How are My Thoughts Changing?

I LOVED THIS ARTICLE!!! Thank you so much for giving us something challenging to read, academic & full of discussion topics and things to think about.

After I read this article I started reading people's blogs to find out what other teachers thought of connectivism. James and I had an hour long conversation about it at dinner. I just looked at the date of the article (2004) and am curious about what else Siemens has written since then.

Some quotes from the article that really made me think are:

• The organization and the individual are both learning organisms.
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• Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).
  
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• These theories do not address learning that occurs outside of people (i.e. learning that is stored and manipulated by technology). They also fail to describe how learning happens within organizations.
  
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• The need to evaluate the worthiness of learning something is a meta-skill that is applied before learning itself begins. When knowledge is subject to paucity, the process of assessing worthiness is assumed to be intrinsic to learning. When knowledge is abundant, the rapid evaluation of knowledge is important.
  
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• Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge. ‘I store my knowledge in my friends’ is an axiom for collecting knowledge through collecting people (undated).

I'm not sure how my thinking has changed yet. I am just sure that it is changing and I am so interested to see how these new ideas play out. I am excited to be in a profession that has the opportunity to engage directly with these ideas with children and youth. It is an exciting time to be in the field of education.

I have another question about, "the half-life of knowledge." What exactly is this new knowledge about? How are people identifying, quantifying and labeling new and obsolete knowledge? I want more information about this before I just assume that statistic to be true.

One thing I like about the article is that it incorporates the philosophy that connectivisim doesn't just have to take place online - it can be with people in your classroom or people in your workplace. A class discussion where you create together - can be the same thing - depending on what the discussion is about. Small group work too. The example of the senior citizens working with elementary school students is exactly right. New theories of learning from/with technology can be applied to non-technology. They are communication and learning theories.

One thing I have an issue with is the role of history in these theories. Where do they incorporate the importance of a general understanding (memorized) knowledge of history, for example?

Yes, I can look up where France is in one second and see that it is in Europe but what is Europe? What does it mean? What is its history and social make-up? This is background knowledge that may be subject to change but in general helps us properly evaluate and understand 'new' knowledge. What about memorizing the times tables, and poetry and having a general and solid sense of our past, so that we do not repeat the mistakes and so that we can better analyze where we are and where we're going?

I will leave you with this quote from the article, because this is what I am thinking about right now. "Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge, however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses."