networks - Christy Tucker on Diigo

10 Oct 09

Twenty-two power laws of the emerging social economy | Enterprise Web 2.0 | ZDNet.com

Power laws describing how networks and social networking work, some supported by research, some simply observations of human behavior

blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe - Preview

networks socialnetworking economics

Amara’s Law (backstory) states that “we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”
11. Metcalfe’s Law

This was the original conception of network effects, whereby the potential value of a network grows exponentially according to its size.
4 more annotations...
- The fundamental definition of a network effect is “when a product or service has more value the more that other people have it too.”
- In fact, the Principle of Least Effort notes that they will tend to use the most convenient method, in the least exacting way available, with interaction stopping as soon as minimally acceptable results are achieved. As a result, well-known social scientist Clay Shirky notes that the most “brutally simple” social model often is the most successful one (using Twitter as an example.)
- Reed’s Law
  
  Researcher David Reed discovered that the network effect of social systems is much higher than would otherwise be expected, helping to explain the sudden rise of social systems in the latter half of this decade. While adding a social architecture to a piece of software for no specific reason isn’t helpful either, it turns out that in general, software (and indeed, any networked system) is better the more social it is.
- Reflexivity asserts that social actions can and do in fact influence the fundamental behavior of a social system and that these newly-influenced set of fundamentals can then proceed to change expectations, thus influencing new behavior. The process continues in a self-reinforcing pattern.

08 Oct 09

Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge

Long paper by Stephen Downes on the nature of knowledge, connectivism, learning, and e-learning 2.0

it.coe.uga.edu/...paper92.html - Preview

CCK09 connectivism teaching education learning networks learningtheories e-learning

In other
words, cognitivists defend an approach that may be called ‘folk
psychology’. “In our everyday social interactions we
both predict and explain behavior, and our explanations are couched
in a mentalistic vocabulary which includes terms like ‘belief’
and ‘desire’.” The argument, in a nutshell, is that
the claims of folk psychology are literally true, that there is, for
example, an entity in the mind corresponding to the belief that
'Paris is the capital of France', and that this belief is, in fact,
what might loosely be called 'brain writing' - or, more precisely,
there is a one-to-one correspondence between a person's brain states
and the sentence itself.
- I've never heard cognitivism compared to "folk psychology" before. I'm not totally convinced by this argument. Cognitivist methods do have some research support, after all. (Think multimedia learning, Clark & Mayer's "ELearning and the Science of Instruction.") But their methods could (at least sometimes) be right even if their explanation of the underlying mechanism is wrong. - on 2009-10-06
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We may contrast cognitivism, which is a
causal theory of mind, with connectionism, which is an
emergentist
theory of mind. This is not to say that connectionism
(see also)
does away with causation altogether; it is not a ‘hand of God’
theory. It allows that there is a physical, causal connection
between entities, and this is what makes communication possible. But
where it differs is, crucially: the transfer of information does
not reduce to this physical substrate. Contrary to the
communications-theoretical account, the new theory is a non-reductive
theory. The contents of communications, such as sentences, are not
isomorphic with some mental state.
- From Wikipedia: "A property of a system is said to be emergent if it is more than the sum of the properties of the system's parts." If I understand Stephen's argument correctly, part of what he's saying here is that rather than knowledge being exactly what we perceive it to be (a sentence like "Paris is a city in France"), what's happening in our brains is more than that. When a teacher shares knowledge with a learner, it doesn't work like a copy machine where the teacher gives the learner a duplicate of the original and then both people have discrete copies of that knowledge. - on 2009-10-06
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18 more annotations...
- For
  example (and there are many we could choose from), consider
  Randall O’Reilly on how the brain represents conceptual
  structures, as described in Modeling
  Integration and Dissociation in Brain and Cognitive Development.
  He explicitly rejects the ‘isomorphic’ view of mental
  contents, and instead describes a network of distributed
  representations. "Instead of viewing brain areas as being
  specialized for specific representational content (e.g., color,
  shape, location, etc), areas are specialized for specific
  computational functions by virtue of having different neural
  parameters...
  - I struggle a bit with the neurological arguments, but it does seem to make sense that the brain is divided by the different functions and not by the symbols we've created to communicate. And certainly when you look at brain scans of people doing different tasks, the activity isn't just in one area: multiple areas of the brain are involved in any complex task.
    
