This assignment is the blogical response to a portion of the con-side of the Connectivism Wiki page.

To be honest, I’m not sure I have a have a firm opinion about connectivism as a learning theory yet. The arguments put forth by both sides make compelling reading. At this point, I’m willing to admit, “I don’t know”.

On one hand, I can see where Siemens is going as he places the changes in technology into modern context. I agree these changes need to be assessed as they alter the way we live, communicate, and (yes) learn.

On the other hand, I can understand the reservations of critics. Connectivism can be a way of looking at how we acquire new information, but does it explain how our brain processes and assigns meaning to information? I’m not sold it is a learning theory.

Would the description of connectivism as a pedagogical practice be diminishing? In my mind, no. Whether it is a learning theory or a curriculum model, is an argument for people who aren’t busy teaching students. I consider connectivism (as learning theory or curriculum model) to be a compelling argument for adding Web 2.0 tools and techniques into the classroom. At the end of the day, I want to use what I can to help my students grow and understand the world around them. Certainly, connectivism has given me some new ways to think about what is the best way to teach.

Steve Hargadon’s post Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education  is a “flat book” (I’m not certain Tom Friedman would approve of that term J) analysis of technological convergence for education. Hargadon’s post, by his own admission, is a “remixing” of the ideas of John Seely Brown and an article he wrote for  Educause Magazine, called “Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0″  The post is a mixture of Brown and Hargadon’s thoughts.

Hargadon identifies ten trends he views to be of particular importance in education and learning. I will list and briefly summarize them:

• 1. A New Publishing Revolution – People, not experts, are creating the new content of the web. Blogs, wikis, podcasting, video/photo-sharing, social networking are changing how and why content is created.
• 2. A Tidal Wave of Information – Fewer than 1% of wikipedia users actually contribute to it. Imagine if 10% or 20% contribute? We must figure out what information to give our time and attention to when we are engulfed by it.
• 3. Everything is Becoming Participative – Amazon’s customer use of feedback empowers and connects readers and the Kindle may ROCK the reading world.
• 4. The New Pro-sumers. The word “pro-sumer” is a combination of the words “producer” and “consumer”.
• 5. The Age of the Collaborator – The era of trusted authority is giving away to an era of transparent and collaborative scholarship
• 6. An Explosion of Innovation – The combination of increased ability to work on specialized topics from around the globe and the diversity of collaborators because of the web, should lead to an incredible amount of innovation.
• 7. The World Gets Even Flatter and Faster – Even if that world is spiky or wrinkled, its still getting pretty darn flat.
• 8. Social Learning Moves Toward Center Stage – Learning will depend on the ability of individuals to connect to social groups, because more learning happens in the study group than in the lecture hall.
• 9. The Long Trail – Technology of the web will make “differentiated instruction” a reality that both parents and students will demand.
• 10. Social Networking Really (Opens Up the Party) – If MySpace were a country, it would be the third most populous in the world. Social networking has tremendous potential for education.

I found the Hargadon post to be fascinating. He even goes on to give advice for educators who want to incorporate Web 2.0.

Prompting further thought was a comment on the post by James O’Hagan. O’Hagan sees obstacles to Hargadon’s going-to-change-the-world post. O’Hagan’s response reflected a “Yeah, but….” outlining the reluctance of institutional education to change. For O’Hagan, this change isn’t coming any time soon.

ISSUE: As we are in the process of learning the tools of Web 2.0, you can think of this in terms of your own practice: What are the obstacles you foresee in implementing these tools in your classroom? Does your work environment support change? How can you overcome these obstacles? You may choose to generalize your thoughts: What are the obstacles to innovation in institutional education? Will there be a change in education as a result of Web 2.0? Will it be an evolution or a revolution?