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In this TEDx talk by George Siemens he discusses connections. He begins to discuss this through his own personal background. He pushes inherently through his talk for a change in education. He pushes that the importance of education is connectedness and implies that education currently is inhibiting this connectedness. He says that many platforms for students to be connected are often locked down which I can also say I have found to be true. He parts the talk that he believes the primary task of education is connectedness and that we need to collapse education down to this to cause our students to become better members of society.

Great resource! I like his comment that transparency makes us all instructors and the concept of bringing it all down to connections and connectedness.

I think Tim said it best up there... it's best to get information from a key contributor to connectivism. We cannot expect our students not to connect. We are lucky to be where we are in education right now.

The authors postulate that within connectivist communities, the roles that people take (lurker, leader, expert, etc.) have as much or more to do with personality traits than the desire for engagement or ability levels of the participant. They use massive open open courses (MOOCs) as a testing ground and Personality and Self-determination theory as the prisms through which to view learner interactions within these communities.

This article begins by defining constructivism as the principle that all learning starts with a connection, be it neural, conceptual, or social, and that learning is the ability to construct and traverse connections. The authors acknowledge that it is widely recognized idea but not yet accepted as a formal learning theory. The paper focuses on four key principles for learning that exist within connectivism: autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. The authors also examine different theories regarding personality and self-determination and look at how these affect the individual's experience within connectivism.

Here, the author describes connectivism as the proposed learning theory for a digital age and is "based on the principle that all learning starts with a connection." Additionally, "learning in connectivism terms is a network phenomenon" and strongly emphasizes learners making connections. The concept of autonomy is also discussed in depth.

This study evaluated the CoPs in State Farm Insurance to study various variables and their impact on the effectivenss of CoPs. SOme of the varialbes include level of trust among members, connectedness, member committment, community leadership strength, perceived impact on job performance, and perceived community effetiveness.

This article by Stephen Downes provides a great insight into what an effective PLN looks like and how it functions. I enjoyed reading about his second stage of PLNs, which is the "personal learning environment." This idea is presented as the evolution of PLNs due to technology and connectivism in the classroom.

This article by Stephen Downes gives a definition of a community of practice and then discusses PLE's moving into networks and the characteristics of a learning network: diversity, autonomy connectedness and openness.

As I was relatively unfamiliar with learning networks before this course, I wanted to find resources that showed me what they looked like and examples of how they can be used. This article introduces the importance of using digital tools effectively and empower ourselves to gain the knowledge the web offers. The author states that "Learning therefore evolves from being a transfer of content and knowledge to the production of content and knowledge". Working in a network, PLE or communities of practice allow learners to be creative about information and knowledge, instead of just consuming information and knowledge. The article highlights the key benefits of a PLN: diversity, autonomy, connectedness, and openness.

This interesting article focuses on four key principles of learning in technology including; autonomy, connectedness, diversity and openness. The authors emphasize the importance of how individual personalities shape PLE and engage or alter the nature of the community.

Authors discuss advantages of personal learning environments in facilitating collaboration and fostering learner control. PLEs are facilitated by technology, networking, and self-regulation by learners. Open network learning environments from instructors allow PLEs to form. Focus of PLE is not information consumption, but information creation and participation. Authors relate PLE and ONLE to the theory of connectivism and discuss various applications and limitations.

Fantastic quote: "Educators perceive the instructional value of integrating Web 2.0 tools include autonomy, diversity, openness, and connectedness (van Harmelen, 2006); yet, they find multiple technologies daunting, which may affect their attitudes toward online learning. The integration of multiple Web 2.0 tools has created frustration among educators and students because they lack knowledge of the tools (Lee, Miller, & Newnham, 2008), difficulty learn- ing different tools (Weller, 2007), conducting multiple authentications (Suess & Morooney, 2009), visiting multiple sites for different tools, etc. This phenomenon results from a lack of understanding of the social networking learning paradigm and inappropriate integration." This article describes the role of Personalized Learning Environments (PLEs) and how Open Network Learning Environments (ONLEs) are instrumental for creating a PLE. The authors indicate that connectivism is a key underlying principle for developing such a PLE--seeking connections to learners and sources of information. They cite Siemens ("the pipe is more important than the content in the pipe"), which surprised me, as I read that comment from Siemens as hyperbolic. Practical advice for creating your own PLE are also incorporated, as well as examples of how to work and learn within a PLE. The authors suggest that PLEs (operating through ONLEs) disrupt LMSs in the same way that technology disrupts learning in general. Interesting analogy.

In this video, George Siemens lectures on connectivism and its importance in education. Current education structures do not provide meaningful learning. Connectivism is a way of learning that is interactive, participatory, and under an individual's control. The social learning is a method of "connectedness" that provides deeper connections with learning strengths.

"The formal learning process is irrelevant." One example he gives of this is that we don't know our students well enough to personalize the process to them. He says we force content on them without taking them into consideration. I disagree. Students tell you what they want to learn by declaring a major or signing up for a class. I agree that the system could be better, but he goes a bit too far.

What a great speaker! Siemens' speech is so thought provoking. It is important to know our children before we teach them.

This article discusses the four principles of learning: autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. It also investigates how these principles and the theory of connectivism have been tested through MOOCs - massive open online courses.

@Ahallteacher Great share! Interesting to read how autonomy, diversity, connectedness, and openness appear in MOOCs.

Great article Allison! I like how it discusses MOOCs! I haven't seen many articles that have brought those up specifically and how those types of technology have been considered "testing ground".

I really connect to theory through hearing about practice. In this article by Tom Whitby for Edutopia, he shares 6 different stories from 6 different educators who have begun to engage with online professional learning networks. I connected to this article because I had the same path as many of these educators. Whether it was the teacher who heard someone at a conference or the 29 year veteran who found herself in a 1:1 MacBook class, they all began peripherally and then developed into active participants in their online PLNs. This article is a pretty good setup for our upcoming adventures.

