I started the course out of shear FOMS (Fear of Missing Something) that so many compulsive online students have. I am a Webhead and, when more and more Webheads started joining the course, my FOMS became acute. Once I hit the Join button, I started suffering from another fear I am familiar with – the Fear that I Won’t Be Good Enough (no abbreviations here). But what connectivism is all about, as far as I understand it, is joining, connecting to others and choosing (or letting your brain choose) what you will learn. As a teacher, I am aware that what I teach will be very different from what each individual student will write down and what they write down will be very different from what they will learn. But the end product will be the same – they will (hopefully) be able to speak English more or less fluently. So, no matter how they choose to travel – on foot, or by a racing car – they’ll eventually get there. But to be able to understand in more detail what it feels like to be on the road is really useful for the teacher. So, that’s one thing I am hoping to get from connectivism.
Secondly, it seems to me that connectivism offers tools for dealing with the information overload that we are suffering from nowadays. Because of new technology, the way we are learning has changed, whether we are willing to admit it or not.
Finally, there are the social networks themselves. The reason why I am such a big fan of new technology is that it enables us to form connections with other people that will no longer be based on geography, but on our true interests.
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