Comments on: CCK08:Reflections on week 1 readings

By: Eyal Sivan

Eyal Sivan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:46:55 +0000

Fantastic post. The story is an excellent metaphor.

I think Lisa has it right that the emphasis must be on the individual. More than that, I think that connectives actually drive empowerment and responsibility towards the individual. I’m actually trying to write a post about this.

Is Connectivism a theory or pedagogy?

I think it is a philosophical theory. I say philosophical, rather than specifically learning, because I believe it has an strong applicability in other branches of philosophy beyond epistemology, including ethics, metaphysics, politics, and science. Theory because most of these are still being worked out, by various different people, in some cases under various different names.

Shameless plug: I try and explore this broader definition on my blog, the Connective. I started it before the course, but it’s still quite young, so please be gentle. And sorry for the plug.

Please excuse me if I misuse the term, as I’m not very familiar with it, but I don’t think it’s a pedagogy, because its not just for instruction. It’s a mechanism for addressing general problems, more like a philosophy. That’s my take anyway.

I like John Rogers delineation from the forums: “Connectivism ends in ism, which implies to me it is a belief that translates into practice.”

By: Lisa M Lane

Lisa M Lane — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:53:56 +0000

Stone Soup?

By: Lisa M Lane

Lisa M Lane — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:09:44 +0000

Excellent story. I can’t see any other alternative to what it illustrates, that the individual is ultimately responsible for learning, even in a network. It is for this reason I find myself unduly interested in the cognitive, individual aspects of networking — the interaction between the individual mind and the information (in this case, the mullah and the weather vs the sultan and the same condition).

By: Maru del Campo

Maru del Campo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:19:10 +0000

Hi Silvana!
Nice to meet you, my name is Maru.
I cannot answer yet the first question on your blog: Is Connectivism a theory or pedagogy? I need to read more. Though I agree with your answer my aim is to enable others to be better persons regardless if they are my students or my patients.

I agree with you on your three key points conditions for learning: To find the pressing need, to enable the will, ability and potential to make changes and to provide support.
I try to cover them in f2f sessions but I think that for online sessions you really need to pay attention to each one in order to facilitate the learning. I enjoyed very much your metaphor, we are usually trying to place the responsibility on the outside instead of searching inside.

I will post this answer at the forum, I do not want to add more workload to your activities. I think this will give you the chance to answer only at the forum and maybe others that did not follow your link will have thought material.

I am amazed by the speed in which you read and integrate the material read. i wish I were more like you. Thanks for sharing. See you around. Love: Maru