The language used in the Educational Standards for Technology is thrilling!
Groundbreaking conclusion: in order to get where we want to go, and keep up with where we are, we need a new definition of learning. It incorporates some of the traditional views as well, especially about social learning, but it kind of upends it all and puts it back together in an exiting new way.
The starting point of Connectivism is the individual, but it's not about individual learning or knowledge. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to the individual. A continual cycle.
No longer does one person need all the knowledge. If I need to know something, I can leverage my network and they will provide me the information. It's not a turf war on a global scale, like Michael Jackson sang about, it's an information pipeline on a global scale!
The pipe itself is now more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today.
Connectivism tells us that in order for learners to flourish in this digital era, it is most important that they know where to find information, how to filter it, and how to use it to benefit the wider network. Teachers are facilitators, and that sounds like music to my ears!
Nice metaphor! Reminds me of Pizza Pipeline. Now I'm hungry...but I digress. I really like that last paragraph. You say "Connectivism tells us that in order for learners to flourish in this digital era, it is most important that they know where to find information, how to filter it, and how to use it to benefit the wider network." There's so much information out there but often students don't know how to find it or what to do with it. Our job as teachers will be to help them navigate the vast network of information.
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