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Participating
Join a Backchannel Chat
Read Discussion Threads
Read Daily Newsletter
Newsletter Archives
Browse Blog Posts
Add a New Blog Feed
View List of Blogs
Listen to Recordings

Feeds
Announcements RSS
Blog Posts RSS
OPML List of Feeds

Contents
Week 1: Connectivism?
Week 2: Patterns
Week 3: Knowledge
Week 4: Unique?
Week 5: Groups, Networks
Week 6: PLENK
Week 7: Adaptive Systems
Week 8: Power & Authority
Week 9: Openness
Week 10: Net Pedagogy
Week 11: Research & Analytics
Week 12: Changing views


Stephen Downes

Posts

Getting Started
, , January 16, 2011.

Daily Newsletter

This newsletter will appear every day in your email inbox. We use it to announce events and share materials. Everybody has been auto-subscribed to the newsletter, but if it's not for you (you can always rely on the http://cck11.mooc.ca website) then there is an easy one-click unsubscribe link at the bottom of every issue.

Each week will begin with a weekly outline assigning readings, suggesting activities, and announcing online seminars. You can see the Week 1 announcement in this email below, or view to it on the Week 1 web page.

Discussion Threads

Unlike previous offerings of this course, we are not using Moodle. We are instead using the gRSShopper comment system. It is very simple compared to Moodle's, but at the same time, ought to be easier to use.

To try out the discussion thread, why not introduce yourself in the Introductions discussion Thread?

We will be describing some additional features of the comment system as the course progresses.

Share Your RSS Feed

We would like you to share blog posts and other online content with us. Here's how the process works:
- you create a blog or some other content somewhere on the internet
- you find the RSS feed of that content and share it with is here, on the 'New Feed' page
- we look at your feed, to make sure all the links work properly, and then place it on the course feeds page (note that it might take a day or two to approve new feeds)
- you write a blog post or other content using the tag CCK11 (that is, you put the tag 'CCK11' somewhere in the title or text of your post, or as a category for your post
- we retrieve your post and display it here in the newsletter and elsewhere in the course (more on that to come)

If you need more detailed instructions, you can view one of the videos we;ve produced describing the process for other courses:
- Here it is for the PLENK course
- Here it is for the Critical Literacies course
The only difference between this course and the other courses is in (a) where to add a new feed, and (b) the course tag.

New feeds: http://cck11.mooc.ca/new_feed.htm
Course Tag: CCK11
[Comment]

Introductions
Stephen Downes, CCK11, January 16, 2011.

Hello and welcome to Connectivism and Connective Knowledge. This post provides you with an opportunity to introduce yourself, and also to try using the MOOC.ca comment system.

You will find that, to make a comment, you can just type normally. If you want a space between lines, just leave a space. Many HTML tags work in the comment system, so you can add emphasis to your comments if you would like.

Once you make a comment, you can subscribe to additional comments from this thread simply by checking the comment subscription box. There's an easy 'unsubscribe' link with every comment. [Comment]

Week 1: What Is Connectivism?
, , January 16, 2011.

Dates: January 17 - 24, 2011

Overview

At its heart, connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks. It shares with some other theories a core proposition, that knowledge is not acquired, as though it were a thing. Knowledge is, on this theory, literally the set of connections formed by actions and experience.



Readings



Seminars



Activities

A few simple activities for this week:

1. View the recordings and complete course readings for week 1

2. As an introductory week, this is a good opportunity to define how you will participate in the course. We encourage you to set up a blog (on a service such as wordpress.com or blogger. This course is different from what you've likely experienced in the past - it's open and distributed. It's important for you to define where you wish to begin forming (or extend an existing) digital identity.

3. Use the CCK11 tag in anything you create. Our course tag is: #CCK11

It is especially important to use this tag in del.icio.us and in Twitter. That is how we will recognize content related to this course. We will aggregate this content and display it in our newsletter. Yes – your content will be displayed in the Daily. That's how other people will find it.

