Monday, February 28, 2011

Connectivism and Social Knowledge

Happy last day of Feb everyone! ;)

Over the past week we have learned about Connectivism and Social Knowledge, since I really didn't know a lot of how this plays a role in learning and teaching so I decided to learn a bit more about it. For those who are or was in the same boat as I... here is the definition of Connectivism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory)

Social Knowledge is the act of learning, sharing and connecting with people online through technology and online communities (or at least that what I think). :)

I can see how this play a role in the learning especially young children who interact on social networks daily. The amount of information available to the hands to kids is unreal. Related to this the questions are is the information they see accurate information? Do they question information they see online? or do they believe everything they read? Do they have search overload? 

I don't know the answers to these questions but I always tell my children don't believe everything you read online. Search a subject more .... don't read someones blog and take that as fact! Anyhow, just some thoughts....

2 comments:

  1. Hi Christina!

    Stopping by to say hello since you're now one of my critical friends for the semester.

    (Lucky me! I get a bunch of people to discuss with. I don't know about you but I'm learning a ton this semester, and this class is so fun!)

    -Barb
    I wanted to take a moment and thank you for challenging your students to always question the things they read. That's one of the biggest things that frustrate me - the simple acceptance of anything presented as fact. I believe it's what makes things like Phishing scams so effective - nobody bothers to verify anything!

    (Not that I'm not guilty of this myself. I try to live up to my standards, but it's something I'm still working on!)

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  2. Thank you for sharing about information from Wikipedia about Connectivism.
    I have some friend whose kids is so active in social network daily. I guess it really depends on the parent. If they are aware of this and accompany their children during all the time-during that process, I guess this can be a good learning. Like what I've said in my comment to your blog in open courseware's topic, children need guidance. They will have so many questions, especially when they something for the first time. I think this is the part of learning. I think, they will not believe what they learn instantly. I think they will seek for re-validation from the person near them, like parents, teachers, relatives, peers, etc. So, guidance is really importance for children's learning.

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