Article Summary 3: Connectivism

This is a summary of the article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age written by George Siemens.

This article can be read here.

Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age

Author: Siemens, George

Key Points:

Technology has had a significant impact on the way we learn and on the changing and updating of social learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism
Behaviorism- It is impossible to know what is going on internally, so learning can only be marked by external behavior change.
Cognitivism- The learner receives knowledge inputs which are then interpreted by the brain and stored in the appropriate manner to which they can then later be referred.
Constructivism- Learners are always trying to construct and extract meaning based on lived experiences. Learning is complex and not easily categorized or minimized.
Problems with these theories, which make them outdated for learning theories include: they are individualistic in nature and do not account for learning outside the person; they do not deal with the organization and connection of knowledge.
New theories to explain learning with the inclusion of technology are needed. Several have already been suggested or adapted to connect with learning which include: chaos theory, network theory, and self-organization theory
Chaos- all things are connected and learning is dependent on being cognizant of the initial connections. Identifying hidden connections is a critical component to this learning theory.
Network- There are distinct pathways that create connections. In learning, we value some of these connections over others and thereby those are the connections that become the strongest.
Self-organization- Being able to adapt and naturally construct organization from changing conditions and environments is crucial to this learning theory. Forming connections into identifiable and useful patterns is central to self-organization theory.
Connectivism is a theory that incorporates all three of the above. This is the central theory to the authors’ message. It takes into account the learner constantly receiving information from various sources and needing to organize and create patterns and connections from that information in a way that maximizes the information and its usefulness. Also important is the ability to reach for and discover new knowledge and re-assess connections and paths that are important. Very future-focused, the capacity to adapt and gain more knowledge and maintain it is more important than the knowledge and connections we currently have.