Blogs, Wikis, RSS Feeds, half-life of knowledge, communities of practice – what is all this stuff, and why does an educator need to know? Until recently, I thought web 2.0 was a new software, but a simple Google search enlightened me to the fact that it’s actually a concept referring to web based applications that allow for collaboration and interaction as opposed to simply viewing page content. I need to know about these applications because tech-savvy students know about them and use them. As a point of interest, 80% of adult learning is now taking place outside of the classroom (Suave, 2007). It stands to reason that formal education environments have to acknowledge a paradigm shift if they are to remain relevant in our changing world.
Traditional learning theories include behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Behaviorism explains learning in terms of variables in the environment including reward and punishment to produce desired outcomes. Cognitivism focuses on the process of learning as we perceive, synthesize, and recall information. And finally, constructivism calls attention to social learning where culture, language, and community impact an individual’s learning construct. Each of these theories offers valuable insights as we learn about learning. It is critical, however, to consider that what we know today may be irrelevant or obsolete tomorrow. We live in exponential times where new information is learned and produced at rates faster than ever before. In addition to this abundance of information, the World Wide Web affords us opportunities to more readily share our experiences. In short, the way we learn is being transformed by technology.
This fundamental paradigm shift has been happening for the past twenty years, but George Siemens, very aptly explores the phenomenon, resources, and dynamics as they influence learning. In his 2005 article, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, he describes learning as a network phenomenon, influenced (aided) by socialization and technology. Connectivist terms help us to better understand the theory so I’ll share a few of them:
Half-life of knowledge - the time span from when knowledge is gained until it becomes obsolete (Gonzalez, 2004)
Communities of Practice (COPs) - Networks of people with similar interest creating collective knowledge (Fenwick & Tennant, 2004)
Chaos Theory – A key learning task is the ability to adjust as patterns shift (Siemens, 2005)
Personal Learning Network (PLN) – a group of people who can guide your learning, point you to learning opportunities, answer your questions, and give you the benefit of their own knowledge and experience (Tobin, 1998).
I shared my own personal learning network in my last blog post, but I’ll elaborate on some of the most useful nodes in the network as you may find them useful also. First of all, Walden University is supplying me with information and technological skills that are right in line with my goal of training in a corporate or adult education setting. Of course, this is not a free resource, but I am impressed with the experience of the instructors and the courses. The curriculum is very challenging, but definitely rewarding. Secondly, I have connected to professional trainers and educators by subscribing to their blogs. I can simply go to their blog sites, and if I find that the content will be useful on an ongoing basis, I can click on the RSS feed button to add the blog to my feeds. Any updates would be delivered to my computer when I go online. Since I’m subscribing to so many blogs, I use Google Reader to aggregate them. Thanks to Blogspot, I am now doing my own personal blog. Communities of Practice for me include members of ASTD (American Society for Training & Development), my Walden classmates, and NSRF (National School Reform Faculty). NSRF promotes professional development in schools through community collaboration. I received critical friends group (CFG) certification through their programs in 2008. My professional profile can be located on LinkedIn . I use this site for professional networking.
Connectivism is a learning theory well suited to the information age. It recognizes that, “. . . the act of learning does not happen in a vacuum. It is at the intersection of prior knowledge, experience, perception, reality, comprehension, and flexibility that learning occurs (Davis, et al, 2008).” As we participate in learning and educating in the information age, maintaining personal networks that are relevant to our unique interests and needs will be critical to our development. Siemens (2005) puts it this way, “The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. As I continue my academic and professional journey, my network will grow. I hope that yours will also.
Reference List
Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Connectivism
Fenwick,T. & Tennant, M., Chapter 4, “Understanding Adult Learners” In Foley, G. (Ed.). (2004). Dimensions of adult learning: Adult education and training in a global era. McGraw-Hill Education.
Siemens, G (2005), Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, Retrieved from: http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm
Sauve, E. (2007). Informal knowledge transfer. T+D, 61(3), 22–24
Tobin, D., (1998) "Building Your Personal Learning Network", Retrieved from: http://www.tobincls.com/learningnetwork.htm
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