Summary
The idea of this essay is to emphasize the importance of online, –e-learning, or distance education, as it should be called in Spanish. When this innovative educational medium began to be used, based fundamentally on constructivism and the connectivist system, it was attacked as improper, as a system that was not serious and that was not lacking for both students and teachers to mark a great distance between them, since it was not connectivism and interrelation were guaranteed. Today, it is more than proven that there is connectivity, interrelation, between student-teacher-teacher-student-student-student, as we will prove in this essay.
Abstract
The idea of this paper is to emphasize the importance of online education, e-learning, or a distance (at distance) as it should be called in Castilian. When at the end of the last century started to be used this new educational model, mainly based on constructivism and connectionist system, was attacked as improper, as a little bit serious, and lacking for both students and teachers make a big distance between them as there is no connectives guaranteed and the interrelationship between them. Today, it's more than proven that if there is connectivity, interaction between student-teacher-student-teacher-student-student, as we will prove in this essay.
Introduction
Those who know how to teach are said to be capable of creating trainers. The cyber revolution has created a true social revolution and in the process has changed everything related to education. Teaching methods have been innovated like never before in the history of the last decades.
Cybernetic advances have led us to believe that the human pedagogical system will be replaced by artificial intelligence that will one day surpass human intelligence. While it is true that we have fast and advanced machines to computerize physical and mathematical solutions, it is still difficult for them to one day replace human neurons. Knowledge is not science fiction: it is reality.
Currently, the discussion focuses on whether the training of trainers (teachers) will basically focus on basic education, middle or higher education and adult education. Obviously, this discussion is childish as all age groups in society need to educate themselves.
Due to the great cybernetic advances we can and must speak that the training of the new teacher is based on the same system that he will apply to his students: formerly, correspondence teaching was used and it lasted for years but without major successes. Apparently the issue was that there was a great rigidity in the issues and the sources of consultation were really small. Today, thanks to the Internet, all this has changed.
Today there are so-called Tablets, I-Pods, Laptops, notebooks, Kindles, desktop computers, micro-computers, military computers, etc. All these devices allow us to interact, to remain communicated through the Internet with the whole world, which is another achievement of electronic globalization. Currently we can resort to asynchronous forums, emails, chat rooms, virtual telephony such as Skype which allows video conversations, polycom video, video conferences, conferences on social networks., etc. All this allows us to interact, instruct, teach, through what we currently call ICT (Information and Communication Technologies).
Educational theories
It should be noted that the Internet, like any other technology, has limitations that depend, generally, on its use and abuse. Social Networks, for example, have allowed entire countries to revolutionize against their dictators. But, the Internet has also served for networks of pedophiles, swindlers, etc. to operate. However, the best thing about the Internet, in our opinion, is that it has allowed the synchronous and asynchronous participation of students with their virtual classrooms. For Oliver & Shaw, (2003) getting active participation in asynchronous spaces can be problematic. But, investigating factors that favor or inhibit student participation in asynchronous discussions, it was found that the tutor's enthusiasm and knowledge are the most important factors in stimulating student participation.This tells us that the training of the new teacher (tutor, in this case) is essential for the success of the system.
In the digital age, as we said before, a systematized theory has been created but still under discussion (to improve it) of how online learning should be carried out. Currently educational systems use four major theories to develop human intelligence and knowledge; They are behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and connectivism, all developed when technology had not yet developed the means for virtual teaching and the transmission of knowledge by digital means (except for connectivism, which is a recent theory). Siemens (2004) states that "the learning needs and theories that describe the learning principles and processes must reflect the underlying social environments".
Until recently, teachers, tutors, and teachers had no idea how to apply educational systems using the new media that ICT delivered. The Constructivist-Behaviorist model (the latter created later and based on constructivism) was chosen.
In this regard, we will briefly see what are the properties of each educational model: (See Table 1)
Table 1 Comparative learning theories
Parallel between learning theories or pedagogical theories
Below we can see a comparative table of the different learning theories where the main ideas of each one are collected:
| BEHAVIOR | COGNITIVISM | CONSTRUCTIVISM | CONNECTIVISM | |
| AUTHORS | Skinner Watson Pavlov Bandura Thorndike Skinner | Gagné Bruner Anderson Gardner Novak Rummelhart Norman | Vygotsky Piaget Lave and Wenger Bransford Hasselbring Grabinger Spiro et al. | Siemens Downes |
| FEATURES | Study observable behavior (human behavior, which is scientifically analyzed). Consider the environment as a set of stimuli-responses. | It is based on the idea that learning occurs from experience. | Its main characteristics are the promotion of reflection in the experience, allowing the context and content to be dependent on the construction of knowledge. | It is based on theories of chaos, complexity, self-organization, and social media. |
| EDUCATIONAL GOALS | They are established by the teacher, they must detail the observable behavior that is expected to be measured. The student is a "clean slate" that is empty of content. Learning is gradual and continuous, when you get students to give the appropriate responses depending on the stimulus; it consists of a change in the form of behavior. | Achieve meaningful learning meaningfully and develop general and specific strategic learning skills. | Learn through the construction of knowledge based on the experiences of the student, through the performance of activities that are useful in the real world. | Train the student to go from being a consumer to a producer of knowledge through collaboration and cooperation with other individuals and through the use of ICT. |
| TEACHER'S ROLE | Direct the entire teaching-learning process by designing the stimulus-response process and the appropriate reinforcements, punishments or stimuli. | The teacher is not the center of the learning process, but his role is to make and organize interesting teaching experiences. | The role of the teacher must be a moderator, coordinator, facilitator, mediator and at the same time participatory, that is, he must contextualize the different activities of the learning process. It is the direct responsible | Enable students to create and maintain their own learning networks and continue to use them throughout their lives to navigate their future and creatively solve the world's problems. |
| STUDENT ROLE | It has a passive role, it is a "clean slate" empty of content. To learn depends on the stimuli you receive from the outside. Learn through memorization and repetition, even if you do not assimilate the concepts, do not understand them and forget them quickly. | The student is an active information processing subject with the ability to learn. | Its role in constructing both diagrams and operative structures. Being ultimately responsible for his own learning process and active processor of information, he builds knowledge for himself and no one can replace him in this task. | Create or join learning networks according to your needs, allowing you to constantly update your knowledge. |
| INTERACTION BETWEEN STUDENTS | It is based on a relationship of good behavior, not of knowledge creation. | Basic element in the learning process since the relationship allows you to build your own knowledge. | Be active through commitment and responsibility. Be constructive based on the adaptation of new ideas to make sense or meaning. Be collaborative through work in learning communities and knowledge construction. | Learning will be better the more connections between students exist in the knowledge network, since this diversity generates new specialized nodes in certain subjects that in turn serve as a source of knowledge for the rest of the nodes. |
| TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIP | The teacher is the active subject who designs the activities and stimuli, while the student is a passive subject who contributes nothing to learning. | Relationship based on feedback and requires the high participation of the student and the creation of a positive environment by the teacher. | The communicative role of teachers in any evaluation process gives educational activity. Educational communication constitutes the process by which the student's personality is structured | The teacher becomes the student's tutor who builds his own knowledge guided by the student. |
| EVALUATION | Assessment by defined, observable and quantitatively measurable objectives through tests and examinations. The process is not interested, only the achievement of the objectives or evaluated behaviors. | Focused on the learning process, it uses qualitative data and gives greater importance to the strategies used to achieve the objectives, than to the degree to which it achieves them. | Assessment of learning processes. Consider the cognitive and affective aspects that students use during the learning construction process. | It is continuous and uncertain and the instruments used to carry it out are determined by the student |
| APPLICATION OF TICS | Digitized proposal of programmed teaching, which presents a syllabus and a series of exercises and questions and answers aimed at verifying its understanding and acquisition by the student, thanks to a strong repetitive load. Its origin lies in the assumptions of Skinner's programmed teaching based on a rudimentary sequential presentation of questions and on the sanction corresponding to the wrong answers of the students. | ICT is a very valid resource to promote learning because it encourages participation among students and allows the creation of programs and systems where the student develops his cognitive abilities. | In constructivist theories, ICT applications and their tools enhance the student's active commitment, participation, interaction, feedback and connection with the real context, in such a way that they are conducive so that the student can control and be aware of their own learning process. | The way people work and function is altered with the use of new tools (web applications, blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts, collaborative agendas, e-portfolios opened and managed by the apprentice, IMS and videoconferences, web conferences, open and interconnected social networks…) that, in fact, are defining and shaping ("rewiring") our thinking. |
Source: http: //teduca3.wikispaces.com/6.+TABLA+COMPARATIVA
Where is E-learning going?
Connectivism has several definitions; one of them is that she defines it as “the integration of principles explored by the theories of chaos, networks, complexity and self-organization”; This means that learning is a process that occurs anywhere, in diffuse and changing environments; that is, it resides outside of us when it is applicable knowledge through an organization or database, connecting a set or sets of specialized information…
For Siemens (2004) the principles of connectivism would be eight:
- Learning and knowledge depend on the diversity of opinions. Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or sources of information. • Learning may reside in non-human devices. The ability to know more is more critical than what is known in a given time. Feeding and maintaining connections is necessary to facilitate continuous learning. The ability to see connections between areas, ideas and concepts is a key skill. Updating (accurate and current knowledge) is the intention of all connectivist activities. Decision-making is itself a learning process. The act of choosing what to learn and the meaning of the information that is received is seen through the lens of a changing reality. A correct decision today,may be wrong tomorrow due to changes in the information environment that affects the decision.
On the other hand, we collect the comparative table prepared by George Siemens on these learning theories that complements the information provided above:
Table 2.- Comparative Learning Theories
On the other hand, we have that the chaos theory that is one of the philosophical bases of connectivism, states the following affirming that reality is complex, it means at least four things about reality:
- That reality is blurred. That reality is catastrophic. That reality is fractal. That reality is chaotic "
The last one affirms the relationships that chaos maintains with fractality, and we have even approached fractal theory itself.
Munné (1993) explains chaos theory in the following way:
Historically, the natural sciences have pursued simplicity (minimum variables, maximum quantification, etc.), but in facing chaos they have had to adapt to complexity. Epistemologically, this represents an approach to the human sciences that, in general, have fought reductionism. In this sense, the physics of chaos takes a perspective more typical of human science than Newtonian physics. Thus, for example, it is not a question of extrapolating the law of gravity to the immaterial phenomena of human behavior. Involving chaos in the explanation of human behavior does not require mathematizing it, nor reducing it to a physical or chemical phenomenon; Yes, it does require formalizing the theoretical contributions in this regard. To understand this, you can take as an example,the case of cybernetics. It discovers feedback as a key process of feedback loops, initially machines and organisms, but soon it is applied to individual behavior and sociocultural systems to the point that today nobody can think of explaining social psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc., regardless of the feedback processes. In a similar way, chaotic processes accompany social life. And not only to collective behavior, because it is not a purely quantitative phenomenon, with many elements, but an eminently qualitative phenomenon. Any human behavior has chaotic aspects. (Munné, 1993)but without delay it becomes applied to individual behavior and sociocultural systems to the point that today no one can think of explaining social psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc., regardless of feedback processes. In a similar way, chaotic processes accompany social life. And not only to collective behavior, because it is not a purely quantitative phenomenon, with many elements, but an eminently qualitative phenomenon. Any human behavior has chaotic aspects. (Munné, 1993)but without delay it becomes applied to individual behavior and sociocultural systems to the point that today no one can think of explaining social psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc., regardless of feedback processes. In a similar way, chaotic processes accompany social life. And not only to collective behavior, because it is not a purely quantitative phenomenon, with many elements, but an eminently qualitative phenomenon. Any human behavior has chaotic aspects. (Munné, 1993)chaotic processes accompany social life. And not only to collective behavior, because it is not a purely quantitative phenomenon, with many elements, but an eminently qualitative phenomenon. Any human behavior has chaotic aspects. (Munné, 1993)chaotic processes accompany social life. And not only to collective behavior, because it is not a purely quantitative phenomenon, with many elements, but an eminently qualitative phenomenon. Any human behavior has chaotic aspects. (Munné, 1993)
Regarding constructivism, tutors for online teaching should use this theory as a basic teaching tool; as a way for the student to make sense of what he perceives, thinks and does. According to Cobb (1994), research would indicate that what teachers think about how students learn, that is, their personal epistemology, helps to make sense and guide their pedagogical practice.
In all cases, the teacher encourages the student to search for the truths objectively, for which a curriculum is implemented by the teacher to ensure that students cover relevant content that allows them to discover theories, laws, and principles associated with reality. (Jonassen, 1992). This comes to reaffirm that the constructivist epistemology ensures that the only tools available to the connoisseur are the senses.
The senses allow us to learn and learning is built on previous cognitive experiences. Constructivism is based on active learning that "does not manifest itself in the external activity" (Sánchez, 2004) of the learner, but rather emphasizes the internal activity of redesign, rearrangement, and reconstruction of mental patterns and models in learning processes such as Brooks and Brooks (1999) and Sánchez raise it. (2001). Consequently it is he who learns, the student or apprentice, who builds and interprets reality.
In this way, in order to manage teaching through the online system, teachers, facilitators, coach, tutors or, as we call those who manage teaching must consider the following factors or components: 1.-coordinate with the learners and interact each other to complete a cognitive project. Learners should reflect on their understanding and develop their highest and best skills. 2.- The facilitators or tutors must be true strategists "when designing the necessary strategies and learning experiences, guiding and assigning functions", coordinating actions within the virtual classroom, according to the needs of their students. (Sánchez, 2001) 3.-In addition to all of the above, a space and environment conducive to the interaction of the parties is suggested. Four.- Finally, it is always necessary to have the necessary tools to carry out this process: appropriate software, the Internet, multimedia, books, texts, etc.
The tutor or coach must learn to collect (store) data, organize resources, filter information and create contacts. You must also reflect, think critically, choosing, reviewing information, creating itineraries, giving students the necessary material so that they can create a solid virtual library for the branch (class) they are studying. The student will be given a bibliography with the best authors, which can be obtained online and in the virtual libraries that the universities manage and manage. In this case, it is worth noting the CREA virtual libraries of the UNIACC University of Chile and the IACC Institute, also in Chile.
The tutor, teacher or coach should encourage their students to create wikis to generate hypertextual documents that can be constantly updated with everyone's participation; In other words, everyone, students and teachers, becomes co-authors. However, this tool should not be confused with the Knowledge Forums that exist in each class. These Forums are true tools of interaction between students and teacher, teacher and students and mainly between students. Also, other tools such as weblogs and others should be used.
Individual and collective experiences and synergies are the axis for the construction of knowledge, taking advantage of the experiences of both educators and learners, giving new meaning to learning considering information patterns. Online learning is fundamentally based on communication, based on the premise that what is not communicated does not exist.
With this system, teaching-learning (EA) through e-learning, the fluid connections and interactions between open networks are prioritized, going beyond the formation of learning groups. In this way, we insist that the facilitating tools within Web 2.0 (wikis, blogs, e-portfolios). At this point, it is important for the teacher to plan his own portfolio with which he will give immense knowledge support to his students.
The teaching portfolio supposes a whole methodological turn in relation to the previous models of analysis or evaluation of teaching, it is the teacher himself who assumes the process of collecting information about his teaching actions and who has the right and responsibility to demonstrate your professionalism. In the same way that the statements made in the research curriculum must be documented with evidence, the realization of the teaching portfolio must be based on firm empirical evidence… (Fernández and Maiqués, 2001)
Finally, and according to Driscoll (cited by García, 2009), learning within our context (e-learning) is a “persistent change in performance or potential performance which must occur as one of the results of the experience of the apprentice and interaction with the world. " As we can see, this definition encompasses aspects of both cognitivism and constructivism and behaviorism, considering learning as a state of emotional, mental, and physiological change; that is, a lasting and permanent change in the individual, where their abilities and skills are enhanced as a result of experiences and interactions with the content and with other people, with whom it does not matter, nor does it matter, that they know each other physically and personally.,instead, what matters is that they interact and connect through the Internet to get to know things that they previously ignored, or to reaffirm weak knowledge. In this sense, learning has been transformed as an act of internalization of knowledge.
conclusion
We must accept that connectivity postulates more than anything that knowledge is built by the apprentice (student) through the actual actions it performs. For Vygotsky, father of constructivism, three vertices that are the subject, object of knowledge and the cultural partner instruments, play the central and essential role that determines the development of education. Therefore, the system e. Learning, not only came to stay but appears as the educational paradigm of the 21st century; paradigm that must be adopted by all the advanced societies in the world and should always use all the philosophies inherent in education.
References
Oliver, M., & Shaw, GP (2003) Asynchronous discussion in support of medical education. Journal of Asychronous Learning Networks, 7 (1), 56-57.
Siemens, George (2004) - Translated by Diego E. Leal Fonseca (2007), Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age; Creative Commons 2.5; taken from http://www.diegoleal.org/docs/2007/Siemens(2004)-Conectivismo.doc, accessed 10/25/12
Siemens, G. (2004)
García, Carreño, Ingrid del Valle; (2009) The theory of connectivity as an emerging solution to innovative learning strategies (e-learning); taken from
Munné, Frederic (2003) Chaos Theory and Social Psychology. A new epistemological approach to social behavior.
Cobb, P. (1994) Where is mind? Constructuvist and sociocultural perpectives on mathematical development. In: Educational Researcher, 3 (7): 13-20
Jonassen, D. (1992), Objectivism versus constructivism; Do we need a new philosophical paradigm? In: Educational Technology Research and Development, 39 (3): 5-14
Sánchez, Ilabaca, Jaime (2004); Constructivist Bases for the integration of ICTs, Enfoques Educacionales Magazine 6 (1) 75-89
Brooks and Brooks, cited by Sánchez 2004
Sánchez, J. (2001), Visible learning, invisible technology. Dolmen Ediciones, Santiago, 394pp.
Barrett, H. and WilkersonJ J. (2004). Conflicting Paradigms in Electronic Portfolio Approacches.
[Available at:
Fernandez, A. and Maiques, JM. (2001). The teaching portfolio as a tool for evaluating and improving the quality of teaching. In Evaluation of educational policies: VIII National Congress of Theory of Education, pp 86-90.
Vygotsky, quoted by García (2009).
This article has been published as Learning to apprehend learning in the 21st century and, Online education is here to stay in the following magazines:
Ingenium, Uba, Florida Global University (United States).
POLIS, (Oldenburg, Germany).
Digital Newscast, Venezuela.
Iberoamerica. Net (Venezuela).
www.chileven.blogspot.com (Chile and Venezuela)
Footnotes:
1. The e-portfolio in this context is defined as the instrument that uses technological tools in order to collect the multiple evidences of the learning process in different media (audio, video, graphics, texts) Hypertext is used to show more clearly the relationships between objectives, content, processes and reflections. Generally the terms electronic portfolio or digital portfolio are used interchangeably, but we can make a distinction, the electronic portfolio contains analog media, such as videos for example. In contrast, in the digital portfolio, all resources are transformed into computer language. The benefits offered by this version refers to its portability, the integration of technologies in its construction,The use of hypertexts allows relationships between the various components to be established, making it easier to reflect and read, and full accessibility, especially when it comes to web portfolios (Baret, 2004).
