A learner is like being a switchboard operator!

A learner today is like being a switchboard operator of the 20th century.  Switchboard operators continuously made and forged connections between people, ideas and therefore networks.  In the 21st century, students are relentlessly making connections between their previous experiences and new ones; alterations of schema is a result.  The wires that would be plugged into the switchboard can be the equivalent of relationships between humans and others as well as their surroundings; conversations are representations of the transmission of knowledge.

The changing nature of knowledge is based upon the basis of connectivism in the learning environment; the man discussing the topic is Siemens, the developer of the connectivism theory.  In this YouTube excerpt, Siemens actually states that "the learners themselves, the connections they form with each other, the connections that they form with databases, other sources of knowledge, is really the primary point of learning so in essence the network becomes the learning."  In his article explaining the differences between connectivism and other prominent, yet according to Siemens,outdated, theories evident proof exists to support my notion of a learner equaling a switchboard operator.  Click here to read the article in full.

"Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization 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, 2005).  I believe that the network referred to is actually the interconnections that exist between humans and all of their surroundings.  It appears to be the case that Siemens has actually integrated some of the sociocultural theory into his connectivism theory in that Vygotsky claimed that humans learn through all interactions between the self and the environment.