Elearnspace
Link:
Video recording: Learning 2020
Video recording o George Siemens's talk in Oslo. George Siemens, elearnspace, November 27, 2009.
Heading to Athabasca University
George Siemens is moving to Athabasca University. How this impacts projects I have on the go with him, I don't know yet. But I'm sure he'll make the most of this new opportunity and he joins an all-star team at the Alberta university. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 1, 2009.
More aggregation fun
In case you were wondering... in OLDaily, you are reading at level 4 (that is, if I don't presume too much when I suggests that this is a source you trust)... (Oh, and Siemens says "The model emphasizes the role of curators (slightly related: curatorial teaching) in support of aggregation." But no. There are no curators here. There are multiple instances of level 3, multiple instances of level 4, and (significantly) they are self-selecting, notanointed appointed.
George Siemens,
elearnspace, September 4, 2009.
Critical Thinking
More from the (non-)series on critical thinking. "When learners have greater control, they also require greater command of critical thinking skills. Why? Well, if I'm taking a course under the direction of an instructor, I will hopefully be able to learn from the instructor modelling these skills." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 6, 2009.
Interrogating media
Reprise of the Postman and McLuhan questions we should ask of media. Things like "What is the problem to which this technology is a solution?" and "What does it extend, enhance, accelerate, intensify or enable?" These days, we need to ask different, less naive, questions. Like: "who owns it?" And "how is it that they came to own something you used to own before?" And "what does it use as a source for 'truth'?" And "who can abuse it to extend their own power?" And "how much will it cost me if it becomes essential? And "Can I trust it? Or anyone over it?" And "Can I do things (say things, reach people) I couldn't before?" And finally, "will people be able to use it to spam me?" George Siemens, elearnspace, July 21, 2009.
Learning Leaders Fieldbook
I have had the same problem as George Siemens. "After the presentation, a VP (in charge of training and development) approached me and stated that simple messages are preferable. I assumed this to mean that I had delivered a presentation that was too complex." And I ask with him, "when did leading thinkers in corporate learning conclude that their audience can not handle complex subjects?" or, with even more concern: how is it that our institutions promote people who cannot understand complex concepts to positions of leadership? Isn't that tantamount to mismanagement? George Siemens, elearnspace, July 3, 2009.
Why group norms kill creativity
I tried to work this into a paper I was writing today, but it wasn't happening. I still want to link to it, though. "The unwritten rules of the group, therefore, determined what its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity." Cited from Psyblog. George Siemens, elearnspace, June 15, 2009.
Overview of Complexity Science
This is a really nice map of what is here being called "complexity science" and features many of the writers - from Rosenblatt to Watts - that we encounter in these pages. Click the circles to (sometimes) open relevant resources. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 22, 2009.
Video of University of Calgary Presentation
A George Siemens presentation. I'll let him describe it: "D'Arcy Norman has posted a video of my presentation at U of C as well as images and links (Thanks D'Arcy!). My intent, and I think I explored too much territory in the talk, was to present how changing information interaction is (will be) mapped into the future of universities." Related: George Siemens and Peter Tittenberger release a Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning (HETL) and as well as a wiki. It's hard not to be impressed with Siemens's prolific (and quality) output. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 18, 2009.
Information (Sensemaking) Tools Are Pathetic
I agree with George Siemens here, and I think I have a handle on why the 'sensemaking' tools are, as he says, pathetic, but it's a bit of a difficult thing to pin down with words. Sensemaking is, or me, pattern recognition. But patterns - beyond the obvious (repetition of word forms, etc) are difficult to recognize, at least mechanically. So why not just have computers do what humans do? Ah - but what do humans do? Therein lies the basic difficulty. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 5, 2009.
CCK08 Wrapup Recording
I was out shoveling snow and was a bit late for this - this (above) is what we faced this morning. But we still had a good conversation about what worked in our groundbreaking online course and what sort of things we want to do when we do it again. George Siemens and Stephen Downes, elearnspace, February 23, 2009.
How the Crash Will Reshape America
The second part of the crash will hit when the bottom falls out of public spending, especially in the U.S. (even a very large stimulus package will only partially offset this, and tax cuts will make it worse). We are already seeing that education will take a large part of the impact. People like Richard Florida can blithely say some regions will simply decline - but it's more complex than that. There isn't enough space here to discuss this. But we are looking at the same forces that have kept less wealthy regions of the world impoverished coming here. Do not be lulled into believing that it's just the new high-tech economy replacing the old. Our new impoverishment may force us to adopt new technologies, such as e-learning, but there is also a significant effort afoot to permanently convert public wealth into private (and increasingly stateless) wealth. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 12, 2009.
Educational Technology Conferences
Clayton R. Wright has released his semi-annual list of education technology conferences; you can obtain your copy from George Siemens's website (and various other places), Clayton R. Wright, elearnspace, December 29, 2008.
Rhizome Project, or, What Have They Done with Dave Cormier?
Some grumbling about the creation of an educational 'rhizome project' without any reference to Dave Cormier's popularization of the concept. Another post saying the same thing. It's the same old thing about credit. People who know this field know Dave Cormier's considerable contribution to it. We don't need to build a genealogy of every person's contribution to every concept. People who jump in and try to take credit for work others have done - well, we know them by their contributions too. Let's stay with the program and not worry about the scorecard (we have to, or we'll go insane). George Siemens, elearnspace, October 28, 2008.
History of Educational Technology
I'm working with all these people but I'm not a part of this initiative. george Siemens writes, "Given the tremendously rapid pace of technology development today, I'm concerned that even the little history we have will vaporize. Which is why I'm quite excited about a new initiative with SCoPE, Richard Schwier, and the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba: Building a Virtual Museum of Educational Technology. We all agree that museum is not the best word, but it will do for now." I'm picturing myself virtually stuffed and mounted at the front door - but, of course, that is rather immodest. Here's their discussion. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 2, 2008.
Interview with Dave Cormier: Rhizomatic Education
george Siemens interviews Dave Cormier on Rhizomatic Education. George Siemens, elearnspace, September 16, 2008.
Quick Introduction to Connectivism Course
George Siemens has created a short video introduction to our online Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course. Also, our MOOC will be the subject of a Fringe Alt discussion (see here and here). George Siemens, elearnspace, September 4, 2008.
