Connectivism

This week I would like to share an article that was just published this week by Downes simply entitled, “Connectivism” (2022). From the abstract, “Connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is constituted of the sets of connections between entities, such that a change in one entity may result in a change in the other entity, and that learning is the growth, development, modification or strengthening of those connections. This paper presents an overview of connectivism, offering a connectivist account of learning and a detailed analysis of how learning occurs in networks.”

The author highlights that Connectivism…

• is attributed to be a learning theory for a digital age;

• argues that learning occurs throughout human and non-human networks;

• focuses on learners capacity to live, work and thrive within a wider interconnected community; and

• knowledge is the network that is grown and developed from interactions with other entities in the network and in the world generally.

Hence the objective of teaching is to stimulate such interactions, which is achieved by modeling and demonstrating the relevant sort of activity.

This paper reminds us that the concept of connectivism is not a new one. Siemens (2004) identified the following eight principles of connectivism:

1. Learning and knowledge rest in a diversity of opinions, i.e., learning exists in networks, not just in one place.

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

3. The idea that personal learning and social learning are all one part of one large network.

4. [The] capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. Learning is about developing a way of seeing and interacting with the world.

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

6. [The] ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

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

8. Decision-making is a learning process.

The author provides the following conclusion:

“Connectivism is focused on a wider understanding of learning and an understanding of learning that's based not just on facts and information, but rather on a person's capacity to live, work, and thrive within a wider interconnected community.”

References

Downes, S. (2022). Connectivism. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 17 (1), 58-87. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6173510

For those that might be interested in more SoTL, the Digital Commons Network™ shared articles from their recent SoTL Commons Conference, which I have included several that might be of interest below:

• SoTL 101: Approaches to designing your SoTL project

• SWOL SoTL: Assessing your teaching to identify SoTL projects

• Publishing in the International J. for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

• An Effective Model to Facilitate Assessment Workshops based on SoTL

• Data Analysis of Student Success Using Immediate vs. Deferred Feedback

• What Works? A Critical Review of the Literature on First Year Seminars

• Statistics Anxiety and Statistics Comprehension

• Collaboration, Creativity, and Learning Analytics: Student Created Content

• Taking SoTL Fellowship to the Next Level

• Predictors of success in courses of varying modality