The theory of connectivism was proposed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in 2004 – 2005, defined as “the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories, and emphasized that learning is not entirely under the control of individuals but a process continues changing depending on the environment.

“It is not a pedagogy, but a set of principles” Siemens (2005)

Compared to traditional learning approach, connectivism is a network based on knowledge. Education occurs through the transferal of knowledge from educator to learner, and both the learners and educators who participating in the process constitutes learning.

Connectivism is characterized by four major types of activities: aggregation, relation, creation, and sharing.

As the developing of connectivism, the process of learning will gradually becomes more decentralized. A educator or learning source on the internet, can be a teacher doing online lecturing, can be a short video on TikTok, can be a blog, or a Youtube video. This is reflect creation and sharing of the characteristic of connectivism. The online learning sources are opened, anyone can be the creator, and creating and sharing their own knowledge to others, and anyone can be the learner, there are tons of learning source out there on the internet wait for you to discover. if only like this, the learning resources are decentralized and without control. So, a platform is needed to aggregation and connect the educator and learner. There are many platform out there, such as Brightspace, TikTok, Youtube….etc they are playing a key role in connetivism, reflecting the characteristic of aggregation and relation.

A example mentioned in the article: Downes and Siemens developed an opened course called MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) that anyone could study them at no financial cost, but also open in terms of content, direction, and technology. These courses, such as Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (CCK08 and CCK09), allowed learners to freely access and contribute content using various online tools. The connectivist courses had less structure and emphasized learner-generated content and connections.

Personal reflection

I don’t think connectivism is a totally new approach. As in traditional learning, our schools, or classrooms, play a similar role as a platform plays in connectivism, which links educators, learning resources and learners together. But, in connectivism, overcoming the limitation of time and space of the traditional learning, and enriching the learning materials. Connectivism places high demands on learners’ autonomy. learners need to take some time to discover and find the best “platform” suit for their goals of learning. “Interaction” is also important in connectivism because the connection is not only between the learner and learning resources but also between the learner and other learners.

Sources

Weller, M. (2020). “Chapter 17 – 2010  Connectivism.” 25 Years of Edtech. AU Press. https://read.aupress.ca/read/25-years-of-ed-tech/section/198057f5-1a3e-4436-a4b8-c6e1a3e0bd69#ch17.