I Connect to Learn and Learn to Connect

I have a learning network; if you do not live totally isolated you have a learning network, we all do. Though I never gave it much thought until this week, people who surround me (physically or digitally), groups I join, sources I read, institutions I belong to and my friends, they are all part of my learning network. Because of my network I not only have adapted the way I learn, but I re-learn a lot of things with a different perspective. This in turn makes me a constant learner.

My network involves people from all sorts of venues. Having many family members in the teaching profession makes interesting family gatherings as I share their profession. Reaching out to find information is faster than ever because of having the internet in my network. My Homeschool and unschool part of the network has been not only a learning source but a support group as well. Furthermore, within this last network, there are people from all sorts of background including many of them being in the teaching profession as well and at different levels of the educational system. Additionally, there are homeschooling parents who are by profession accountants, painters, photographers, nurses, administrators, carpenters, mechanics and more. The main thing we have in common is that we are homeschooling our children, but there is no degree to do that. So, as Wegner, E. states on his presentation on Digital Habitats and Community Practice “…to really learn something, we have to really engage and become part of the community in which that something is practiced”. Technology provides for easier grouping of these communities, especially with the reality that members join from all over the world.

I often say that I feel “disconnected from the world” when my blackberry runs out of battery. It is true. Through my blackberry I am constantly connected, by receiving emails, chat messages and being able to read the latest world news. This does not mean that I am 100% of the time looking at my blackberry, though knowing that I have access to it whenever I want gives me piece of mind. My blackberry phone is one of the digital tools which facilitate my learning, it is fast and easy to use for accessing the information I want.

My pc and notebook are the other tools I use to connect and learn. Within my pc such programs as Microsoft office, spreadsheets, Photoshop, blogs, email, YouTube videos, Google and Yahoo groups all facilitate my learning. Additionally, when I have a question I search for the answers within the source which will give me answers the fastest. I realize there might be different answers to the same question. Depending on the question, I search for the answer with the source I believe would have knowledge about it and the most up-to-date answer. Learning takes place within communities whether they are digital or not.

Following Vygotsky’s teachings Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009) wrote that “The way that learners interact with their worlds transforms their thinking”. Information is gathered and shared throughout my network. Every time I read or hear something new, I can make the decision to learn it or not, modify my already learned information based on that information, or simply not make any further connection and disregard the information. As found in Concepts of Communication in CSCL  based on principles of Vygotsky (1930/1978), “knowledge was seen to be generally constructed socially in interactions among people before it was internalized as individual knowing”.

Communication within these communities which belong to my network is crucial to continue being part of it. Davis, C, Edmunds, E, & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008), recognize the need to “nurture and maintain connections to facilitate continual learning”. Additionally, as I continue to learn from others I continue to increase my learning network. This is how I connect to learn and learn to connect. All these interactions within my learning network are part of connectivism.
Downes, S. Connectivism: A Theory of Personal Learning http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/connectivism-a-theory-of-personal-learning

Etienne Wenger, during presentation on Digital Habitats and Community Practice http://mediasite.ics.uwex.edu/mediasite5/Viewer/?peid=08fd5f11580c476ab1da01afe92a7aaa

Davis, C, Edmunds, E, & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson. (pp.191)

http://www.connectivism.ca/about.html