A Learner is like a Teacher

"Life is like a box of chocolates" and Learners are like Teachers

Connectivism in Education

What is connectivism? Connectivism is a learning theory that sees knowledge as networked and outside of an individual learner. "Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical."(Siemens) In traditional educational models teachers filled their students with knowledge, knowledge that didn't change or adapt. Students were empty vessels waiting for knowledge to be dumped in by their teachers.

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In today's system, or at least in my classroom, that belief of teachers as gatekeepers and holders of knowledge has changed. Teachers are no longer the only ones bringing and sharing knowledge in the classroom. Technology has changed how we think about and educate our students. Education is different now.  A learner is like a teacher.

Learners have access to information that I certainly didn't have in my K-12 experience. Often times learners have digital literacy skills that their teachers do not. There have been many times in my career when a student knows something that I don't, whether it's a 2nd or 3rd language, an app, or a fact or figure they heard about on youtube or Facebook. Maybe you too have had this experience.


As Siemens says, "Learning occurs in complex, chaotic, and shifting spaces." Our classroom environments are changing. They no longer, well at least I hope they don't, look like this.

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Perhaps they are looking more and more like this:

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And that change is good! We no longer are regulated to the content that is in the classroom. We have access to all the information in the world if we only know how to retrieve it. Bringing the outside, dare I say, real world into the classroom creates ties and connections, which Siemens says, "create meaning" for our students to things inside the classroom.

But what does this "complex, chaotic, and shifting" environment mean for us as teachers? If a learner s a teacher, does that mean that teachers are no longer necessary as knowledge providers? No, of course not. Until children can learn to read on their own, sort information and then analyze it, are jobs are safe. They are however a little bit more challenging. A "prominent need for continual learning and ongoing learning certainly exists." (Siemens). As students gain more and more access to information and information becomes more and more "alternative" it is up to us to help them discern what it accurate and what is not.