Connectivism

 

Connectivism and learning in the 21^st Century.  When I think back to when I was in high school and then in college for my undergraduate degree in the mid 1980’s, I remember the drudgery of writing a term paper, and all the work that went into just the research portion of the project.  There was the library, the card catalog, and checking out armfuls of books hoping that the ones you selected had the right information in them.  There may have been items on microfiche, and possibly a VCR tape to watch, but that was pretty much the extent of available stored resources.  Then, there were the countless hours of pouring over pages and pages of material trying to glean some tidbits that you could properly cite for your paper.  Fast forward 25 years, and the resources that we have to learn have grown at an astounding rate.  With the invention of the world wide web, personal computers, cell phones, tablets and the increasing use of photos and videos, traditional learning without these things is now archaic. 

As I constructed the attached mind map of my different learning resources, it quickly became apparent how much of what I learn is based on recent technological advances.  I broke my map out into three main areas, the Internet, Media and Face to Face.  I felt that these areas best described the different ways in which I could obtain information and thus learn.  Each category had subcategories and some even had a 2^nd level subcategory associated with them.  I then started thinking about all the different groups of people from which I gather and provide information, family, friends, education, business or work and merchants.  I also broke these categories into small sub categories.  I then compared each of my people oriented categories to my learning resource categories, and I found that each learning category directly contributed to each of my different people groups.  The one with the most profound impact was actually the newest learning resource and that was the internet.  The internet formed the strongest connections with all of the people groups in my mind map.  There wasn’t a group that was not just touched by, but immersed in the use of the internet.  For example, I use social media to connect with family and friends, searches and blogs in my educational connections, the internet searches, social media and news in my job business world, and I use merchant websites and searches to conduct personal business.  There isn’t a facet of my life that is not touched by the internet in some way shape or form.  And with the smart phone, it goes everywhere I go. 

If questions arise and I need answers, no longer am I searching the encyclopedia Britannica.   A quick Google, Yahoo, or Bing search is usually all I need to spring board into other resources.  This allows me the ability to find other online sources or gives me information where I can obtain additional information.  A site as wonderful as www.pinterest.com can provide information on almost any do it yourself project you could think of and teach you step by step how to do it.  I can also search other media at my fingertips, TV on demand, on line books, YouTube, or reach out face to face, email or text with friends, coworkers, teachers or classmates. 

Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. A learner can exponentially improve their own learning by plugging into an existing network ("Connectivism," n.d.).  Based on my mind map, all of my learning sources are connected in some way.  Whether it is an electronic, physical or human resources, each is interconnected to make the best learning environment possible.

References

Connectivism-a learning theory for today’s learner. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://connectivism.ca/about.html