Digital Natives
George Siemens offers this interesting quote from Chris Lott: 'Academics tend to err on the side of nuance and precision, eschewing generalizations and coarse labels. This is great for documenting cultural dynamics, but not so great for making interventions." Well, yeah - if interventions are what you want, then distortions and simplifications are what you're going to need. But perhaps in the light of this we should be questioning the ethics of making an intervention. Perhaps we should be asking what it means to do this, and to query whether we don't create more harm than good in the process. George Siemens, elearnspace, August 27, 2008.
Social Media Classroom
George Siemens describes the social media classroom developed by Howard Rheingold and being used by him in a course this fall. "The software - SMC - pulls together wikis, blogs, tagging, media sharing, and other tools familiar to the read/write web crowd." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 21, 2008.
Nanotechnology
Bio-technology and nanotechnology are two "sleeper" technologies within the education and training field. We are still digesting the impact of computers and other "intelligent" devices/programs on the practices of teaching and learning, while developments in these other two fields and their implications largely get unnoticed. George Siemens, always on the leading edge, brings the two together with pointers to an article in a recent British Medical Association journal on two kinds of brain alteration, and to a video on how nanotechnology will be able to "repair and upgrade our bodies" in a few years. -GW George Siemens, elearnspace, July 9, 2008.
Brain Based Learning
George Siemens comments on the redundancy built into the term "brain based learning" ("Is it like butt-based sitting?") and then points to an article entitled "The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations" as well as an 8 minute video on "Brain based education: Fad or Breakthrough?" He argues that when we hear explanations in "neuro-speak" we tend to be less critical of bad explanations. Personally, I cringe when I hear someone offer left-brain or right-brain as a simplistic argument for any behavior, so I understand and support where George is coming from. - GW George Siemens, elearnspace, June 26, 2008.
What Does It Mean to Be Digitally Literate?
You can get an Ed.D. for answering this question? Cool. George Siemens, elearnspace, May 19, 2008.
Connections Are Everything
Strictly speaking, the suggestion that "connections are everything" is incorrect. Connective knowledge is just one type of knowledge. I have in the past compared it to other types of knowledge as follows:
- qualitative knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about the sensory properties of things - colours, shapes, weights, tastes, and the like. "Qualitative knowledge" includes knowledge of relations (bigger than, closer than), etc.)
- quantitative knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about numbers of things, including simple counting, but also measurement, algebra, set theory, and ratios.
- connective knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about patterns and similarities that result from the connection of objects with each other, through association.
In society, our networks of connections instantiate the third type of knowledge, by creating patterns of information flow, which results in social knowledge (much of it implicit, as it is very difficult to be in a position to recognize such knowledge). Simply knowing who to call to get an answer to a question is a very basic instance of this, and it would be a disservice to say either that (a) other types of knowledge are unimportant, and (b) this type of knowledge is 'everything'. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 30, 2008.
Marshall McLuhan
As George Siemens says, "CBC has an archive of 18 clips (9 audio, 9 video) of McLuhan expressing commentary on media, books, the "tribal drum" of humanity, and learning." Good weekend listening. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 25, 2008.
When Information and Interaction Change
I listened to this presentation from George Siemens this afternoon. He associates our attitude toward information with progress in society. "The more broadly we are connected to individuals of diverse viewpoints... the better we understand that subject area." What I like is the relation between the idea of associative trails between people and associative trails between bits of information. Best phrase of the talk: 'grunt cognition' - information that makes it easier to do, or avoid, 'grunt work'. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 31, 2008.
Battles for Souls and Such
Newsweek writes, "In short, the expert is back. The revival comes amid mounting demand for a more reliable, bankable Web. 'People are beginning to recognize that the world is too dangerous a place for faulty information'". The expert never left. From his position as a paid columnist or published author working at his benefactor's behest, the expert has decried open source and open content from the moment of their inception. Because, of course, the publisher knows no other source but the expert, and can and will cry, "the expert is back" up to the moment of its demise. As for Wikipedia, well: if the deletionists win, then Wikipedia dies, because it's only if Wikipedia is fundamentally inclusionist that people have any interest in contributing. Don't believe me? Ask Larry Sanger why Citizendium languishes after its launch (5600 articles... wow whee). George Siemens, elearnspace, March 10, 2008.
The Downside of a Good Idea
I have commented before about the importance of autonomy for the reliable functioning of networks. I have also commented that network theorists - I've cited Varela in this regard - find that the optimal density of a network is somewhere between zero connectivity and total connectivity. So the suggestion that the performance of a completely connected non-autonomous network is not optimal is... not surprising. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2008.
Free Will?
The idea that 'new research' could show whether or not we have 'free will' misunderstands, I think, the meanings of the words. What the words 'free will' describe is a sensation we have of making decisions for ourselves. We can experience more of less of this sensation depending on external constraints (in the same way that the availability of food, say, allows us to feel the sensation of 'sating our hunger'). The idea that research could show that we do not have this sensation is absurd; it's like the idea that research could say we do not have a sense of taste. All that research could say is that the nature of 'free will' is not some sort of miraculous causeless creation of something - an idea, say - out of nothing. But people don't think that's what free will is - do they? And if they do - well, it's a pretty flimsy basis for morality, don't you think? George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2008.
Collective Intelligence? Nah. Connective Intelligence
This is exactly right: "(Surowiecki) makes the point that people do not think together in coming to certain conclusions, but rather than people think on their own and the value of the collaborative comes in the connection and combination of ideas. Each person retains their own identity and ideas, but they are shaped and influenced by the work of others. The concept here is related somewhat to Stephen Downes' discussion of groups vs. networks. At stake in these discussions (Surowiecki, Downes, de Kerchove) is how we are to perceive the individual in a world where the collaborative/collective is increasingly valued." That is why I, too, prefer the concept of connective (not collective) intelligence.
I also agree with Siemens that the difference will become more vital over the years: "For reasons of motivation, self-confidence, and satisfaction, it is critical that we can retain ourselves and our ideas in our collaboration with others. Connective intelligences permits this. Collective intelligence results in an over-writing of individual identity." It is not a coincidence that I am at the same time arguing for personal empowerment (Learn Yourself, Things You Really Need to Learn) as I argue in favour of connective knowledge. It's not that I 'put the individual first' or any such thing; it's not a competition. It's just that, for the whole to produce maximally reliable knowledge, the individuals must be as enabled and empowered as possible, which precludes subsuming themselves to a 'will of the majority' or some such thing. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 18, 2008.
Google Responding to Wikipedia?
