connectivism

I was looking at the right learning theory that would let me express how I feel about teaching as well as look at the needs of our learners. And voila there is one that fits nicely into how I feel.

Connectivism

It springs from the ideas of a child psychologist named Vygotsky, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky who put forward a theory that we never learn anything from scratch, that even young children grasp a new idea, add it to their existing knowledge and come up with a new thought. I wondered if this relates to adult learners and when I looked closer into connectivism I discovered that it's main ideas support learning as part of a social network, and that this theory sees learners as both consumers and creators, that by actively participating in a collaboration, be it something like blogging or wiki, or just interacting with another learner, they learn what is already known, link it to their own experiences and produce a new and unique idea.

By doing the above process learners can change the content of on-line and collaborative knowledge, keeping the entire body of knowledge current and relevant, it seems a bit like Darwin's theory of evolution, whatever the learner finds relevant they will use, alter, re-create and enhance, information not of use will fall by the wayside and eventually become irrelevant.

Unfortunately the use of blogs, wiki and the like rely on the learner having some knowledge of how to access these media, technology can be daunting to some people but, as in my case, if you give some extra input you can get learners using technology and even enjoying it.

Initially it would take some extra effort by staff and require increased resources, in both time, Internet resources and support staff.

On the up side, connectivism can have benefits to learners through ownership of content, relevant feedback and person to person interaction. If learners can work collaboratively there should be an increase in creative thinkers not just rote learners.

useful links

http://www.connectivism.ca/about.html

http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/connectivism-a-theory-of-personal-learning  A good easy to understand slideshow giving good information.

electronic portfolios post

HI Jenny and the other guys, it is interesting that some of our material requires a high standard of comprehension (i guess) and how we can assume because we can read it confidently the rest should be able to. Our students in vet nursing have a similar problem, the notes can often contain strange language and words a mile long, very of putting to students, we have done a lot of work in re-vamping our written notes to reduce terminology where we can and to introduce ideas in picture, video and interactive forms, all seem to have students engaging more in various topics, the problem we face is we are constrained by unit standards which often want us to assess using written material, where most of our teaching is done in kinesthetic styles because nursing is a 'hands on' profession, i'm sure this causes confusion for the students who learn to 'do' then have to write about doing it. not sure what the answer is?


We are now looking at using things like a portfolio to show evidence of competence, and I remember from my nursing days that attestations from other nurses and colleagues could be counted as evidence (with other bits as well) to show competence, I would be interested if an on-line portfolio might be the answer,showing students doing tasks, getting feedback and reflecting on that feedback (just like we are doing). anybody have any ideas?

Other peoples posts

HI guys, I was reading these posts and thought about what our students want from their particular path of study, I'm sure there are a number out there who want a qualification and some type of career progression, and with the talks of Vet nursing being regulated and having a professional body (may be a while away yet) then there will be more opportunity for students to do just that. but I am sure there are a few who go into the programs for other reasons. I am reminded of a colleague of mine from another life who said he went into Psychiatric Nursing so he would know the signs to look out for if he was 'going mad'. I though about my reasons to do vet nursing and I did want the qualification but I also wanted to know what to do if my animals got sick and how to keep them healthy. I have had some discussion with students who already work in the animal industry and they talk about wanting to know how to deal with XYZ but not necessary wanting to be nurses. I wonder if some research into why students come into courses would help us to provide them with what they want, Gill and I have had discussions about what if students could just do the units that were of interest to them or work through the requirements for a qualification as and when they liked? It would be a logistical nightmare and hard with unit standards but offering short courses epecifically for things like first aid, animal nutrition caring for large/production animals and behaviour units, might be of interest to those who don't want a qulification.




enough rambling!

constructing courses who are our learners? a reply

Thanks guys, i really like the idea of small steps as some of our students come to us straight out of school and have little if any knowledge of what nursing in any form involves, I find that I often have to take students back to the basics of understanding our language (terminology) as this seems to be the thing that frightens them the most, I would love a dollar for every time I have said, 'print this out (i know not very sustainable) stick it to the back of the toilet door so you see it every time you visit and it will stay in your brain" I think you are right Helen I often overlook the need to show students how to study, I can remember my nursing and the first thing we did was a study skills day, where we were shown how to make mind maps, draw pictures to link ideas (my favourite) and stuff like that, It was very helpful.




I think a day before the course showing things like this would help the student to feel part of a group without much pressure and give them an insight into what distance studying really means. I went to the imbedding literacy forum yesterday and was interested in how this is becoming a requirement, but it got me thinking about how we can support more than just literacy and numeracy, I am really interested in how we connect to other people and how they help us to learn, mentoring comes to mind, as I remember my nursing mentor's help, we still keep in touch even though it's 30+ years ago so definitely made a connection there. Going a bit off track but I guess that's the whole idea of forums so we can blurb away and get feedback, bit like blogging I suppose, something I'm also getting into.



Isn't connecting with others great!

Constructiong Courses AKA run off my feet

I have just started a paper on constructing courses to enhance learning and here are a few posts I have made about the topic. the picture is of Fin's feet, he had a hard day seach training and rubbed the soles of his paws quite badly so he is on three legs at the moment but luckily he has mum to fix it for him.






THE POSTS

Hi Guys, I have been thinking about our students in the Veterinary Nursing school and what they might expect from us, and what we can expect from them.


I work mainly with the animal care distance students with a little bit of teaching on the full time certificate in Veterinary Nursing, these students have a range of ages and life experiences, from the yougster who doesn't really know what they want in life and caring for animals seems like it might be fun, to the mature student who has had enough of one careeer and is looking for a change (I did just that) and knows something about the way the world works.

With these diferse ages and life skills come a range of learning styles, some straight from school still think we 'teach' everything and can't understand the concept of self directed learning, while our mature students often question us more as they have experience challenging the norm and have had chance to form stronger opinions.

The school has a good reputation around the country and abroad because we supply the Veterinary industry with well trained and confident nurses, the school's vision is to improve this reputation through more diverse teaching, so we end up with students who can do the job but also use new technology and have more initiative. the poly's vision is a successful relationship with our employer stakeholders, like Veterinary clinics, animal care facilities and the New Zealand Veterinary Association. A happy set of students who will be sustainable in their employment, because they are enjoying nursing and being valued as professional (so more likely to stay in the industry) and a financially viable school through word of mouth recommendation and industry support.

Our aim as lecturers and facilitators is to try to accommodate all of the above, and in my opinion to give the students some valuable life experiences that can set them up to work in the animal care industry, I often think about the younger students who sometimes think it's all fluffy bunnies and the shock they must have when they help with their first euthanasia. If we can help give them the reality we are doing them a good service.