Connectivism

   The Internet is a very valuable tool in today's society.   It offers people many opportunities to connect with others through different social networks.  More importantly, it offers people a way to always stay connected with others and continuously seek knowledge.  An analogy that I would use to describe a learner is: A learner is like a redwood tree.  Learners are constantly growing and gaining knowledge.  A redwood tree begins as a tiny little seed.  As time goes on the tree begins to grow and develops into a massive piece of work.  A redwood tree never stops growing just as a learner doesn't.  A learner may start with a small "seed" of knowledge and builds on the knowledge throughout their lifetime.  

A learner never sits still and stops learning. Learning is a continuous cycle of seeking, collaborating, and using information and technology to obtain new information/knowledge.  In the video, The Network is the Learning Siemens states, "What we know today is not as important as our ability to continue tostay current." Siemens believes that it is more important to continue to grow and learn than to sit passively when we feel we have learned enough.  If we do not continue to seek knowledge and collaborate with others using the networks available to us, we are digressing in our knowledge.  In Siemens (2005) article, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age he states, "Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known."  As learners, we are never done learning.  We continue to seek and find information throughout our lives.  It is more important to want to seek more information than what is already known.  We must stay connected to others! We have to use the resources available to us to help us find all the information we can.  We need to collaborate and build off of what others have to offer us.