I think there's something really weird about Google's launching of the 'knol' (one unit of knowledge). On the one hand, it resembles a learning object in its granularity. But so does a Wikipedia article - and maybe, as George Siemens suggests, Google is afraid of Wikipedia. Because Google also attributes each 'knol' to a specific author. A lot like Citizendium. Well it's going to be a bit hard for the fameseekers to resist this one. But more to the point, it's surprising to see Google ignoring the lesson that created its huge empire in the first places: that many voices, not one expert voice, constitute authority. More from Liberal education today. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 14, 2007.
Games and Education
George Siemens links to a Slashdot discussion of games and learning and comments, "Games fit the typical profile of academic envy, namely the condition where we see many people doing something and desire to then use the same tools or processes for teaching and learning." As usual I comment at this juncture that the effort should be to put learning into games, not games into learning. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 7, 2007.
Thoughts On Research
George Siemens posts an article on research methodology. He cites something I wrote (in the blog post, but not the paper, which is a bit weird): "The best argument Jonassen can advance for his theory is to describe the theory; the question of fit is determined, over time, by the cumulative experiences of a multitude of practitioners against nebulous and undefined criteria." That's just the way the world is; pretending you can whip out a tape measure and reduce it to numbers doesn't change that. George Siemens, elearnspace, July 19, 2007.
Personal Learning Environments
George Siemens did a preconference session on personal learning environments and posted his notes to a wiki. More of the same (not that this is a criticism - the concept is being built iteratively). "A PLE is characterized by the freeform use of a set of lightweight services and tools that belong to and are controlled by individual learners. Rather than integrating different services into a centralized system, the idea is to provide the learner with a myriad of services and hand over control to her to select and use the services the way she deems fit." George Siemens, elearnspace, May 14, 2007.
Internet of Things
George Siemens cites a Bruce Sterling presentation. This is a bit old, but if you haven't been following this concept it's worth keeping an eye open. "Basic premise: in the future, due to the joys of RFID, we will be able to link physical objects to the internet, so that we can use an online search to find our keys, shoes, or whatever other physical things we've misplaced." Read Sterling's novel Distraction for some more views on how we will interact with our objects - and each other - in the future. George Siemens, elearnspace, May 10, 2007.
Why Penguins Have No Commanding Officer
The title says it all, but Siemens explains, "Perhaps surprisingly, humankind is the only species that operates 'leader intelligence' - the trust that a small group of leaders knows best for the whole group." George Siemens, elearnspace, March 29, 2007.
Scholarship in an Age of Participation
I have thought from time to time about starting a journal but I just can't get myself excited at the prospect. I mean, what would be the point? Perhaps this article will get me going. Then again - any process of 'publication' that involves me doing something over and above posting an article on my website automatically gets my goat. If the article is any good, it will have an impact whether or not it is in MLA style, whether or not it is peer reviewed, whether or not there's a 'formal' or a 'paper' version. And if it's not any good, none of that will save it (though it does seem to get a lot of them published). George Siemens, elearnspace, March 27, 2007.
Digital Learning Apartheid
George Siemens links to this very badly titled article focusing on the need to provide educational opportunities for the poor in the United States. "If the country's Digital Educational Apartheid is to be eliminated... then as a country, we must develop and test innovative systemic solutions." First, I don't think it's appropriate to use the term 'apartheid' in this way - it has a very specific meaning and is not merely a substitute for 'poor'. I can't believe they've actually trademarked the term. Second, I would much rather see initiatives aimed at helping all the world's poor, not just those in the world's richest nation. I have always supported online learning precisely because I believe it is the best hope to provide learning for everyone. But my interest in this does not end at the border, and never will. This webite may cite George Siemens - but George Siemens should know not to uncritically give them a plug in return. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 22, 2007.
Connectivism: What's Happening With the Content
Abbreviated version of the presentation George Siemens gave at Mount Royal College in Calgary reiterating some of the major themes of connectivism. Slides plus audio, presented in Articulate. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2007.
Diversity
Well how many times have I harped on diversity? George Siemens links to this political site. "Innovation provides the seeds for economic growth, and for that innovation to happen depends as much on collective difference as on aggregate ability." Collective difference. Now that's a good phrase. He has also compiled a list of connectivism resources, but the site demands a registration, which is not cool. Don't forget, in addition to diversity, you need openness. George Siemens, elearnspace, January 30, 2007.
Centralizing Decentralization
George Siemens introduces the newly launched Lotus Connections with the comment, "the majority of individuals will start using these tools once the strength of the tools (decentralization, modularization) is replaced with a model less pure in spirit, and more in line with how many people prefer to work (i.e. centralization for reduced cognitive load)." Yes, but then they'll stop using these tools, because they don't really work very well, and they'll blame people for making overstated claims about them. It's not a question of some sort of ideological "purity," it's about building something that works. When you centralize these things, you break them. More on the Lotusphere, via Luis Suarez, who offers many screen shots. George Siemens, elearnspace, January 24, 2007.
I'm thrilled...
George Siemens discovers the Public Library of Science (PLoS) and suggests that there should be "a similar model adopted for research in the learning and technology space." I've thought about this for some time. Except... what is it about the journal model (especially one where authors pay fees) that is superior to what I'm doing now? And if I were to start a journal, what better route than to simply set up a website with the Open Journal Systems software? I'm not trying to rain on the parade. But - I like just posting articles and letting the world decide whether it likes them, wants to reprint them, whatever. Anything over and above that strikes me as, well, paperwork. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 21, 2006.
College Education Without Prospects
George Siemens links to this unencouraging article from the New York Times (so it will disappear from view shortly) about schools in India. "A lack of communications skills may be the most obvious shortcoming, but it is not the only one. A deeper problem, specialists say, is a classroom environment that treats students like children even if they are in their mid-20's. Teaching emphasizes silent note-taking and discipline at the expense of analysis and debate." Of course, I take note of the source, and wonder just how accurate this account is, and whether it depends more on stereotypes than data. Not every school in India is perfect, to be sure, but I find it very hard to believe that the schools of an entire nation - especially one as resurgent as India - leaves its graduates unprepared for work. I am much less concerned than the Times, for example, about students being educated in languages other than English. And what are the sources for the article? A former Harvard professor, a couple of tech company execs, and some 'buy 'em by the dozen' student quotes. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 6, 2006.
Connectivism: Learning Theory or Past Time for the Self-Amused?
Asked to review George Siemens's paper on Conectivism, Bijdrage van Plon Verhagen from the University of Twente treats readers to a detailed criticism of the paper. The review prompted Siemens to write a (self-admitted) meandering reply. As Siemens (accurately) summarizes, "Verhagen's criticisms are broadly centered on three areas: 1. Is connectivism a learning theory or a pedagogy? 2. The principles advocated by connectivism are present in other learning theories as well. 3. Can learning reside in non-human appliances?"
