You never know what you are going to get (with apologies to Forrest’s mom). Beyond Boundaries Day 2
Today I listened to one of the more interestinging conference presentations I have heard in a while. George Siemens (Red River College, Winnipeg, Manitoba) offered comments on content and connectionism (see his blog for related comments). There was a great deal of information in his comments and folks probably took away different messages from it.
Part of the presentation suggested connectionism be considered as the new learning theory. I enjoy contrasts among models of human learning and memory (as an educational psychologist), but issues of connectionism as distinct from cognitive or constructivist models to me seem matters of differences in the language interested parties use to discuss theoretical issues. My academic training focused on the cognitive perspective and I tend to continue to integrate ideas (metacognition, connections within LTM, categories of memory contents) within such models to explain new developments to myself.
What peaked my interest was his use of the concept of connections – connections among ideas, connections with people, and possibly connection to place. A course as an experience with content may no longer be enough. The message of the content may be transitory. Access to the content may not require the course. The value is likely to be in the processing of the content. The value is likely to be in the connections with people AND content. If courses and institutions are to flourish, perhaps the time duration of connections needs to be extended. Perhaps enrollment in a course/institution should include some long-term opportunities (even if such continuation involves a subscription) so that content, process, and people can continue to offer opportunities for connections.
