Learning+Theories+for+the+Digital+Age

Constructivism, Connectivism, Cyborg Learning Theory, Oh My! Constructivism, by Vygotsky's definition would be that there is no new knowledge. Humans do not learn anything from scratch. We take what we hear and what we see and we scaffold it on to the prior knowledge we already have. In the classroom this makes every learner unique, taking in information and synthesizing it in a way that is personal for them. Another website I explored said that people construct their own understanding of the world through their own understanding and knowledge of the world. (http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html) Constructivist theory for the classroom posits that students make sense of the world by synthesizing new experiences into what they have previously understood. The form rules through reflection on their interaction with objects and ideas ( Brooks & Brooks 1993) I see constructivism as a classroom that has students doing many different things. They are using their own interests and their own personalities to explore a problem from as many different ways as there are students in the class. Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age. George Siemens along with Stephen Downes developed the learning theory. In Siemens article //"Connectivism: A learning theory for the Digital Age"// he states that "Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories" Because of the rapidly developing knowledge, it has become important for educators to teach students how to find knowledge. We can no longer just give students a set of facts to memorize. They must learn how to learn and how to find knowledge. Siemens has stated that the knowing where is as important as knowing why and knowing how. I see connnectivism as a progression from the theory of constructivism. Students still need to learn as individuals and explore with their personalities, learning styles, and interests, but they also need to do it with technology. They need to connect to schools across the State, Nation, and World. Students need to realize that with the connectivity of the internet, the world has indeed become a very small place. Cyborg Learning Theory is the work of Kevin Warwick, a cybernetic pioneer. Warwick is a professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading. He does cybernetic experiments on himself. His first implant was a chip transponder that allowed him to open doors and operate computers without ever touching them. The second chip was implanted into his nervous system This chip allowed signals to be sent between a computer and his nervous system. A microchip imbedded in his wife allowed them to link nervous systems. He was then able to sense her movements in his brain as if her were the one doing the moving. Warwick proposes that in only a few short years we will be able to implant chips in our brains that will be an upgrade. He theorizes that it will revolutionize medicine and education. He believes education will be obsolete because you will just download an upgrade into your brains. Humans will become a sub-species and cyborgs will rule the world as the evolved superior species. I found listening to Warwick to be very frightening. I worry when humans begin to play God. I see that although the world might become more advanced in some ways, it would become very backward in others. The entire world would revert to oppression of others and terrible prejudice and hatred.