Taking as his cue the third criticism, Siemens launches on a long discourse on epistemology. I wish he had taken more time and written a shorter paper (yeah - like I'm one to complain about this!) to more sharply identify just how it's a new theory about learning and not merely a new pedagogy. Still, it's a fun, if somewhat loosely organized, romp through the theory of knowledge. And I will reiterate what I think is Siemens most effective and pointed criticism of the response:
"I am curious as to the approach Verhagen (2006) utilized in reviewing the article. I sense it primarily consisted of reading the article and providing a reaction based on his experience in the learning technology space. Did he search online? Did he view or listen to presentations posted on elearnspace? Did he encounter Stephen Downes' (2005) article on Connective Knowledge? ... The error made in the review is precisely the reason why we need to explore connectivism as a learning theory: static, context-less, content-centric approaches to knowing and understanding are fraught with likelihood of misunderstanding. To write a review of the American political system of 2004, and treat it as if it were today's reality, fails to acknowledge the process to which all content is subject. This is the danger of product iconization as offered, or explored by prominent theories of learning, thus failing to acknowledge - explicitly - that ongoing changes obsolesce current knowledge." George Siemens, elearnspace, November 15, 2006.
Michael Feldstein and Blackboard
Alfred Essa raises concerns that IMS might have now that one of its partners has played the patent card. The next IMS meeting, to be hosted by Blackboard in September, should be a pretty interesting session. Essa wonders what a question and answer with Blackboard would look like.
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) send an email advising "the patents are afforded no 'presumption of validity'" and that, as Michael Feldstein summarizes, "there is no patent in Europe yet, it will take a long time for there to be a patent in Europe, and in the event that there is a patent in Europe, the EUÃf¢xTMs patent law is much friendlier to challenging patents than current U.S. law."
Michael Feldstein also explains why Desire2Learn CEO John Baker is our hero, explaining that "Desire2Learn is doing an enormous public service." Of course, others have observed, D2L may have no choice - once you cave on something like this, you can count on the gravy train leading to your doorstep.
George Siemens agrees, Michael Feldstein will not be winning an "educator of the year" award from Blackboard. He adds, "Personally, I'm not convinced D2L is doing it out of altruistic reasons...but it does appear to be a side effect of their willingness to challenge Blackboard's boorish behaviour (that is officially my first use of "boorish" in five years fo blogging :))."
"It's almost too easy nowadays to make the case that government frequently makes bonehead plays," observes Lanny Arvan. "What about the private sector? And specifically, what about the Blackboard Patent and the D2L suit.... IÃf¢xTMm not confident either way whether what weÃf¢xTMre seeing now is rational or a bonehead play by Blackboard. But I do know enough about economics to understand that goodwill is a non-tangible asset with real market value and it is not hard for me to see that under certain assumptions that Blackboard could take a hit in the goodwill department beyond what it ever might recover in royalties and deterrence benefits."
Via Liberal Education Today, we read that "A website urging people to boycott Blackboard has gathered hundreds of signatures in a petition drive."
Confused of Calcutta writes, "I am not sure whether open source information has been used as a defence before, but this becomes a case to watch and to learn from."
Project Open Source | Open Access writes, "BlackBoard's American patent is curious in that it purports to patent any kind of course-based multi-user system, particularly common features such as assigning roles and permissions to provide users with various levels of access. These are features which have been generalized in all kinds of software, and have a long history in educational technologies." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 17, 2006.
Discussion: Stephen Downes
George Siemens and I had a nice discussion this afternoon about the changing nature of knowledge. "We started by discussing the need for a new epistemology...explored artificial intelligence, democracy, wikipedia, new models of societal organization, knowledge as a product/process, the nature of learning today, neuroscientific view of cognition, and other light breezy subjects :)." 68 megabytes, but if you give me some time I'll have a lighter version here. Once I download the original. ;) George Siemens and Stephen Downes, elearnspace, August 7, 2006.
Connectivism and Connected Knowledge
George Siemens has posted a transcript of our conversation from Sunday. It's quite a good read (in my humble opinion). And it takes a lot less time to get through than listening to the audio. George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier, elearnspace, February 1, 2006.
Connectivism and Web 2.0
I read the slides last night but I guess the audio version only came out today. So I haven't heard that. But on the basis of the slides along George Siemens's connectivism presentation is worth a look as he advances his thoughts on language, knowledge and meaning and makes the point that learning today is a far cry from anything like connectivism. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 21, 2005.
Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation
George Siemens offers another contribution to his copntinuing definition of connectivism. The article describes some basic properties of networks and then the process of forming connections. "Can learning be both an influence and be influenced in the network forming process?" He then looks at the creation of meaning in a network, from the perspective of latent semantic analysis. "Meaning is transferred in a rich, but messy process incorporating the content, the context of learner and resource creator, as well as the cognitions and emotions of the learner at the time of knowledge acquisition." George Siemens, Elearnspace, August 11, 2005.
Learning as a Social Process?
George Siemens is "getting a bit frustrated with the continual statements that learning is a social process." He continues, "My interest in learning networks stems from the individuality of each node in the larger network." People, it seems to me, often confuse 'social' with 'group'. People are being 'social, it seems, if they are doing the same thing. That's why we hear about a 'common vision', 'shared values', 'collaboration', and the like. But my understanding of 'social' (and Siemens's too) is different. It's about being connected, but autonomous. As Siemens writes, "The social element of learning occurs when I engage my network for feedback and understanding." George Siemens, Elearnspace, July 18, 2005.
Learning Development Cycle: Bridging Learning Design and Modern Knowledge Needs
George Siemens weighs in with another significant paper. Starting with the premise, established elsewhere, that "learning today has moved beyond courses," he outlines a model of four distinct learning domains: accretion, transmission, acquisition and emergence. Each demands a different sort of learning (not 'instructional design') and Siemens accordingly offers a learning development cycle that takes this into account. I'm not so sure I'm happy with the taxonomy of learning domains - associating cognitivism and constructivism with emergence is, in most respects, not how I would organize learning. But this is a very minor criticism of what is overall a stimulating and well-considered paper, one that will take its place as part of the foundational literature for a new theory of learning. George Siemens, Elearnspace, July 12, 2005.
Posts
Video recording: Learning 2020
Video recording o George Siemens's talk in Oslo. George Siemens, elearnspace, November 27, 2009.
