Today's learner

Journal reference: 

Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (George Siemens, 2005)

http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm

YouTube Video reference: 

The Impact of Social Software on Learning

       Today’s learner is like an explorer not only for new knowledge itself but also for the capability of increasing their knowledge. Today’s learners use social media such as facebook, twittter, and so on to develop their current knowledge and find the way to increase their knowledge for the future. In this journal “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (George Siemens, 2005)”, Siemens cited that Art Kleiner (2002) explores Karen Stephenson’s “quantum theory of trust” which “explains not just how to recognize the collective cognitive capability of an organization, but how to cultivate and increase it”. It means that learners are getting smarter to find how to get the information or knowledge, not just the information itself what they want.

       Also, today’s learners express their opinion and share their ideas with others. They know the importance of expressions of their knowledge and its impact. The more they express, the wider their knowledge gets. In the YouTube video named “The Impact of Social Software on Learning”, George Siemens referred to Vygotsky’s statement that “words really give the life to thought” and argued that “our Ability to express ourselves and our knowing increases as we express ourselves externalized our knowledge.” Through the process of ‘externalization’, which is the opposite concept of ‘internalization’, people also can teach and learn the new knowledge and concepts and spread it among others. Today’s learners also know the importance of knowledge’s expansion through interaction with people who want to know it. Therefore, exchange and transfer of knowledge through social media can be a very effective way to expand the learner’s knowledge and their learning.