Three connections of connectivism

When I first heard the word "Connectivism" my first thought was - "easy - connect, like we connect to the internet." I was partially right, but it goes deeper than this. It does have to do with connecting to the internet, but it also has a lot to do with using the internet and other technologies to help people connect and form learning networks. When I asked The Google (my Dad says it, and I've picked it up, and it makes my students laugh so I'm keeping it) for a definition because I like definitions, it told me that "connectivism is a learning theory that explains how Internet technologies have created new opportunities for people to learn and share information across the World Wide Web and amongst themselves" (Siemens, Downes). Then I went to The YouTube and looked up a quick video on what it is so I could double check my understanding. If you're stuck at all, I highly recommend that you watch it, it cleared up the confusions that I had left.

Our world today has one of the biggest and best tools to ever be invented literally at almost everyone's fingertips.  As teachers, connectivism matters because it is an amazing tool and a resource for our students that we can and should teach them and encourage them to learn from and explore on. When I wanted to double check my definition of Connectivism, I could have gone to my notes that I took today, I could have reread the article, or I could have looked at our class notes. But instead, I chose to check Google and YouTube. I used it to accomplish a small, basic task. What happens, though, when we start encouraging out students to go beyond the small, basic tasks, and even beyond the tasks that connect them with a friend in the classroom? It's when we start encouraging our students to dig deeper into their own learning, and to create more and more branches in their learning networks that connectivism really begins to matter. When we do this, we connect on a deeper level - connect to the internet, connect to a learning network, connect to our learning.