If you are using a blog, Flickr, or a discussion group, share the RSS feed. We will offer a separate post on how to find your RSS feed if you don't know how. But if you know how, please tell us your feed address.
You can use the form here: Add your RSS feeds by adding a feed hereSubmit your blog to gRSSreader so we can track and share your activity

4. Attend the course orientation meeting here in Elluminate on Wednesday. [Comment]

CCK11 Feed List
Various Authors, MOOC.ca, January 18, 2011.

Today we introduce the CCK11 participants' blogs. Each day, we will list new blog posts in the CCK11 Daily Newsletter (see below). You can view the full list of participant blogs on the website. If you haven't yet added your feed, please add it on the new feed page. Note that you can also read participants' posts using our new gRSShopper Feed Reader (note that this is brand new, still pretty basic, and still being upgraded).

Course participants are encouraged to comment on each other's blog posts. You can do this in one of two ways. First, you can simply leave a comment on the blog post itself. Or second, you can share your comment on the CCK11 course website by clicking on the [comment] link. The first person to click on the [comment] link will create a new discussion thread related to the blog post. Subsequent participants will add to that thread. New discussion threads will also be listed in the daily newsletter. And as you may have seen, you can follow any discussion thread by email. [Comment]

Re: Sample Link Post
Stephen Downes, , January 18, 2011.

Thanks for this; the comment list had a default maximum of 50 items, which was clipping the full list. I have reset it to 500, which should do us for now. :) [Comment]

Free Yourself
Stephen Downes, CCK11, January 21, 2011.

"If CCK11 is a distributed course," you may be asking, "then why must I depend on a central application like gRSShopper? Why can't I take the course without being subscribed to the Daily?" And the answer is: you can. You can take the course entirely inside your own RSS reader. We have three XML pages that allow you to set this up:

- CCK11 Announcements and Posts RSS Feed - this is an RSS feed of the course content authored by the instructors, and includes all announcements

- CCK11 Participants Blog Posts RSS Feed - this is an RSS feed containing extracts of all participant blog posts tagged with CCK11

- CCK11 Participant Feed OPML - this is an outline file listing all course participant feeds. You can import this list into your aggregator to read the feeds directly (instructions for Google Reader).

So if you feel you need to be free of the centralizing influence of gRSShopper, you now have all the tools you need. [Comment]

Re: Course Blog Viewer
Stephen Downes, , January 20, 2011.

Yes, I'm making all RSS feeds available, plus OPML of the feed list. Stay tuned. [Comment]

Re: CCK11 Feed List
Stephen Downes, , January 20, 2011.

> this doesn't get 'pushed' back to the blog and appear as comment on that person's blog site. Is that correct.

This is correct. Sadly, comments posted here stay here. One day, I will add some better forwarding features. But they don't exist yet.

> if i comment directly on someone's blog site, then will it get 'harvested' and appear as a discussion in the 'Daily'. will I have to put the CCK tag into my comment?

No. Comments on web sites are not harvested, only the original blog posts. This means that when you post a comment on someone's blog site, it stays on that blog.

This is why, in general, if you have anything more than a very short remark to make, it's always better to create a new post on your own blog. You can always link back to the blog you're commenting on, and your blog post is seen both on your blog and (if you use the cck11 tag) on this site. [Comment]

Re: Course Blog Viewer
Stephen Downes, , January 21, 2011.

The RSS feeds are now available. Also, I've set up an OPML feed so you can import the blog list into your reader and bypass gRSShopper entirely. See http://cck11.mooc.ca/post/54610
[Comment]

Week 2 - Patterns of Connectivity
, , January 24, 2011.

Dates: January 24 - 31, 2011

Overview
Unfortunately, it's difficult to find a comprehensive introductory resource detailing structures of networks online. Many excellent articles exist...but are behind pay walls. (If you have access and are interested in exploring, start with Barabasi, Watts, Granovetter). The articles listed below will provide a bit of an introduction. We will go into greater depth during our live discussion this week (time to be posted). During the live session, we will explore in greater detail terms such as: strong/weak ties, hubs, scale-free networks, small worlds, centrality, etc.