Heading to Athabasca University
George Siemens is moving to Athabasca University. How this impacts projects I have on the go with him, I don't know yet. But I'm sure he'll make the most of this new opportunity and he joins an all-star team at the Alberta university. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 1, 2009.
More aggregation fun
In case you were wondering... in OLDaily, you are reading at level 4 (that is, if I don't presume too much when I suggests that this is a source you trust)... (Oh, and Siemens says "The model emphasizes the role of curators (slightly related: curatorial teaching) in support of aggregation." But no. There are no curators here. There are multiple instances of level 3, multiple instances of level 4, and (significantly) they are self-selecting, not
Critical Thinking
More from the (non-)series on critical thinking. "When learners have greater control, they also require greater command of critical thinking skills. Why? Well, if I'm taking a course under the direction of an instructor, I will hopefully be able to learn from the instructor modelling these skills." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 6, 2009.
Interrogating media
Reprise of the Postman and McLuhan questions we should ask of media. Things like "What is the problem to which this technology is a solution?" and "What does it extend, enhance, accelerate, intensify or enable?" These days, we need to ask different, less naive, questions. Like: "who owns it?" And "how is it that they came to own something you used to own before?" And "what does it use as a source for 'truth'?" And "who can abuse it to extend their own power?" And "how much will it cost me if it becomes essential? And "Can I trust it? Or anyone over it?" And "Can I do things (say things, reach people) I couldn't before?" And finally, "will people be able to use it to spam me?" George Siemens, elearnspace, July 21, 2009.
Learning Leaders Fieldbook
I have had the same problem as George Siemens. "After the presentation, a VP (in charge of training and development) approached me and stated that simple messages are preferable. I assumed this to mean that I had delivered a presentation that was too complex." And I ask with him, "when did leading thinkers in corporate learning conclude that their audience can not handle complex subjects?" or, with even more concern: how is it that our institutions promote people who cannot understand complex concepts to positions of leadership? Isn't that tantamount to mismanagement? George Siemens, elearnspace, July 3, 2009.
Why group norms kill creativity
I tried to work this into a paper I was writing today, but it wasn't happening. I still want to link to it, though. "The unwritten rules of the group, therefore, determined what its members considered creative. In effect groups had redefined creativity as conformity." Cited from Psyblog. George Siemens, elearnspace, June 15, 2009.
Overview of Complexity Science
This is a really nice map of what is here being called "complexity science" and features many of the writers - from Rosenblatt to Watts - that we encounter in these pages. Click the circles to (sometimes) open relevant resources. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 22, 2009.
Video of University of Calgary Presentation
A George Siemens presentation. I'll let him describe it: "D'Arcy Norman has posted a video of my presentation at U of C as well as images and links (Thanks D'Arcy!). My intent, and I think I explored too much territory in the talk, was to present how changing information interaction is (will be) mapped into the future of universities." Related: George Siemens and Peter Tittenberger release a Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning (HETL) and as well as a wiki. It's hard not to be impressed with Siemens's prolific (and quality) output. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 18, 2009.
Information (Sensemaking) Tools Are Pathetic
I agree with George Siemens here, and I think I have a handle on why the 'sensemaking' tools are, as he says, pathetic, but it's a bit of a difficult thing to pin down with words. Sensemaking is, or me, pattern recognition. But patterns - beyond the obvious (repetition of word forms, etc) are difficult to recognize, at least mechanically. So why not just have computers do what humans do? Ah - but what do humans do? Therein lies the basic difficulty. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 5, 2009.
CCK08 Wrapup Recording
I was out shoveling snow and was a bit late for this - this (above) is what we faced this morning. But we still had a good conversation about what worked in our groundbreaking online course and what sort of things we want to do when we do it again. George Siemens and Stephen Downes, elearnspace, February 23, 2009.
How the Crash Will Reshape America
The second part of the crash will hit when the bottom falls out of public spending, especially in the U.S. (even a very large stimulus package will only partially offset this, and tax cuts will make it worse). We are already seeing that education will take a large part of the impact. People like Richard Florida can blithely say some regions will simply decline - but it's more complex than that. There isn't enough space here to discuss this. But we are looking at the same forces that have kept less wealthy regions of the world impoverished coming here. Do not be lulled into believing that it's just the new high-tech economy replacing the old. Our new impoverishment may force us to adopt new technologies, such as e-learning, but there is also a significant effort afoot to permanently convert public wealth into private (and increasingly stateless) wealth. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 12, 2009.
Educational Technology Conferences
Clayton R. Wright has released his semi-annual list of education technology conferences; you can obtain your copy from George Siemens's website (and various other places), Clayton R. Wright, elearnspace, December 29, 2008.
Rhizome Project, or, What Have They Done with Dave Cormier?
Some grumbling about the creation of an educational 'rhizome project' without any reference to Dave Cormier's popularization of the concept. Another post saying the same thing. It's the same old thing about credit. People who know this field know Dave Cormier's considerable contribution to it. We don't need to build a genealogy of every person's contribution to every concept. People who jump in and try to take credit for work others have done - well, we know them by their contributions too. Let's stay with the program and not worry about the scorecard (we have to, or we'll go insane). George Siemens, elearnspace, October 28, 2008.
History of Educational Technology
I'm working with all these people but I'm not a part of this initiative. george Siemens writes, "Given the tremendously rapid pace of technology development today, I'm concerned that even the little history we have will vaporize. Which is why I'm quite excited about a new initiative with SCoPE, Richard Schwier, and the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba: Building a Virtual Museum of Educational Technology. We all agree that museum is not the best word, but it will do for now." I'm picturing myself virtually stuffed and mounted at the front door - but, of course, that is rather immodest. Here's their discussion. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 2, 2008.
Interview with Dave Cormier: Rhizomatic Education
george Siemens interviews Dave Cormier on Rhizomatic Education. George Siemens, elearnspace, September 16, 2008.
Quick Introduction to Connectivism Course
George Siemens has created a short video introduction to our online Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course. Also, our MOOC will be the subject of a Fringe Alt discussion (see here and here). George Siemens, elearnspace, September 4, 2008.
Digital Natives
George Siemens offers this interesting quote from Chris Lott: 'Academics tend to err on the side of nuance and precision, eschewing generalizations and coarse labels. This is great for documenting cultural dynamics, but not so great for making interventions." Well, yeah - if interventions are what you want, then distortions and simplifications are what you're going to need. But perhaps in the light of this we should be questioning the ethics of making an intervention. Perhaps we should be asking what it means to do this, and to query whether we don't create more harm than good in the process. George Siemens, elearnspace, August 27, 2008.
