Impact: Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning, 1(1) – Strong & Hutchins (REFEREED) 53 Connectivism: a theory for learning in a world of growing complexity Kay E. Strong and Holly M. Hutchins Department of Human Development and Consumer Sciences University of Houston United States Abstract: Connectivism is an emergent theory that attempts to capture and reflect the complexity of learning in a world of proliferating information. The authors begin by reviewing the origins and underpinnings of connectivism, situating it within more established and accepted traditional learning theory and demonstrating how it both challenges and expands our understanding of how, why and when learning occurs. They then explore what organisations should do differently, how learning design should change and how organisational performance potential can be improved using the principles of connectivism. They offer practical examples of how these principles are applied in workplace learning and e-learning, and suggest specific instructional design strategies and activities in line with the principles. The article concludes with brief suggestions for future research. Keywords: connectivism; instructional design; workplace e-learning; learning theories Introduction Maturation of the Information Revolution is an unrelenting force driving change, what Austrian-American economist and social theorist Joseph Schumpeter (1942) popularised as waves of “creative destruction”, through our lives, our organisations and our institutions. The impact is being felt simultaneously on multiple fronts. Daily, we struggle to make sense of the deluge of raw data being transformed from information into usable knowledge. Nearly a decade ago an American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) study reported the half-life of knowledge to be at 18 months (Westmore, 2000). More recently, an IDC white paper (Gantz et al, 2008) calculated “that the digital universe – information that is either created, captured, or replicated in digital form – was 281 exabytes [ie 281 million gigabytes] in 2007. In 2011, the amount of digital information produced in the year should equal nearly 1,800 exabytes, or 10 times that produced in 2006… The compound annual growth rate between now and 2011 is expected to be almost 60%” (p. 3). Given such projections, expanded conceptualisations and methods for understanding how individuals consume and use information will be essential. Increasingly apparent is the link between the proliferation of information and the accelerating pace of social and economic development, shrinking distance and tightening interdependencies between disparate parts of our world, deepening complexity of problems, and rising uncertainty of solutions. The ability to pursue ‘business-as-usual’ as a modus operandi is becoming ever more difficult given the rapid change and constantly growing information needs of our society.