Readings

- Valdis Krebs , Short Introduction to social network analysis
- Wikipedia, Network science
- Stephen Downes: Learning Networks: Theory and Practice .ppt and audio.
- Barry Wellman, Networks for Newbies .ppt
- George Lakoff, Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain


Seminars

Wednesday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate

Martin Weller: The New Scholarship
Time: 7:30 pm, London, 12:30 pm Mountain Time: See time zone conversions to different regions here

Friday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate Facilitator's discussion. Time:8:00 p.m. Moscow; 5:00 p.m. London; 12 noon New York; 9:00 a.m. Los Angeles; midnight Saturday Beijing

Activities

1. Network terms and related concepts

This week provides a foundation for many of the terms that we will continue to visit in this course. Network-related concepts are evident everywhere: medicine (how a virus spreads), information flow in society, connectedness and influence in social networks. A basic level of network literacy is important for any member of society.

As part of your activity this week, spend time looking for network terms and related concepts. Tag resources that you encounter with CCK11 on Delicious, Diigo, or post listings on your blog. We will use this list to collaboratively create a network-term glossary toward the end of the week.

2. Network diagrams

Find disgrams of networks (eg., the network of the sciences, the network of songs on last.fm, community networks, etc). Here are some examples of network diagrams. Post your diagrams (or links to them) in Delicious, Diigo, or on your blog.
[Comment]

MP3 Audio Recordings
Stephen Downes, CCK11, January 24, 2011.

I've uploaded MP3 audio recordings of the live sessions from week 1.
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_19Jan11.mp3 Size: 14024565 bytes, type: audio/mpeg
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_21Jan11.mp3 Size: 13639630 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

Live Session Wednesday
, , January 25, 2011.

Take note of the unusual time for Wednesday's live session featuring Martin Weller: The New Scholarship. Time: 7:30 pm, London, 12:30 pm Mountain Time: See time zone conversions to different regions here. To access the conference, join us in Elluminate. [Comment]

Concept Map at the End of Week 1 - #CCK11
Stephen Downes, 1067 - Discovery Through eLearning, January 25, 2011.

I've been enjoying the development of this concept map. It's not as complex as, say, the map of all the sciences (though it may become so in time), but it shows clearly how the structure of this course has become, in a very short time, a network structure. [Comment]

Editing a Feed Entry (in gRSShopper)
Stephen Downes, Blip.tv, January 26, 2011.

We've had 145 feeds submitted thus far by the 763 people signed up for the course. In order to make sure they work properly (and to ensure we don't get unwanted advertising) I review each feed individually. If everything is done correctly (as it is for about 90 percent of the feeds) it takes about a minute. In this short video I give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process I go through to review and approve a new feed. [Comment]

Re: Introductions
Stephen Downes, , January 27, 2011.

> Anyone have suggestions for how we could carve a space for connectivism discussions specifically relevant to the K-12 school setting?

- Go to the blog post viewer: http://cck11.mooc.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?action=viewer

- Find a blog post that looks appropriate, and click 'comment'

- In your comment, say "THIS is the thread for K-12 school settings"

- This comment thread will be highlighted in the newsletter the next day

- People interested in the subject click 'reply' and keep discussing

When the thread gets too long to be useful, it's time to move on. Find another blog post to kick off a discussion, and start discussing again. [Comment]

Re: MP3 Audio Recordings
Stephen Downes, , January 27, 2011.

All recordings will appear on the Recordings page, http://cck11.mooc.ca/recordings.htm

Note that the second session yesterday, with Valdis Krebs, was canceled due to technical issues with Elluminate.
[Comment]

Wednesday Live Session Recordings
Stephen Downes, CCK11, January 27, 2011.

The Elluminate and MP3 recordings of Wednesday's session with Martin Weller on digital scholarship are now available. Martin also wrote a blog post on the session. The session with Valdis Krebs was cancelled due to a tech issue, so there is no recording of the second session.
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_26Jan11.mp3 Size: 13797551 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

Re: Free Yourself
Stephen Downes, , January 28, 2011.

The link to the Daily Blog Posts RSS feed on the main page has been fixed, thanks.
http://cck11.mooc.ca/dailyblogs.xml [Comment]

CCK11: Myths of Connectionism
Stephen Downes, 1196 - CCK08-11 - Viplav Baxi, January 28, 2011.

