I am looking forward to the CCK11 live session tomorrow and have a few questions to put out there in advance.

How do we as participants in CCK11 use connectivist theory and praxis to provide evidence of our learning? Are course participants planning to construct an rssFolio? I have seen the benefits of ePortfolio assessment and believe in the process produced when we collect, select, reflect, and present on the evidence of our learning. I also have seen how difficult this is to do in traditional “school” settings. So if we are to take assessment to a new level for young people and adults using connectivist theory and praxis what might this look like? What tools are needed to connect knowledge in a new assessment ecosystem? What would an rssFolio look like and how might we see learning with such a modality?

Quotes that make me think from Siemens (2005)

The capacity to form connections between sources of information, and thereby create useful information patterns, is required to learn in our knowledge economy.

Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known

Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses.

The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era

Looking forward to the rest of this week and CCK11!

4 Comments

Submit a Comment
  1. Here are the 5 key ideas that stuck me from today’s online course meeting for CCK11.

    The Prism

    Each person is creating their own representation of content. We are creating our understanding as light reflects through a prism- there are many ways to consider and apply the knowledge/understanding, all based on our individual backgrounds and experience.

    For my own use of the Prism metaphor or symbol, check out the blogs below on my Personal Learning Environment or PLE.

    Duplication

    Unlike traditional classes, a Massive Open Online Course or MOOC, is not attempting to create one central body of knowledge. By definition, it is creating multiple sets of knowledge. Learners in this environment have to, must take charge and be proactive. The old model of sage on the stage for data dump is passé. And consider this view of traditional classes- once you understand, everything is duplication.

    Curation

    Checkout this info from Wikipedia. My comments- Digital literacies that grow naturally out of emerging technologies are changing the we learn, and do business. Secondly, and to me most importantly, just as we trust a museum curator to put the best on display to help us understand the display, topic, exhibit, we must trust others to lead us to keys areas for information. Otherwise we may just be lost in the deluge, just as managers complain they are lost in email. But we all put the different parts together differently and we still learn as we grow. And we all may relay on different curators to select what is important because they can, because of education and experience, shift through multiple patters and see relationships we might not see because we lack the experience.

    “Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library or archive) is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections. The object of a traditional curator's concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections. More recently, new kinds of curators are emerging: curators of digital data objects, and biocurators.

    More recently, advances in new technologies have led to a further widening of the role of curator. This has been focused in major art institutions internationally and has become an object of academic study and research.

    In contemporary art, the title curator is given to a person who selects and often interprets works of art. In addition to selecting works, the curator often is responsible for writing labels, catalog essays, and other supporting content for the exhibition. Such curators may be permanent staff members, be "guest curators" from an affiliated organization or university, or be "freelance curators" working on a consultant basis.”

    Unthinking

    As Stephen Downes said, “Having found Waldo, you can’t find him again!”
    You can’t unthink- perhaps that is a key to knowledge.
    So, what do you think? Who are your curators?

  2. This is a valid question. Traditionally, teachers assessed information retained by the students. It is time to identify a new assessment that measures "incremental knowledge" and the ability to "mine for knowledge". I hope the course show us some leads.

  3. This is an important point for me Skip. Being a personal curator is essential in all learning. When we exhibit our passions a core understanding is shown. We learn from these exhibitions as do others, and lasting effect can happen through working on real problems in the world.

    The issue for me rests with the "ideology of curriculum" to use Apple's (1990) wording. Official Knowledge and its dissemination is very political, and international today in the traditional/dominant "school" (K-20+). How do we create the necessary bypass in education to turn Connectivist theory into practice in a systems way? What are the new learning ecologies that will network (and curate) a connectivist vision in learning?

  4. I agree, Anas. The potential for change in education provided my connectivism at a design and praxis level is vital. Then again, Apple "went around" convention (the music industry) and individuals drove there success….A revolutionary by-pass. Connectivism and learning?

Leave a Reply to Anas Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.