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George Siemens response

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posted Thursday, 5 June 2008
While listening to the quite lengthy presentation on web 2.0 and connectivism, I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points that George was making.   I especially liked his point about networks and how you can’t really understand a problem from only one node, or at least acknowledging that you can’t fully grasp a problem from only one node.  For me this really hit home.  In my own life, I tend to think I understand more then I actually do until I view the same issue from another perspective.  Without a network of friends to discuss that issue with, the other perspective would not even be accessible to me.   I also thought his points on the accretion model, which leaves room for multiple options for learning, as well as, says that the learning process requires interaction between the facilitator and learner by using a multitude of other sources is exactly the type of teaching that i am attempting to accomplish.  Not only does it allow the students to learn more and be more involved in the process but it also allows for the connections through many different mediums for information, and the students thrive because of this.   I found the concept of a living in a vacuum, although fairly sad, extremely true.  I catch myself tuning out information that I have to process all the time; it is just much easier to stick to what you know and what you yourself believe. Once again, it's pretty sad. I can't stress enough how much I love the idea of teaching through connectivity rather than only content.  His example of introducing a student to a writer’s blog instead of using textbooks is brilliant.  I wish that i could have been taught that way when I was in school. Overall, the presentation was quite good (a little long) but I enjoyed listening to his ideas and concepts about web 2.0. 


comments (4)


1. John left...
Thursday, 5 June 2008 3:41 am :: http://www.yourcheaptravels.com

ucla rocks, good read


2. Terry Smith left...
Thursday, 5 June 2008 3:18 pm

Peter, What is your reaction to Sieman's point about content perhaps taking a back seat to networking? Some controversy arises here with Siemens. What does he mean by new knowledge emerging? Siemens present his ideas as a "learning theory." Would you agree or disagree that it is actually a theory? Another aspect of Siemen's idea that teachers sometime have a hard time accepting is the idea of being consistent - they might say how odes real learning take place (or maybe target learning toward the test) when the focus is on the networking aspect?


3. peter2964 left...
Tuesday, 10 June 2008 3:25 am

Personally I think both are important, if there is a good mixture of both i think a great amount of learning can take place. My understanding of new knowledge is being able to access information that was not accessible prior. Siemens present his ideas as a "learning theory." I agree that is a theory however until there is more research done on the topic I'm not sure that it is a respected theory by our peers. Another aspect of Siemen's idea that teachers sometime have a hard time accepting is the idea of being consistent - I think the idea of staying consistent is a difficult one to accomplish, although I assume that is is possible to do I am unsure of how I would approach this situation.


4. jackrich25 left...
Thursday, 12 June 2008 12:13 am

Peter,

Call me old fashioned but I know if I ready to have child write a blog as opposed to using text books. However, I do not want to live in a vacuum, and value social networks and being able to hear other people’s opinions about the issues. I love dialog as long as it not used to oppress and dehumanize others (I am way out there) . But following the model that person would not be in your social network anyway. I liked Mr. Siemens presentation. It gave me a lot to think about and many things to weight against my values.