Week 8 Connectivism and Constructivism

Acquiring knowledge is similar to building a house, it must begin with a solid foundation.  Connectivism and Constructivism both look to build upon the solid foundation to create a continuous learning environment. Constructivism is a must larger process with the end result defined and preventing any significant changes from occurring once the project has begun.  When relational data bases were first created they followed the contructivism philosophy because there could not be any changes to the structure once it was created.

Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks offer five key principles of constructivist learning theory below. These would be used to guide curriculum structure and lesson planning.

. Pose problems of emerging relevance to students.

. Structure learning around primary concepts.

. Seek and value students' points of view.

. Adapt instruction to address student suppositions.

. Assess student learning in the context of teaching.

Connectivism is more like an Excel spreadsheet, which accommodates the addition of rows and columns any place within the spreadsheet at any time.  Connectivism is more like planning a cross country trip where we decide what, where and when we will visit during the planning process. However, once we get going we run into reality of detours, seasonal hours and life.  Life is the important piece in the connectivism puzzle because it allows for the changing of the program on the fly, just like our Excel spreadsheet.  If we encounter a flat tire next to a dude ranch, we could find it an interesting and convenient addition to our journey, especially if, we need to wait for a repair.  Connectivism allows us to change, to accommodate our existing structure, and add new items, to remove the obsolete, or move beyond something we once found interesting.

The Element

I think the Element by Sir Ken Robinson also includes connectivism theory in his book.  Sir Robinson explains that sometimes we need to change our group, our community, to move forward.  The Element provides many great examples of people with incredible talent that could have been easily overlooked.  However, the passion for their talent drove them to excel and success was often realized after the connection occurred.