Module 4 - AFinley's Network Connections (Connectivism)

Prior to 2001, a cell phone was a foreign object to me. I saw it as an elitist device (funny, I know). Additionally, the quickest way for me to gather information on a topic was a quick trip to the campus library. If I wanted to purchase a book, I had to drive for thirty minutes to the nearest bookstore in hopes that they had a copy. Today, almost everything I need to know is at my fingertips. If I am interested in a certain book, I can read a great portion of it online using Google books (which happens to be my favorite feature of Google). Throughout my enrollment in this graduate program, I continue to search for scholarly articles using EBSCOhost. Communication among group members (professional and academic) occurs mainly through email with collaborative projects conducted via Google Docs or wikispaces.

When I consider which digital tools best facilitate learning for me, I lean more towards any tool that does not require interaction to be synchronous. I prefer asynchronous tools such as email, discussion boards, wikis, and blogs because of the freedom given to each member of the learning community. Additionally, it provides for more meaningful interactions because members have more time for reflection prior to providing responses.

Through my connections, I am often able to acquire the necessary knowledge when I seek answers to my questions.

More information about connectivism:

http://www.connectivism.ca/

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm (article from class)

http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism/

Module 3 Blog Comments

I shared ideas on the following blogs for Module 3:


Jane's
http://janedewitt.blogspot.com/


Sharon's
http://sharon-mcdaniel.blogspot.com/

Module 3: Collaboration...Is there a need for it?

The belief that humans have a basic need for acceptance by themselves and others has been widely accepted since Maslow first presented it in 1943. Additional research has been added to his findings in recent years and continues to point towards the basic instinct of interaction. Look around and notice the number of people continuously connected to their smartphones checking emails, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. There is a constant flow of information (good and bad) in our society.

Constructivists believe there is strength in collaboration. Driscoll notes, “Hearing a variety of other perspectives helps learners to judge the quality of their own solutions and to learn perhaps more effective strategies for problem solving” (2005, p. 397). Technology is an effective source for collaboration needs because it is “transparent and easy to use” and it provides “unrestricted communication” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 17). We are fortunate to live in an environment where there is a plethora of technological devices to assist with facilitating effective collaboration. These include wikis, blogs, discussion boards, document sharing sites, emails, video conferencing, chatting, etc. I’m sure you can think of several more modes of collaboration.

For more information Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, go to:
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html

or watch this video with great visual representations of these needs:



Blogs of Interest
Bevarly, D. (2009). Maslow 2.0 – a new hierarchy of needs for collaboration. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.aheadofideas.com/?p=156
Deubel, D. (2010). A classroom’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/a-classrooms-hierarchy-of


Additional References
Driscoll, M. P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Pennington, D. D. (2008). Cross-disciplinary collaboration and learning. Ecology and Society, 13(2): 8. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art8/
Rheingold, H. (2005). Howard Rheingold: Way-new collaboration. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/howard_rheingold_on_collaboration.html