Interestingly, I shared a house with Istevan Berkeley in Edmonton for two years. [Comment]

A problem-based Lifelong learning model #CCK11
Stephen Downes, 1156 - lifelonglearning, January 28, 2011.

This is a demonstration comment, for the Friday facilitator session. [Comment]

Re: A problem-based Lifelong learning model #CCK11
Stephen Downes, , January 28, 2011.

Follow-up comment [Comment]

Friday Recording
Stephen Downes, CCK11, January 30, 2011.

The recordings for Friday's session have been uploaded (Elluminate and MP3).
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_28Jan11.mp3 Size: 13435775 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

Re: Networks
Stephen Downes, , February 1, 2011.

The thing is - when you say "in order to develop a Community" what is it exactly that you are attempting to develop? [Comment]

#CCK11 Discourse and the networks
Stephen Downes, 1162 - Suifaijohnmak's Weblog, February 1, 2011.

My comment [Comment]

Networks, Neighbourhoods and Communities: A Reflection
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, February 1, 2011.

So much discussion in the field of education is based in loosely defined terminology and concepts. Take, for example, the advice to 'form community'. There are many things this advice could be manifest as, including any of the three accounts of community given above, and a wide variety of other permutations. We can use network terminology to explain much more clearly complex phenomena such as instruction, communities and interaction. [Comment]

Wednesday Live Session
, , February 2, 2011.

Wednesday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate
Thomas Vander Wal
Topic: Information and its Connective Tissue
Time:8:00 p.m. Moscow; 5:00 p.m. London; 12 noon New York; 9:00 a.m. Los Angeles; midnight Thursday Beijing, all time zones

This week, we will be trying something new. In addition to the Elluminate, we will be live-streaming an audio feed of the discussion. This is for people using mobile phones or who cannot use Elluminate. Access the live stream in any audio player (like Winamp, Windows Media Player, Quicktime, etc) at http://208.82.115.69:8010/stream or point your browser to this link. Again, this is an alternative for people who cannot use Elluminate, and does not replace Elluminate.
[Comment]

Wednesday Recordings
Stephen Downes, CCK11, February 3, 2011.

Recordings from Wednesday's session with Thomas Vander Wal are now available. You might also want to view this nice summary by Porfessor Baker.
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_02Feb11.mp3 Size: 15755362 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

gRSShopper Blog Reader
Stephen Downes, Blip.tv, February 3, 2011.

I've created a short video recording explaining how to use the blog post reader and comments system in CCK11. The video shows how to open the reader, how to navigate through the list of posts contributed by course participants, and how to comment on the posts. [Comment]

Re: CCK11 Week 3 Notes
Stephen Downes, , February 3, 2011.

Links are ugly because it was the only effective means of deterring spammers. I will consider a WYSIWYG to make things neater at a future date.

With respect to swedinbalchik, it was rejected twice because it was just a Twitter feed, and we harvest Twitter separately, but now that it is a Wordpress blog it has been reviewed and harvested, and posts will begin showing up in the newsletter. [Comment]

Re: CCK11 Week 3 Notes
Stephen Downes, , February 3, 2011.

No problem. That's what this course is for. :) [Comment]

Friday Live Session
, , February 4, 2011.

Friday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate Facilitator's discussion. Time:8:00 p.m. Moscow; 5:00 p.m. London; 12 noon New York; 9:00 a.m. Los Angeles; midnight Saturday Beijing, all time zones

This week, we will be trying something new. In addition to the Elluminate, we will be live-streaming an audio feed of the discussion. This is for people using mobile phones or who cannot use Elluminate. Access the live stream in any audio player (like Winamp, Windows Media Player, Quicktime, etc) at http://208.82.115.69:8010/stream or point your browser to this link. Again, this is an alternative for people who cannot use Elluminate, and does not replace Elluminate.
[Comment]

Friday Recording
Stephen Downes, CCK11, February 4, 2011.

Recording from Friday's session. Stephen Downes, an examination of Connective Knowledge and related issues.
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_04February11.mp3 Size: 15092424 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 8, 2011.

