A Connectivist View of Learning

A learner today is like an air traffic controller at Chicago's O'Hare.  It is the learner's responsibility to stay alert and direct incoming and outgoing messages to their proper locations.  As information is shared and changes at such rapid speed today which causes problems to arise, many split second decisions have to be made.  Siemens in his pioneering work in Connectivism posits in both The Network is Learning (2009) and Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (2005) that the rapidly evolving corpus of knowledge in any given field forces us to abandon previously held views on education and learning.

Siemen suggests in the video, The Network is Learning, that the " network (one) create(s) when (one) follows the writings... of an educational theory field... that that particular network is what enables (one) to stay current."  Moreover, in his article "Connectivism: a Learning Theory for the Digital Age", Siemens posits that "Informal learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks."  It is this focus on the need to stay current or alert and the realization that learning is happening continuously, both formally and informally, that makes one realize that the connectivist theory needs to be further examined as it relates to educational needs in the digital age.  Siemens realization that we are no longer drivers on an empty highway, but rather airline traffic controllers constantly receiving and directing new information, rightfully calls for a new theory to explain how we transition from a theory aimed at individualism to one that examines the current collective nature of learning.