Module 4: Connectivist Learning

My Own Connectivist Learning Network

As an undergraduate student, I was reluctant to interact with other educational professionals using digital tools. I went to school, did what was asked by my professors, and went home to complete my assignments – striving to be independent and creating my own ideas and resources. I did not realize the plethora of resources available from interacting with other professionals, both face to face and via digital resources. However, as I began my first year of teaching, I realized the importance of connecting with others, relying on the experience, knowledge, and resources available to me at the click of a mouse. I

Upon this realization, I began to utilize digital tools to facilitate my learning. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Blogger are a few digital tools that are utilized in facilitating learning regarding educational practices. Not only do social networking websites like Facebook assist me in making my own connections, it is a great way to convey to students how to "connect" with others to increase opportunities to learn. My digital learning network has become a significant means of discovering new teaching ideas to incorporate into my instructional practices. Twitter provides me with access to others knowledgeable in the area of educational technology – people and resources I may have otherwise never encountered. Discussion boards, educational blogs, and wikis are abundant and I am able to follow key interests for me.  Thanks to technology and digital learning, I have created a major network of connections to improve my abilities as an educator in the digital age.

Despite my constant activity on the internet, researching and completing tasks for my educational endeavors, I have not established any direct relationships with the other participants in my learning network. Utilizing tools like Skype, Google Docs, and search engines are great means of discovering answers to questions I may have. Becoming proficient in the use of these digital tools decreases my reluctance of using these resources in my own classroom instruction. Furthermore, demonstrating the possibilities of using technology to efficiently locate knowledge is key to engaging the digital learners I am now teaching. The contacts/educational professionals I have interacted with during my graduate  studies are also very resourceful. Learning new knowledge, instructional implications, and teaching strategies are available without leaving the comfort of my couch. Who could complain about this?

Module 3: The Need for Collaboration – Natural Instinct?

Do humans have a basic instinct to interact and work as a group? Well absolutely! Consider the last time you walked into a room filled with strangers. Did you go sit in the corner all alone or did you find someone to sit beside and make small talk? Naturally, adults (and even children) have the tendency to gravitate to one another. Howard Rheingold isn’t shy about sharing his opinion of the natural evolution of collective knowledge in our society. As technology continues to emerge and progress, the internet has become an open highway of information. Technology flows in two directions, just as traffic flows down a major highway in opposite directions. However, for technology to be utilized in an effective manner it is critical that teachers determine the passion that exists within each and every child in order to assist students with pursuing those passions. Knowledge should continuously change and develop as the learner participates in new activities (Driscoll, 2005). Incorporating technology into a collaborative learning environment is an excellent means of addressing the human instinct to interact with others.

Web 2.0 technologies and other advances in technology have now created multiple accesses to information with various outlets for transmission and revision. Web 2.0 users are able to access information, activate prior knowledge and experiences, and make personal connections to information based on prior learning. Social networking, wikis, blogs, and other collaborative spaces have become an open highway to flowing knowledge and information. Learners are able to post their own perspectives and ideas using these resources providing other learners with the ability to process and reconstruct the information according to their own experiences and perspectives. Recent studies have highlighted how the operation and implementation of social computing tools can be utilized to support the creation of an open and socially shared information space for collaboration among online learners. This can diminish the lack of collaboration in online learning environments in comparison to that of face-to-face instruction and learning. Although this can definitely improve the educational practices for many, it can also cause issues as learners begin to share ideas. As Michael Trucano notes in his blog, it is easier than ever for students to cheat and to get caught. Teachers must create and enforce expectations for students when collaborating via Web 2.0 resources.

References:

Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pooranachandran, C. C., & Balasubramanian, R. R. (2011). COLLABORATION IN WEB BASED LEARNING: A SOCIAL COMPUTING PERSPECTIVE. International Journal On Computer Science & Engineering, 3(2), 722-727.