The Daily
September 8, 2008
Week 1 - What Is Connectivism?
Sorry to resend the very first newsletter - we are correcting some link errors that occurred (as I said to George the other day, there will be technical glitches as we launch). The links in this version ought to work OK.
Welcome to the first week of Connectivism & Connective Knowledge. In this week we will ask the question, "What is Connectivism?"
Readings for This Week
Little Boxes, Glocalization and Networked Individualism (.pdf)
What is the Unique Idea in Connectivism?
What connectivism is
Learning Theory or Pastime of the Self-Amused? (.doc)
Bill Kerr - Critique of connectivism
Activities:
Mon: Recorded presentations and readings will be posted to the email list
Wed: Elluminate discussion 7 pm CST: See time zone conversions
Friday: Discussion via USTREAM 11 am CST: See time zone conversion
Assignments:
1. Post comments an reflections on week 1 readings on your blog, participate in discussions in the Moodle forum or provide comments to blog posts of other course participants.
2. Download CMAP (free) and begin tracking key thoughts or emerging ideas in visual form. You can use services like Mindmeister as well, though mind mapping tools lack the ability to demonstrate conceptual relationships.
Highlighted Resources
What Is Connectivism?
This is UStream video of my opening thoughts on Connectivism. It may be a bit jittery - it might not be possible to record UStream properly from my office. If you cannot view video or hear sound, don't worry - the content is very similar to my article, What Connectivism Is.
Stephen Downes,
UStream,
September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
Your Options
Registered in the course? Then you can add your name and other information by visitng your Options page on the Daily website. This information won't be transferred anywhere else - you will need to enter it separately in Moodle, or Second Life, or whatever (this illustrates a technical issue for Connectivist courses - single sign-on across multiple domains).
Stephen Downes,
CCK08,
September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
[CCK08] First Impressions
Wondering what the course looks like as a whole? This map was created by Matthias Melcher showing the component parts of the course. This is a typical structure for a Connectivist course: it is a web of inter-related resources that students can choose from as they please. Contrast this to the structure of the more traditional course. A PowerPoint version of the map is available if you want to add to it as the course continues.
Matthias Melcher,
x28's new Blog,
September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
Comparing Connectivism
For some reason, the strongest resistance that I've encountered to connectivism is not that it's wrong in any functional way. Instead, the most common concern is that "it's not a theory" or "other theories already address this". I've tried to highlight theoretical distinctions between major theories of learning in this short piece. I think some level of theory must be considered in our discussions of network learning. Theory informs and gives rise to practice (even legitimates it). Practice in term evaluates and extends theory. Of course, the next conversation, and one that we can have in the moodle forum or on participant blogs this week, is how does connectivism differ from constructivism...
George Siemens,
,
September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
Week 1: What Is Connectivism
Welcome to the start of CCK08. I've posted a short presentation on the connectivism blog: What is Connectivism.
The first few weeks will be more than a bit interesting as we each individually (and collectively) create narratives of coherence. The start of any new experience (course or otherwise) is likely best seen as falling under the banner of Darken's notion of wayfinding. With wayfinding, we begin to devise strategies for making sense of new environments. It's natural. It's a bit disorienting. And that's why Stephen and I are sending out The Daily: we hope to provide a bit of a center point to the distributed discussion. As the course moves forward, you'll find your own approaches to centering the discussion. The Daily is a scaffolding device of sorts - one stage of wayfinding. We'll introduce additional tools and processes over the next 12 weeks.
George Siemens,
,
September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
Contributions
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