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November 3, 2008
Readings
This is a heavy assignment week, no readings are assigned. George and Stephen will, however, provide a short paper/recording on the subject to initiate discussion...
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):
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. Begin work on your final paper
3. Submit your second paper - Due November 10, 2008. You can post the paper on your site as a blog post or post in the Moodle Forum
Power in the Connections
Our last week focused on power and authority. The types of networks learners form will be influenced by the ecologies in which the learners exist. Tightly controlled environments may produce certain desirable results (i.e. predictable), but at the expense of innovation. And vice versa. Power to influence which types of networks form is an important discussion. Ailsa Axell: "ANT, and Foucault, and Connectivism all work inside of reality not existing 'out there' but being relational. Power is therefore not a given state of things, but is in the forces of action and inaction"
Moodle Forums,
,
November 3, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
Wasted Time - CCK08
Tom asks: "Now, what happens if a network is mistaken. Most students have a blind faith that what they are told is correct. For connectivism to function properly I believe this issue must be taken into consideration."
This is a central challenge for every educator. How do we get learners to think critically about information they encounter? More importantly, how do we ensure that we are thinking critically about information we encounter? If you've followed recent journal publications and conference themes, it would appear that web 2.0 is the salvation of education. But what are we basing that on? Or for those calling for an end to schooling, what model is being offered as a replacement? And, when models are offered, are they significantly well-conceived to serve all stakeholders (sorry Stephen!) in the education system?
Tom Whyte,
,
November 3, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
CCK08 Failing?
Ken Anderson asks if CCK08 is failing. He sites declining activity in moodle forums, blogs, and live session attendance. He asks: "What I wonder is, did 2000 original particpants leave the course or are some still involved? Does someone have a handle on this? What is the feeling about the success or failure of this course?"
I (George) stated right at the start that success for me was simply running the course. We have 24 enrolled learners. In a traditional course, that would be the only metric of success (i.e. what did those learners learn). We took a risk and opened up the course for a large group of participants. We had initial interest with 2300+ people sign up. Obviously not all were expected to be active participants - many were observing or simply following out of curiosity. The metric that Ken applies to this course is what we would expect with a usual course (participation, direct involvement, etc.). But many more opportunities exist - we found this coming out of our online connectivism conference last year: people visit the site and follow up with resources well after the course. The question is: can we deliver a large-scale open online course? The obvious answer is yes. The next question - and the hallmark of progress is building solid foundations on which to run the next series of experiments - is how we make it more effective in terms of learner support and engagement. In the end, however, success will be determined by each participant based on their own views and expectations.
Ken Anderson,
,
November 2, 2008 [Link] [Tags: none]
[Comment]
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
CCK08: Level One MindMap November 3, 2008
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Copyright 2008 Connectivism & Connective Knowledge
Contact: stephen@downes.ca
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