
- What is the role of memory?
- How does transfer occur?
- What types of learning are best explained by this theory?
Property
|
Behaviourism
|
Cognitivism
|
Constructivism
|
Connectivism
|
How learning occurs
|
Black box—observable behaviour main focus
|
Structured, computational
|
Social, meaning created by each learner (personal)
|
Distributed within a network, social, technologically enhanced, recognizing and interpreting patterns
|
Influencing factors
|
Nature of reward, punishment, stimuli
|
Existing schema, previous experiences
|
Engagement, participation, social, cultural
|
Diversity of network, strength of ties
|
Role of memory
|
Memory is the hardwiring of repeated experiences—where reward and punishment are most influential
|
Encoding, storage, retrieval
|
Prior knowledge remixed to current context
|
Adaptive patterns, representative of current state, existing in networks
|
How transfer occurs
|
Stimulus, response
|
Duplicating knowledge constructs of “knower”
|
Socialization
|
Connecting to (adding) nodes
|
Types of learning best explained
|
Task-based learning
|
Reasoning, clear objectives, problem solving
|
Social, vague
(“ill defined”)
|
Complex learning, rapid changing core, diverse knowledge sources |
Fuente. http://conectivismo.com/2008/09/what-is-connectivism/
Propuesta de trabajo.
|
CONNECTIVISM
|
TEXT 1
|
TEXT 2
|
|
What is it?
|
Es una teoría del aprendizaje en función de la era digital.
|
Es una teoría del aprendizaje que propone actividades básicas
de aprendizaje basadas en redes de pensamiento.
|
|
How is it differnt from others?
|
La diferecia con otras teorías del aprendizaje es que esta
utiliza las innovaciones tecnológicas como herramientas de
aprendizaje.
|
- El aprendizaje es considerado como estructurado y
computacional basado en esquemas existentes y experiencias
previas.
- El rol de la memoria es codificar, almacenar y recuperar.
|
|
Which are its priciples?
|
Sus principios se enmarcan dentro de una sociedad globalizada
donde hay una formación diferente, por lo tanto es necesario
actualiza constantemente conocimientos y habilidades.
|
Su principio fundamental es la reactualización de teorías
anteriores de acuerdo al contexto social actual.
|
