Connectivism

The general idea expressed about connectivism seems to focus on the concept that as a society and as educators, we must transition from past, outdated models and theories of education to new approaches and theories that incorporate not only the advancements of technology but also the concept of a quickly changing world. It is hard for me to envision the concept of connectivism because it seems to lack any true order or system to the learning process. It is just given that as individuals, we all possess unique learning styles that can sometimes prevent one from reaching their potential if they are having difficulty learning or understanding a concept due to the method of instruction. The article references the concept of chaos and how chaos alone helps individuals to create patterns within a learning task and form meaning "from random initial conditions". Although this type of atmosphere will work for some, I believe it will leave others overwhelmed because they may not possess a higher level of reasoning skills needed to balance the intake of not only different information but also the ability to solve and multi-task.

After reading this article, I immediately thought of the commercials for the search engine Bing. There are 4-5 commericals that create the concept of user overload and express the idea that sometimes technology and the use of the internet can be both overwhelming and exhausting to the individual. I beleive that connectivism is a theory that helps define a professional community as opposed to a theory I would ever try to reference as a high school teacher. Connectivism gives the individual the freedom to gather data and information, deliever to others, receive feedback from others, than develop even further beliefs or ideas based on both the output and input. The principles of connectivism seem realistic, especially in one's professional experience. I previously worked for a company that sold software to both hospitals and physician offices. The content of the software ranged from scheduling appts, billing formats, to overall maintenance of the technology software. As the company began to introduce the concept of digitalizing patient files, more and more physicians were becoming interested in wanting to rid themselves of traditional paper charts and move to a system where files would be stored electronically. When offices and hospitals became interested, as part of the sales team, it was our job to map out and understand the movement of charts from one destination to another throughout the patient's office visit. This concept of information flow was significant for us as a sales staff in convincing the client that paper charts were messy, time consuming, and took up excessive storage space.

I like the statement, "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe." This statement helps to clarify the main concept of connectivism for me. Connectivisim becomes a mode of learning that indivuals can internalize.