Connectivism & Connective Knowledge

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The Daily

October 27, 2008

Week 8: Power, Control, Validity, and Authority in Distributed Environments (October 27-November 2)

Readings

The Fifth Estate - Through the Network (of Networks) .pdf

Network Logic: Who governs in an interconnected world? (.pdf) (this is a long paper/book. Skim sections that you find to be of interest).


Activities:

Mon: Recorded presentations and readings will be posted to the email list

Wed: Two Elluminate discussions (both sessions can be accessed via this link): 11 am CST: See time zone conversions7 pm CST: See time zone conversions. Alec Couros will be presenting during both times, followed by informal conversation.

Friday: Discussion via USTREAM 11 am CST: See time zone conversion


Assignments:

1. Continue regular weekly activities - blogging, developing your concept map, and follow the distributed conversation through various sites (pageflakes, delicious, Google Alerts).

2. Post your updated concept map on your blog.

3. Continue to work on your final presentation.

Highlighted Resources

Connectivism Recordings
A number of you have been looking or a page that contains all the recordings from the CCK08 course. Here is is - up to and including last Friday's conversation. Various Authors, CCK08, October 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Tensions-- Opening Firewalls to More Connected Designs CCK08
I like the way this writer brings in the discussion of other people in the course as he examines the tensions between connectivist ideas and existing practice. "Those rules in the districts in which I worked were stringent, imposed not by educators but technicians interested in security, not learning. And they prevented, and continue to prevent, learners from making important connections with content, with people, with ideas, with networks, with the world." Lani, Possibilities Abound--, October 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Course Recordings
A course participant from last week asked about the locations of archived conversations. We a have now added the link to the main course page (one of the tabs just underneath the title). , , October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Instructional Design in a Connected World
Geoff Cain takes issue with how instructional design was explored in CCK08 last week: "In reading discussions and listening to George Siemens and Stephen Downes speak in our class, Connectivism and Connected Knowledge, I have heard and read a lot of narrow and overly simplistic definitions of instructional design. Much of what has been said characterizes instructional design as mechanistic, linear, and formulaic...Good instructional designers keep up on the latest learning theories, teaching methods, and instructional technology. We do this not to tell a teacher how to teach, but to help instructors solve problems." In my opinion, learning design (not the technical specification version) is a preferable term to instructional design. Our discussion this past week on wayfinding, sensemaking, and patterning are at the heart of the shift I (George) see in education. The grand narratives are gone. People make sense personally. We navigate complex and chaotic information spaces personally, not under the umbrella of some one else's design. Is this the case in every field? No. Some fields are much more stable and are not subject to continual changes. Geoff argues for a more balanced view of ID than what he has seen in this course. I agree with him. But, when we do adopt the view he suggests toward the end of his post, we are not really talking about instructional design the way most people understand it. Geoff Cain, , October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Being There and Suddenly Very Lonely
Ever have the feeling of being very alone in a large crowd? Perhaps the barrier is an emotional state. Or language. Or just a sense of "not being connected" to others. Or, as Sia puts it: "It was of not any importance that I was there, I felt not seen and not heard, I had nothing to say. It was to difficult to read the chat and listen to the session-leaders at the same time. I had the feeling that all other participants knew each other very good and for a long time (know it's not so, but I felt that way!)...I just came to the conclusion that it maybe to difficult to be busy with connected learning when you don't have the possibility to share what you think, what you made, what you are doing." We haven't spent much time talking about the emotional preconditions to forming connections. They certainly can't be overstated. Our emotional state influences our desire and capacity for learning. We can't cover every nuance of connectivism in a 12 week course. So for now, I'll just note this important element with a desire of returning to it in the future. Sia Vogel, , October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Teaching the Second Little Pig - Rhizomatic Knowledge, MOOCs and Other Open Things
Dave draws interesting connections between the three little pigs and MOOCs: "Our second little pig is a bit less industrious (so the story implies) than the third little pig. He goes far enough to build his house out of sticks, but it isn't solid enough to stand up to the rigours of a blowing wolf in the old story (or the rain dripping through the roof in my mom's version. The house is built too quickly without the rigour of the third little pig. I'm not so sure. I see the second little pig as a little more balanced than the other two. He assesses the different options, takes his best guess at what will hold up verses what it's going to cost… The only problem is, he doesn't have the skillset necessary to turn his quick build into the thing that it needs to be." I'm glad he didn't bring lipstick into the conversation :). Dave Cormier, , October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Week 8 Moodle Forum
Moodle forum for week 8 has now been set up. Feel free to add your own topic/themes of interest... , , October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Cck08 Being There and Suddenly Very Lonely
What I really like about this post is the way a large number of people were there to comment to the writer. Some people have commented to me (Stephen) this week that there is a community developing in the course. This is an example. I think people have different needs when it comes to combining learning and community, and this might be part of what underlies Ed Webb's observation, "that different technologies and different interaction styles work VERY differently for different people." That's something we all need to keep in mind. Sia Vogel, World Wide Wiser, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

