Considering Instructivism, Constructivism and Connectivism, I found myself reflecting on what type of teacher I am in the classroom, online, and also how I want to be in the future.
In my experience, in classes that are more challenging with students who are more experienced, constructivism is my tool of choice. I love this idea of connectivism though.
When a friend sends me a link to an article that he thinks I will like, I see this as connectivism. But I also see connectivism as helping students find articles that are appropriate to the course, but allowing them to understand the research skills to do so effectively. Becoming a critical consumer of information seems to play a large part in effectively using connectivism as a teaching tool.
I also like the discussion of shifts of motivation in these perspectives. With instructivism, I see motivation as coming from the teacher. If you like the teacher, you are motivated. If you don't it is tough to engage the material. With constructivism you are motivated by your peers. If your peers are engaged and provide interesting content, you will do well, if not, it can be a challenge. In connectivism you need to rely on your own skills to create motivation to build a constantly changing learning network to fully materialize the possibilities of the subject. In addition to differences in motivation, each of these creates more and more self-reliance and less and less dependence on others.
I don't think that connectivism allows us to learn less, or that the internet leads to less learning. We may not be able to recite the words verbatum, but once we have experienced the material and can access it quickly, it ends up being learned, especially if it was initiated by the learner rather than from an external source.
Right now I don't use too many connectivism approaches in my classes, but the perspective is intriguing and it makes me wonder about what I could potentially incorporate in future courses.
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