Mind Map Reflection

In reflection to my posted mind map, I believe that my digital network resources have only expanded over the past few years. It has been 5 years since I last participated in a traditional classroom learning experience. Previously, I would mostly use the internet as a director of where to find hard copy material. Today, I'm comfortable using electronic resources as my main source of information. I frequently incorporate ebooks, scholarly journals, blogs, and websites as suppliers for my information needs. My personal computers (desktop and laptop) would be my primary mediums, however alternative options such as: my cell phone, DVD player, TV, and mp3 player are readily available. I recently discovered that my wireless DVD player can connect to YouTube. Together with my TV, I now have another access point to tutorials or the latest news updates.

My computer(s) would the best tool to facilitate my learning. In addition to gathering information it is the best platform to organize and process my findings. On my computer I can view, edit, and print materials. The ability to manipulate and organize information is indispensable. I can open and edit a variety of sources from pdf's to Word documents and from audio to video. I have greatly enjoyed the mind mapping software from webspiration. It has allowed me greater organization and understanding of the connectivity of my research and thoughts. When I search a topic such as behaviorism, I can organize multiple definitions, pros and cons, influencing factors, and applications. As I collect data, I can make connections of similarity or difference with other theories. I still would use any printed text or colleague (direct or indirect, via blog posting or group discussion) as a source.

With so many options to gather information from I can't agree more that the "ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital" (Review of Connectivism). There are so many biased perspectives on any single issue, it can be more time consuming to sift through and find what is solid and legit information. A Google search on any single, simple topic will yield millions of results (Learning Theory > 32 million hits). There's just an over-abundance of information available for our disposal (Connectivism). In all learning there will always be some degree of connectivism, it's dynamic and will vary from person to person in how it is attained, processed, and retained.