A Learner is like a spider

After reading the Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and watching the video "the network is the learning", the first thing that can be compared to a learner popped in my head was a spider.

As mentioned in Siemen's video, the network is the learning. In that sense, learners are like spiders working on their webs that connects to others and other sources. Learning is no longer an isolated activity thanks to the technologies we developed. Learning is continuous and associated with many other aspects. Nowadays, learners are facing the challenge of getting the ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts.


Siemens G. claims that Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual. A spider can sense everything through its web. Same with a learner who stays current by many different ways: networking, friends/family, the internet, books/journals, etc. A spider without a web can not survive. A learner without sources to stay current can't learn.