3b Connectivism

Connectivism

I was thinking through my current professional networks and realised how much I am dependant on the Internet to connect to people. The development of Web 2.0 technologies has increased the number of ways that people can now connect. This brought me to the theory presented in The Networked Professional Reader of Connectivism. Connectivism is "a learning theory for the digital age", developed by George Siemens and Steven Downes. It is the idea that learning happens by connecting relevant nodes or information sources together and therefore we can improve our learning by tapping into an existing network. It questions the traditional form of learning through teacher and textbook effectively a two-way process arguing that learning can happen in a number of different ways through online communities, email, conversations, blogging, web searching etc.

Steven Downes explains connectivism as when "knowledge literally is distributed across connections. It is whatever is created when information is sent from one connection, one entity to another entity"   (Steven Downes, What is connectivism?, UStream, 2008)

Studying for the BAPP degree, we are not learning through text books and rarely attend lectures/face to face classes. We are students of connectivism. We are learning through the use of tools such as blogs, wikis, YouTube etc but the real value is the connections that we have all made with each other. Unlike studying at secondary school or even Elmhurst, this course is making me take control over my own learning. The way in which we are currently learning has made us networked students.

Nodes

Before looking into the ways I connect, I thought it was important to look further into the idea of nodes. Nodes came up in the last campus session, which I and I think a few others were not too familiar with. Google defines nodes as "a connecting point at which several lines come together" (Google definitions). When we discussed the group with the Tube Map metaphor we talked about how traffic can travel between nodes so that they can connect. Some might be super highways and some rarely travelled paths. Therefore a node may exist even if it is not that well connected or 'travelled'. But we can also create more nodes for example such as meeting new people. Thoughts, feelings, new people or new data can be seen as nodes, which all come together to create a network. Networks can also join together and become nodes in themselves.

On first looking at my current networks it seemed pretty simple in concept. However there are many factors that affect the way in which we use and connect with our networks such as our emotions and experiences. Some nodes I have are constantly changing on a daily basis such as facebook and casting websites and some are static that I do not use very often. Certain nodes are rarely travelled but might be a node of importance for example my agent. Then there are some nodes that can be seen as a super highway that I constantly use such as my best friend who is also a dancer, but the information I gain is not always relevant in my professional practice.

Connecting though is the key to making networks. In order to connect we have to be willing to form relationships, but it doenst just stop there. Once an initial connection is made the frequency in which we use that node determines how strong that connection will be. A node such as Facebook has grown in popularity as people use it so often plus it contains many nodes itself- photos uploads, instant chat, games, video, links etc. Facebook's popularity has turned us into social networking addicts. They even have a figure of the amount of time it takes the average user to become hooked. This Youtube video that shows just how big social networking has become:

How big is social networking?

A topic that also came up at the last campus session was how experience plays a huge part in networking. We spoke about how a graduate comes out with all this knowledge but not necessarily the connections to make things happen. I only started making strong nodes once I took my first contract. Here I met entertainers that had been in the business for years that I looked up to and learnt so much from. Having this initial experience helped me to start to develop my own professional network. Now further along in my career I have helped many friends through the connections I have made.

So far in my career there has only been one time when I have used someone I know to assist in gaining a contract. I feel that my professional network is quite big, but not very valuable. I know a lot of people but I haven't necessarily kept the type of relationship with some of them to where I feel I could ask for help with say getting work. I think it is very important in any line of work to keep up-to-date and connected with people and the use of Web 2.0 technologies definitely aids in this.