The outline of this presentation on Connectivism presented at the Teaching and Learning Research Series at the University of Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa addresses the following questions: What is it? Why is it? How is it? and Whose is it?

1. Connectivism
• Dick Ng’ambi
• Centre for educational technology
• University of Cape Town
Presented at the UWC Teaching & Learning seminar
series: theories and approaches to T&L on 22nd
August, 2012

2. Outline
• What is it?
• How is it?
• Why is it?
• Whom is it?

3. Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/kanter/258877/quora-yet-another-social-network-yasn-or-something-different

4. Education trajectory Authentic human
connections &
Interact with web collaboration
& other online
Internet, a Education 4.0
users
place to go for
instant access
to information Education 3.0 Education 3.0
Education 2.0 Education 2.0 Education 2.0
Traditional
Education 1.0 Education 1.0 Education 1.0 Education 1.0

5. Crowdsourcing
Image Source: http://www.greenbookblog.org/2010/11/05/crowdsourcing%E2%80%A6counterintuitive/
• Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for
solutions

6. Image source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade+uk/london-riots

9. Wisdom of Crowds
Image source: http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Employees/Diversity/Diversity_in_Action/fitzgerald.html

10. Source: http://socialnetworksales.net/

14. Complex network (twitter
follower-graph)
Source: http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs/afe/lws/forschung/research/view?set_language=en

15. Why is it?
Facilitating continual learning
is a process of nurturing &
maintaining connections
Learning =
process of connecting
specialised nodes or info
sources
Ability to see connections
between fields, ideas and
concepts is a core skill
Capacity to know more is
more critical than what is
currently known
Connectivism

17. Learning, how?
• Learning is the creation and
removal of
connections between the
entities, or the adjustment of the strengths
of those connections. A learning theory is,
literally, a theory describing how
Source: Stephen Downes (2012) ebook on Connectivism and Connective Knowledge: Essays on meaning and learning networks

18. • Learning is a
connection-making
process
George Siemens, 2012: Available at: http://www.connectivism.ca/

19. Theory, what?
Verhagen (2006; as cited in Veletsianos,
2010),
“…connectivism is more a theory
of curriculum (specifying what the
goal of education should be and the way
students should learn in that
curriculum) than a theory of
learning” (p. 35).

20. Learner-driven, what?
• Anderson (2008), it helps people to
understand that learning is about
making connections with ideas,
facts, people, and communities.
• Marcum (2006), it goes beyond behaviorism, cognitivism,
constructivism, and learner-centered approaches to a
learner-driven approach.

23. Danny Goodwin, May 25, 2011

24. Source: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/programs/html/facilities/us.archives.html

28. Source: http://www.activemedia.com/services/internet-marketing-services/mobile-phone-marketing-services

29. Connections for what?
• Connectivism could be explained as a
learning theory that
encourages students to use
their connections to
further their learning in a field of
study that is interesting to them.
Source: http://mrbrenlea.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/connectivism/

30. Challenges
• that people,
Connectivism assumes
information, and knowledge do
not function autonomously, but are
individually connected by webs of context, culture, and pre-connection
to others (Terry & Terry, 2010)
• learners and learning
Both the
networks exist all at the same
time. Did learners or learning networks come first?

31. Connectivism as a learning
theory

36. Questions & Discussion
Contact details:
Dick Ng’ambi, PhD.
dick.ngambi@uct.ac.za