Psychopedagogical Predecessors of Connectivism as a New Paradigm of Learning

This article presents an historical overview of the main background theories of Connectivism, understood as a new parad igm of education. The object is to assess whether this new educational paradigm is an evolution from preceding schools or a revolutionary theory in the educationa l field. Psychoanalysis and the School of Gestalt are presented as the earliest ant ecedents, and the influence of Instructionism, Constructivism, Chaos Theory, Neuro science, Network Theory and Theory of Complex Adaptive Systems will be analysed , as they are considered direct predecessors. The article concludes by reflecting t he influences of several contemporary schools of educational theories such a s t e Theory of Conversation, the Actor-network theory, Network Learning, e-learning 2.0., Microlearning, Nanolearning, University 2.0., Curriculum 2.0., Pedagog y 2.0 and Navigationism. These schools complete the theoretical foundations on whi ch Connectivism is based. As a consequence, Connectivism is only the evolution of previous schools and not a theoretical revolution in pedagogy. Its ideas repre sent the adaptation of previous theories to the current society, where social and c ommunication technologies have changed the bases on which the knowledge and learni ng are based.. Key-words: Connectivism, Educational Paradigms, Social Netwo rk, New Technologies, e-Learning.