    But I'm also cautious about the brain evidence because, frankly, I don't really understand it that well. I'm also aware of research about how people find arguments more convincing when they're shown with pictures of brain scans, even if it's the same text. I don't want to fall prey to that fallacy. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- For example,
  when I say, "What makes something a learning object is how we
  use the learning object," I am asserting a functionalist
  approach to the definition of learning objects (people are so
  habituated to essentialist definitions that my definition does not
  even appear on lists of definitions of learning objects).
  
  It's
  like asking, what makes a person a 'bus driver'? Is it the colour of
  his blood? The nature of his muscles? A particular mental state? No -
  according to functionalism, what makes him a 'bus driver' is the fact
  that he drives buses. He performs that function.
  - These are better examples; this makes more sense to me. It does seems to support creating learning environments where content can be used multiple different ways, which fits with connectivism. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- To illustrate this concept, I
  have been asking people to think of the concept 'Paris'. If 'Paris'
  were represented by a simple symbol set, we would all mean the same
  thing when we say 'Paris'. But in fact, we each mean a collection of
  different things and none of our collections is the same. Therefore,
  in our own minds, the concept 'Paris' is a loose association of a
  whole bunch of different things, and hence the concept 'Paris' exists
  in no particular place in our minds, but rather, is scattered
  throughout our minds.
  - Back to the cognitivist idea of the teacher as mental copy machine handing a student a duplicate copy of knowledge--this is the opposite of that. It's more like if 20 artists sit down to draw the same scene; there will be similarities and overlaps, but nobody's picture will be the same. This is, perhaps, part of why connectivism makes more sense when applied to learning complex topics. You don't need connectivism to explain memorizing the state capitals or multiplication tables; the idea of the mental copy machine is probably a functional enough explanation. But if you're trying to learn a big, gnarly topic, a model that works for regurgitating facts isn't enough. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- As we
  examine the emergentist theory of mind we can arrive at five major
  implications of this approach for educational theorists:
  
  - first,
  knowledge is subsymbolic.
  Mere possession of the words does not mean that there is knowledge;
  the possession of knowledge does not necessarily result in the
  possession of the words (and for much more on this, see Michael
  Polanyi's discussion of 'tacit
  knowledge' in 'Personal
  Knowledge').
  
  - second,
  knowledge is distributed. There is no specific 'mental entity' that
  corresponds to the belief that 'Paris is the capital of France'. What
  we call that 'knowledge' is (an indistinguishable) pattern of
  connections between neurons. See, for example, Geoffrey Hinton,
  'Learning
  Distributed Representations of Concepts'.
  
  - third,
  knowledge is interconnected. The same neuron that is a part of 'Paris
  is the capital of France' might also be a part of 'My dog is named
  Fred'. It is important to note that this is a non-symbolic
  interconnection - this is the basis for non-rational associations,
  such as are described in the recent Guardian article, 'Where
  Belief is Born'
  
  - fourth,
  knowledge is personal. Your 'belief' that 'Paris is the capital of
  France' is quite literally different from my belief that 'Paris is
  the capital of France'. If you think about it, this must be the case
  - otherwise Gestalt
  tests would be useless; we would all utter the same word when
  shown the same picture.
  
  - fifth,
  what we call 'knowledge' (or 'belief', or 'memory') is an emergent
  phenomenon. Specifically, it is not 'in' the brain itself, or even
  'in' the connections themselves, because there is no 'canonical' set
  of connections that corresponds with 'Paris is the capital of
  France'. It is, rather (and carefully stated), a recognition of a
  pattern in a set of neural events (if we are introspecting) or
  behavioural events (if we are observing). We infer to mental contents
  the same way we watch Donald Duck on TV - we think we see something,
  but that something is not actually there - it's just an organization
  of pixels.
- If this is
  the case, then the concepts of what it is to know and what
  it is to teach are very different from the traditional theories
  that dominate distance education today. Because if learning is not
  the transfer of mental contents – if there is, indeed, no such
  mental content that exists to be transported – then we need to
  ask, what is it that we are attempting to do when we attempt to teach
  and learn.
  - I'm finding myself resisting some of these ideas, and I'm not quite sure why. Is it because it's so different from what I've been taught and assumed? Is it because I'm just too used to the folk psychology ideas and I need to unlearn them? I still feel like even cognitivism is a "good enough" explanation for some basic kinds of knowledge that do seem to operate as content transfer. Cognitivism isn't a perfect model, but a simple knowledge transfer model might be good enough for some areas. But maybe education has focused too much on the simple knowledge transfer because it's easy and we have an easy model to explan how it works--and education should be about a lot more than the kinds of learning that cognitivism explains well. The learning theories we believe must affect what we choose to teach, and not just how we choose to teach it. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- we can identify the essential elements of
  network semantics.
  
