Monday, September 28, 2009

Connectivism and related concepts

I have been struggling with keeping up with the connectivism course and defining the concepts and determining how they apply to learning. I feel somewhat successful with seeing the connection between social learning theory, systems learning theory, and connectivism

Social Learning is defined as follows:

Social learning theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling. (retrieved from http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/Social.html)

Social Learning Theory posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. (retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html)

Systems learning theory (team learning)

Systems learning theory: from Senge's concept of "team learning." Team learning in this context focuses instead on the transmission of both tacit and explicit knowledge throughout the group as well as the creation of an environment in which focused creativity can flourish. Three aspects of team learning were identified as follows: "the ability to think insight fully about complex issues, the ability to take innovative, coordinated action, the ability to create a network that will allow other teams to take action."

Other applicable theories/concepts:


Cybernetics is the theory of communication and control based on regulatory feedback. Further definitions include: "a science concerned with the study of systems of any nature which are capable of receiving, storing, and processing information so as to use it for control"-A.N. Kolmogorov

"Cybernetique= the art of growing"--A.M. Ampere

In the book Communities of Play the author Celia Peace identified communities of play in the context of communities of practice. Communities of practice can be defined as: Community of Practice (CoP) is the process of social learning that occurs and the shared sociocultural practices that emerge and evolve when people who have common goals interact as they strive towards those goals. (retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_practice). And as follows: community of practice defines itself along three dimensions:

  • What it is about – its joint enterprise as understood and continually renegotiated by its members
  • How it functions mutual engagement that bind members together into a social entity
  • What capability it has produced – the shared repertoire of communal resources (routines, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, styles, etc.) that members have developed over time.

Pearce used the following definition for community of practice as "a group of individuals who engage in a process of collective learning and maintain a common identity defined by a shared domain of interest or activity." Furthermore the definition of community is offered as an association of individuals with a collective will that is enacted through individual effort.

What does it mean to learn? How long has it been since you have looked at the definition: Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information.

Another related concept is that of autopoetic systems which are 'structurally coupled' with their medium, embedded in a dynamic of changes that can be recalled as sensory-motor coupling. This continuous dynamic is considered as at least a rudimentary form of knowledge or cognition and can be observed throughout life-forms.

Finally the concept of "participative pedagogy," as defined by Rheingold is that "we must develop a participative pedagogy, that focuses on catalyzing, inspiring, nourishing, facilitating and guiding literacies essential to individual and collective life in the 21st century.

Ultimately connectivitism ties all of the above together, fundamentally connectivism is the acquisition and distribution on knowledge across a network of connections. George Siemens asserts that learning is primarily social while Stephen Downes that learning can occur without a society. Further observations identify learning as an immersion into one's community, that learning is social. Connectivism takes the above concepts and theories one step further and recognizes how the underlying technology facilities or provides a platform for the creation of a personal learning network.
















Monday, September 21, 2009

18 Free Online Art Education Resources

18 Free Online Art Education Resources

If you would love to explore your creative side by learning more about art, art history, drawing, painting, graphic design, or visual or performing arts but think you're limited by time and/or financial constraints, check out these 18 free online art education resources:

Art History

1. Introduction to Art History (University of Utah): focuses on how art has developed through history and various cultures.
2. About University Art History Courses: chronological descriptions of important periods in art history.
3. Art History Now & Then: links useful for learning art history in traditional and modern ways.
4. Free Online Art History Textbook: a great alternative to those huge, overwhelming college art history textbooks.
5. University of Wisconsin Resource List: geared toward college and graduate students, this is an impressive collection of some of the best art history resources on the Internet.

Drawing and Painting

6. Arty Factory Drawing, Painting, and Designing Lessons: free, illustrated art lessons.
7. Draw Space Drawing Lessons: beginner, intermediate, and advanced lessons, including specific subjects like perspective, caricatures, animals, and faces.
8. About University Email Painting Courses: courses arrive right to your inbox and you can do them whenever you like!
9. Interactive Art School Oil Painting Mini Courses: 12 mini-lessons to get you started with basic techniques.
10. Larry's Art Watercolor Lessons: free lessons include those on color, perspective, masking fluid, and painting fish scales.

General Art

11. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Art of Color: an exploration of the use of color in visual arts.
12. Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Philosophy of Film: a philosophical analysis of film art, including the advent of film technology and aesthetic problems of appearance and reality.
13. Minnesota State University - Philosophy of the Arts: examines the history of aesthetics.

Graphic Design

14. About.com Free Desktop Publishing Courses: list of free resources to learn desktop publishing from designing cards to creating newsletters.
15. Adobe Free Adobe Training Courses: try out Adobe products (like Photoshop) and get free training too.

Visual and Performing Arts

16. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Advanced Projects in the Visual Arts: Personal Narrative: investigates the use of personal narrative in cinema (as follow up to Introduction to Video)
17. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Theatre Arts Course: features materials and an image gallery detailing pre-rehearsal preparation through the final production of the Internationalist.
18. Tufts University Producing Films for Social Change: readings and discussions dealing with news, media ethics, the declining credibility of the press, responsibilities to the public, social justice issues, First Amendment principles, and more.

Also note that if you already have a bachelor's degree in any subject and are interested in pursuing graduate work in art or art history, some of the above-mentioned schools may also offer full online master degree programs as well.

Guest post by freelance writer Michelle Fabio, who has previously shared 10 Free Online Photography Courses, Tutorials, and Seminars here at the blog.



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Friday, September 18, 2009

Systems Theory and Connectivism ..is there a link?

As I listened to George Siemens and Stephen Downes discuss how they defined Connectivism, as a learning theory within their respective frames of reference, I started to consider how I would define it, what my frame of reference would be, even though some time and a lot of other things have occurred since my dissertation research I would say it would have to be systems theory. For those of you who are not familiar with systems theory it is: an interdisciplinary theory about the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science. More specifically, it is a framework by which one can investigate and/or describe any group of objects that work in concert to produce some result. (retrieve from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory, 9/18/09) In essence, it is based upon the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts...it got me to thinking about how connectivism which is defined as: the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those network, by Stepen Downes in his blog; Half an Hour. (retrieved 9/18/09) Further definitions of connectivism include the following; "a learning theory for the digital age," has been developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes based on their analysis of the limitations of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism to explain the effect technology has had on how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn...(retrieved from Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory. )

Systems learning theory includes Senge's five disciplines which are: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning.

Personal Mastery: Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs....People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’. (Senge, 1990)


Mental Models: Deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures and images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action... turning the mirror inward; learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. (Senge, 1990) Includes self-reflection, sharing with others, "mashing up," and knowledge creation


Building a shared vision: a shared vision is "something that inspires people and gets them to pull together for cooperative action. People really get energized by what their group is trying to accomplish...." (retrieved from http://www.healthyworkclimate.com/htm/Vision/sharedvisiondef.htm, 9/19/09)


Team learning: the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to credit the results as its members design---allows for rapid growth among team members or rapid learning---the use of technology allows for unique opportunities for teams to come together and practice the concepts of the five disciplines.


Systems theory is merely the frame of reference in which I place connectivism to better understand how the concept can be applied to learning. I can apply the discipline of personal mastery to connectivisim because it makes sense that in order for the individual to contribute to their network he or she first has to be an active learner, open to external opportunities to learn and continuously learn. From this putting aside any biases or barriers in order to better learn from others is necessary in accepting the critical elements associated with being open to the ideas of others in one's network. In this way one builds a "connections," develops a connectivism learning mindset, and contributes to team learning.