How does a student gain knowledge? Is it via reading, or rather by collaborative exercises? As an international educator of 25 years and currently teaching in Mumbai, Maggie Hos-McGrane gives her thoughts on the issue.
I'm reading George Siemens' Knowing Knowledge very slowly as there is a lot to take in and think about. There are a couple of questions that I'm thinking about today:
- Is knowledge acquired or created with others through active participation?
- Is knowledge a personal activity or is it socially constructed?
I'm now thinking about the connection between learning and knowing, and have come across the word connectivism which asserts that learning is a network-forming process. The success of these networks in encouraging knowledge varies depending on a variety of things:
- Diversity - how wide the points of view spectrum is
- Autonomy - whether those contributing to the network do so of their own accord and share their own knowledge or whether there is pressure to promote a certain point of view
- Interactivity - whether the members are co-constructing knowledge or simply sharing their perspectives
- Openness - how easy it is for a perspective to enter into the network, be heard and interacted with by others.