There has been an increasing number of criticisms of Connectivism of late, such as this one from Heli Nurmi, and also as listed here by George Siemens and here by Jenny Macness. There is a seeming presemption from several quarters that the course is not open and that "participants are obliged to follow Stephen's way to think," which is utterly ridiculous (one person said that my commitment to openness was a form of narrow-mindedness, because I was unwilling to tolerate any more closed alternatives). Anyhow, the point of this link is the (again mistaken) supposition that "connectivism is something that those two active men have developed based on their own experiences," which is, we are told, our "theory-in-use" and that "this concept comes from Schön's ideas about reflective practice." So again we get the patronizing pat on the head from the 'academics'. Anyhow, for those (like me) schooled in less continentalist and more positivist traditions, this review of Donald Schon, who follows in the systems-thinking footsteps of Stafford Beer, is a worthwhile read. Of course, so is Why the Failure of Systems Thinking Should Inform the Future of Design Thinking. To reiterate my main point from last week: if you attend only to what I speak or write, and not also to what I do, then you attend only to a very small part of what I am trying to say.
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