Facilitating Learning through Connections

How I learned has changed since I was a girl in primary school. I was born into family of educators. What I didn’t know I’d ask mother who was an educator. If she didn’t know, she’d ask her sister then on to her other sister or her mother. Information then was learned and supported by the “elders” and their grapevine approach.  Places like the library were almost the last stop.  When I entered undergrad, it was then that I found a new love for the library.  Thousands upon thousands of books, waiting for my fingers in structured time blocks.  But even this was short lived.  As my networks around me began to grow, so did the technology.  Thank goodness for our technological advances!

Being able to gather various resources for a single topic is very important to my learning experience.  Gathering additional information helps to solidify meaning.  The best way for me to access this information is thru the internet.  There are all types of presentations, perspectives, and so forth.  You can access professional journals, conferences, associations, and join in discussions. There is no need to leave your house.  Not even for the library….it’s online too!  This is a great option for me and my young children. Now I am able to access information that I want, when I want. 

With so much out there to learn, I am bound to have questions. Getting the answers to my questions is relatively easy.  I start by looking at my personal stash of books.  Then I begin searching on the internet via search engines…my favorite…GOOGLE.  Through these searches, they pull up a plethora of information.  If I still have questions, then I contact family or friends I think may have knowledge of the subject. Because many of my friends are out of the area, I send emails or contact them thru Facebook.  To take it further, I canvass my co-workers for their insight.

Looking at my mind map in retrospect, my network would support the central tenets of connectivism.  In my network, I use technology to transfer to (and/or from) information between my friends, family, co-workers, and myself.  I seek opinions from them using emails and social networks as well as using search engines, on-line libraries, and (now) blogs.  According to George Siemens resource video, connectivism is a learning theory that integrates technology, social networks, and information.  I think my network is a prime example of his theory.