Future of Constructivism


Expanding on Constructivism – Constructivism in the Digital Age


The theory of constructivism was developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology in the way that it is today. Therefore, does constructivism remain as relevant in our technology-rich classrooms of 2018? In 2005 George Siemens argued that the way we live, communicate and learn has significantly changed over the past two decades and therefore Siemens developed a new learning theory called connectivism. Siemens noted the limitations of other learning theories such as constructivism, particularly when thinking about how learning occurs through organisations and the rapid increase in available information in the modern times.

“In today’s environment, action is often needed without personal learning – that is, we need to act by drawing information outside of our primary knowledge. The ability to synthesize and recognize connections and patterns is a valuable skill” (Siemens, 2005, para. 12).

Connectivism is the mixing of the values explored by chaos, networks, complexity and self-organization (Siemens, 2005). It allows for “non-linearity, unintentioned ‘chaos’ and unanticipated network effects” in the learning process (Greenhow & Lewin, 2016, p. 9).

The basis of connectivism is that it is not undertaken in isolation; rather, it is that we rely on a variety of networks to direct our activities (Mattar, 2018). Siemens contends that, as knowledge is no longer acquired in a logical manner, the learning theory of connectivism reaches beyond constructivism and illustrates the learning environment of the 21st century learner.


Discussion Question 4

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