Assignment1

//We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers. -Kurt Cobain // //Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. Marcus Aurelius // 1. New learning theory is needed. In the 21st century, the advancement and use of technologies and networks, as well as the information revolution make it necessary to revise the education system and the learning theories it is based on. We need to understand the architecture of the information, which can be characterized as open, distributed, networked, self-organizing, global, scalable and fragmented. (Siemens, 2012)
 * Personal View on Connectivism **  **By Ilona Lantos **

The decreasing half-life of knowledge forces us to continuously learn and in many new ways to stay current and relevant. What we know today becomes obsolete by tomorrow. Currency is the currency. Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish sociologist coined the term “liquid modernity” to describe a new world order where there is not enough time for institutions to solidify, words like “career” or “progress” become irrelevant and an individual will travel through his life like a tourist changing jobs, spouses, places, values, even sex. (Trendwatching, 2009) 40 years ago when you finished your education you expected to get a lifelong career. But today when knowledge becomes obsolete in months you must realize you need to keep learning to stay current and marketable. Can you become master of anything if the knowledge becomes obsolete before you could gain competency?

Education takes place in a variety of formal and informal formats from classroom instruction to Facebook networks.

Technology is altering our brain. Intellectual technologies before the Internet that radically changed the way humans used their brains are the invention of the map, the mechanical clock, and the book. (Carr, 2011) Internet made it possible that the knowledge of whole humanity is at our fingertip or in our pocket. Internet changed how our brain is wired, we do not memorize facts anymore, but we learned to remember where to find them. (15 big ways the Internet is changing our brain, 2012)

2. Connectivism is a new learning theory and it adopts ideas from chaos, network, complexity and self-organization theories and integrating them in a new context. According to chaos theory everything is connected to everything. The decision made under certain conditions will no longer be correct if the conditions change. Learning is a self-organizing process. The ability to connect information sources is critical for learning. Nodes of a network always compete for connections. The currently most connected nodes will likely acquire additional connections. (Siemens, 2005)

3. A weakness might be that Connectivist learning environment may not be effective for all learners, at least not now. I think it fits advanced learners the best, who are most likely comfortable with the new technologies. When we learn something new, formal instruction based on traditional tools and familiar technologies might be easier and more effective, while advanced learners find networked learning more desirable to connect with expert peers to learn from their experience. (Gyasi & Wzientek, 2011) Instead of sending my 11 year-old son to school, I would let him go online and connect with resources via Facebook is unimaginable for me, at least right now. Online world is an adult world and participating comes with responsibility and mature decision making capabilities.

4. The MOOC format has been the most effective learning environment for me. It is perfect for learning for performance. I can connect to my network at the moment when I need to remember something, when something changes or when something goes wrong. (Learning Guide Solutions, 2011) "You cannot teach people everything they need to know. The best you do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it." -Papert One way I use wikis as my PLE is to strore, aggragate and organize resources around a specific topic, let's say for each of my courses I created its own wiki. My usual assets are in Youtube, Flickr, Diigo, Prezi, Slideshare, Twitter. I use my wikis as replacement for PowerPoint presentation, as preview and review with workshop participants. Some participants observe how I am using various tools and they adopt some of them to enhance their work (informal learning for them).

5. One of my questions is how assessment is addressed in the connnectivist learning. Will traditional assessment methods (tests, essays, rubrics) be replaced with something different, such as network analytics? For instance a learner would need to demonstrate how effectively he/she builds and interacts in a network, how many connections were built and how strong the ties are.


 * Reference**:

15 Big Ways The Internet Is Changing Our Brain | Online College Tips - Online Colleges. (2012, January 8). //Online College//. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://www.onlinecollege.org/15-big-ways-the-internet-is-changing-our-brain

Carr, N. (2011, January 19). Three Technologies That Changed Our Brains | Nicholas Carr | Big Think. //Big Think | Blogs, Articles and Videos from the World's Top Thinkers and Leaders//. Retrieved March 3, 2012, from http://bigthink.com/ideas/26562

Gyasi, A., & Wzientek, S. (2011, June 12). Learning Environments and Social Media: Friends or Opponents?. //7th Annual Innovations in e-Learning Symposium//. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://elearningsymposium.gmu.edu/2011/presentations_2011/Learn%20Environments%20and%20Social%20Media%20-%20Shannon%20Wzientek%20%2013.pdf

LearningGuideSolutions. (n.d.). The Key to Elevating L&D a Strategic Planner. //Top Performance Support Resources//. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.learningguidesolutions.com/images/uploads/pdf/LD_Whitepaper_Dec_2011.pdf

NOWISM. (2009, November 2). //trendwatching.com//. Retrieved February 29, 2012, from http://trendwatching.com/trends/nowism/

Quinn, C. (2011, June 8). Learning Without Limits of Time or Space. //7th Annual Innovations in e-Learning Symposium//. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://elearningsymposium.gmu.edu/2011/presentations_2011/Dr.%20Clark%20Quinn%20-%20Harness%20Magic%20-%20Mobile%20Learn%207.pdf

Siemens, G. (2012, January 13). Social networked learning in complex information environments. //Slideshare.net//. Retrieved February 28, 2012, from http://www.slideshare.net/gsiemens/social-networked-learning

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. //International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning//, //Vol. 2//(No. 1). Retrieved February 29, 2012, from http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm

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