Mirjam's weblog!: Connectivism (2): reactie George Siemens op Surf bijeenkomst

maandag, november 20, 2006

Connectivism (2): reactie George Siemens op Surf bijeenkomst

In zijn blog over 'eLearning Resources and News: learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends' (http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/) van 14 november 2006 reageert Siemens op de reacties die in het kader van de Surf-conferentie op zijn ideeen over het connectivism gekomen zijn:

"November 14, 2006
Late last week, I received a critque of my 2004 article on Connectivism. In preparation for my presentation (SURF in Utrecht, Netherlands – where I am now) conference organizers asked Pløn Verhagen to review the article. He didn't like it. His comments are here. In response, I have written a meandering article Connectivism: Learning theory or Past Time of the Self-Amused (a printable MS Word file is available here - you might prefer that, my server is spitting out some weird formatting in place of apostrophes in the web article). End result: most of our knowledge activities are about externalization. Vygotsky, Wittgenstein, Spivey, and others suggest this, though it is easily observable with our use of symbols, images, and language to communicate and make sense). Most learning theories are about internalization (i.e. bring concepts into our head (even if they are socially mediated, the intent is to hold to knowledge in our minds). With connectivism (and Stephen's work on Connective Knowledge), the intent is to externalize the knowledge - to distribute it in a network (often with the aid of technology). This view is critical in complex knowledge climates today.
Adding Meaning & Value to Information: "Those of us who manage written information therefore have a great challenge. How can we make what is written down more meaningful, more valuable? How can we make it "make more sense"? Here are ten principal ways to do so".
Engineering Education Not Keeping Pace: "Engineering education that instills global competence is not keeping pace with the complex and highly dynamic development process of globalization." The problem of "not keeping pace" is evident in high change fields - medicine, technology, business, engineering, etc. Marginally stable fields - like agriculture - are not immune to rapid change anymore. Essentially, every field is accelerating its knowledge base (though for some it's more pronounced). The issue of too much information is one being faced by every sector of society. "

Interessant om deze discussie te blijven volgen.