Connectivism and Collaboration

Today's learner is comparable to a highly evolved parasite seeking in its basest form to survive. Survival in these terms involves the acquisition of capital to maintain sustenance, capital is acquired through labor in a trade that requires the acquisition of a relative set of knowledge. In the same way that the parasite has evolved, so has the multitude of hosts at its disposal. Never has business been so good for the parasite, or the learner. My meaning in these analogies stems from the way in which the learner of today need only gain access to a computer with internet capabilities and the learner may inquire after the knowledge he or she seeks. With the almost universal accessibility of the internet and the advent of search engines such as Google, the learner need only type a topic of investigation into a text box and hit 'enter' to gain access to their desired knowledge. However, search engines such as Google only graze the surface of knowledge acquisition possibility. Specialized social networking sites now exist that allow for communal knowledge storage as well as an access point for the individual in the process of seeking knowledge or wishing to contribute. “Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed).”

In the same way that these programs simplify knowledge acquisition by making knowledge more accessible, the knowledge associated with these programs' existence and up-keep is ever-changing and growing exponentially. “The social software that we see today in the form of blogs and wikis developed in order to enable these individuals in a quickly changing knowledge field to continue to stay current and continue to learn from each other.” So essentially, this marriage of knowledge acquisition and technology is self-perpetuating, requiring the same access to knowledge it provides in order to stay current. Unlike a parasite however, a human cannot possibly maintain the transfixed, “plugged in” state required to stay completely current. This also begs the question of just how far will technology go? 

A Learning Theory for the Digital Age 

The Impact of Social Software on Learnin

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