> Blogging + comments, or Facebook/Linkedin, while very useful, are not the sam

Why not?

What is the difference between this forum and Moodle, and how does that difference prevent deep discussion? [Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 8, 2011.

I think they are nightmarish to unravel. And my own take has always been that the threading takes away from the flow of the conversation, replacing it with little side-groups that spin away on their own, away from the main conversation. [Comment]

Constructivist Foundations
Various Authors, Website, February 9, 2011.

This journal requires a free registration, but the contents are well worth giving over your email address. The focus is on the foundations of constructivism. In particular, the first full article in the journal, The Constructivist Challenge, is a nice outline of the origins and dimensions of constructivist theory. I didn't want to put an entire journal on the recommended readings, but if you have time, I recommend a reading of the 16 issues currently available. [Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 9, 2011.

Yes, there is an aspect of connectivism which essentially says, "go create your own." There is a definite shift in approach from "we will accommodate your needs" to "you create your learning environment yourself."

You can choose to interpret it as "beat-it" and take it as a personal dismissal, but that would be incorrect. A connectivist approach entails that invididuals manage their own learning. There are many reasons for this, but one is that it is not reasonable nor feasible to design for the needs of every single individual. We don't "accomodate your needs" because we can't. Not with 700 people in the course and zero registration fees.

You might say, "well why not reduce enrollment, charge fees, and design a single multi-function environment for everyone?" Because that's been done many times by other people. That way lies the world of the LMS and centrally managed instruction. It has well-known permutations, and well-known weaknesses.

We prefer to approach diversity not through reduction and standardization, but through distribution. By allowing people to select their own environment, and then linking them, we support many more people at a much lower cost and without forcing them into a single mode of support.

It is a different way of learning online and we recognize that people are uncomfortable. But calling us unfeeling will not change the approach. [Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 9, 2011.

> Was this last comment really called for?

I don't like being accused of things like "enforcing" and "rigging", etc., and it turns out you don't like being accused of things either.

I personally don't see why it would be objectionable to offer a course on Connectivism in the manner prescribed by the theory. Attributing our decision to do this to deeper personal motives, however, is objectionable.
[Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 9, 2011.

> My questions are not intended to offend. I would be offended if they were interpreted that way.

Sorry, you don't get a free pass just by declaring an intent. That's like saying "my punch isn't intended to hurt you; I would be hurt if you felt pain when I punched you."

As for ther content of the reply:

'Open' has not in any of my reading ever been defined as 'accommodating the needs of everyone'. And while *every* course requires that the participant participate in *some* manner, it is a twisting of words to interpret "in whatever manner you please" ad some "specified" manner.

I agree, it "does not address the learner's stated needs/wants." And when you ask "How is this new?" the answer is that it rejects the implied contract to "address the learner's stated needs/wants" that other approaches endorse.

We are not an education service provider. We provide access to a community and resources, but *you* adapt them to serve your needs.

Really, the complaints are like people complaining about email because they no longer have a postal service. "By making me use any email reader I want, rather than delivering letters to my home, you are making the system less open and forcing me to interact in some specified manner." To which I reply: tough. It's faster, cheaper, and after some experience with it you will never be content to sit around and wait for a letter carrier again.

The Moodle is still available; we are not using it. People seem to have adapted quite nicely; there is a very active Facebook group (that is not susceptable to fragmentation, user issues and power games the way the Moodle forums were). The Facebook discussion continues very strong, while by this time in other courses the Moodle had dwindled to a half-dozen die-hards dominating every Moodle thread.

Finally, to say we "impose a structure" is a misrepresentation of what we've done. *Everything* has some structure; we have *removed* most of the structure that exists, and allowed people to select their own. Call it "imposition" if you want; I call the response "passive-aggressive feedback trying to indimidate us into giving you a personal forum and captive audience." Since I feel such are destructive to online learning, I don't enable it.


[Comment]

Wednesday Audio Recording
Stephen Downes, CCK11, February 9, 2011.

