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Connectivism: A Learning Theory for a Digital Age George Siemens gsiemens@elearnspace.org What does a theory do? Explains Guides Links knowledge and implementation Builds foundation of its own obsolesce Knowledge
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Connectivism: A Learning Theory for a Digital Age George Siemens gsiemens@elearnspace.org
What does a theory do? • Explains • Guides • Links knowledge and implementation • Builds foundation of its own obsolesce
Knowledge “To 'know' something is to be organized in a certain way, to exhibit patterns of connectivity. To 'learn' is to acquire certain patterns.” (Downes, 2006)
What does it mean to Learn? Learning is about knowledge - to relate - to acquire - to connect - to create - to communicate
The quest for externality • Thoughts and language • Symbols • Tools to externalize and connect
“…we suggest that the objects of thought, the very things upon which mental processes directly operate, are not always inside the brain…The cognitive processing that gives rise to mental experience may be something whose functioning cuts across the superficial physical boundaries between brain, body, and environment.” (Spivey et al, 2004)
“The distributed cognition perspective aspires to rebuild cognitive science from the outside in,, beginning with the social and material setting of cognitive activity, so that culture, context, and history can be linked with the core concepts of cognition” (Hutchins, 2000)
Internalization • Behaviourism • Cognitivism • Constructivism
Connectivism • Externalization • Learning is chaotic, not structured • Learning is network formation (or pattern recognition) • Distributed • Networks filter • Adaptive
Learning Networks • Internal (the architecture of a brain) • External (the nodes we connect)
“Humans create their cognitive powers in part by creating the environments in which they exercise those powers” (Hutchins, 2000)
www.elearnspace.org www.connectivism.ca ltc.umanitoba.ca/wordpress www.knowingknowledge.com