ePE: Using connectivism to theorise developments in digital technology in physical education in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

Connectivism emerged out of the explosion in scholarly and popular interest in recent decades, around the issue of the relationship between digital technology and learning. One specific debate that emerged from this interest was the issue of theories of learning. The question, put simply was, ‘Are existing learning theories sufficient, or do we need new ones to explain what we now see routinely happening in classrooms’? The response to this from George Siemens and Stephen Downes, first collectively and later separately, was the development of connectivism as a new learning theory (2005), describing it as “the first learning theory for the digital age” (Siemens, 2004). It was defined thus: Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organisation theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements- not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organisation or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing. (Siemens, 2004) From this definition there are three key concepts integral to connectivism that will be explored during this chapter; learners existing in a network, the notion of actionable knowledge, and encountering information and knowledge not for its own sake, but to enable us to learn more.