We had an excellent discussion with Neil Selwyn on social networks and education. Also: here's a summary of some of the comments, and links to Neil's papers as well.
Enclosure: files/audio/cck11_09February11.mp3 Size: 15357580 bytes, type: audio/mpeg [Comment]

The Nature vs Nurture debate
Stephen Downes, 1224 - Complex Learning, February 10, 2011.

I think that the way the 'nature versus nurture' debate is expanded sheds some light on the distinction between connectivism and other theories.

First of all, though, I want to reshape this distinction. The phrase 'nature' versus 'nurture' suggests two possibilities: you either know it innately, genertically; or, you're taught.

Really, I think, the difference is between things you 'know' innately and things you learn by experiences. What skills do we know instinctively, and what skills do we need to practice?

Viewed this way, I think that a great deal of connectivism falls into the 'nurture' or 'experience' camp. That is to say, connectivism suggests that we start with a generally unshaped network of connections, and experience shapes that network.

Where I think it differs with more recent theories is in *how* this reshaping through experience occurs.

The basic learning mechanisms - the formation of or breaking of connections - are innate. They are physical processes. They are most affected by nutrition and drugs, and other physical factors, such as stress.

This means that learning itself is a much less intentional process than most people suggest. There is the widespread perspective that people decide what to learn, when to learn, how to learn. But such decisions (for there is no doubt that people make them) have only a limited impact on learning.

That's why I prefer to say that we 'grow' new knowledge rather than 'construct' new knowledge. The word 'construct' implies an agency that I think is not there. True, we can 'plant' a garden, and 'tend' a garden, and do a bunch of things that ill influence how the garden grows. But the actual growing is up to the garden itself. [Comment]

The difference between learning and teaching
Stephen Downes, 1216 - Con sabor educativo, February 10, 2011.

Actually, I think that 'studying' or 'practicing' are like eating. These are activities we so.

The word 'learning' is a success-term. It refers to the result. Although we say "I am learning to drive" we really mean "I am practicing how to drive." If we keep practicing but get no better, it becomes foolish to say "I am 'learning' to drive."

To say 'I am learning' is like saying 'I am becoming stronger'. This is something 'studying' can help with, the way 'eating' can help with becoming stronger. But there are other factors involved. There are things you can't control. Though the result is desired and expected, it is not what you are *doing*, it is what you are *hoping* for. [Comment]

Re: The difference between learning and teaching
Stephen Downes, , February 11, 2011.

> I don't think learning and practicing say the same thing, as suggested here.

Nobody is suggesting that learning and practicing are the same thing.

The difference is, 'learning' is a *success* verb. It speaks not only to what we do, but also to what the result was.

So there is no *activity* that we undertake called 'learning'. We do other things, such as 'practice', which if *combined* with successful results, is called 'learning'.
[Comment]

Rhizomes, metaphor utility, constraints
Stephen Downes, 1183 - Search results in Emerging Technologies, February 11, 2011.

Rhizomes: the problem I have with the rhizome analogy is that a rhizome is a propagation of things that are the same, and not different. That doesn't make it a bad metaphore, but it does, in my mind, make it a very limited network. If the nodes in a rhizome cannot obtain different states, and transmit that state to other nodes, it may have the structure, but not the functionality.

Metaphors: to be sure, there are differences between social networks and neural networks, and these differences are interesting. The nodes in social networks can assume much more varied internal states, and therefore, much more complex interaction with other nodes. One of the major points of connectivism, though, is to argue that the knowledge resides in the structure of these interactions, and not in the internal states. Our personal knowledge is not composed of neural electrical potential; social knowledge is not composed of personal knowledge. What is important about connectivism is what is similar between these two types of networks. No doubt what is different is interesting too, but that study is not part of connectivism.

Constraints: to me, constraints function like the input in back-porpagation, and is therefore only as useful as the validity of the constraint. A person living in a dictatorship is faced with a variety of constraints, but these are not conducive to learning and development. A person playing a game, by contrast, faces constraints of a very different nature (typically creating an analogy between the game and some real-world conditions) and hence learns from them. [Comment]

Networks and Feedback
Stephen Downes, 1224 - Complex Learning, February 11, 2011.