  First,
  context, that is, the localization of entities in a network.
  Each context is unique – entities see the network differently,
  experience the world differently. Context is required in order to
  interpret signals, that is, each signal means something different
  depending on the perspective of the entity receiving it.
  
  Second,
  salience, that is, the relevance or importance of a message.
  This amounts to the similarity between one pattern of connectivity
  and another. If a signal creates the activation of a set of
  connections that were previously activated, then this signal is
  salient. Meaning is created from context and messages via salience.
  
  Third,
  emergence, that is, the development of patterns in the
  network. Emergence is a process of resonance or synchronicity, not
  creation. We do not create emergent phenomena. Rather
  emergence phenomena are more like commonalities in patterns of
  perception. It requires an interpretation to be recognized; this
  happens when a pattern becomes salient to a perceiver.
  
  Fourth,
  memory is the persistence of patterns of connectivity, and in
  particular, those patterns of connectivity that result from, and
  result in, salient signals or perceptions.
  - Earlier in this section, Stephen says that the constructivist idea of "making meaning" is meaningless. But here he says "Meaning is created from context and messages via salience." What's the difference between "making meaning" and "creating meaning"? I don't get it. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- For
  example, in order to illustrate the observation that ‘knowledge
  is distributed’ I have frequently appealed to the story of the
  747. In a nutshell, I ask, “who knows how to make a 747 fly
  from London to Toronto?” The short answer is that nobody
  knows how to do this – no one person could design a 747,
  manufacture the parts (including tires and aircraft engines), take it
  off, fly it properly, tend to the passengers, navigate, and land it
  successfully. The knowledge is distributed across a network of
  people, and the phenomenon of ‘flying a 747’ can exist at
  all only because of the connections between the constituent members
  of that network.
  - This is an example of complicated knowledge, I think, and not complex, but the idea of complicated knowledge being distributed makes sense. - on 2009-10-06
  Add Sticky Note
- “What
  happens,” I asked, “when online learning ceases to be
  like a medium, and becomes more like a platform? What happens when
  online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption
  tool, where learning is "delivered," and becomes more like
  a content-authoring tool, where learning is created?”
  
