Social Connectivism

This theory is the mother of all methods in my book.  I am a huge fan of cooperative learning.  I believe that the social aspect to learning is a lost application.  Students learn from other students.  Students compete with other students.  Students learn from those they are comfortable with more so than people they cannot relate to.

Technology is the basis for examining and practicing the true value of this learning theory.  The object of the theory is to have the students to build an artifact from scratch concerning the content or skill set that needs to be learned.  What makes this process even more effective is the social aspect of learning.  Students are participating in group projects which not only allow them to learn from the teacher, but also from their peers.  PowerPoint is an extremely popular tool for teaching in the Social Connectivism theory.  Students can use it to build a visual model to present their findings.  Excel, which is spreadsheet software, can be used to facilitate projects that will aid students in learning using this theory.  You are really only limited by your creativity.

Exceptional educators will choose to use this theory as a strategy to maximize learning in the classroom.  Cooperative learning is already effective, but by applying this particular learning strategy children are not only building skills by constructing artifacts, they are building relationships with one another as well as the instructor.  Therefore learning is maximized.