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Connectivism: A Review
Authors: Mina Khatibi1, Mahboobeh Fouladchang2
Number of views: 535
George Siemens and Stephen Downes developed a theory for the digital age, called connectivism, denouncing boundaries of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Their proposed learning theory has issued a debate over whether it is a learning theory or instructional theory or merely a pedagogical view ( Duke, Harper, and Johnston, 2013 ). 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. An account of connectivism is therefore necessarily preceded by an account of networks ( Downes, 2012). Current developments with technology and social software are significantly altering: (a) how learners access information and knowledge, and (b) how learners dialogue with the instructor and each other. Both of these domains (access and interaction) have previously been largely under the control of the teacher or instructor ( Siemens, 2008). It is a clear fact that nowadays knowledge is growing faster and with the spreading of information and communication technology, the dream of network learning has become a reality, at least technically, and now a vast amount of spontaneous knowledge exchange is possible (Shahin, 2012). Google Scholar, Scopus, and open access journals offer increased access to academic resources; an extension to more informal approaches such as regular internet search and Wikipedia. Social software (blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, instant messaging, Skype, Ning) provide opportunities for learners to create, dialogue about, and disseminate information (Siemens, 2008). Three major domains are covered, knowledge, learning and community. Each of these represents an aspect of network theory: the first, examining the cognitive properties of networks, the second, looking at how networks learn, and the third, tracing the properties of effective networks. These also represent the processes of learning, inference and discovery in society writ large ( Downes, 2012). Since half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago, there should be more researches about the use, benefits and drawbacks of connectivism in the cotext of formal and informal lerning(Shahin, 2012). Although there is not a large amount of research currently available on the application of connectivism in education, explain some possible applications, such as: social networking, personal learning environments and open courseware are explained (Elliot and Martin, 2011). Since half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago, there should be more researches about the use, benefits and drawbacks of connectivism in the cotext of formal and informal lerning (Shahin, 2012). Although there is not a large amount of research currently available on the application of connectivism in education, some possible applications, such as: social networking, personal learning environments and open courseware are explained (Elliot and Martin, 2011).