Connectivism Thoughts

I have recently begun the CCK09 course offered by George Siemens. The question of the week is as follows:

"Does Connectivism resonate with you? Why or why not? Are you learning through different methods than you did 5-10 years ago?"

Connectvisim really does resonate with me; probably because I love social media and have a deep interest in how students can learn from the resources that they have available to them. Teaching students how to "fish" for information is the one skill that should be emphasized over others, in my opinion, because it will allow the student to thrive in whatever setting they find themselves in. The art of learning should really be about the ways in which information can be applied and adapted to other situations...that is the concept behind things like general education curriculum.

The interesting thing for me is that 5-10 years ago, I was in middle school. From what I rememeber about the learning processes there it was very much rote memorization and an established set of standards that needed to be met. If it wasn't on the state-mandated test, we certainly were not going to spend valuable class time learning it. I was lucky enough to take part in a gifted and talented program that did emphasize, however, thinking critically and understanding how things were interconnected. I wish for my future children (and really for all children!) that they too will get to experience the stretching of their minds rather than the stretching of their time to learn state-mandated information. I think that the concept of connectivism will slowly creep into our classrooms and hopefully standards will move towards this critical thinking viewpoint.