Things You Really Need to Learn

Guy Kawasaki last week wrote an item describing 'ten things you should learn this school year' in which readers were advised to learn how to write five sentence emails, create powerpoint slides, and survive boring meetings. It was, to my view, advice on how to be a business toady. My view is that people are worth more than that, that pleasing your boss should be the least of your concerns, and that genuine learning means something more than how to succeed in a business environment. But what should you learn? Your school will try to teach you facts, which you'll need to pass the test but which are otherwise useless. Here, then, is my list. 1. The most common utterance at the scene of a disaster is, "I never thought..." The prediction of consequences is part science, part mathematics, and part visualization. The danger in such situations is focusing on what you want to happen rather than what might happen instead. This is where the math and science come in. People don't think ahead. 2.

How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly Translations: Belorussian Introduction: Four Types of Discursive Writing From time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much done. I, of course, aware of the many hours I have idled away doing nothing, demur. It feels like nothing special; I don't work harder, really, than most people. Nonetheless, these people do have a point. Begin by writing - in your head, at least - your second paragraph (that would be the one you just read, above). But how do you write this paragraph? You have more options because there are four types of discursive writing. These are your choices of types of article or essay: Argument: convinces someone of something Explanation: tells why something happened instead of something else Definition: states what a word or concept means Description: identifies properties or qualities of things An argument is a collection of sentences (known formally as 'propositions') intended to convince the reader that something is he case. Organizing Your Writing Argument:

An Introduction to Connective Knowledge Revised and Updated (minor corrections and typos only) and placed in MS-Word Document form, November 27, 2007. Click here. The version that follows below is the original (uncorrected) version). Yet another article, describing new forms of knowledge as probablistic, has crossed my desk today, and consequently it seems appropriate at this time to type a few words on the nature of distributed knowledge. It should go without saying that these are my own thoughts, and this discussion should not therefore be considered an authoritative reference on the subject. a. You probably grew up learning that there are two major types of knowledge: qualitative and quantitative. Distributed knowledge adds a third major category to this domain, knowledge that could be described as connective. This is more than just the existence of a relation between one entity and another; it implies interaction. This is why it is incorrect to represent distributed knowledge merely as a type of probabilistic knowledge.

Connectivism as Epistemology Responding to questions from Vance McPherson 1) What is your response to Rita Kop's suggestion that connectivism is a new epistemology but not a new learning theory? As I understand Rita, she understands the pedagogical aspects of connectivism to have already been present in constructivism, and hence, connectivism is not proposing something new when it comes to giving guidance to instructional staff. There are overlaps to be sure, however: - criticisms of a teaching practice, which may be grounded if working in a constructivist perspective, are not grounded in a connectivist environment. Connectivism is *definitively* a learning theory, or more accurately, incorporates learning theories (specifically, theories about how connections are formed in networks). But all of that said, whether connectivism is a *new* theory of epistemology or pedagogy is irrelevant to me and I don't spend any time worrying about it. Other aspects of the theory change over time. 3) M. -- Stephen

Learning Networks: Theory and Practice 6 competencias pedagógicas para gestionar una clase online basándose en el conectivismo La metáfora de la formación a través de la red es crucial porque pone de manifiesto los cambios que se están dando en la jerarquía de la organización, hacia los modelos descentralizados. La interactividad de los sujetos que utilizan la red contribuye a la autoorganización como sistema. ¿Qué significa esto para el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje? El aprendizaje no existe de mano en la cabeza de los/las estudiantes o los/las profesores/as, pero sí que aumenta su variedad si a éstos los conectamos con las nuevas tecnologías. El conectivismo convierte la estática relación profesor/a-alumno/a en algo mucho más fluido, y así, el proceso de aprendizaje gana importancia frente al resultado final. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Conectivismo en acción: Aunque en teoría puede decirse que el conectivismo es algo difícil, existen algunas herramientas sencillas que orientan a la red la manera que tengamos de dar la clase: