Mind Mapping my Connections

In reflection to my mind map posted earlier this week I can honestly say that my network resources have expanded immensely over the past few months to a year. By using technology frequently I am able to see how valuable of a learning resource it is. I see a difference at work between classroom and online trainings, the latter being the preferred. Being able to recognize this allows me to brainstorm ways to effective design materials based off my eLearning experiences.

The digital tools I use to "live" day to day are my BlackBerry, work laptop, personal laptop, TV and ipod. I must say it was difficult for me to choose the best platform to facilitate learning for me. Favorite means of information would have to be my phone simply because of the convenience and access to almost anything I would need a computer to do. As for best it would have to be my newest addition, the macbook. I am able to manipulate and organize information with not just the programs readily available on my desktop, but also with programs available on the web like webspiration.

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 end up more time consuming to sift through and find what is reliable and accurate information. A Google search on a single topic can yield millions of results (Learning Theory > 32 million hits). There is just an incredible amount of information at our disposal (Connectivism). In all learning there will always be some degree of connectivism, it is dynamic and will vary from person to person in how it is attained, processed, and retained.