Connectivism. Is it a learning theory?

Human beings are holistic in nature; therefore connections are pivotal to our very existence. Before birth, we were all connected to our maternal parent literally. Scientifically, this was our first external connection ‘from within’. As development progresses, it became more natural to make connections, not just internally, with our subconscious, but with the external world around us. As a learned individual, who is determined to be a scholar practitioner, there is no exception to what I called ‘The book of the rule’. This ‘book’ or ‘guideline’ allows us to be the individuals that we would like to be as progression continues in life. On becoming a scholar, I am expected to relate/connect to individuals from all walks of life, therefore, what better way to rehearse this connectivity, but with anyone who shares or differs with my opinions and beliefs. George Siemens, a theorist on learning in a digitally-based society, defines connectivism as the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. He further stated that the starting point of connectivism is the individual, and that personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to the individual. As a future scholar practitioner, I am that individual, as can be seen in the mind map shown in the figure below.






In this the age of technology, one cannot say the word without thinking ‘log on’. The very act of ‘logging on’ is, in itself, a connection. With this initial connection, come several different types of connectivity. This connectivism aids in the process of learning, as I am able to communicate, and collaborate with different individuals in different strata of the global society. Some of these connections are social, like twitter, facebook, and ning; some are professional, like teacher tube, ConnectEd, and the United Federation of Teachers; while others are educational/academic, like blogs, scribd, TED, my Walden University portal, wikispaces, and google documents. In connecting with the social (social networking technologies) websites, I feel a sense of appreciation as I learn about past and present friends and acquaintances, as well gaining knowledge and incites about places, ‘famous/popular’ people, and activities that worth pursuing. From a professional standpoint, the websites within my practicing profession serve as information and knowledge share, as there are mutual benefits between both parties, the professional sites and myself. Even though the communication and collaborative activities within the social and professional sites are interesting and meaningful to learning, I most benefit from the educational/academic sites. As a scholar practitioner in training, blogging with my peers and other academe is helpful in that I learn the rudiments of peer-review, a critical aspect of all scholars. Wikispaces and google docs are equally interesting as they serve the same purposes as blogger to a trainee scholar. Scribd is also an academic endeavor, as it allows for scholarly sharing of academic documents. TED, like the academic sharing community mentioned, is more of a vidoeblog of academic endeavours.

Therefore, even though there are strong arguments surrounding the acceptance of Siemens connectivism as a learning theory within the technological arena, people are benefiting from the varied experience that they never once had before the wide development of technology. Communication and collaboration are now widespread. Individuals, within seconds, can reach across the globe without traveling a foot. As Siemens says, ‘learning is no longer a reservoir; it is a river that is flowing’. I believe the textbook is not the one bought in stores, as that is fast becoming obsolete; it is the other person with whom I am communicating and collaborating, as this discussion is current with the changing times.