Philosophy of Technology

I totally agree that connectivism is replacing the old way of thinking and learning. “Is it is a good idea?” Well, that remains to be seen. With technology advancing as quickly as it is, I don’t know if we will ever be able to keep up. As educators we are already way behind. Something bigger and better is always replacing the “new” thing. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism theories apply to the intrinsic way of learning, while connectivism is more of an outward appearance of learning. Connectivism is how well people function and utilize tools. To me, it is more of an inquiry or discovery learning style for the students. Teachers are going to have to become more of an organizer, planner, and researcher to keep up with the new trends. We are going to have to find all the research and put it into one place for the students to easily locate, especially for smaller children. We are going to have to set the scene for learning in an entirely new way. Instead of lecturing or giving the information, we set it up for the students to find on the computer, and then they give us the output of what they discovered. As for job skills in other areas, it is more about work ethic and the willingness to find solutions to problems. Also, people are going to have to make connections to find what they need. No longer do you have to have all the “brains” you just have to be able to locate the “brains of the operation”. Technologically savvy people are going to have an advantage over book smarts. The connectivism era is going to connect people to a diversity of fields that they can be successful in.
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm