The Learning Theory of Connectivism and its Latest Development

Connectivism,as an important learning theory produced by the rapid development of Web2.0 and social media technologies and increasing knowledge update speed,has seen rapid development in the past 10 years,and becoming a relatively systematic theory.Although ideas of Connectivism are distributed on the Internet,there is no systematic review and summary,which makes it hard for us to get a deep understanding on the learning theory of Connectivism.This study tracked the research progress of Connectivism and summarized the ideas which are distributed in paper,books,blogs and artifacts.It is found in this study that there is difference betweentwo pioneer' s ideas of Connectivism.The idea of George Siemens is more academic,and easier to accept by others,while Stephen Downes' idea is freer,philosophical,and enlightening.The most famous eight principles of Connectivism give us a clear picture of how Connectivism has developed in the past 10 years.This paper also discussed nine perspectives of Connectivism and their logical relationships.The philosophical orientation of Connectivism not only helps us understand Connectivism deeper from philosophical perspective,and also provide a reference of how to evaluate and analysis the learning in Connectivism learning contexts.In Connectivism,knowledge is distributed and connected;learning is the process of connection and network building;courses are open;teachers are the facilitators of the learning,and they influence and build the network;learners are both self- and network— guided,and they are the knowledge creators;the learning environment focus on personal learning environment and personal learning network building;interaction is the key and core of Connectivist learning Based on our reviews,we conclude that the theory of Connectivism has been relatively mature and systematic,and its perspective of knowledge and learning has been guiding our perspectives of course,teacher,student,learning environment and interaction.There are three forms of practice related to Connectivism(Simple,Social and Complex),and we believe only the Complex Connectivism practice forms truly reflect the main idea of Connectivism.There are four big critics of the Connectivism theory(is it a learning theory or just a pedagogy? What is the difference between Connectivism and social constructivism? Are there some problemsin its core concept? What is the unique idea in Connectivism?).At the end of this paper,the authors proposed several critical questions which should be answered in the future research.