The New Learning Environment

At our gathering on September 4, 2008, I listened to Kim’s review of the key theories from ITEC 800: Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Connectivism. What fascinated me the most is the lecture on how Connectivism explains our current information boom and that a single person would find it difficult in acquiring a large amount of information without the help of his or her peers.

As I was listening to the lecture, I couldn’t help but question whether Connectivists (and the idea of a social learning network) believe that formal learning environments (such as a classroom) would become obsolete one day, and that they would be replaced by e-learning. Perhaps, once technology advances to a higher level, learners would prefer teleconferences and virtual learning over regular classroom environments; there is no need for a classroom environment when learners can interact with their classmates and other people around the world on their own time and at their own place.