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Gretel Patch

Motivation Design - 1 views

  • One of the goals of motivational design is to prepare a set of motivational tactics that are in alignment with learners’ motivational needs and are complimentary with the overall instructional plan
  • s. One of the goals of motivational design is to prepare a set of motivational tactics that are in alignment with learners’ motivational needs and are complimentary with the overall instructional plan
  • s. One of the goals of motivational design is to prepare a set of motivational tactics that are in alignment with learners’ motivational needs and are complimentary with the overall instructional plan
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  • One of the goals of motivational design is to prepare a set of motivational tactics that are in alignment with learners’ motivational needs and are complimentary with the overall instructional plan
  • One of the goals of motivational design is to prepare a set of motivational tactics that are in alignment with learners’ motivational needs and are complimentary with the overall instructional plan
  • t to balance, I knew a teacher who was very good at presenting material in a manner that reduced the learners’ anxieties and made them feel comfortable in the classroom
  • t to balance, I knew a teacher who was very good at presenting material in a manner that reduced the learners’ anxieties and made them feel comfortable in the classroom
Susan Weitzman-Trifman

Write a Letter to the Future - 1 views

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    This site allows users to write a letter to themselves, to be delivered in the future. Nice idea for goal setting at the beginning of a year (or semester or unit), to be sent back to students when the time period is over to see if they met their goals! Note: I would avoid having students visit the public section of this site, as letters there may be inappropriate.
Nona Barker

Enabling learning for all through adaptable personal learning environments - 0 views

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    Summary: This article focuses on a CoP who have come together to create and Adaptable Personal Learning Environment for people with disabilities. Their goal is to create a virtual learning environment that a user can adapt to meet his or her own unique needs. By using an existing system (Portland VLE) and updating it they will be able to improve access. Their basic goal is to establish access for all (in their region). The other long term goal is to allow users to create their own PLE which will enable to them to create their own learning network. I am not sure if this article meets the criteria set out by our instructor but I liked the idea that people are working together to create a technological interface that will bring not only technology access to people with disabilities but will also allow them to create a personal learning environment and / or learning network!
Lisa Bradshaw

Advancing Education and Talent Development in Colorado Higher Education - 1 views

Anyone else in Colorado? This recent Colorado Commission on Higher Education report revisits goals set in 2012 with an update on how the state has progressed on the four goals, despite the challeng...

Colorado higher education Learning teaching goals

started by Lisa Bradshaw on 09 Jun 18 no follow-up yet
Kelly Kenney

Website #6- Communities of Practice - 6 views

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    This blog describes some differences between social learning and communities of practice. While it is written by an instructional designer in the corporate sector, many of the details and examples are still applicable to education.
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    The author's viewpoint on the learner interaction with content was interesting. Social learning is me and COPs are us.
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    This article makes the reader think. Janet Clarey poses the question "are social learning and communities of practice the same thing?" Her idea is that they are not. She makes the distinction between them as social learning is taking in all information from social settings. It cannot be tracked as far as acquisition of knowledge. Communities of practice focus on sharing and collaboration of information and can be tracked.
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    It's an interesting article. I think social learning might be part of a community of practice - I certainly use it that way. I use my professional network to learn and question and explore, much like Clarey describes. But it's within my community of practice, because I also share, invite, and collaborate as part of the process. I believe there is little dialogue in life that can be classified as cleanly as Clarey defines these terms - I think we fluidly move from one position to another.
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    This article compares and contrasts "social learning" and "CoPs." The major difference in my eyes has to do with the formality of the latter. CoPs aim to track the conversations and bring like-minded people with similar goals together to grow alongside each other. I appreciate this article as it gave me a clearer vision of CoPs.
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    This post's author discusses the differences between Social Learning (where learning is generally unorganized and done by observing, talking, questioning and learning is often not formal or unintenational) and Communities of Practice where learning is more intentional and happens between communities of individuals with common interests.
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    This post aims to distinguish between social learning and communities of practice. It offers an interesting take on the two sides. What I really got most out of it was actually from the first comment from another reader who offers an amazing example of a community of practice. The author of the comment uses Professional Chefs as an example of a community of practice which was one of the best real world and simple to understand explanations I have seen. "My favorite example of a community of practice is professional chefs. They are a community in every sense of the word even though no one maintains a membership list. Chefs identify with one another. They spend time together. They share their knowledge and swap secrets with one another. They enrich the practice of the profession. They nurture people entering the professional and guide their professional development. They set and maintain standards. You can even spot them by the clothes they wear. What brings them together is the "practice." That's terrible term, for it's subject to misinterpretation. We're talking practice as in legal practice or medical practice, not as in piano practice or football practice." Their goal is not making profits; it's furthering the practice.
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    CoPs are becoming much more popular with the use of technology. Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave are two of the most respected names when it comes to communities of practice. CoPs are groups that are focused on collaboration of common interests while having a purpose and motivation.
carissakane