Social Media Classroom
George Siemens describes the social media classroom developed by Howard Rheingold and being used by him in a course this fall. "The software - SMC - pulls together wikis, blogs, tagging, media sharing, and other tools familiar to the read/write web crowd." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 21, 2008.
Nanotechnology
Bio-technology and nanotechnology are two "sleeper" technologies within the education and training field. We are still digesting the impact of computers and other "intelligent" devices/programs on the practices of teaching and learning, while developments in these other two fields and their implications largely get unnoticed. George Siemens, always on the leading edge, brings the two together with pointers to an article in a recent British Medical Association journal on two kinds of brain alteration, and to a video on how nanotechnology will be able to "repair and upgrade our bodies" in a few years. -GW George Siemens, elearnspace, July 9, 2008.
Brain Based Learning
George Siemens comments on the redundancy built into the term "brain based learning" ("Is it like butt-based sitting?") and then points to an article entitled "The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations" as well as an 8 minute video on "Brain based education: Fad or Breakthrough?" He argues that when we hear explanations in "neuro-speak" we tend to be less critical of bad explanations. Personally, I cringe when I hear someone offer left-brain or right-brain as a simplistic argument for any behavior, so I understand and support where George is coming from. - GW George Siemens, elearnspace, June 26, 2008.
What Does It Mean to Be Digitally Literate?
You can get an Ed.D. for answering this question? Cool. George Siemens, elearnspace, May 19, 2008.
Connections Are Everything
Strictly speaking, the suggestion that "connections are everything" is incorrect. Connective knowledge is just one type of knowledge. I have in the past compared it to other types of knowledge as follows:
- qualitative knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about the sensory properties of things - colours, shapes, weights, tastes, and the like. "Qualitative knowledge" includes knowledge of relations (bigger than, closer than), etc.)
- quantitative knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about numbers of things, including simple counting, but also measurement, algebra, set theory, and ratios.
- connective knowledge - our perceptions and understandings about patterns and similarities that result from the connection of objects with each other, through association.
In society, our networks of connections instantiate the third type of knowledge, by creating patterns of information flow, which results in social knowledge (much of it implicit, as it is very difficult to be in a position to recognize such knowledge). Simply knowing who to call to get an answer to a question is a very basic instance of this, and it would be a disservice to say either that (a) other types of knowledge are unimportant, and (b) this type of knowledge is 'everything'. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 30, 2008.
Marshall McLuhan
As George Siemens says, "CBC has an archive of 18 clips (9 audio, 9 video) of McLuhan expressing commentary on media, books, the "tribal drum" of humanity, and learning." Good weekend listening. George Siemens, elearnspace, April 25, 2008.
When Information and Interaction Change
I listened to this presentation from George Siemens this afternoon. He associates our attitude toward information with progress in society. "The more broadly we are connected to individuals of diverse viewpoints... the better we understand that subject area." What I like is the relation between the idea of associative trails between people and associative trails between bits of information. Best phrase of the talk: 'grunt cognition' - information that makes it easier to do, or avoid, 'grunt work'. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 31, 2008.
Battles for Souls and Such
Newsweek writes, "In short, the expert is back. The revival comes amid mounting demand for a more reliable, bankable Web. 'People are beginning to recognize that the world is too dangerous a place for faulty information'". The expert never left. From his position as a paid columnist or published author working at his benefactor's behest, the expert has decried open source and open content from the moment of their inception. Because, of course, the publisher knows no other source but the expert, and can and will cry, "the expert is back" up to the moment of its demise. As for Wikipedia, well: if the deletionists win, then Wikipedia dies, because it's only if Wikipedia is fundamentally inclusionist that people have any interest in contributing. Don't believe me? Ask Larry Sanger why Citizendium languishes after its launch (5600 articles... wow whee). George Siemens, elearnspace, March 10, 2008.
The Downside of a Good Idea
I have commented before about the importance of autonomy for the reliable functioning of networks. I have also commented that network theorists - I've cited Varela in this regard - find that the optimal density of a network is somewhere between zero connectivity and total connectivity. So the suggestion that the performance of a completely connected non-autonomous network is not optimal is... not surprising. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2008.
Free Will?
The idea that 'new research' could show whether or not we have 'free will' misunderstands, I think, the meanings of the words. What the words 'free will' describe is a sensation we have of making decisions for ourselves. We can experience more of less of this sensation depending on external constraints (in the same way that the availability of food, say, allows us to feel the sensation of 'sating our hunger'). The idea that research could show that we do not have this sensation is absurd; it's like the idea that research could say we do not have a sense of taste. All that research could say is that the nature of 'free will' is not some sort of miraculous causeless creation of something - an idea, say - out of nothing. But people don't think that's what free will is - do they? And if they do - well, it's a pretty flimsy basis for morality, don't you think? George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2008.
Collective Intelligence? Nah. Connective Intelligence
This is exactly right: "(Surowiecki) makes the point that people do not think together in coming to certain conclusions, but rather than people think on their own and the value of the collaborative comes in the connection and combination of ideas. Each person retains their own identity and ideas, but they are shaped and influenced by the work of others. The concept here is related somewhat to Stephen Downes' discussion of groups vs. networks. At stake in these discussions (Surowiecki, Downes, de Kerchove) is how we are to perceive the individual in a world where the collaborative/collective is increasingly valued." That is why I, too, prefer the concept of connective (not collective) intelligence.
I also agree with Siemens that the difference will become more vital over the years: "For reasons of motivation, self-confidence, and satisfaction, it is critical that we can retain ourselves and our ideas in our collaboration with others. Connective intelligences permits this. Collective intelligence results in an over-writing of individual identity." It is not a coincidence that I am at the same time arguing for personal empowerment (Learn Yourself, Things You Really Need to Learn) as I argue in favour of connective knowledge. It's not that I 'put the individual first' or any such thing; it's not a competition. It's just that, for the whole to produce maximally reliable knowledge, the individuals must be as enabled and empowered as possible, which precludes subsuming themselves to a 'will of the majority' or some such thing. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 18, 2008.
Google Responding to Wikipedia?
I think there's something really weird about Google's launching of the 'knol' (one unit of knowledge). On the one hand, it resembles a learning object in its granularity. But so does a Wikipedia article - and maybe, as George Siemens suggests, Google is afraid of Wikipedia. Because Google also attributes each 'knol' to a specific author. A lot like Citizendium. Well it's going to be a bit hard for the fameseekers to resist this one. But more to the point, it's surprising to see Google ignoring the lesson that created its huge empire in the first places: that many voices, not one expert voice, constitute authority. More from Liberal education today. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 14, 2007.
