Connectivism

Okay, so apparently I am slow and misread the due date for this. So here is my mind map. Click on the image for a larger view. My reflection coming soon and on time. ;)

Reflection
My network has changed the way I learn in that it has granted me access to articles and other material that I wouldn’t necessarily have contact with. Yet at the same time it has made me somewhat dependant on technology. That’s not much of a bad thing. I love technology. It just makes researching a bit easier and less time consuming. Plus, I value online research for the simple fact that I am from one of the last few generations that had to do physical research before the technology boom.

The best digital tools that facilitate my learning are the blogs and wikis. Although I don’t particularly like to write them, I find the blogs of my classmates and the professional interesting and informative. It’s like an informal way of learning for me. People share their thoughts and insights on topics that interest me. I kind of prefer them a bit more than the class text book. Wikis are just plain fun. I think that they are an excellent way to post information about a topic. I enjoyed creating one for my last class. I spend a lot of time on wikipedia for various reasons, so making my own was very exciting.

The way I gain new knowledge when I have a questions, is to try and find out the information form myself. If I am reading a book and have a question, then I would try to find the answer to my questions in the book. But I usually use the internet (mostly wikipedia) in my search. If I can’t find it that way, then I’d just ask someone.

My personal learning network supports connectivism because it follows George Siemens priciples of connectivism: Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions, learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources, learning may reside in non-human appliances, capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known, nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning, ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill, and currency (accurate) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities (Davis, Edmunds, & Kelly-Bateman, 2008) .

Davis, C, Edmunds, E, & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/eplt