When I first started working inthe field of Information and communications Technology (ICT) in education, Iwas fascinated by collaborative learning that took place through socialnetworking.  The learning was dynamic in anon-formal environment and derived from other learners.    In an attempt to understand the role oftechnology in all this process, I came across George Siemen’s (2003) Connectivismor distributed learning theory, which is also termed as “a learning theory for the Digital age”. It is based on the tenet thatlearning takes place through various information sources or nodes (both humanas well as non-human) in the digital network and nobody actually owns theknowledge.  Connectivist teaching-learningmodel is based not only on technology as the external construct but alsoencompasses neural and conceptive processes that take place within theindividual.

  Considering the current scenario wherelearning is no longer limited to an individual but also outside of us, in ashared environment through shared resources. The emphasis is communication and interactionand it is about learning different things.  The knowledge is formed, created by diverselearners who also share this knowledge through personal or public learning networks.The gradual disappearance of barriers to user-generated content has providedimpetus to “create, collaborate and share with relative ease”.   Thisdemocratic vision of learning & sharing is one of the foundation pillars ofOpen and Free learning resources (watch the video – The networked Student http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA).

The application of the theory ofconnectivist teaching and learning strategies has been in existence even beforethe emergence of the formal theory.  Connectivismwas developed to incorporate the emergence of digital learning environment asall the established theories did not pay adequate attention to the technologycomponent.

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