  The answer
  turns out to be a lot like Web 2.0: “The model of e-learning as
  being a type of content, produced by publishers, organized and
  structured into courses, and consumed by students, is turned on its
  head. Insofar as there is content, it is used rather than read—
  and is, in any case, more likely to be produced by students than
  courseware authors. And insofar as there is structure, it is more
  likely to resemble a language or a conversation rather than a book or
  a manual.”
  - Summary of e-learning 2.0, although so much of what is being developed is still about content consumption - on 2009-10-07
  Add Sticky Note
- The idea
  behind the personal learning environment is that the management of
  learning migrates from the institution to the learner.
- Learning therefore evolves
  from being a transfer of content and knowledge to the production of
  content and knowledge.
  - I'm not sure if learning always has to be about the "production" of content by the learners; it could be about analyzing, summarizing, aggregating, tagging, etc. Am I really "producing content" with my comments on this article? I don't feel like I'm producing something new, but I definitely feel like this is e-learning 2.0. I'm building on Downes' work. But maybe my problem is with how I'm defining "content"; if "content" includes tagging and critiquing and commenting, then I am producing content now. - on 2009-10-07
  Add Sticky Note
- In
  a distributed environment, however, the design is no longer defined
  as a type of process. Rather, designers need to characterize the
  nature of
  the connections between the constituent entities.
  - An interesting idea for instructional design. Usually a big part of what we do as instructional designer is think about the structure and order of learning objects. But if the learning objects are scattered in different places and nonsequential, then the support learners need isn't being told what order to follow: it's how the objects relate to each other. - on 2009-10-07
  Add Sticky Note
- In
  effective networks, content and services are disaggregated.
  Units of content should be as small as possible and content should
  not be ‘bundled’. Instead, the organization and structure
  of content and services is created by the receiver.
  - The problem from everyone who has tried reusable learning objects is that it's so hard to get objects that are really independent and free of context. I think this is a very difficult thing to actually achieve. - on 2009-10-07
  Add Sticky Note
- An
  effective network is desegregated. For example, in network
  learning, learning is not thought of as a Separate Domain. Hence,
  there is no need for learning-specific tools and processes. Learning
  is instead thought of as a part of living, of work, of play. The same
  tools we use to perform day-to-day activities are the tools we use to
  learn.
  - This is already happening to some extent. Blogs, wikis, and Twitter weren't designed as learning tools, but lots of people use them as such. A look at Jane Hart's top tools collection shows lots of tools used by learning professionals that weren't originally intended for learning. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note
- Knowledge
  is a network phenomenon. To 'know' something is to be organized in a
  certain way, to exhibit patterns of connectivity. To 'learn' is to
  acquire certain patterns.
  - If learning is about acquiring patterns, then the "to learn is to practice and reflect" would be ways of following and reinforcing those patterns. I suspect for this to really make sense that "pattern" has to be my individual pattern as a learner; my pattern isn't the same as Stephen's, even as I'm learning from him. But my pattern might be similar to Stephen's or overlap with his, or connect with his. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note
- Downes
  Educational Theory
  
  A good
  student learns by practice, practice and reflection.
  A good
  teacher teaches by demonstration and modeling.
  The essence of
  being a good teacher is to be the sort of person you want your
  students to become.
  The most important learning outcome is a
  good and happy life.
  - One thing I've been wrestling with a bit lately is the idea of teachers demonstrating and modeling. It seems like demonstrating and modeling are mostly the same thing. What's the difference between the two? And I do feel like "teacher" implies something a little more active than being a model off in the distance. What if we say that good teachers model and nurture instead? Nurturing doesn't imply direct instruction or even most of what we think of as teaching, but it does imply interacting with students in ways that supports them and helps bring out the best in them. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note
- In
  essence, on this theory, to learn is to immerse oneself in the
  network. It is to expose oneself to actual instances of the
  discipline being performed, where the practitioners of that
  discipline are (hopefully with some awareness) modeling good
  practice in that discipline. The student then, through a process of
  interaction with the practitioners, will begin to practice by
  replicating what has been modeled, with a process of reflection
  (the computer geeks would say: back
  propagation) providing guidance and correction.
  - This description is helpful, but I again don't see how demonstrating is different from modeling. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note
- These
  environments cut across disciplines. Students will not study algebra
  beginning with the first principles and progressing through the
  functions. They will learn the principles of algebra as
  needed, progressing more deeply into the subject as the need for
  new knowledge is provoked by the demands of the simulation. Learning
  opportunities - either in the form of interaction with others, in the
  form of online learning resources (formerly known as learning
  objects), or in the form of interaction with mentors or instructors -
  will be embedded in the learning environment, sometimes presenting
  themselves spontaneously, sometimes presenting themselves on request.
  - This reinforces what Stephen said earlier about tools not being specific to learning; learning tools should be the tools we live and work and play with, integrated in our daily lives. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note
- This
  does not mean that a 'science' of learning is impossible. Rather, it
  means that the science will be more like meteorology than like
  (classical) physics. It will be a science based on modeling and
  simulation, pattern recognition and interpretation, projection and
  uncertainty.
  - This is in the postscript about the futility of traditional empirical research on learning. Maybe this is where I run into problems reconciling the cognitivist research I've read (which is all traditional "change one variable" research) with connectivism. This would also explain why some of the cognitivist research that works OK in a lab environment fails in real classrooms; a lab environment doesn't actually reflect the chaos of a classroom well enough. I've heard Stephen make this argument on a number of occasions, but I've always assumed that it meant any educational research would be worthless. That isn't what he's saying though; he's saying that educational research is a different type of research. Now it's finally making sense to me; of course educational research should be more like psychology, where we have trends and patterns but few absolutes. - on 2009-10-08
  Add Sticky Note

