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This article discusses social networking theories and how to build effective e-learning practices in your teaching. EDTECH543 Connectivism

The authors look at connectivism through the lens of a literature review and a qualitative interview session with educators. With these sources the paper examines the pros and cons of connectivism including its limitations as a postulated theory. The conclusions drawn are that behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism fall short to fully explain modern learning realities, but that it is unclear if connectivism can be seen as the next stage of learning theory evolution for several reasons.

You are right about this being a "very detailed" definition of connectivism. I appreciate is the "conclusions and suggestions" section which challenges the labeling of connectivism as a learning theory as opposed to a pedagogical approach. I completed a research paper in EDTECH501 in regards to the relationship of connectivism and mastery learning, and never once did I read about this debate. To me, the fact that connectivism is more concerned with the process of learning rather than the end product proves that it is in fact a learning theory.

I really agree this article does a nice job contradicting the value or criteria of connectivism as a learning theory versus a pedagogical approach. Many of you discussed this above so I will leave it alone. The piece I wanted to comment on came at the end of the article when the author brought up the idea that older teachers take longer to learn the digital aspects and are less likely to engage in adapting the practice. Where younger teachers who grew up in this era are more apt to use and utilize web 2.0 tools in their teaching and engage in this model of teaching and learning themselves. I have to be honest that I saw some of these same things in our school when we went to a 1:1 iPad. Many of the younger and newer teachers jumped in and had very little learning curve in understanding what was happening. Where older teachers struggled or resisted the change. I would be interested in what others experiences were as well?

This article explores uses of Facebook, Twitter and other social media applications and how they are being used in education, specifically in health professions. EDTECH543 Connectivism

I really like this article, Jennifer! It's interesting how many similarities there are between the authors' IPE (interprofessional education) program and the personal learning networks (PLNs) we will be focusing on.

This is a link to a Pinterest Board regarding Personal Learning Networks by Eric Sheninger, I found the information very helpful and fun. I love looking at pictures to understand concepts! EDTECH543 Personal Learning Network

This is a Pinterest source used for PLNs that offers numerous resources for educators and personal learning networks.

I have yet to get into Pinterest, feel it might be a black hole for me. These are some great PLN pins. The images alone give you a good idea of ways you can build your PLE.

This list provides links to articles and webpages I found on the topics of Connectivism, Communities of Practice, and Personal Learning Environment. Some of the articles require a log-in with the student's Boise State network userid and password.

This articles discusses the use of communities of practice in South Africa and Europe. EDTECH543 Communities of Practice

This link provides 10 tips for using PLNs and 10 tips for establishing productive ones. Using Diigo is the first tip for establishing a productive PLN - I thought that was pretty cool.

"Sharing discoveries is more efficient and honorable than patenting them" - I love that! The steps outlined in this post definitely are based on this great principle. It's also great to know that that's exactly what we do at Edtech (unlike in so many other grad programs where so much of the student work never gets shared.) Great post!

I like lists and how-tos. This article by Miriam Clifford provides a great introduction to the nuts and bolts of establishing a PLN.

Great example of the Networking Project for Edtech 541

This article tells about a new model of storytelling, with active involvement of readers. The creator of this new art is Laura Fleming (@larfleming on Twitter), a library media specialist in a K-6 school in New Jersey, who is passionate about the intersection of storytelling and technology. She blogs at EdTech Insight. (Week 1, Link 1 for EdTech541)

Great online tool for students to check spelling and use a thesaurus feature. Reads words out loud if needed, and will find words that are spelling "close enough".

If I am sharing a site that probably visit the most, it would probably be The Chronicle of Higher Education. I love the writing and insight this site provides, along with the colorful debates in the comments section that some of the topics ignite.

The chronicle of Higher Education website provides peer reviewed in depth discussion about all things higher ed. This website gives great insight into edtech trends, policy debate and breaking higher education news.

This shows how communities of practice is defined, explains the process of how they've created and what they look like. Further explanation into how they can be applied in a wide variety of environments. The application part discusses how specifically it can exist within education both internally and externally. For EDTECH students, web communities of practice enable us to " extend the reach of our interactions beyond the geographical limitations of traditional communities."

I forgot to add my summary! This is an excellent source that fully explains what a Community of Practice is and how it can be applied. "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." I particularly liked the section about what CoPs actually look like. This is a must have resource for every EdTech student.

The author lists three "must-haves" to be considered a community of practice: the domain - shared interest, the community - learn from each other, the practice - share a repertoire of resources. Communities of practice fall back to learning theories. The term community of practice refers to a living curriculum. The concept is being applied in organizations, government, education, associations, social sector, international development, and the web.

Dr. Alice Christie's Web Site is an online resource for educators using technology to enhance teaching and learning in K-12 and university classrooms.

This textbook provides a solid foundation on integrating technology into the classroom. It provides, research-based methods, case studies, and additional resources (websites & tools) to guide educators.

This is the textbook for the course EdTech541. The goal of this textbook is to describe how to integrate technology to it's fullest advantage using learning theory, tested teaching practices, matched learning and teaching needs, old and new strategies, and a combination of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge.

Gould Burgess teaches in a "flipped classroom," so her students complete their "lower-level thinking" for homework, and engage in "higher-level thinking," like the marble and catapult lab, in the classroom. After watching the podcasts at home, students come to class ready to work on more advanced exercises that build on what they learned from the lectures. Check out some great tools and examples from the NEA website!!

Lots of resources for teaching and the price is right. It won best blog and resource sharing site in 2009 from Edublog.

Blog with tons of great tech information for teachers.

I have a lot of technology blogs that I read through my Digg reader in order to stay up to date with emerging technologies and trends. One of the main blogs that I find great tips and resources from is Free Technology for Teachers. I have found that they are not as applicable for me now that I am working solely in higher ed, but I still enjoy reading the majority of the posts. Not sure why my post is timestamped 01 Feb 10, sorry!