Week 4 - What Makes Connectivism Unique?

Dates: February 7 - 14, 2011

Overview
What makes Connectivism distinct from other learning theories? That's going to be the subject of week 4 in the course -- the short version, though, is that connective knowledge is grown, not built, it is natural, not intentional, and it is inherent, not representative. We examine the differences between Connectivism, Activity Theory, Actor Network Theory (ANT) and Connectivism and Constructivism. Each of these are complex topics that require more in-depth discussion than we have time for this week. However, recognizing these theories and how they are related to each other is important in order to situate connectivism.

Readings
Activity Theory: Short Introduction (YouTube video) Introduction to Learning Theories What is Actor Network Theory ...and, for a quick overview of the history of learning theories, please see Situating Connectivism

Seminars

Wednesday: Live Session: Location: Elluminate
Neil Selwyn
Topic: Social media and education: reasons to be fearful?
Many people are convinced of the transformative impact of social media and technology in education over the last decade. Much has been written about the need to change our understandings of teaching and learning. Much is being said about the need to reform (or even replace) twentieth-century educational arrangements. This session will consider why we should be cautious of these received wisdoms – reviewing some of the major gaps, silences and tensions in currents debate surrounding social media and education. It will address a range of arguments about the politics of social media and education – not least issues of individualisationisation, commodification, (in)formality and (de)institutionalisation. This is a session designed to force us to think harder and more carefully about education in the ‘digital age'. You may disagree with everything being said, but why exactly do you disagree? How can we be certain of the future forms of education and technology?
Time:8:00 p.m. Moscow; 5:00 p.m. London; 12 noon New York; 9:00 a.m. Los Angeles; midnight Thursday Beijing. See here for other time zone conversions

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. See here for other time zone conversions

Activities
This week will be heavily discussion focused as we'll be exploring numerous broad theories. Please tag resources or reading that you encounter with #CCK11. On your blog, reflect on the main attributes of these different theories and how they inform learning and social interactions. In particular, what are the unique ideas in connectivism? Or, if you don't feel there are unique ideas, how do existing learning theories address learning in social, networked, technologically-embedded environments?

[Week 3] [Outline] [Week 5]