30 Sep 09

Social-Network-Basics.pdf (application/pdf Object)

A one-page explanation of social networks, defining actors, relations, and ties

www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/...Social-Network-Basics.pdf - Preview

CCK09 socialnetworking networks

16 Apr 09

Measuring Networked (or Social) Learning « Daretoshare

Networked learning can't be assessed the same way as traditional, formal learning (or if it can, we wouldn't measure the real value that way). So what do you measure? This is a starting point.

daretoshare.wordpress.com/...g-networked-or-social-learning - Preview

learning networks social assessment patterns

26 Feb 09

Writing in the 21st Century

Report from the National Council of Teachers of English with a call to action to teach writing appropriately for the 21st century. Writing now often happens outside school in social spaces where people learn informally through their peers. Includes an overview of how writing has been viewed historically and how that has affected how we teach writing.

"Writing has never been accorded the cultural respect or the support that reading has enjoyed, in part because through reading, society could control its citizens, whereas through writing, citizens might exercise their
own control."

"Writing has historically and inextricably been linked to testing."

"In much of this new composing, we are writing to share, yes; to encourage dialogue, perhaps; but mostly, I think, to participate."

"First, we have moved beyond a pyramid-like, sequential model of literacy development in which print literacy comes first and digital literacy comes second and networked literacy practices, if they come at all, come third and last."

www.ncte.org/...Yancey_final.pdf - Preview

writing 21stcenturyskills education k-12 informallearning networks

06 Nov 08

DiegoLeal.org: Random ideas on random conversations (CCK08-Week 9)

Another set of notes from Nancy White's discussion for CCK08. Where my notes focused heavily on what Nancy and Stephen was saying, Diego did a much better job of capturing and summarizing the chat conversation.

www.diegoleal.org/...-on-random-conversations-cck-9 - Preview

cck08 change connectivism networks changemanagement

When you think of yourself as a learner, you begin to act as one, and suddenly all the potential of networks and online information begins to make sense

Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?

IRRODL article on connectivism, looking at its connections to past theories and critics. The authors conclude that while education is undergoing signficant changes, connectivism isn't different enough to be a learning theory on its own. However, they say it does have an important role to play in education as learners gain more independent control.

www.irrodl.org/...1137 - Preview

connectivism learningtheories education networks learning

31 Oct 08

Teach Web 2.0: CCK08 Power to the People

Looking at power and leadership, especially how power works within networks as opposed to groups or as individuals. Includes a nice list of principles for leadership in networks from Paul Skidmore.

teachweb2.blogspot.com/...cck08-power-to-people.html - Preview

networks leadership cck08 learnercontrol learning

29 Oct 08

A Networked Life – Ton Zijlstra on Social Networking

Full quote from Ton Zijlstra on information overload, in the original interview about the value of social media and networking

www.icwe.net/...news96.php - Preview

quoteable informationliteracy networks socialnetworking

Information overload does not exist. Failing information strategies do exist. We were brought up with information strategies based on scarcity. We live in times of information abundance.

Dave’s Whiteboard » Blog Archive » Learning strategy: follow disgruntle

An interesting idea for a learning strategy--we read so much online from people who are like us and agree with us that when you read something that makes you disgruntled, it may be a cue to dig deeper. Includes a good quote from Ton Zijlstra (via Harold Jarche) about information overload.

www.daveswhiteboard.com/...826 - Preview

quoteable informationliteracy learning networks

A little while ago, Harold Jarche sent this quotation: “”Information overload does not exist. Failing information strategies do exist. ”

10 Oct 08

Groups into Networks New Curriculum Needed - CCK08 - ubiquitous's posterous

An idea for how to move towards networked learning: start with groups, which will initially be more comfortable and less chaotic, then gradually increase the freedom to learning in networks.