CC0212Policy.pdf - 10 views

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    This article describes the features in communities of practice and provides a real life example of how it is used and what it looks like in an educational setting. The article also shows how communities of practice can be extended through the use of new technologies.
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    In the opening section it describes the community of practice as being different from the typical teacher development model because it reaches "beyond individuals and toward alignment". This confused me at first, because it seemed to oppose the other information about communities of practice. I had seen a community of practice as a way for individuals to find what they need. However, as I read on, I realized that it was referring to the fact that teachers are now linked to one another and can work together to find coherence and best practices.
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    As an English teacher I can see the value of the example in this brief. The English department gets together and reflects on similar commenting styles for students to revise papers. They study which commenting helped the best after students turned in their revised copies. My English department just had to do this type of collaboration, but we were analyzing introduction paragraphs written by students and how we could improve teaching this. Unfortunately it was one of those times that were "mandated from the top down" as the brief mentions. Our collaboration was not voluntary and our department is not cohesive. I liked this idea of creating a community of practice with my department, but I am not sure how to get everyone on board Think of the power a CoP would make if it were campus wide, cross-curricular.
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    A research brief produced by the National Council of Teachers of English, this publication focuses on three aspects of a successful community of practice: mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire. Although the phrasing is different, the central concepts are similar to other reports on this topic. It does, however, also break down the needs of institutional support as a necessary condition for these communities to thrive.
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    The national Council of Teachers of English reviewed Communities of Practice as they worked to develop better feedback for student writing. Successful Communities of Practice have been shown to be beneficial provided that specific characteristics are in place, including a common goal. Both face to face CoPs and online CoPs need these specific elements. What sets communities of practice apart from other professional development models is their reach beyond individuals and toward alignment
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    I found this article or brief by the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) helpful in that it gave context to how teaching organizations view of the communities practice theory. The article paints a picture of how schools try to use the theory as a framework for collaboration. I appreciated how it presented the goals of COPs in schools with some possible pitfalls. The main takeaway being that COPs are less successful when they are implemented "from the top down". It still drives home the reality however that COPs do need an organizational structure and good leadership, but that connections and shared vision are still the cornerstones of COP's. The article was published in 2011 and appears to be preparing it's readers for the wave of new media. It references blogs as emerging COPs and drives home point that online communities, while not face-to-face, still need strong leadership and organizational structure to be successful. It ends by providing questions to consider when trying to form COPs.
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    Re: The main takeaway is that COPs are less successful when they are implemented "from the top down". I agree with this statement, The most successful CoP that I have been involved in were initiated within the district, but the administration was not overseeing the work being done. This freedom allowed for a more relaxed and teacher supported group. The department was kept in close communication, however, as some time to open our community funds were necessary and therefore it was important to have an advocate.
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    This article really captivated me, especially how it started with the vignette about the English teachers collaborating over how to mark their students' papers. I am an English faculty at a university and I have sat through collaborations on such things. I appreciated how such a simple paragraph on this collaboration could embody the three tenets of communities of practice.
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    The National Council of Teachers of English wrote this briefing with the intent of helping not just English teachers but any educator understand the alignment, implementation, and instructional support of a CoP. The comprehensive but short article is an easy read to get a basic outline of communities of practice.
Ilene Reed

Learning Communities - 5 views

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    Learning Forward notes that learning communities are those in which "Professional learning that increases educator effectiveness and results for all students occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment."
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    Hi Molly, This article gave a helpful overview of learning communities. I specifically found value in the section focusing on collective responsibility. Participation is key in learning communities and includes feedback, clear communication, collaboration, trust, shared focus, and accountability. Educators need to invest in their learning community and teach students how to utilize technologies in order to do so. Thanks for sharing, Hanna
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    Hi Molly - Another part that plays into the development of learning communities is the creation of policies to set formal accountability for student learning. This was the first resource that I have come across that mentions about policies, visions, and goals - you almost forget that still needs to be in place!
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    Greetings Molly, Thank you for sharing this article. I especially liked the video. In a perfect world all grades and subjects would be aligned. I think most schools attempt continual improvement by evaluating student data. I hope. I like the idea of owning students in such a way as to be responsible for all student learning. Good article.
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    Bookmarked from Molly on EdTech SN
Jenni Borg

(Assignment #2) 10. http://www.edudemic.com/2012/10/build-personal-learning-network/ - 3 views

This article helped to synthesize all of the other articles I read on PLNs. It states, "Personal Learning Networks are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This...

