Our minds are finite. We have limitations on our ability to absorb and synthesize new information. Our memory does not always serve us well. We are not able to learn as much or as fast as we would like. Our minds seem rather unsuited for the challenges facing humanity. In my original article on connectivism, I suggested that learning can reside in non-human appliances. Our understanding of cognition is evolving on many level...in particular a) how knowledge and sensemaking happens in distributed, social spaces, and b) the utilization of technology in improving learning and sensemaking. The concept of augmented cognition attends to the latter: "he limitations of cognitive processes, particularly attention and working memory, place a ceiling on the capacity of the brain to process and store information. It is these processes that some researchers are aiming to enhance with augmented cognition, an emerging field which aims to use computational technology to enhance human performance in various tasks by overcoming the bottlenecks in processes such as attention and memory."
Posted by gsiemens at January 9, 2007 11:42 AM | TrackBack