I just had an opportunity to explore Stephen Siemen’s blog on connectivism. I was really impressed with the variety of categories that he has on his blog—there is so much learning opportunities here. Also, I noticed his slogan at the top of the page, “Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age.” After researching a little, I found some criteria for the theory of connectivism.

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

I am still a little rusty on the entire theory of connectivism; however, in this article I discovered the principles of connectivism. According to Stephen there are 8 principles that support this theory.

Stephen Siemen’s Principles of Connectivism

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

He also adds, “Connectivism also addresses the challenges that many corporations face in knowledge management activities. Knowledge that resides in a database needs to be connected with the right people in the right context in order to be classified as learning. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism do not attempt to address the challenges of organizational knowledge and transference.”