education technology resources tools EdTech543

started by Jenni Borg on 18 Jun 13 no follow-up yet
anonymous

Community of Practice Design Guide - 14 views

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    Defines CoP's and reinforces that CoP's focus on sharing knowledge and developing best practices. Identifies CoP's as a model for connecting people for learning, knowledge sharing, collaboration and organizational development. Provides great key questions for growth of a CoP.
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    Even though I am becoming more acclimated to the non-linear arrangements of websites and the Internet, in general, it is still nice to see a well formatted document that clearly lists its points and is somewhat old-fashioned in presenting more recently cultivated information. This is the type of arrangement I needed to help me visualize CoP's.
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    How to guide on using Communities of Practice in higher education.
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    A step by step guide for designing and cultivating CoPs from the Educause Library of free resources
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    I really enjoyed this article as it did provide a very clear distinction to a CoP and how they generate around a particular goal or common objectives. The one aspect of the article that I found really fascinating dealt with how to create a CoP and how it spoke of the cultivation of a CoP. It is not something that grows automatically, but must be intentional in nature. This requires the design, formalization of the community, and planning activities and core concepts for the CoP. It is not imperative that a CoP is fully structured from the beginning as the CoP will ultimately identfiy its main tenants over the period of growth.
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    This guide provides a practical interpretation of the theoretical underpinnings of communities of practice (CoPs) in higher education. The guide begins with a definition, review of the purpose of CoPs, as well as their lifecycle. The authors also outline the stages of development in a CoP. This section includes guiding questions and activities to help others facilitate the development process within their own CoPs. I found this resource to be helpful in visualizing the process of developing CoPs.
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    This source is set up differently than the others that I found. It is focused more on why communities are important, and how to build them. It also provides some good visuals that represent types of communities, how to grow communities, and different ways to grow and cultivate those relationships and communities.
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    This is a great guide from Educause on the "nuts and bolts" of establishing a PLN. This resource provides a step-by-step guide to establishing a CoP.
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    This article is really helpful since it gives practical there are some things you can do. My favorite is "Design." You can not just set up spaces and expect people to interact. You have to drive purpose and there has to be meaning there.
melpalmer4

