Recap of Past Weeks

Several weeks ago when I started my graduate class in learning theories I stated in our weekly discussion the following, “I think that constructivism is the front-runner as the “best” theory”. (I was referring to the theory that was the best for me personally.) Although I feel that constructivism is a strong theory, and that Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a very logical standpoint/theory that is inside of constructivism.

I now that I have learned more about each learning theory, I feel that connectivism describes my personal learning preferences the best. If you look at some of the outlining principals of connectivism it seems like a current and relatable theory for our current level of technology use. (It’s also known as “"a learning theory for the digital age,")

· For Example, the outline of connectivism lists: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory)

· Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.

· Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

· Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.

· Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

· Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.

I’m a very technological driven person and I realized based on the connectivism theory that learning is always occurring, even when you are just surfing the Internet aimlessly you have the potential to learn something, or even develop/find a new node for your Personal Learning Network. The Internet is a vast resource and the ability to know how to find an answer is almost as important as the answer itself. During a broadcast on Rochester’s PBS radio station, WXXI on 4/14, I heard an interview with Andrew Phelps (Professor Chair, Interactive Games & Media@ RIT). Phelps stated that it’s getting to the point where children are not understanding why memorization of information like state capitals is important because the information is always available via the internet…and the internet is “always on”.

Lastly, I stated that I felt that blogs and other information on the web shouldn’t be trusted because you can’t tell personal opinion from fact (easily). Although I still partly believe this to be true, I now see how beneficial the Web can be to learning. It’s just up to the learner to do their homework to make sure the information is correct before utilizing it.

-Rob

Connectivism (Post #2)

I think that the key to learning is to understand that it never stops. The old adage says, "you learn something new every day", I think it’s now out of date. The new adage should be, "you learn something new every hour or even minute", or it could be, "you learn a new way every day".

My personal learning network has grown within the past few years with the addition of e-college, blogs, online libraries, and all of the mobile learning network options.

The biggest reminder for me of the change in learning from a face-2-face (f2f) class lecture style toward a multi plat formed approach happened a few years ago. I took two years off during my bachelor’s degree. When I started my break, almost nothing that was done at the school was done via an online learning environment. When I started back up, 30% or more, of my f2f class utilized the Learning Management System (LMS) that the school had.

Overall for me, although I’m skeptical about blogs and Wikipedia, I find the general content to be helpful for the start of research. Also, I really enjoy not having to drive to a library for books; just a few clicks way is a full online library. When it comes down to the final learning, I don’t think anything beats a college course (online or f2f). If I want to become an expert in learning theory, I could read about it on Wikipedia, find a few blogs or even call up a peer at work but that still wouldn’t work as well as a true college class designed to teach me learning theory!

I think that the core meaning of connectivism is my entire learning network, the thought that we learn though multiple ways and based strongly off of social interactions. Some of the tenants are pretty easy to see how they play into social interactions. For example Facebook, blogs, text messaging and so on. Other tenant maybe harder to see, like how television can be a social learning tool, yet when think how times a day you say, “I was watching TV the other day and I…” it shows how social TV can really be.

Lastly I found this story very connected to the future of learning:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124695289