The importance of Connectivism in Education
This week Dr. Power presented a lecture where he described different learning theories, one being connectivism. During the first breakout group activity my group was assigned to watch videos and learn more about the learning theory of connectivism. During this time we collaborated and shared our ideas by contributing to a "mindmup" which was especially fitting as it is a mind map web application that allows contributors to make connections. The theory of connectivism places importance on learning that makes connections whether these connections are to organizations, data, or information (Siemens, 2012). This theory emphasizes how it is crucial to be able to make distinctions between important and unimportant information, especially in an age where new information is acquired constantly (Siemens, 2014).
When I had originally learned about connectivism learning theory I didn't feel as though I could relate to the learning theory and put this theory into practice in my classroom. Constructivism however I had always been able to directly relate to (I wrote about constructivism in last weeks blog post found here).Something changed this week (the timing was uncanny) when I brought my class to the computer lab to do a math activity. I instructed my grade 10 students to access Statistics Canada for an activity. I was floored when more than one student asked "how do we get there"? I didn't think I had to instruct them on how to open a web browser and google Statistics Canada to open the web page. Immediately after the class I thought back to Tuesday night's class and the learning theory of connectivism.
Unfortunately I feel that teachers give a bit too much credit to the so-called "digital natives" in their ability to efficiently use technology. Research has shown that there is high variability in the degree to which everyday technological skills amoung students can be effectively transferred to educational contexts and that students may not be as skilled with certain technologies than often assumed (Bennet & Maton, 2010).
I feel that it is crucial that teachers facilitate connectivism learning theory in their classrooms. Students need to be able to effectively access valid information on their own and make connections between information and data that they access. It is also important that teachers don't assume that students know how to effectively use technologies that we may use daily in teaching but students don't use regularly. For example teachers rely on personal computers regularly but students may rely more on smart phones or tablets meaning they don't use computers or certain software often. I recently discovered this when I had a senior Physics class working in a computer lab to type up a lab which required them to make computer generated graphs. I was again surprised at how many students didn't know where to start in order to make a graph on the computer (I assumed they would all go right to excel and know what to do).
Teachers should work to find a balance between helping teach students how to use certain technologies effectively while requiring a certain level of independence on the part of the student to essentially figure it out on their own. In a similar way teachers should act as a guide to assist students in finding valid and reliable resources when conducted research.
References
- Bennett, S., & Maton, K. (2010). Beyond the ‘digital natives’ debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students' technology experiences. Journal of computer assisted learning, 26(5), 321-331.
- Siemens, G. (2014). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age.
- Siemens, G. (2012). Connectivism and Learning Technologies. Available fromhttp://www.slideshare.net/fastfonz/connectivism-final-draft
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