Games and Education
George Siemens links to a Slashdot discussion of games and learning and comments, "Games fit the typical profile of academic envy, namely the condition where we see many people doing something and desire to then use the same tools or processes for teaching and learning." As usual I comment at this juncture that the effort should be to put learning into games, not games into learning. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 7, 2007.
Thoughts On Research
George Siemens posts an article on research methodology. He cites something I wrote (in the blog post, but not the paper, which is a bit weird): "The best argument Jonassen can advance for his theory is to describe the theory; the question of fit is determined, over time, by the cumulative experiences of a multitude of practitioners against nebulous and undefined criteria." That's just the way the world is; pretending you can whip out a tape measure and reduce it to numbers doesn't change that. George Siemens, elearnspace, July 19, 2007.
Personal Learning Environments
George Siemens did a preconference session on personal learning environments and posted his notes to a wiki. More of the same (not that this is a criticism - the concept is being built iteratively). "A PLE is characterized by the freeform use of a set of lightweight services and tools that belong to and are controlled by individual learners. Rather than integrating different services into a centralized system, the idea is to provide the learner with a myriad of services and hand over control to her to select and use the services the way she deems fit." George Siemens, elearnspace, May 14, 2007.
Internet of Things
George Siemens cites a Bruce Sterling presentation. This is a bit old, but if you haven't been following this concept it's worth keeping an eye open. "Basic premise: in the future, due to the joys of RFID, we will be able to link physical objects to the internet, so that we can use an online search to find our keys, shoes, or whatever other physical things we've misplaced." Read Sterling's novel Distraction for some more views on how we will interact with our objects - and each other - in the future. George Siemens, elearnspace, May 10, 2007.
Why Penguins Have No Commanding Officer
The title says it all, but Siemens explains, "Perhaps surprisingly, humankind is the only species that operates 'leader intelligence' - the trust that a small group of leaders knows best for the whole group." George Siemens, elearnspace, March 29, 2007.
Scholarship in an Age of Participation
I have thought from time to time about starting a journal but I just can't get myself excited at the prospect. I mean, what would be the point? Perhaps this article will get me going. Then again - any process of 'publication' that involves me doing something over and above posting an article on my website automatically gets my goat. If the article is any good, it will have an impact whether or not it is in MLA style, whether or not it is peer reviewed, whether or not there's a 'formal' or a 'paper' version. And if it's not any good, none of that will save it (though it does seem to get a lot of them published). George Siemens, elearnspace, March 27, 2007.
Digital Learning Apartheid
George Siemens links to this very badly titled article focusing on the need to provide educational opportunities for the poor in the United States. "If the country's Digital Educational Apartheid is to be eliminated... then as a country, we must develop and test innovative systemic solutions." First, I don't think it's appropriate to use the term 'apartheid' in this way - it has a very specific meaning and is not merely a substitute for 'poor'. I can't believe they've actually trademarked the term. Second, I would much rather see initiatives aimed at helping all the world's poor, not just those in the world's richest nation. I have always supported online learning precisely because I believe it is the best hope to provide learning for everyone. But my interest in this does not end at the border, and never will. This webite may cite George Siemens - but George Siemens should know not to uncritically give them a plug in return. George Siemens, elearnspace, March 22, 2007.
Connectivism: What's Happening With the Content
Abbreviated version of the presentation George Siemens gave at Mount Royal College in Calgary reiterating some of the major themes of connectivism. Slides plus audio, presented in Articulate. George Siemens, elearnspace, February 27, 2007.
Diversity
Well how many times have I harped on diversity? George Siemens links to this political site. "Innovation provides the seeds for economic growth, and for that innovation to happen depends as much on collective difference as on aggregate ability." Collective difference. Now that's a good phrase. He has also compiled a list of connectivism resources, but the site demands a registration, which is not cool. Don't forget, in addition to diversity, you need openness. George Siemens, elearnspace, January 30, 2007.
Centralizing Decentralization
George Siemens introduces the newly launched Lotus Connections with the comment, "the majority of individuals will start using these tools once the strength of the tools (decentralization, modularization) is replaced with a model less pure in spirit, and more in line with how many people prefer to work (i.e. centralization for reduced cognitive load)." Yes, but then they'll stop using these tools, because they don't really work very well, and they'll blame people for making overstated claims about them. It's not a question of some sort of ideological "purity," it's about building something that works. When you centralize these things, you break them. More on the Lotusphere, via Luis Suarez, who offers many screen shots. George Siemens, elearnspace, January 24, 2007.
I'm thrilled...
George Siemens discovers the Public Library of Science (PLoS) and suggests that there should be "a similar model adopted for research in the learning and technology space." I've thought about this for some time. Except... what is it about the journal model (especially one where authors pay fees) that is superior to what I'm doing now? And if I were to start a journal, what better route than to simply set up a website with the Open Journal Systems software? I'm not trying to rain on the parade. But - I like just posting articles and letting the world decide whether it likes them, wants to reprint them, whatever. Anything over and above that strikes me as, well, paperwork. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 21, 2006.
College Education Without Prospects
George Siemens links to this unencouraging article from the New York Times (so it will disappear from view shortly) about schools in India. "A lack of communications skills may be the most obvious shortcoming, but it is not the only one. A deeper problem, specialists say, is a classroom environment that treats students like children even if they are in their mid-20's. Teaching emphasizes silent note-taking and discipline at the expense of analysis and debate." Of course, I take note of the source, and wonder just how accurate this account is, and whether it depends more on stereotypes than data. Not every school in India is perfect, to be sure, but I find it very hard to believe that the schools of an entire nation - especially one as resurgent as India - leaves its graduates unprepared for work. I am much less concerned than the Times, for example, about students being educated in languages other than English. And what are the sources for the article? A former Harvard professor, a couple of tech company execs, and some 'buy 'em by the dozen' student quotes. George Siemens, elearnspace, December 6, 2006.
Connectivism: Learning Theory or Past Time for the Self-Amused?
Asked to review George Siemens's paper on Conectivism, Bijdrage van Plon Verhagen from the University of Twente treats readers to a detailed criticism of the paper. The review prompted Siemens to write a (self-admitted) meandering reply. As Siemens (accurately) summarizes, "Verhagen's criticisms are broadly centered on three areas: 1. Is connectivism a learning theory or a pedagogy? 2. The principles advocated by connectivism are present in other learning theories as well. 3. Can learning reside in non-human appliances?"