ubiquitous.posterous.com/groups-into-networks-new-curri - Preview

cck08 groups networks education e-learning change

Once students get the hang of groups online, just like any mother bird,
the teacher needs to slowly start pushing them out of the nest. And I
do not mean anywhere near Middle School. Most of the students in a
school will be ready for this kind of experience nearing High School,
and I believe this age will slowly lower as time passes and this form
of education becomes more common.
The process of moving the students forward from a group setting to a
network will be required, so will an educator familiar with both. For
this process to properly occur, curriculum will need to be specifically
designed and implemented, taking into account, emerging technologies
and student safety within an online environment.
1 more annotations...
- The process of moving the students forward from a group setting to a
  network will be required, so will an educator familiar with both. For
  this process to properly occur, curriculum will need to be specifically
  designed and implemented, taking into account, emerging technologies
  and student safety within an online environment.

05 Oct 08

Groups Vs Networks: The Class Struggle Continues ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

Transcript of a talk about the differences between groups and networks. Downes situates networks between individuals and groups, as a place where individuals are associated and connected but more diverse than groups. Interesting ideas for assessment and supporting diversity.

www.downes.ca/42521 - Preview

connectivism cck08 networks learning assessment diversity

Those of you who've taken political science know that all of human history in political science is the division between the individual and the state. Right? The person and the group, right? And these are the two divides. And the whole purpose of politics is to find some sort of accommodation for them or if you're Ayn Rand, to favor the individual and ignore the group.

And it seems to me that networks offers that middle way. Networks offers that path that isn't the individual and isn't the group, doesn't force you to choose between the individual and the group.
But more or less, a group is a collection of entities or members according to their nature or their feature or their properties or whatever, their essential nature, maybe, their accidental nature, maybe, whatever, but according to their nature. What defines a group is the quality the members possess in common and then the number of members in that group. Groups are about nature, they're about quality, they're about mass. They're about number.

A network, by contrast, is an association â I use that word very precisely â an association of entities or members where this association is facilitated or created by a set of connections between those entities. And if you say, "Well what is a connection?" A connection is merely some conduit along which a signal can run. Well, that clarified it, didn't it? What defines a network is the nature and the extent of this connectivity. The nature and the extent to which these individuals are connected together.
3 more annotations...
- I want to change the system of assessment in schools because right now we have tests and things like that that are scrupulously fair, particularly distance learning where we outline the objectives the performance metrics and the outcomes and all of that. I want to scrap that system. I want testing to be done by at random by comments from your peers and other people and strangers based on no criteria whatsoever and applied unequally and unfairly.
- Networks are almost defined by the opposite, defined by their diversity. A network thrives on diversity. It wouldn't be a network without diversity.
- Internet technology that encourages diversity rather than conformity includes things like personal home pages or these days, blogs. I should add to this slide MySpace profiles and things like that, your account on Flickr. All of these things that allows the individual to express themselves rather than the individual being part of some larger entity.

21 Sep 08

Connectivism & Connective Knowledge » At the End of Week Two

Stephen Downes summarizes week 2 of CCK08, including a description of how different the discussions in Moodle and on the blogs are. The Moodle discussion has become very angry and dominated by a handful of people, while the blogs show much more diversity in perspectives.

ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism - Preview

cck08 connectivism networks discussion blog

14 Sep 08

Half an Hour: Types of Knowledge and Connective Knowledge

Stephen Downes on connective knowledge. This starts with qualitative and quantitative as two types of knowledge recognized historically, continuing with some history of philosophical positions on types of knowledge. Downes argues that connective knowledge is not either empirical or rationalist, but a third type of knowledge. He uses a metaphor of carbon in different forms: carbon atoms connected differently can be coal, graphite, or diamonds. It's the same atoms, but the connections are different.

halfanhour.blogspot.com/...-knowledge-and-connective.html - Preview

connectivism cck08 networks

So, connective knowledge is knowledge OF the connections that exist in the world. It is knowledge about how such connections are created, and what impact, or effect, such a system of connections has.
So we have two types of connective knowledge, the knowledge that we have OF networks, that we obtain by looking at networks, and knowledge that is created and stored BY networks in the world.