Introduction to communities of practice | Wenger-Trayner - 22 views

  • Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.
    • nstringham
       
      Teacher Instagram is exactly this! We learn and grow from each other as we interact with each other.
  • Membership therefore implies a commitment to the domain,
  • he domain is not necessarily something recognized as “expertise” outside the community.
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  • members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information.
  • They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other; they care about their standing with each other.
  • ut members of a community of practice do not necessarily work together on a daily basis.
  • hey develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems
  • they have developed a set of stories and cases that have become a shared repertoire for their practice.
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    This page on the Wenger-Trayner website, there is an in-depth explanation of communities of practice as well as a brief history of its inception. I really appreciated the part of this site that gave examples for how to effectively use communities of practice (CoP). It was interesting to read myths about CoPs as well as to be provided with links to further reading on the topic. I also found it incredibly insightful that the site explained how CoPs are being used in a variety of forums, not only in education.
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    This article provides helpful information on the topic of communities of practice. I was also interested in seeing how CoP are used outside of education. I question whether CoP that develop with "cultivation" are as effective as those that are self-organizing.
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    This is a great resource for communities of practice. It breaks down the characteristics of a community of practice between the domain, the community, and the practice. This resource also provides a table of examples of what makes a good CoP. It is very helpful in understanding where CoPs are commonly used and how they can be beneficial. Very helpful resource when first learning about CoPs.
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    This resource is a basic overview of the concept of communities of practice. It discusses the background from which it was created, and gave some specific examples of COPs in the real world. The best portion dealt with how COPs are used in other areas aside from education. There are also some excellent links.
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    This page look at the definition of a community of practice and includes there critera that are essential: the domain, the community, and the practice.
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    As others have also suggested, this article gives a good overview of CoPs applicable to real world integration. For example, I tend to focus on the realm of current day educational CoPs at a school or district level. This article goes beyond that by providing examples of other forms of CoPs. One that struck my interest was the "tribe learning to survive" example. This definitely gives a broader perspective on the reach of CoPs, in that, they can be traced back to the primordial beginnings of human interaction.
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    This article, by Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Trayner in 2015, gives a wonderful introduction of what a community of practice is and why researchers and practitioners find them to be a valuable way of communicating and learning. You get a good perspective of what communities of practice looks like, where the concept comes from, and where the concept is being applied. Myths about communities of practice and suggested readings are also included.
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    What are CoPs? This article breaks down the terminology for Communities of Practice and explains what they are (and aren't). One common theme that appears throughout the article are the ideas of intention and implementation. CoPs are not just interest groups for casual entertainment. They are formed with intent and with the purpose of implementing ideas. Social media has removed the boundaries of who can form/join CoPs, and the sources of information are virtually endless.
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    This overview from 2015 is written by one of the anthropologists who coined this term when studying apprenticeships. It describes the 3 crucial characteristics: domain, community, and practice; its origin; its uses in a variety of settings; and refutes various myths about COP. A pdf is available.
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    This is a great overview of COPs. The author defines COP's and gives the three major characteristics: domain, community, & practice (and goes on to clearly define each of these). He explains the origins of COP's, describes them and gives examples of COP's today, addresses common myths of COP's and provides an influx of resources. A great site with a lot of valuable info!
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    This article outlines what communities of practice are and what they look like. It also describes how these communities are used in a variety of fields.
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    Wenger-Trayner give an overview of what constitutes a community of practice (CoP). It differentiate between a community and a CoP. Three features of CoP are given: domain, community, and practice. It is more than common interest; it involves interaction among practitioner who want to learn from each other. The article is helpful to understanding how to develop a PLN.
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    Often times grasping a new concept is difficult without examples to show what what a particular concept might look like. This article has a sub-head that reads: "What do communities of practice look like?" There are boxes with questions like "requests for information," "seeking experience," and "reusing assets." If you click on the plus/ minus sign on the boxes, you get taken to a short example.
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    In this fairly in-depth article, Etienne and Beverly Wenger- Trainer, focus on many different aspects of Communities of Practice. Some of the key elements they name regarding CoPs are: they are intentional, they can improve performance among members, the members have a shared domain of interest, the members have a commitment to the group, and the members build relationships that enable the to learn from each other. The 3 main element of a CoP are the domain, the community, and the practice.
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    Great share @MrsLieberman356! It's quite in-dept but chalk-ful of excellent information on CoPs and their objectives.
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    Thanks Joanna! When reading about CoPs myself, I love how they say that they're intentional. Through reading this article as well as others, I really see why that's an important piece to it!
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    According to this article, three characteristics are crucial in order for a community to be considered a "community of practice." A community of practice is not merely a club, it has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest. In pursuing their interest in their domain, members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. A community of practice is not merely a community of interest-people who like certain kinds of movies, for instance. Members of a community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared collection of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems -- a shared practice. http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
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    A brief overview and introduction of the concept and uses of communities of practice. This article shares theories and what it should look like instead of the "How" it should be done. They share the background of the concept and how it fits into the teaching environment.
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    This article gives a brief overview of the concept of communities of practice. Communities of Practice are groups that share a passion for what they do and share how they can do it better. The domain is a network of connections between people. The community is the activities and discussions share among the group. The practice is sharing the tips and tricks of how things work.
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    This delivers an overview of CoP's and discusses what a CoP would look like. It discusses the background and how it would fit in the learning environment.
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    This site breaks down what distinguishes Communities of Practice from communities.
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    This resource illustrates a CoP first, and then it uses this example to explain the components of CoPs: domain, community, and practice. It further provides examples fo what CoPs look like.
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    A great introduction into communities of practice. These communities require three things: commitment to the mission/goal, a community, and a shared role (or practice).
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    This website was created to explain CoP by the developers of the practice. The website explains what CoP is and what it looks like. The websites explains where CoP came from and how it can be applied in the workplace in different environments. The authors also diffuse any myths about the CoP so that others can understand what it is.
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    This article goes in depth on the three requirements for a CoP. It also goes through several examples of what a CoP looks like in various activities.
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    This article provides examples of where COP can exist!
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    I like how it emphasizes that the three components of COP are domain, community, and practice. You need each of these to have a successful COP. Thanks for sharing.
Dennis Large

Blogging Field Trips - 0 views

  • ust a few years ago, social networking meant little more to educators than the headache of determining whether to penalize students for inappropriate activities captured on Facebook or MySpace.
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    This is a great article about social networking in schools.
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    New Milford High School in New Jersey provides information for students through the school Facebook page, and students also use such social networking sites to blog about experiences, schools trips, and travels. Students also use Skype to connect with students from other states for various projects.
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    Provides the perspective of the administrator that use to block all the social media tools and his change in belief in using these free tools in order to connect with students and help further their learning in their classes.
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    http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/06/16/03networking.h03.html M. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Fla. Ms. Tolisano launched her "Around the World With 80 Schools" project with a goal to introduce her school's students to peers in countries around the globe. She built a social-networking site using Ning for teachers from all countries who wanted to participate. Tolisano sets up meetings between classes using Skype, students prepare a list of questions and chat with students in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Spain, among a long list of others.
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    New Milford High School in New Jesrsey has embraced the use of social media. One example of use had students blogging daily during a field trip to Europe to visit Holocaust sites.
Gretel Patch

Learning Theories and Instructional Strategies - The Foundations of Instructional Techn... - 0 views