Taking as his cue the third criticism, Siemens launches on a long discourse on epistemology. I wish he had taken more time and written a shorter paper (yeah - like I'm one to complain about this!) to more sharply identify just how it's a new theory about learning and not merely a new pedagogy. Still, it's a fun, if somewhat loosely organized, romp through the theory of knowledge. And I will reiterate what I think is Siemens most effective and pointed criticism of the response:
"I am curious as to the approach Verhagen (2006) utilized in reviewing the article. I sense it primarily consisted of reading the article and providing a reaction based on his experience in the learning technology space. Did he search online? Did he view or listen to presentations posted on elearnspace? Did he encounter Stephen Downes' (2005) article on Connective Knowledge? ... The error made in the review is precisely the reason why we need to explore connectivism as a learning theory: static, context-less, content-centric approaches to knowing and understanding are fraught with likelihood of misunderstanding. To write a review of the American political system of 2004, and treat it as if it were today's reality, fails to acknowledge the process to which all content is subject. This is the danger of product iconization as offered, or explored by prominent theories of learning, thus failing to acknowledge - explicitly - that ongoing changes obsolesce current knowledge." George Siemens, elearnspace, November 15, 2006.
Michael Feldstein and Blackboard
Alfred Essa raises concerns that IMS might have now that one of its partners has played the patent card. The next IMS meeting, to be hosted by Blackboard in September, should be a pretty interesting session. Essa wonders what a question and answer with Blackboard would look like.
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) send an email advising "the patents are afforded no 'presumption of validity'" and that, as Michael Feldstein summarizes, "there is no patent in Europe yet, it will take a long time for there to be a patent in Europe, and in the event that there is a patent in Europe, the EUÃf¢xTMs patent law is much friendlier to challenging patents than current U.S. law."
Michael Feldstein also explains why Desire2Learn CEO John Baker is our hero, explaining that "Desire2Learn is doing an enormous public service." Of course, others have observed, D2L may have no choice - once you cave on something like this, you can count on the gravy train leading to your doorstep.
George Siemens agrees, Michael Feldstein will not be winning an "educator of the year" award from Blackboard. He adds, "Personally, I'm not convinced D2L is doing it out of altruistic reasons...but it does appear to be a side effect of their willingness to challenge Blackboard's boorish behaviour (that is officially my first use of "boorish" in five years fo blogging :))."
"It's almost too easy nowadays to make the case that government frequently makes bonehead plays," observes Lanny Arvan. "What about the private sector? And specifically, what about the Blackboard Patent and the D2L suit.... IÃf¢xTMm not confident either way whether what weÃf¢xTMre seeing now is rational or a bonehead play by Blackboard. But I do know enough about economics to understand that goodwill is a non-tangible asset with real market value and it is not hard for me to see that under certain assumptions that Blackboard could take a hit in the goodwill department beyond what it ever might recover in royalties and deterrence benefits."
Via Liberal Education Today, we read that "A website urging people to boycott Blackboard has gathered hundreds of signatures in a petition drive."
Confused of Calcutta writes, "I am not sure whether open source information has been used as a defence before, but this becomes a case to watch and to learn from."
Project Open Source | Open Access writes, "BlackBoard's American patent is curious in that it purports to patent any kind of course-based multi-user system, particularly common features such as assigning roles and permissions to provide users with various levels of access. These are features which have been generalized in all kinds of software, and have a long history in educational technologies." George Siemens, elearnspace, August 17, 2006.
Discussion: Stephen Downes
George Siemens and I had a nice discussion this afternoon about the changing nature of knowledge. "We started by discussing the need for a new epistemology...explored artificial intelligence, democracy, wikipedia, new models of societal organization, knowledge as a product/process, the nature of learning today, neuroscientific view of cognition, and other light breezy subjects :)." 68 megabytes, but if you give me some time I'll have a lighter version here. Once I download the original. ;) George Siemens and Stephen Downes, elearnspace, August 7, 2006.
Connectivism and Connected Knowledge
George Siemens has posted a transcript of our conversation from Sunday. It's quite a good read (in my humble opinion). And it takes a lot less time to get through than listening to the audio. George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier, elearnspace, February 1, 2006.
Connectivism and Web 2.0
I read the slides last night but I guess the audio version only came out today. So I haven't heard that. But on the basis of the slides along George Siemens's connectivism presentation is worth a look as he advances his thoughts on language, knowledge and meaning and makes the point that learning today is a far cry from anything like connectivism. George Siemens, elearnspace, October 21, 2005.
Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation
George Siemens offers another contribution to his copntinuing definition of connectivism. The article describes some basic properties of networks and then the process of forming connections. "Can learning be both an influence and be influenced in the network forming process?" He then looks at the creation of meaning in a network, from the perspective of latent semantic analysis. "Meaning is transferred in a rich, but messy process incorporating the content, the context of learner and resource creator, as well as the cognitions and emotions of the learner at the time of knowledge acquisition." George Siemens, Elearnspace, August 11, 2005.
Learning as a Social Process?
George Siemens is "getting a bit frustrated with the continual statements that learning is a social process." He continues, "My interest in learning networks stems from the individuality of each node in the larger network." People, it seems to me, often confuse 'social' with 'group'. People are being 'social, it seems, if they are doing the same thing. That's why we hear about a 'common vision', 'shared values', 'collaboration', and the like. But my understanding of 'social' (and Siemens's too) is different. It's about being connected, but autonomous. As Siemens writes, "The social element of learning occurs when I engage my network for feedback and understanding." George Siemens, Elearnspace, July 18, 2005.
Learning Development Cycle: Bridging Learning Design and Modern Knowledge Needs
George Siemens weighs in with another significant paper. Starting with the premise, established elsewhere, that "learning today has moved beyond courses," he outlines a model of four distinct learning domains: accretion, transmission, acquisition and emergence. Each demands a different sort of learning (not 'instructional design') and Siemens accordingly offers a learning development cycle that takes this into account. I'm not so sure I'm happy with the taxonomy of learning domains - associating cognitivism and constructivism with emergence is, in most respects, not how I would organize learning. But this is a very minor criticism of what is overall a stimulating and well-considered paper, one that will take its place as part of the foundational literature for a new theory of learning. George Siemens, Elearnspace, July 12, 2005.
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This page first published on February 9, 2010 and last updated February 9, 2010.
Copyright 2008 Stephen Downes
Contact: stephen@downes.ca
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