Totally agreed with the need to discuss feedback. From the connectivism perspective, feedback plays the role of 'back propagation' and is one of the major learning methods (ie., mechanisms for creating, strengthening, weakening or removing connections). [Comment]

Week 4: concept map iteration 3
Stephen Downes, 1183 - Search results in Emerging Technologies, February 11, 2011.

I am completely serious about the idea that we all have our own servers at home (or possibly, that we all have our own servers residing on some server farm; the physical location isn't as important as the functionality).

There's no reason to believe that this will create a network of people isolated from each other. Our personal servers can act as intermediaries for communication much the way the telephone can (or, for that matter, much the way the postal service did). What's nice about the personal server is that not only can we have direct conversations through one, we can also provide artifacts - messages, audio, video, etc - for people to view when we're not available. [Comment]

Friday Live Online Session
, , February 11, 2011.

Friday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate - click here to launch Elluminate. Facilitator's discussion. Time:8:00 p.m. Moscow; 5:00 p.m. London; 12 noon New York; 9:00 a.m. Los Angeles; midnight Saturday Beijing. See here for other time zone conversions The session will also be live streamed over internet radio for those using mobile devices or who cannot access Elluminate. The stream URL is http://208.82.115.69:8010/stream. [Comment]

Re: Dialogues (help!)
Stephen Downes, , February 11, 2011.

> This may sound unpleasant but most people are neither curious nor care to know anything beyond a certain small circle of interests.

I think that insofar as this is a fact (it seems to me very common for academics to misrepresent the apathy of the 'common man') then learning is relevant to this person only with respect to that range of interests, and ought to respect that.

Of the two elements required to function in a connectivist environment - critical ability, and motivation - I think that motivation is by far the more important. And I think that motivation is not a factor if we get the salience factor right. If the content is of interest and important to the person, they will be motivated to take part.

In domains outside those labeled by - well, us - as important, we can observe the 'common man' being engaged and critically aware. Take sports, for example. People who would otherwise be depicted as apathetic are capable to deep investigation and insight into sports, both as spectators and participants. They are 'true connectivists' just as much as someone who studies learning for a living.

Yes, there are things that could be done to improve their skill level. Yes, the technology and connective methodology could be animated and simplified to make networks more accessible and more fruitfully usable by more people. But a study of these conditions is in my view far more accurate a reflection of connectivism than the casual observation that 'most people are lazy'. [Comment]

Re: Rhizomes
Stephen Downes, , February 11, 2011.

> What resides there, if not knowledge?

It depends on what the network is.

If it's a network of neurons, what resides in the nodes are chemical compounds and electrical potentials. Clearly this is not knowledge. The knowledge a human has is composed of the connections between the neurons, not the internal contents of humans.

It it's a network of people, then what resides in the nodes are human physical states, including brain states. But the knowledge a *society* has is not composed of human brain states (even if these brain states constitute *personal* knowledge). The knowledge a society has is composed of the network of interactions between humans, this network consisting of artifacts such as words and sentences, buildings, digital data, and the rest of the things we create.

[Comment]

Re: The difference between learning and teaching
Stephen Downes, , February 11, 2011.

> I have suggested that learning can be unconscious, and not necessarily tied to observable, measurable results, or 'success' as you call it.

It is really frustrating when you completely change the meaning of what I've said. Please stop it.

I never mentioned "observable, measurable results". You are bringing an entirely different type of argument, one that has nothing to do with my position, and nothing to do with the point I'm trying to make here.

And the point is, something doesn't count as 'learning' unless learning actually happens. That's why it's called a 'success verb'. I have made no attempt to *define* what counts as success here. All I am saying is that the result - the success - is distinct from the input. [Comment]

Re: The difference between learning and teaching
Stephen Downes, , February 13, 2011.

Luisa, you might be interested in a paper I wrote recently on this: The Role of the Educator http://www.downes.ca/post/54312

That said, it should be kept in mind that the role of the educator is different in a connectivist perspective than it is from a traditional perspective. Because students are not assembled into classes studying mandatory subjects, such factors of motivating, focusing attention, encouraging exploration, etc., play much smaller roles. [Comment]