It was interesting to see most of their stories had to do with Twitter. I have resisted Twitter for so long because I do not understand it at all! Guess it's time to learn.

Reading personal stories from teachers really helps me see how educators are using Twitter, and other technologies, in the classroom. I appreciated reading the variety of ways these teachers use Twitter to communicate with students and connect with other educators professionally. I'm beginning to see the value of Twitter as a professional network builder!

This post explains very clearly what the purpose of connectivism is and why it is critical to student learning. It explains 6 things educators should do with their students and how to encourage them to explore and connect with ideas. At the end it provides a few examples of tools readily available to use in connecting people and technology.

This article states the knowledge exists "through the variety of connections established amongst students, instructors, and technologies." It gives 6 skills that connectivist educators need and examples of networks and tools.

Great article! I have been very intrigued about connectivism since I heard about it in my learning theories class. This article gives good reasoning behind connectivism as well as a few ideas for how to incorporate it.

This article describes how the connectivism of social and technological networks has changed the role of the teacher. The author maintains that the connectedness students have with information at any given time or place means the teacher does not need to serve the role of the only expert in the students' lives. Several roles that the author believes teachers should play in such connected learning situations are described.

This blog post focuses on the role of the teacher in a connectivist driven teaching paradigm. The author suggests that the role of the teacher must shift from "controlling" learning to "influencing" learning. He suggests seven roles teachers must play in networked learning environments: amplifying, curating, wayfinding and socially-driven sensemaking, aggregating, filtering, modelling, and persistent presence.

I really like that it defines the role of the instructor. It is moving away from some of the earlier educational theories were the instructor was simply a subject matter expert. As an instructor we are moving more to not just telling but showing the information and where to get the information to enhance the learning.

I think what makes this study interesting is the fact that the researchers explored how communication and learning develop in an informal environment like a social network and how that communication can be transferred to the workplace, specifically, professional development. The study references CEO's who have blogs and discusses the idea that blogs can enhance the performance analysis process. The question that it poses is founded in Connectivism in that it attempts to "investigate the relationship between learning and connectedness among members of a social networking site, and to explore qualitatively how members perceive the transfer of learning from the social networking site to their workplace practices and professional development."

This video shows George Siemens describing connectivism in a conference setting. He describes the difference between the traditional systems of learning our students participate in where they hear and repeat content and what he terms a "meaningful" learning experience.

This is a YouTube video of George Siemens discussing his ideas about networks, connections, and social learning. Siemens suggests we should, "Emphasize connections... and not networks." If we wish to understand learning we need to understand how connections form, and why.

Christopher Hoadley defines communities of practice, explains underlying theories of CoPs, compares CoPs to other types of learning communities, and discusses the use of technology in the support and development of CoPs.

This chapter dives deep into communities of practice. It begins with an overview of the history of CoPs and discusses theoretical underpinnings the concept is based on. The author explores CoPs in relation to other types of learning and related technology.

In this resource, Christopher Hoadley helps to define community of practice with two approaches. The first approach to the definition is what he calls the "feature-based definition" and the other approach is the "process-based" definition. He attributes these definitions based on Lave and Wenger's book on situated learning. This resource provides a good starting point to understanding what CoP is and the theoretical approach it involves.

SUMMARY: This page found on the Education 2020 Wiki details Connectivism theory and provides resources that help clarify the unique components of this theory compared to others. I found myself exploring the site more deeply and I appreciated the vast amounts of resources and clarifications available on this wiki. Feel free to get lost in it too!

This is a neat little article on connectivism. The best part is that it has a video contained within it by George Siemens that really helps you understand what this idea is getting at.

Connectivism is learning for the digital age. This article does a great job at explaining the principles of connectivism."Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements - not entirely under the control of the individual."

This website houses a wealth of information on PLNs. Included are a collection of research papers, presentations, podcast, and otherresources on Professional Learning Networks provided by Torrey Trust, Ph.D., Jeffrey Carpent, Ph.D., and Dan Krutka, Ph.D.

In this video discussion on open social learning, connectivism theorist, George Siemens discusses transparency and openness in connected learning. He emphasizes the importance of the actual connections that learners are permitted to make over the networks themselves. He asks a thought-provoking question, "Do we have the most diverse opportunities at the at the hands of our students to connect with individuals, ideas, and thinkers that they're interested in?" He points out that transparency makes our learning visual to others, and because of this, new opportunities and experiences are made possible through connections.

I love the question he asks. We might as well embrace the tools that we have to improve the amount of opportunities there are for students and teachers. I love that these networks allow us to show that our process is working. When I've learned something, especially in these MET courses, I love that everyone else can see it and perhaps weigh in with their opinions.

Stephen Downes, in Learning Networks in Practice, details a concise history of personal learning environments, including communities of practice. He also ties this evolution in thought and practice to Web 2.0. He emphasizes creation, not consumption, as well as context, not class. Learning becomes more informal and multi-disciplinary. Downes acknowledges that the "theory" of PLEs can't specify an organization that will facilitate learning better than any other organization. Instead, he presents 4 parts of a 'semantic principle'. These parts will support personal learning environments and, in his opinion, will be more effective for learning: diversity, autonomy, connectedness and openness.

Siemens is known for his theory of Connectivism. In his TedTalk, he opens with his frustration in the solutions for today's problems in education. George shares his limited view and connectedness when growing up in Mexico. He later states "our focus in education should be to collapse tot he point of a connection." George is worried about society's views of raising and teaching to the corporate setting, rather than being vital contributors to society, all in a connected way.