  • Learning is how we acquire knowledge
  • goal of education, and the product of experience
  • ways in which technology can expand the limitations of a learners mind, while articulation and reflection are processes that can be performed by the learner to help incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge resulting in support of learning
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  • Cognition is about how our brain works or how our mind works
  • What to teach and how to teach
  • instruction as anything done for or with a learner or the learner’s environment to help them acquire new knowledge or learn. Some of those things will be very direct and some will be indirect
  • something one person does to help another person learn
  • theory is a hypothesis that describes, speculates, or defines a relationship between a set of facts or phenomena through a body of principles, policies, beliefs, or assumptions
  • more prescriptive. It clearly suggests steps you should follow in trying to support someone while learning. This does not appear to be a theory, but rather a strategy
  • dividing concepts into categories and hierarchies of ideas
  • A model is an example, description, or analogy that helps a person understand what is not directly observable
  • Instructional strategies structure instructional theories for direct application in the learning environment
  • They provide the instructor with a plan for implementation and are considered more prescriptive, yet flexible enough to accommodate the dynamics of any learning environment.
  • Creating learning communities is an intentional process of redesigning curriculum and bringing faculty and students together to create more coherent and collaborative learning environments.
  • -so that students have opportunities for deeper understanding and integration of the material they are learning, and more interaction with one another and their teachers as fellow participants in the learning enterprise”
  • students more control over their environment with the potential of leading to improved results and more efficient decision making practices.
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    Learning communities need to be intentional; students must form with each other deeper understandings; gives students more control over their learning environment
Gretel Patch

Philosophy of Education (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) - 0 views

  • While not all societies channel sufficient resources into support for educational activities and institutions, all at the very least acknowledge their centrality—and for good reasons
  • While not all societies channel sufficient resources into support for educational activities and institutions, all at the very least acknowledge their centrality—and for good reasons
  • While not all societies channel sufficient resources into support for educational activities and institutions, all at the very least acknowledge their centrality—and for good reasons
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  • While not all societies channel sufficient resources into support for educational activities and institutions, all at the very least acknowledge their centrality—and for good reasons
  • within a few years they can read, write, calculate, and act (at least often) in culturally-appropriate ways
  • education also serves as a social-sorting mechanism and undoubtedly has enormous impact on the economic fate of the individual.
  • education equips individuals with the skills and substantive knowledge that allows them to define and to pursue their own goals, and also allows them to participate in the life of their community as full-fledged, autonomous citizens
  • societal perspective, where the picture changes somewhat
  • groups depend for their continuing survival on educational processes, as do the larger societies and nation-states of which they are part
  • The great social importance of education is underscored, too, by the fact that when a society is shaken by a crisis, this often is taken as a sign of educational breakdown; education, and educators, become scapegoats.
  • education as transmission of knowledge versus education as the fostering of inquiry and reasoning skills that are conducive to the development of autonomy
  • the question of what this knowledge, and what these skills, ought to be
  • how learning is possible, and what is it to have learned something—two sets of issues that relate to the question of the capacities and potentialities that are present at birth, and also to the process (and stages) of human development and to what degree this process is flexible and hence can be influenced or manipulated
  • liberal education and vocational education
  • personal development or education for citizenship
  • distinction between educating versus teaching versus training versus indoctrination
  • education and maintenance of the class structure of society, and the issue of whether different classes or cultural groups can—justly—be given educational programs that differ in content or in aims
  • whether or not all children have a right to state-provided education
  • relation between education and social reform, centering upon whether education is essentially conservative, or whether it can be an (or, the) agent of social change
  • These features make the phenomena and problems of education of great interest to a wide range of socially-concerned intellectuals, who bring with them their own favored conceptual frameworks—concepts, theories and ideologies, methods of analysis and argumentation, metaphysical and other assumptions, criteria for selecting evidence that has relevance for the problems that they consider central, and the like.
  • for although education can occur in schools, so can mis-education (as Dewey pointed out), and many other things can take place there that are educationally orthogonal (such as the provision of free or subsidized lunches, or the development of social networks); and it also must be recognized that education can occur in the home, in libraries and museums, in churches and clubs, in solitary interaction with the public media, and the like
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    Education affects society as a whole; when society fails, education is often to blame; education is a social-sorting tool that affects societies and culture; social networks allow education to take place anywhere
Russell Nash

Communities of Practice - 4 views

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    Eckert looks at Communities of Practice (COP) to study situated language use. She finds that the COP is important because of "its focus on the fluidity of social space and the diversity of experience" (p. 3). She finds the COP to be complementary to the speech community and that feedback between the two approaches would provide the best process for analysis.
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    Communities of practice are groups of people who share the same job or a common interest in a subject. They come together to form a link to help each other perform in the world around them. This article talks about the value of communities of practice and how and why they work.
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    Eckert, P. (2006). Communities of practice. ELL, 2, 683-685. In this article, Mrs. Eckert does a great job in simplifying what a community of practice entails and means. She allows you to visualize the communities you belong to as well as other communities of practice you interact with or observe on a daily basis. One important distinction is that the author of this work is written from the sense of sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology and not from an educator's mind set. Irrespective of this standpoint, you can see direct correlations to where students understand themselves and what communities of practice your own student population may fall under. In order to understand the social development of communities of practice Mrs. Eckert does a good job in breaking down common cores that can emerge from memberships. The linguistic side she writes, "A white working class Italian-American woman does not develop her ways of speaking directly from the larger categorical working class, Italian American, and female, but from her day to day experience as a person who combines those three memberships. Her experience will be articulated by her participation in activities and communities of practice that are particular to her place in the social order."(Eckert, 2006) Building upon that theory, she discusses the importance of social space "Emma Moore's study of teenage girls in Northern England (Moore 2003) traced the gradual split of a group of somewhat rebellious "populars" as some of them emerged as the tougher "townies" in their ninth year. In the process, the vernacular speech patterns of the "townies" intensified in opposition to those of their more Conservative friends". (Eckert, 2006) While the article sheds more light on the development of speech patterns and dialects through the medium of communities, we can also see the definition in practice in which a collection of people gather together over a common interest and then orients to their new surrounding
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    This is just a basic definition of communities of practice. It is a very easy way to understand it.
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    Communities of practice (CoP) are created through a community of people who have common interests. In communities of practice, Eckert (2006) explains "a community of practice develops ways of doing things, views, values, power relations, and ways of talking" (p.1). CoP's have a way of providing a personal identity and a way of speaking within a CoP.
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    Communities of Practice: Eckert describes a community of practice (CoP) as a group of people who interact ongoing with a common goal or endeavor. Sometimes they come about by similar interests, the workplace, and education. She concludes that communities of practice are very powerful inside and outside the community.
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    Penelope Eckert discusses the value of a community of practice in linguistic studies, giving a definition for a community of practice and distinguishing it from a more conventional linguistic construct: speech communities. Communities of practice link broad social patterns with concrete, observable behavior in individuals. They emphasize individual experience over demographic generalities. They address dynamic, fringe effects within a community. They build on social constructivism as groups of people engage in active sense-making.
Melinda Mott

Connectivism as Learning Theory - 8 views

"They understand that the essential purpose of education and teaching is not to produce some set of core knowledge in a person, but rather to create the conditions in which a person can become an a...

theory Connectivism learning EDTECH543

Cassie Davenport

The End of Isolation - 11 views

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    The study in the paper was interesting as it looked at K-12 educators and their use of Twitter to research, relate and form PLNs. Twitter and other social medias have allowed teachers to form networks that are specific to their needs and wants in terms of their own professional growth. In the "End of Isolation" the researchers findings touched on the fact that "over 82% of the time, the educators in this study chose to follow other educators or content experts related to their field of teaching so they were able to create a personal learning network meaningful to their professional needs." Now I just need to work with teachers at my school site to help them realize the individualized professional potential!
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    Cassie- This is a really neat resource in which actual data has been accumulated and presented for teachers and their use of a social networking website. It was interesting to look at the numbers behind the ten educators that they chose and see them present some other general findings. I think the "Benefits" section towards the end of the article hits the goals of any social network precisely: 1) Access to Resources, 2)Supportive Relationships, 3)Increased Leadership Capacity, and 4)Development of a Professional Vision. IF you get into these tools to become a better educator, then I feel those are four visions that you set out to fill by utilizing the networking/technology.
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    This is a great resource to use to support the research behind using Twitter as an educator. I think the title of the article says it all. As the only social studies on my campus, I have learned to reach out to other teachers using social media. The end of the article brings up some interesting points regarding professional development and Twitter. Research says that teachers need more than just a "one stop shop" when it comes to any professional development, and that they need time to reflect, question, and practice. I would argue that Twitter allows for exactly that. Having a community of teachers to come back to in order to reflect on a teaching experience and/or ask for support provides a safe place to do just that.
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    Cassie, this was a very interesting research article that presented actual statistics and information on how teachers utilize social media, specifically Twitter. It was very informative and discussed the uses of twitter beyond just being a social outlet.
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    This was indeed an interesting research project. It was nice to see that there were so many collaborations that were spawned through Twitter connections. Most of the teachers said they were able to exchange information or resources at a professional level, but I was surprised by how many continued the conversation at a social level also.
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    I feel like this resource has a lot of valuable information. I am very interested in learning to use Twitter as a form of PLN using Twitter and this resource seems to show the value in that. In addition, I liked the research study approach to this article.
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    This study underscored the benefits of Twitter for the educational community. The article shared the advantages to new teachers in particular, where one participant stated it changed her vision and practice in the classroom. Very powerful!
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    Of all the resources I have read thus far on PLNs, this particular article forced me to think deeper and reconsider my interpretation of this concept. First of all, I found that the article provided a picture of the quality of interaction that can occur within Twitter. The data collected by researchers provides an in depth look at Twitter as a PLN - a feat that few other resources I have read have accomplished. By detailing the amount, quality, and type of interactions and connections, a tangible conception of a PLN emerges, even for someone who has little to no experience with Twitter. Of the 10 surveyed, a majority of their connections and tweets were professionally related. According to Nussbaum-Beach (video I posted), the difference between a PLN and a CoP is the familiarity of the people and the connection to an idea or problem. However, this study provides a different perception of a PLN that is largely professionally based with strong two-way connections. These conclusions made me wonder if it is possible for facets of a PLN on Twitter to transform into a CoP. Further, at what point can one argue that a PLN has successfully transform into a virtual CoP? Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent read!
Innovative Educator

