Trawling for connectivism

I am trawling the blogosphere (netting the net) for explanations of, reactions to, interpretations of, expansions on and critiques of connectivism. The net I'm using pulls in a lot of dumped tires and plastic bottles. But I'm also finding the good stuff.

I found a succinct 2007 post from Jeff Utecht that offers insight.

...We need to change teaching at its roots. At the very foundation….the pedagogy. Some disagreed with me saying that good teaching is still good teaching. I’m just not sure if I can swallow that.
Does good teaching in 1920 look the same as good teaching in 1950….1980…..1990…..2000?. With the advancements in brain research alone can you say that good teaching never changes?

At this moment I think George Siemens Knowing Knowledge and connectivism theory of learning best represents how learning and knowledge has been changed in this new 2.0 world. (Utrecht, 2007)

Jeff argues that society is changing, that knowledge and learning has changed, that the way we teach needs to change, and that the theory of connectivism can lead us to a new pedagogy (not that it is the pedagogy - which many critiques claim).

My beef with Instructional System Design (ISD)

After presenting a two week module on Instructional System Design and ADDIE I present the following counter point to my students.

In the field of instructional technology you will hear touted the importance of Instructional System Design, of which ADDIE is one approach. Having had several careers I have run into this approach to planning in other domains: Management by Design, Individual Service Plans come immediately to mind from my time as an administrator and earlier as a special education teacher. ISD is popular among the accountability set.

To begin I'd like to say that ISD has a lot going for it.

• It is valuable to think of any kind of plan or design in a systematic way.
• It is important to think of planning/designing as being a constantly evolving process, one which you frequently evaluate and refine (the ADDIE model is laid out in an iterative cycle).
• Tools, frameworks, templates, acronyms etc. that provide us with steps and easy checklists are helpful.

For these reasons, it is advisable to memorize the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) acronym and make sure that you have considered each step.

It is not what is in ADDIE that bugs me; it is what is not in ADDIE. Education is more than inputs and outputs. As you plan your courses please consider these aspects of teaching.

1. The act of teaching is made up of equal parts teaching technique and relationship building. How can my instructional design support positive relationships with and among my students?
2. All minds are different. Each of my students brings a differing experience, beliefs and uniquely shaped schema that affect how they engage with what I am trying to teach. How will my instructional design support shared understanding and openness to new perspectives?
3. Learning is a dynamic process that sometimes goes in unexpected yet important directions. Can flexibility be built into my instructional design so that it responds to student interest and inquiry while still getting the job done.
4. We hold beliefs about the way people learn. Our instructional designs should reflect that. As part of the design process I think we must ask ourselves What do I believe about how people learn? Followed by the question, Given that I am teaching on-line, in a classroom, on a boat, how can I design my instruction to match my learning theory?

So help me come up with an acronym for something like: Relationships, Differing Minds, Dynamic Process and Learning Theory and we can create a unified theory of instructional design.