Connectivisme - définition

One theory that has emerged to describe the social, interconnected, and community-based characteristics of contemporary learning is connectivism (Siemens 2005). Connectivism strives to overcome the limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism by synthesizing the salient elements of several educational, social, and technological theories to create a new and dynamic theoretical construct for learning in the digital age. This model employs the concept of a network with nodes and connections as a defining metaphor for learning. In this metaphor, a node may be any entity, whether tangible or intangible, that can be connected to other nodes, including but not limited to information, data, feelings, and images. From this perspective, learning is viewed as the process of creating connections between nodes to form a network of personal knowledge, a view that is congruent with the ways in which people engage in socialization and interaction through social networks such as the blogosphere. In combination with the knowledge-creation metaphor, connectivism recognizes the centrality to learning of idea generation supported by social activity and enabled by personal networks, interactivity, and engagement in experiential tasks. As such, connectivism is particularly attuned to the principles of the Web 2.0 era. (Siemens 2005 for Innovate)