Introducing Connectivism
Imagine you want to learn about a specific topic, whether you need it for your career or as part of your educational journey. Instead of buying textbooks and studying them page by page, you try something different. You listen to podcasts from experts on the matter, follow LinkedIn posts from researchers, watch YouTube explainers, join a related Reddit community, and even have conversations on forums or group chats. Slowly, you manage to get a deep, practical understanding of the topic without ever resorting to traditional learning methods. This kind of learning, which seems like creating a network of resources, is exactly what connectivism pedagogy describes.
Introduced by George Siemens and Stephen Downes in the early 2000s, connectivism suggests that learning is not just about what you know but how you find and connect knowledge across a network. And since nowadays information is everywhere, from blogs and videos to forums and research papers, this concept is more relevant than ever. Connectivism encourages us to connect to the right information when we need it, collaborate with others, and constantly update our knowledge as new information comes up. Let’s break this down.
Key Characteristics Of Connectivism Pedagogy
George Siemens and Stephen Downes, two thinkers and educators, proposed connectivism pedagogy in the early 2000s. They saw that in the digital age, learning isn’t just about absorbing knowledge. It’s about navigating it—connecting with people, ideas, and resources that are often spread across different platforms, cultures, and technologies. In other words, learning happens across a network. At its core, connectivism suggests that knowledge isn’t just stored inside our heads anymore but distributed across a network of connections, including other people, databases, tools, and systems. Learning, then, is not so much about memorizing facts as it is about finding, evaluating, and making sense of the right information at the right time.
Some of the key characteristics of connectivism are:
- Knowledge is distributed across a network and not just in one place.
- Learning is about connecting with new sources, communities, and technologies.
- Decision making is part of learning. Since information can change, deciding what to learn, when to learn it, and how to verify it is an essential skill.
Implementing Connectivism Pedagogy In eLearning
Personal Learning Networks
If you want to truly embrace connectivist learning, you need to completely abandon the idea that learning is linear and think of it more like a network. Instead of sending every learner to follow the exact same steps, why not give them a choice? Think of your course as a web of resources, where learners can explore different directions based on what interests them. After all, real-world learning involves coming across articles, videos, and conversations that connect in many ways. One easy way to start is by offering optional reading paths or alternative case studies. After a module, you could share links to podcasts, webinars, or even expert interviews. These are called personal learning networks, and each learner decides what resources they’ll follow on their own. This flexibility gives them more control over their learning journey, and that motivates them further.
Content Curation Assignments
When it comes to learning in today’s world, we need to teach learners how to curate information, not just absorb it. This means to show them how to gather, filter, and organize it meaningfully. That’s where content curation assignments come in. Instead of asking learners to simply memorize facts, give them a project where they explore a topic, find resources, and explain why those resources matter. It’s about training them to question a source’s credibility, value, and connection to existing knowledge. For example, instead of asking them to write an essay on a subject, ask learners to create a curated reading list of the five best relevant articles or podcasts. Each item would include a short summary and a note about why they chose it. Plus, content curation projects feel more natural since learners get to practice real-world skills they’ll use in life, like research or critical thinking.
Collaborative Tools
Connectivism pedagogy relies on collaboration, as we often have to connect our knowledge with others’ to gain a better understanding of the world around us. Collaboration also mirrors the way we actually work and learn in real life: through sharing ideas, listening to others, and solving problems together. So, how do you bring that into an online course? Start by integrating tools for shared writing, brainstorming, chatting, or video conferencing. You can also design team activities, such as live problem-solving sessions where learners have to work together or friendly debates on controversial topics. After all, connectivist learning is about linking people, too.
Adaptability
The tech world is always changing, as are facts, tools, and even industries. One of the most valuable things you can do in your eLearning course is to teach learners how to keep learning long after the modules are complete. Start by giving them the basics of how to navigate information overload. Show them how to fact-check sources, recognize credible information, and spot outdated statistics or biases. Next, encourage them to stay flexible. Platforms and technologies are always evolving. This means that a tool they learn today might be replaced by something better tomorrow. So, the goal isn’t to memorize every tool out there but to be able to pick up new tools quickly.
Conclusion
As an Instructional Designer or educator, maybe try to design for connection. Create spaces where learners can discover, share, and grow their knowledge networks. Connectivism isn’t here to erase traditional eLearning, though. It’s an important addition, and it’s a way to make your courses more relevant to our connected, fast-paced world. By combining connectivism with your regular teaching methods, you can create experiences that don’t just teach facts but empower learners to keep learning, questioning, and connecting in the future.