‘Connectivism is the notion that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks’
http://darcymoore.net/2009/09/18/connectivism-connective-knowledge-cck09/
Darcy suggests that tertiary learners make sense of their surroundings, and by default the course content, through social interactions, and that the tutor’s role is often one of change agent, helping the learner make the jump from the world of high school, where teaching is linear (study this – take this exam – gain this qualification), to the tertiary setting where they will be expected to have a degree of independent thought and action. Rather like Sir Ken Robinson’s metaphor of a car production line, each learner has an engine, four wheels and a gearbox, give it a little petrol (job to do) and it will go from a to b in roughly a straight line without much thought, but give the same learner a jumble of parts and the ability to make connections with other like minded learners through media such as the internet and hey presto, the car parts now become an organic thing, basically anything the learners can envisage.
See Darcy’s simple but very useful presentation on connectivism:
http://ginag2.vodspot.tv/watch/2544655-connectivism-in-plain-english
And Sir Ken Robinson’s full (and funny) take on moving education from linear to organic:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/865
Zone of proximal development (ZDP) Vygotsky
‘The distance between the actual developmental level... and the level of potential development [facilitated] through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers’.
Vygotsky suggests the role of education is to provide learners with experiences which are within their ZPD, thereby encouraging and advancing their individual learning, for example students need to try out tasks that are not too easy for them to avoid boredom, but the tasks must not be too hard, to avoid frustration (basically stretch the learner a little without frightening them to death).
Pitching the instruction at the right level seems to be critical for learner success and what can be a better leveler than a group of peers (learners doing the same course, or previous learners who have completed their study).
Vygotsky’s work is based around the constructivist theories that suggest learners are in charge of their own learning with the help of facilitators, and that using tools such as reciprocal questioning, (where learners work together asking and answering their own questions), jigsaw Classroom, (where learners become "experts" on one aspect of a joint project and teach it to the others in their group), and structured controversies (where learners work together debating a particular controversy) the learner works at their own level within a safe environment with mutual support from his or her peers.
I suggest that this is already available to the techno-savvy generation; they already communicate well, give and receive instant feedback via their peers (try facebook for instant reactions!), collaborate on anything and everything (Wiki, twitter, blogs and podcasts to name just a few) and are more ‘expert’ on the whole multi-dimensional social networking than I could ever be.
Perhaps it’s time for me to recognise that sometimes the learner is in fact the teacher in this relationship.
Learn more about Vygotsky’s theories:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky
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