Teaching for Information Literacy

A Learning Theory for a New Age

George Siemens , Associate Director with the Learning Technologies Centre at University of Manitoba and author of Knowing Knowledge , posits a theory that places learning within networks. “Including technology and connection making as learning activities begins to move learning theories into a digital age. We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections"

During a Women of the Web 2.0 skypecast Siemens (April 3, 2007) explains connectivism as “learning as network creation” We live in an age in which information becomes impossible to physically manage or hold in our heads. Instead our knowledge, our understandings, our creations are distributed across a system, each contribution becoming a node on the network. The ability to see connections between fields, ideas, patterns and concepts is essential because learning occurs when connections are made between the nodes on the network. Continuous learning happens through the nurturing and maintenance of connections.

Connectivism’s eight principles as described by Seimens, provide a foundation on which we can begin to see learning as more than that which resides in the individual.

1. Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
2. Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
3. Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
4. Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
5. Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
6. Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
7. Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist-learning activities.
8. Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

Sharon Peter's Post Basic Connectivism - Or “Connectivism for Dummies” illustrates the basic concepts of connectivism.

More information can be followed at George Siemens' Connectivism Blog and Elearnspace Blog.

Podcast: George Siemens and Michael Wesch Talk About Future Learning (30 Minutes)