Summary: Connective knowledge is both:
- knowledge OF networks in the world
- knowledge obtained BY networks
1 more annotations...
- Summary:
  
  Active participation in the network:
  - as a node in the network, by participating in society
  - as a whole network, by perceiving with the brain (the neiural network)
  Reflective participation in the network:
  - by observing society as a whole
  - by reflecting on our mental states and processes

12 Aug 08

x28’s new Blog » Blog Archive » My take on Connectivism

An answer to the question "What is Connectivism?" Rather than going for a fixed definition within the framework of a learning theory, the author argues that connectivism is an emerging concept best understood by looking at how it connects to other ideas and theories. The central metaphor of the network is the unifying element of connectivism.

x28newblog.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/...my-take-on-connectivism - Preview

connectivism cck08 learning networks

Downes’ and Siemens’ discussions shed new light on fundamental concepts, such as rules versus patterns, complicated vs. complex, equivalence vs. similarity, and coping with ambiguity and uncertainty. And these consideration render many entrenched practices of the entire knowledge industry questionable.

All these aspects have one thing in common: that they can be illustrated by the neuronal metaphor, the metaphor of a network with nodes and connections, where

“Not all connections are of equal strength in this metaphor” (Wikipedia)
So, connectivism and its neuronal connections metaphor, allow to distinguish more clearly between two types of knowledge, one of which is the more adequate one for coping with complexity and uncertainty: connective knowledge.

07 Aug 08

What is the unique idea in Connectivism?

George Siemens on how connectivism differs from constructivism and other learning theories, starting from the point that "a new idea is often an old idea in today's context."

connectivism.ca/...is_the_unique_idea_in_con.html - Preview

connectivism learning networks constructivism context

Connectivism is the application of network principles to define both knowledge and the process of learning. Knowledge is defined as a particular pattern of relationships and learning is defined as the creation of new connections and patterns as well as the ability to maneuver around existing networks/patterns.

12 May 08

Top News - Online insight: Challenges beat cheerleading

Network analysis in online discussions in two classes shows, not surprisingly, that asking probing questions and challenging posts results in more learner engagement than simple "cheerleading" posts like "Great job!"

www.eschoolnews.com/...top-news - Preview

e-learning discussion networks education research teaching engagement

22 Apr 08

Building a collaborative workplace

Collaboration in the workplace doesn't need to just be the formal, structured, team-based approach. This whitepaper also described "community collaboration," where people focus on learning rather than tasks and "network collaboration," such as the loose networks formed through social media. Includes a checklist for how collaborative an organizational culture is.

www.anecdote.com.au/...CollaborativeWorkplace_v1s.pdf - Preview

collaboration organizations learning networks orgculture

19 Oct 07

Die, resume! Die! Die! Die! by The Bryper Blog

www.bryper.com/...die-resume-die-die-die - Preview

identity linkedin networks socialbookmarking socialnetworking web2.0

Proposes a "social media resume" to replace the traditional paper resume, especially for people working in social media. Includes a sample with multiple media--social bookmarking, LinkedIn profile, shared items from Google Reader, blog posts, podcasts, Flickr photos, etc.
- christyinsdesign on 2007-10-19

24 Aug 07

Connectivism Blog: Networks, Ecologies, and Curatorial Teaching

connectivism.ca/...rks_ecologies_and_curator.html - Preview

connectivism education networks

Siemens presents another way of looking at the role of the teacher/educational leader besides just the "sage on the stage/guide on the side" comparison: as a curator for learning. "A curator is an expert learner."
- christyinsdesign on 2007-08-24

Consider our happy little edublogger world. Some members have been blogging for a long time (notably Stephen Downes, Will Richardson, Jay Cross). Through their established networks, they can serve important roles of guiding and directing others to resources and concepts. Their experience enables them to put new developments into a historical context. They assist others to create networks...but they do more. They serve as curators of ideas, connections, philosophies, and world views. They create frameworks of interpreting and understanding history, new technologies, and trends through their work and public dialogue.

Christy Tucker's Library tagged networks → View Popular

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Top News - Online insight: Challenges beat cheerleading

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Die, resume! Die! Die! Die! by The Bryper Blog

Connectivism Blog: Networks, Ecologies, and Curatorial Teaching

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