My connectivism concept map is a representation of my current Personal Learning Network (PLN) which has grown and developed over thirty-odd years of learning experiences. It is not an exhaustive depiction of the way I learn or anyone learns, as the learning process is so, as Ormond, Schunk & Gredler (2008) describes it, “multifaceted”, that it is hardly fully explained by a single theory or depiction.
A quick review of the concept map reveals the fact that included in my modes of learning are both traditional and modern modes, as well as universal and non-universal modes. The map therefore reveals the evolution of my learning network over the years, which of course would have impacted my learning methods and sources. For example, as a child, one of the modes that would have provided a major part of my learning would have been instructional, through the formal classroom setting. This method is both largely universal and traditional. As I grew, types of instructional opportunities increased, eventually including such like sporting instruction or religious instruction, thus expanding the type of learning taking place, the learning sources and learning content. The growing PLN has also changed the way I seek out information. For example, in conducting research as a child, my primary source of information may have been a question to the class teacher or after some time, a research text. With the advent of the World Wide Web, online research has now become an integral part of learning and has definitely increased the availability of information for myself, and anyone else who has access. Yet another significant change is the increase of non-traditional methods of learning. Today, much of my learning takes place in a virtual social setting, much of which was non-existent ten years ago.
The growth of my PLN has also meant the expansion of learning tools and particularly, digital learning tools. I remember Audio cassettes and VHS tapes as key learning tools in the not too distant past. Today, a great portion of learning takes place via digital means, utilising tools that advance exponentially daily. Key to my present-day learning experience are my computer and access to the internet. Online reference sites such as Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, Gotquestions.org are some of my most frequented resources and Search Engines, Blogs, RSS feeds and Readers are my some of my favourite learning tools. Google Reader and Twitter work really well for me as I appreciate the opportunity these resources offer to stay up-to-date with current events and to do so via snapshot information, as is the case with the latter resource. All in all, with these readily available digital tools, my first response to having a question answered is to hit a search engine, my primary resource for research.
One of the propositions of connectivism is the reduction of the ‘half-life’ of knowledge.
One of my pet-peeves when I attended a Teachers’ training institution about thirteen years ago was the fact that the physical library had a large number of reference texts from the 1960’s. Today, references are made almost in real-time, significantly reducing the use of outdated information. This is reflected and experienced in my Personal Learning Network. Another tenet of Connectivism that is supported by my or any PLN is that “learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources” (Siemens, 2004). Learning is facilitated by the entire PLN, which draws on various nodes and sources, and is also the product of the interaction between these same sources to complete a particular learning experience. This complex interaction supports the theory of Connectivism.
References:
(Laureatecustom edition). New York: Pearson.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning theory for the digital age. Elearnspace:
Everything Elearning. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
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