Connectivism

How has your network changed the way you learn?

The network in which I utilize is mostly related to school, and the resources provided, along with the websites I go to, to get additional information. Although I am a member of Facebook, to be quite honest it does not interest me much. Then, as far as my social network goes, most of the people I talk with both in my personal and professional life do not have much input. However, they are good listeners and as we all know listening is an important tool.

Learning in an online environment has contributed to me being better at networking and learning from others points-of-view. Prior to this class most of what I learned was done in the traditional format, but I guess "traditional" is becoming more about networking than ever before. I am getting a lot of this format of learning through networking, and will continue to do so is it becomes more familiar.

How do you gain new knowledge when you have questions?

Since I am becoming more familiar with online learning and networking I feel I am able acquire more knowledge by this format than I did at first. I know what questions to ask myself as I work through a problem. How will this resource benefit me and be cause for a good discussion? Why is this relevant to the scenario or weekly assignment? How will I use this now and in the future? By asking myself these and other questions, I try to take notes on how, when, and why I will use the particular information I am learning. Lastly, I think by discussing with my group members it allows me to gain knowledge from many different perspectives and integrate that into my life.

In what ways does your personal learning network support or refute the central tenets of connectivism?

As I stated earlier most of my learning is done by means of the classroom portal, which supports the central tenets of connectivism. Connectivism is not just about the learner, but about the entire learning environment, and that is what I have noticed about our classroom discussions. We are able to each individually answer questions related to a specific topic, and then learn from each others' responses in a multi-dimensional environment. We are also exposed to new networks through our course(s), because prior to this most of us had never blogged; therefore we have expanded out networking abilities.

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

Siemens, George, (2009). Video program: "Connectivism".