Like a caricature of a real person, this image looks like a web of the way I learn and it only cracks the surface. I started getting into the weeds on this one. Should I name my favorite research papers? Do I list all the techniques I have experienced with experiential learning?

I am 51 years old. I grew up with Encyclopedia Britannica and a party line. I sat in rows in school, facing the front where the teacher lectured. I watched 3 channels on our black and white television. I knew the Dewey Decimal System – it was my friend. Learning looks a lot different now.

The internet has changed everything. The ability to access it not only at home or work, but everywhere has completely put an end to the bets I used to place with my brother during dinner. Bets that were often hard to prove for certain without a lot of effort and verification. Now, a teacher or trainer cannot state anything as fact if they are not certain because their students can and often will contradict them by quickly looking it up on their laptop or cell phone.

Books and Magazines are still the hold out for me. I prefer to have the “hard copy” whenever possible. I have often read a book, especially non-fiction, and later bought the hard copy because I wanted to touch it, to underline the words, dog-ear pages, to bring it into my classroom.

Questions I have can still be answered the old fashioned way by asking more knowledgeable people. I also use the internet and websites to verify accuracy, like Snopes.com or sites I know are reputable.  I have learned the hard way by posting something on social media that turned out to be completely false.

So how does all this relate to connectivism?

According to Siemens, “connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired and the ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. Also critical is the ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday” (Siemens, 2005, para. 24).

This sums up what I would call Internet Age Learning. We are learning faster and able to be more nimble than ever before. Technology allows us to collect more data, make smarter decisions and publish new findings immediately. This allows us to learn rapidly, unlearn equally as quickly and pass it on. This sums up the main way I learn outside of traditional learning. What’s not to love?

Siemens, G. (2005, January). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, Retrieved November 03, 2008, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm