A Learner of Today...using Connectivism Theory

Using Connectivism theory, I came up with an analogy of a learner being a member of a food chain in an ecosystem.  Within the ecosystem, there could be many different types of animals, organized in a hierarchical form due to their ecosystem’s pyramid.  Each animal, which I am considering to be analogous to a learner, has the challenge of being able to survive.  The ecosystem is analogous to the ever-changing society in which we live.  Maybe the ecosystem has undergone many changes within the last few years:  changes in habitat due to construction of new homes, meaning trees cut down and intrusion of some animal’s original ‘home;’ changes of habitat due to possible pollution of water in which plants and animals reside; changes in climate/temperature maybe due to global warming over an extended period of time.  Obviously animals face changes in their environment and must learn to adapt to challenges that may arise (such as human interference, having to find new areas to be their ‘homes’ within the habitat, and having to alter eating habits if plants/animals lower in the food pyramid can no longer survive).  To me, we as learners of today have to adapt to societal changes, especially those in technology, just like members of an ecosystem have to adapt to changes in their surroundings and way of life in order to survive. 

Members of an ecosystem cannot live merely by themselves, just like learners are no longer merely learning through internalization of knowledge.  Members of the ecosystem are reliant on other members of their ecosystem:  connecting with their own species to plot for survival, along with relying on lower members for their food source.  To me, learning occurs in a similar way now in today’s society, where learning occurs due to reliance on other members of society.  Learning now occurs outside of people, and according to the George Siemens article on Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, “learning occurs within the nebulous environments of shifting core elements that are not entirely under control of the individual.”  Also it is stated within the article, “sensitive dependence on initial conditions profoundly impacts what we learn and how we act based on our learning.”  That to me is like survival in an ecosystem, adapting to challenges that arise due to changes in the environment.  Also I liked viewing Siemens’ video titled, The Changing Nature of Knowledge, because I think it thoroughly explains the concept of Connectivism and how learning is evolving in today’s society.  Starting at  time 1:32 in the video, he says, “…today because of the complex environment that we’re in, learning isn’t something that’s exclusively limited or occurs exclusively within an individual’s mind…knowledge is really about the distribution that occurs across an entire network.”  Once again upon hearing this part, I was able to visualize the connection to the analogy I thought of.  Learning today is like survival in an ecosystem because you can’t learn or “survive” without adapting to changes that are outside yourself in society that you cannot control.  The network becomes the learning, or as I can compare to my analogy, the ecosystem can yield survival.