Siemens' and Downes' Connectivism

Pros

• Connectivism shifts the role of instructional designer from a centralized teacher to each individual learner.  It is the responsibility of the learner to create their own learning experience.  
• The theory embraces individual perspectives and diversity of opinions, theoretically providing for no hierarchy in the value of shared knowledge.
• Connectivism seems to integrate advances in neuroscience and learning.
• It takes into account the behaviors of learners in the "digital age" in an explicit way that is absent in other theories.

Cons

• Critics (such as Verhagen in his article Connectivism: A New Learning Theory?) argue that Connectivism is a pedagogical approach rather than a learning theory
• If a Connectivist learning network is decentralized and learners choose their own learning path, how do you create a centralized learning outcome?  If a centralized outcome is not important, how do you assess learning or plan instruction?
• Connectivism is still in the process of being defined.  As a result the theory can appear vague.
• It is unclear how educators who design instruction around this theory would address content-specific requirements of the current standardized testing system.