CCK08: On Writing Posts for Italian Students in English
Some interesting overlap between the CCK08 course and some student work in Italy, a fascinating mix that makes something more out of what we are creating here. Andreas Formiconi, Insegnare Apprendere Mutare, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Open Assessment (of My Own Paper #1)
This is living the spirit of connectivism. Lisa Lane's paper is assessed by george - and she posts the comment he leaves and responds to the questions he poses. Perfect. Lisa M. Lane, Lisa's CCK08 Wordpress Blog, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

CCK08: Two Conversations with Gen Millennium, and Some Questions On Learning and Knowledge Failures
It used to be, the young learned from the old. But communications between the generations has been severed, says Dave Pollard. "How much of what senior people know will never be learned by younger workers, simply because the networks of trust necessary for valuable conversations will not have been forged (and given that Gen Millennium workers are expected to change jobs on average every four years, might never be forged)?" Of course, from my point of view, because the rest of my generation is writing themselves out of the script, I have a disproportionate influence over the young. Heh. Dave Pollard, How To Save The World, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

CCK08: Wayfinding On Mount Manadnock
This post on 'wayfinding' poses (to me at least) the interesting question of whether instructional design is needed at all. "Do you pick your path carefully, as I did, or do you blast your way through, as did my 14-year old son? ... At one point I asked him, how are you deciding what path to take?" He breezily said, 'Oh, I'm deciding as I go.'" Robin Heyden, Stepping Stones, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

The Learning Design Style of Jesus
Did Jesus have a distinctive model of instructiknal design? He after all "told his followers to teach others, to connect to others, and share what they knew and experienced of and with Him. The word 'teach' here is 'didasko' in the Greek. 'Didasko' is where we get the word 'didactic' from, but the real meaning of the Greek is much more than spitting out digested information for fledglings to swallow. There is even the implication of still learning as you share. Arielion, Arieliondotcom the LORD-loving Learning Lion, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

CCK08 - Week 7 -Instructional Desing. Which Is the Design of Our Self Teaching Strategy?
Jcrom depicts connectivism as the way we learn after we finish school. "When we finish our formal education, we continue to learn defining self teaching strategies. What is the design behind this strategy? The answer is connectivism. When the curricula, administrative and assessment process is gone, there it is the connections we make at the conceptual and social level." jcrom, Jcrom's Weblog, October 26, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Contributions

Here's what course members from around the world had to say. Want to join the conversation? Login and submit your feed. Then put this at the beginning of your post: CCK08

My comments to paper 1 feedback October 27, 2008
CCK08 - Network Based and Network Led Training October 26, 2008
Ongoing costs and eLearning…Total Cost of Ownership/Learning October 26, 2008
Instructional Design in differents Designs October 26, 2008
Blogging in the class: Practicals models with connectivist inspiration October 26, 2008
CCK08 - Connectivism at work October 26, 2008
Design. Following my heart. October 26, 2008
CCK08 – Week 7 – Instructional desing. Which is the design of our self teaching strategy? October 26, 2008
Cynefin framework October 25, 2008
CCK08 - Connectivism Impacts October 25, 2008
Clash of Learning Designs & the Protestant Reformation October 25, 2008
The Learning Design Style of JESUS October 25, 2008
cck08 Being there and suddenly very lonely October 25, 2008
CCK08: On writing posts for italian students in english October 25, 2008
Connectivism - Some reflections October 24, 2008
Science Fiction October 24, 2008
what is knowledge; then what is learning; then what might be the shape of teaching CCK08 October 24, 2008
CCK08 - Week7- New Schemas for Mapping Pedagogies and Technologies October 24, 2008
CCK08 Week 6-7: Complexity, Connection and Learning October 24, 2008
A Blog Story October 24, 2008
CCK08 - Week5- Complexity, Chaos and Randomness October 24, 2008
Lezione in piazza? October 24, 2008

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Copyright 2008 Connectivism & Connective Knowledge
Contact: stephen@downes.ca

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