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George Siemens advances a theory of learning that takes into account trends in learning, the use of technology and networks, and the diminishing half-life of knowledge. It combines relevant elements of many learning theories, social structures, and technology to create a powerful theoretical construct for learning in the digital age.

Connectivism, "a learning theory for the digital age," has been developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes based on their analysis of the limitations of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism to explain the effect technology has had on how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn.

Maintaining that learning theories should be reflective of underlying social environments, Siemens (2004) describes the limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism (and the epistemological traditions which underpin them - objectivism, pragmatism and interpetivism - and their representations of what is reality and knowledge) to introduce connectivism as 'a learning theory for the digital age.'

Siemens provides an overview of networks and outlines the implications for Connectivism.

Siemens' thoughts about the impact of open courses on learning and the Academy.

The Networked Student was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during fall 2008. It depicts an actual project completed by Wendy Drexler's high school students. The Networked Student concept map was inspired by Alec Couros' Networked Teacher.

As I begin a class on a learning theory referred to as Connectivism, I consider how greatly our collective abilities to access to information have transformed in recent years, while our teaching methods in the university environment have barely changed at all. I ponder how much more advanced our abilities are to locate and share information, while our educational methods in the university setting have barely progressed beyond the overhead projector.

a critical question: what is the unique idea in connectivism?

In a traditional course, the educator hacks the trails to complex information landscapes. The educator's bias influences what is included and excluded. What we're talking about here is the ability for each learner to create their own narrative of coherence.

Knowledge today is complex, ever changing, and information is overabundant. Knowledge no longer resides in a place, in a brain, in one person or a cadre of experts - it is in the connections we make, our networks of learning.

Given that coherence and lucidity are key to understanding our world, how do educators teach in networks? For educators, control is being replaced with influence. Instead of controlling a classroom, a teacher now influences or shapes a network.

Link provided in back chat on PLNs - explains teacher's role of providing a narrative of cohesion on a particular topic.

Explores 2 questions about connectivism.

Blog by Lindsay Jordan

So what distinguishes a connectivist perspective from social constructivism? The difference is fairly subtle. As far as I can see, connectivism resonates with similar principles as social constructivism does, but acknowledges a greater degree of complexity in the nature of knowledge and learning, enabled by advances in technology.

I thought this was a really good article and explained things well.

"Social lock-in - where we are reluctant to move to new social networks because all of our friends/colleagues are part of our current social network service. When Twitter was experiencing downtime issues a few years ago, some individuals moved to Plurk, Identi.ca, or other services. But, in the end, the social lock-in of Twitter was sufficient to pull many back. We're experiencing this to some degree in our work/research building a social learning network at Athabasca University - The Landing. If learners have a developed online identity and use proprietary services like Facebook and Twitter, what's the motivation to create a separate social network within a learning context? Connective lock-in - where we have lost control of our ability to define and shape connections because the proprietary connection tools ((Like, Facebook Connect, Twitter) are so ubiquitous and services (Delicious, EverNote, DropBox) are so easy to use."