connectivism and cyclic learning.

Connectivism is most definitely an important theory (or is it a theory at all??) to consider in this web 2.0 class. According to Siemens himself, “Connectivism is a learning theory for the Digital Age” With connectivism, learning is a cycle in which the individual feeds info into the system...which feeds info back to the individual....who in turn feed in back into the system/network/cyberspace. It's all connected see !!! For connectivists, learning is a process that has a variety of shifting....sometimes rapidly shifting elements. Because of this fluidity and shifting nature of knowledge, it is of paramount importance that the learner be able to filter and evaluate content to determine validity, and to re-evauate prior decisions/beliefs based on updates to that knowledge base.

For me, a teacher, this is the most important learning theory (or is it?) that I've come across. The implications are pedagogy changing.......

The ability to learn/evaluate/incorporate new info is more important for students that memorizing what's currently known. The foundations of knowledge can change and it's important to be able to adapt one's personal knowledge base to accomodate this new info.

The ability to "connect" with information is more important than the information that is available

Students are able to learn by connecting to the information that is available and then build upon the information to form new knowledge which can then be shared back onto the network for other students to access......cyclical learning.

Information is in a constant flux. Learning can be enhanced thought the connection of a network and this “amplification of learning, knowledge and understanding through the extension of a personal network is the epitome of connectivism" (Siemens, 2004).