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A K-12 district, the Tri-Creek School Corp., has implemented a one-to-one laptop initiative for middle and high school students, allowing them to use social media for their school work. They are using Edmodo and Google Apps to submit assignments, leave notes for teachers, ask questions, and comment on each other's work.

Real estate repository of property information, tips & tricks, as well as moving information compiled for buyers and sellers in a culminating Pinterest page.

Interesting read on how to use Social Media to advance online training programs. Excellent resources on how to improve training systems through social media.

Very cool! I never thought of this as a community of practice. I use this everyday for conferencing with my colleges. We come together through this technology to share resources, plan and organize, and to develop strategies. So, of course this is a great example. Thank you for sharing!

Professional development for real estate agents housed within the LinkedIn social network allowing agents to interact with other professionals from around the country and around the world in the exchange of new tools and information.

This article describes six creative, innovative art projects students can complete using Twitter. Students can explore how to combine content from various sources and turn words into visuals through these projects. #EdTechSN

For this activity, students create a Facebook profile for a character in a novel. This project connects social media that students are so familiar with to academic activities such as understanding character development in literature.

Students at Burton High School in San Francisco worked on a project where they Tweeted ideas regarding a current, topical issue. Student involvement and engagement was increased due to the use of social media, and students can participate in discussions with classmates and the teacher on the given topic.

Home flipping resource blog bringing together agents and investors for information and discussion on successful flipping strategies.

Coursera is a place where people addicted to online learning can get a fix. I think by default all of their courses are free. I get to take courses taught by professors I may never meet who teach at universities I may never be admitted to as a student, so it is in many ways an honor to have access to the information in the courses. I have yet to actually finish a Coursera course, but they don't seem to mind. It is someplace you can go for the joy of learning without the anxiety that comes with accountability.

I really am stuck on how these words can almost look the same and yet they are supposed to be different. Cloudhead, the author, simplifies the concepts in a way that lets them make sense. I am starting to see the beauty in these terms because he does an excellent job of providing examples I can understand and relate to. If you are also stuck on the "C" words, this seemingly simplistic explanation may help you, too.

To make the most out of this link, you'll want to explore beyond the first page because the entire website is a product. This website seems to stress the importance of doing cooperative learning that has much more structure than collaborative learning. In emphasizing the role structure plays in group dynamics, I am starting to see the differences between these "C" words more clearly.

Melissa, You are right, going into the links made this post even more interesting. I found value in the difference between this theory and other learning techniques being the fact that students work together. I love this! When my students work together they learn so much more. Kids have a way of explaining things to each other that is amazing. I found the link about using it in conjunction with other techniques a little vague. Maybe I should sign up for the workshop. I know I could use the information. Thanks for sharing.

This is an amazing resource! The videos and transcripts in the demonstration section are really good referents to define what specific behaviors we're looking for in terms of student collaboration. The exploration creates some guidance about how to look at and discuss the topics - I can totally imagine using this resource to work with a group of teachers on designing lessons that take advantage of cooperative groups.

SUMMARY: This creative explanation of the Connectivist theory makes the changing role of the student and teacher so clear. A teacher evolves into "a learning architect, modeler, learning concierge, connected learning incubator, network sherpa, synthesizer, and change agent." Wow!

SUMMARY: Interplay between student and teacher in which each characterizes an LMS and PLE respectfully. In the end, the LMS can't stop himself from evolving into a PLE, similar to what we are starting to see in the "real world." This one really helped me see the distinction between the two systems.

This article is helping me see how if I were to create a Venn diagram of these two concepts, there would be some overlap. Keep in mind, the article was crafted in 1996, which I think adds strength to it because it is not clouded with current conventional ways of communication. I can see the points Panitz brings out where cooperative learning is much like how I was taught to teach science. We have groups, most likely created by me, and each member of the group plays a role. In more recent years (like the last 15 or so), there has been more of a push for inquiry which emphasizes putting control in the students' hands. Let the students decide the outcome (collaborative) as opposed to the teacher knowing what the outcome will be (cooperative). In my later years of teaching I was striving toward bringing in as much inquiry as possible, but even in 2010 I found students still molded into vessels who thought the job of the teacher was to fill them.

This is a great app I use with my astronomy class to learn about stars, constellations, and planets. It allows you to see where the constellations are in the sky and what celestial objects you can see on any given night from where you are.

A really cool app for the iphone and ipad that will do video analysis for motion problems in physics.

This study looked at how Twitter-using educators were using Twitter to collaborate, network, or engage in professional development

Molly, I really enjoyed this article. It is especially relevant with this course. Honestly, I could never image using Twitter as any kind of professional resource, but after reading this and using Twitter for this class and one other, I can see how it would benefit educator to collaborate. It is also very easy to use. Thank you for sharing this article!

Hi Molly, This is very appropriate for our class, especially since we are using Twitter to share articles and resources with each other - - in our own personal learning environment. I focused on the discussion portion of this article. I noticed that for educators, personal learning networks are important and useful for professional development. It was interesting that the study found greater use in high school environments (maybe because we are influenced by our students?). The benefits of Twitter and professional development, is that one can access and participate at any time and any location - - it is self-directed! I would be interested in finding out how to promote this type of professional development within a school. What type of training is needed for educators to get started? How would one track satisfaction and learning?

According to the author, Wenger, a community of practice is distinguished by three features: domain, community, and practice. The domain is a shared interest. The community is the social part, including discussion and sharing. The practice is developing resources and collaborative tools. Example activities are provided along with social structures that are utilizing communities of practice.

The article focuses on the reasoning and theory, examples, and implementation of communities of practice, specifically in special education. Short and long-term advantages are discussed.

Hanna, very thorough resource! I like how you were able to find something content specific. Page 31 I found useful - the article listed tips for the facilitators so that participants feel more comfortable sharing ideas.