Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

VT = https://voicethread.com/share/5415631/

 

This week (5) I learned about Connectivism and Social Learning, whereby all students are responsible for their own learning and work collectively to achieve a common goal.  Dr. Orey speaks of strategies such as the “Jigsaw Strategy” that requires students to conduct research on a particular subject as a group.  Each group of students teaches to a different group something about the subject that they researched.  He states that the best way to learn context is to teach it. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) I agree whole-heartedly with this statement, because in my classroom, I find that a student learns vocabulary even better when he is standing in front of the class showing the index cards to his peers as if he were the teacher. 

Dr. Michael Orey speaks of creating social networks for learning within the classroom.  Using Cooperative Learning is a great tool to use in the classroom, because it allows students to work together and formulate ideas as a unit (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) .

George Siemans speaks of a new theory called Connectivism.  This theory  focuses on forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge amongst learners. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) Both presenters instructional strategies described in the resources were extremely helpful, and they related well to the principles of social learning theories. Common Craft, for example, explained a resource called Flickr that gives learners the ability to log photos of a field trip online, tag each photo, and tell a story about their experience on that field trip. With this resource, students could work in pairs or teams to relive a field trip and then retell portions of the trip to their peers.  Dr. Orey’s “Jigsaw Strategy” would be perfect in this instance. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008)

Another resource that I found interesting was called “Splainer.”  It is a resource that would be great for teaching students to create a mock business and explain it in an online presentation.  The themes that are offered would make the activity fun.  Cooperative learning could be used in both these instances, allowing students to work together, bounce ideas off of one another, discuss issues as they achieve group learning. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008)

        I found the resources presented to be extremely helpful, and I cannot wait to implement them in my classroom.   The resources that are available are plentiful, to say the least, and we educators must find them and use them whenever necessary.

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program nine: Connectivism as a learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program ten: Spotlight on technology: VoiceThread [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1