Critical connections: personal learning environments and information literacy - 2 views

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    This article explains activity theory model as a good tool for understanding the interpretations and conceptualizations of personal learning environments. I like the graphical representation of the elements of PLE. I like the set of questions researchers leave at the end of the article; some of them I already had in mind.
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    This site provides a paper written about the connections between personal learning environments and information literacy. It outlines how information literacy intersects with the goals of personal learning environments.
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    Position learners in active, participatory roles with authentic learning opportunities. The research paper assignment has failed to keep up with modern literacies. A PLE is informal learning and learner driven. The learner makes choices.
joshgiudicelli

And You Thought it Could Not Be Done: Blogging in Math | Silvia Tolisano- Langwitc... - 0 views

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    This project has students examining statistics using blogs. For this project, the teacher gave her class data from a survey given to students from the year prior. The classes goal was to tell a story of the prior years class using statistics. Students had to find tools online to create visual representations of their data. They used their class blog as a hub for exchanging good resources and ideas. When they finished creating their visuals and summarizing the data, they finalized their work in a personal blog entry. Then students shared their blog posts and were given time to read and comment on other students interpretations. This a great project because it gives students an opportunity to write about math which doesn't happen as often as it should. It also gives students insight into all the different ways a set of data can be perceived. I like extending this idea of blogging to being a hub where students finalize and reflect on all of their projects during the year. As an English teacher, I value writing. I really value and chance I can to incorporate writing into my math class.
cynthiaott

Classrooms as Communities of Practice: Designing and Facilitating Learning in a Network... - 1 views

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    This article explores the classroom as a community of practice and examines the role classroom activities have in students' collaborative learning. The study uses a graduate-level public administration course as the case.
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    This article discusses the use of a university classroom as a community of practice. The survey showed how leadership played an important role in increasing collaboration among the students. Learning took place during engaging and reflecting class activities. Classroom activities that were designed for social interaction promoted learning. Collaboration occurred through a diverse set of ideas leading to a common goal. Students stated that including activities that encourage students to learn from their peers by connec classroom knowledge with real-world examples creating a community of practice.
susanbird

Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking s... - 23 views

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    In this entry by First Monday, the article explores personal learning networks as it relates to our professional careers. They explore a model of personal professional networking for creating a personal learning network, based on an investigation through a literature study, semi-structured interviews and a survey.
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    This discusses the three primary tasks involved in developing a successful personal learning network. It is not a "how-to" for developing a personal learning network, but rather investigates the key elements that must be in place.
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    I read this article awhile back and found it informative. The authors provide insight into how and why we build learning networks. The illustrations throughout the article are helpful as they summarize the narrative sections that describe the PLN model.
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    This article talks about the similarities and differences of professional networks and personal learning networks. It mentions that both networks have learning as the main goal in mind, and that sometimes professional networks have formed into personal learning networks because it is more detailed and defined that that individual and what they are interested in learning.
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    Understanding personal learning networks: Their structure, content and the networking skills needed to optimally use them. Authors Kamakshi Rajagopal, Desirée Joosten-ten Brinke, Dr. Jan Van Bruggen and Dr. Peter B. Sloep research how networking is a skill in supporting growth and learning. The result is a model of personal professional networking. Included in the article is the introduction, methodology, the learner as orchestrator of her personal learning network, the personal learning network model and discussion and conclusion - supporting personal networking and future research. The article begins with a definition of professional networking, "the act of making connections with other professionals, with or without the intention of making long-term ties with them." Throughout the article, the authors reference weak versus strong connections, but the definition of weak is not, not strong, rather, weak ties are sources for new information, knowledge and ideas. The personal learning network model is attitude - intention, activity and skill - building, maintaining, activating. The authors conclude with a suggestion that "further development of technology to support professionals better in identifying relevant others and in developing relations online as and when necessary."
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    This source seeks to identified the finite features that make a successful PLN. It highlights factors that influence the individual's ability to build, maintain, and activate the personalized networks. The nine factors include: organization of the contact, network of a contact, reputation, benevolence, like-mindedness, real potential for collaboration, real potential for learning, and trends in work environment. Several diagrams are offered to illustrate how the success of a personal learning network for the individual is governed by the attitude of the individual towards the network and the skills displayed or put into practice on a daily basis. The text also stresses the potential of PLNs as they encounter existing and news social networking technologies that make the connection process easier and allow for greater fluidity in build professional development through the network.
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    This article discusses personal learning networks (PLN). How they are structured, what content you need to add and what type of skills you need in order for them to be beneficial to you. The main questions answered is how beneficial they really are? Can you benefit from a PLN? EDTECH543 Personal Learning Network
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    A detailed article on PLN's, including the PLN model with descriptions of the three stages of Buiding, Maintaining, and Activating, with factors affecting decisions during each stage.
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    This article discusses the benefits of personal learning networks to help professionals learn and grow. The authors used a literature study, interviews, and survey to help determine the effectiveness of personal learning networks.
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    Article discussing structure and content of PLNs and the networking skills needed to use them.
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    The authors in this article first delve into the structure and purpose of networking for professionals, but then segues into how using those skills can be used in creating and utilizing a PLN. A visual to show how the PLN model looks also helps to explain the purpose and value in participating in a PLN. While the article is slightly outdated as it speaks to how technology can work best with a PLN, the basic structure and values of a PLN is well explained.
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    This source is focused on PLNs. It defines them as relationships and connections that we make with other professionals. It talks about the advantages of creating networks with other professionals, and that those connections can be both intentionally or unintentionally built. It also discusses ways that professionals can create and maintain their own PLNs.
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    This article looks deep into personal learning networks. It looks at learner as an orchestrator of PLN. It also looks into factors related to building, maintaining, and being active in personal learning networks.
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    The author explains the benefits of PLNs to help educators get new skills and improve they ones that they already have. He also discusses how the structures of PLN are and how you can get benefits from PLNs. The illustrations of this article help to understand the stages of the networking process and an example of a personal professional networking model.
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    This article presents in an interesting model for teachers to create personal learning networks. The portion about the "learner as orchestrator of a personal learning network" was particularly enlightening. While at times the article verges into "how-to" territory, the underlying theory discussed provides strong context and explanation of the mechanics involved.
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    This article defines a personal professional network as "an egocentric, personally and intentionally created network of people set up by an individual specifically in the context of her professional activities," and discusses how a PLN supports an individual's growth and learning. The authors examine the strengths and benefits of PLNs and analyze how PLNs are built, created, and maintained. Studies were conducted that resulted in the finding that there are three stages of the networking process with nine factors that influence personal professional networking, concluding in the creation of a visual model of the PLN.
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    I found out that both strong and weak connections make up a person's learning and that each are important for different reasons. Strong ties help you create knowledge and encourage active collaboration between you and someone else (or more than one someone.) Weak ties Give us access to new information that we wouldn't have without them. In this unit, I learned that knowledge in the future relies not as much on what we know ourselves as being able to connect with people who become receptacles of knowledge. We tap into them as needed, making it unnecessary for us to be an expert in everything. Weak ties allow us access to these sources when the need arises. I also liked this quote, because it explained a bit about how to build these PLNs. "Grabher and Ibert (2008) proposed a three-layered approach, consisting of a communality layer (strong ties), a sociality layer (weak ties) and a connectivity layer (very weak ties)."
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    @Buffy Nallion I found value referencing the Personal Learning Model. http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewFile/3559/3131/43945
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    This article explores research on professional networking resulting from a literature study, interviews, and a survey. It defines and shares the benefits of a PLN. It explores a model of personal learning networks where the learner is the builder of the network. Several factors for selecting connections are addressed including interests, influences, and attitudes of the learner. Three levels of connections are described including communality, sociality, and connectivity - moving from strong to weak connections. The article lists supporting technologies for PLNs.
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    This article uses a networking model to examine how professionals manage connections and which factors push them to connect for the purpose of learning. Existing PLN technological solutions tend to focus on enhancing communication, but it is unclear if the technology affects the attitude of professionals and their intentions for network to learn.
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    This article discusses professional learning networks, which is different than personal learning networks but similar in so many ways. Professional learning networks are targeted to support the individual's growth just like a personal learning network. This article presents a model of a professional network for creating a personal learning network.
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    The article captured my attention by opening with " professionals need to perform flexible and independently in ever-changing environments." This makes me think of preparing students to be college and career ready! The earlier we can engage and immerse students and ourselves in PLN the more ready we will be for the ever changing future! Thanks for sharing!
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    I was quite impressed with how intricate the model was with attitude converting to attention and then these governing activity and skill on the hierarchy. The part of this article that stood out to me the most was how the interviews supported that "this attitude emerges with people who a) experience the value of their network at first hand (Hamm, 2007) and/or people who b) reflect on their work and learning in a broader perspective than their day-to-day practice (Margaryan, et. al., 2009)." I appreciate how straightforward this article was in this model.
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    In this article, the author explains what a PLN is and how it can be used in other work environments outside of education. The authors of the article were looking at how PLNs support different professions. The article also discusses the factors that individuals use to build and create a PLN.
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