1. A CHALLENGE TO CONNECTIVISM - Bill Kerr http://tinyurl.com/37a22g http://tinyurl.com/37a22g “The skin is not all that important as a boundary” BF Skinner

2. INTRODUCTION Why am I here?

3. RESONANCE “connectivism resonates with me” connection is a good metaphor for our current age

4. EXCITEMENT! “It's not about technology, it's about a new and vibrant information landscape that reshapes teaching and learning” “Technology should be like oxygen-- ubiquitous, transparent, and necessary” http://school20.wikispaces.com/

5. MY ARGUMENT Something is happening but it's not radically new at the level of learning theory

6. VYGOTSKY & PAPERT The role of language (Vygotsky) and “objects to think with” (Papert) in learning theory predates the Internet

7. THE MIND What and Where is the Mind? The Mind is a construct which is distributed from the brain to the environment

8. ACHILLES HEEL "The Achilles heel of existing theories rests in the pace of knowledge growth. All existing theories place processing (or interpretation).of knowledge on the individual doing the learning” - Knowing Knowledge, p. 33

9. INVISIBILITY Language and “objects to think with” are so ubiquitous that they are not always noticed. Network based learning theories might be more visible because the network is more visible

10. CONNECTIVIST SLOGAN “the pipe is more important than the contents (simply because content changes rapidly)”

11. CONNECTIVIST SLOGAN “the half life of knowledge is declining”

12. ALAN KAY'S NON UNIVERSALS reading and writing deductive abstract mathematics model based science equal rights democracy perspective drawing slow deep thinking agriculture legal systems

13. PAPERT constructionism: “Objects to think with” Examples: logo programming language, LEGO logo robotics, Instructional Software Design Project

14. ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD If the third world can have one laptop per child then why can't the first and second worlds?

15. VYGOTSKY Language scaffolds human development Language scaffolding for self development, private voice, keeping secrets and solving hard problems

16. WRITING / BLOGGING "we use language to author ourselves, assisted by many co-authors as we grow up" (Daniel Dennett) good blogging is Vygotsky writ large

17. WEB POWER Conversation, Communication and collaboration No argument but not new concept Scaling is not the same thing as innovation or a new idea about how learning works

18. RADICAL DISCONTINUITY? Read / write web: new tools, web appsYES new learning environmentsYES new curriculum? New epistemology? new political awareness?

19. DISCONTINUITY: SCHOOL 2.0 “The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet” - William Gibson Distribution is mainly a political issue

20. A POLITICAL ISSUE political movement needed What are the issues?

21. RIGHTS OF THE CHILD support the rights of the child to explore new technology “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.” (Article 13, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

22. RISK OF RISK FREE “a risk free society is very dangerous” “The fear of what might go wrong can't stop us from doing what is right” Spirit of our times?

23. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BATTLE hardware – DRM economic - locking in users standards - *.doc rather than *.odt legal - copyright law strengthened software - spying on users cultural - demonising