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I love the video! This is the first video I've come across that gives a short, sweet introduction to exactly what a PLN consists of. It mentions both the online global community and the people who you interact with. I love how it mentions that you get to choose who is in your PLN. That isn't something that has been mentioned in my research.

This discusses what a PLN is and the benefits to having one. It talks about the flexibility a PLN allows you that a more traditional setting would not. A PLN allows you to personalize things and choose your level of involvement.

This was a great article that succinctly describes what a PLN is. The page includes a brief video in which Marc-André Lalande illustrates, in a very practical manner, how educators can use PLN's to connect with other professional educators to share ideas. He also shares a few of his favorite PLN's, including Twitter.

Marc-Andre Lalande breaks down the definition and key aspects of PLNs. He first expresses the importance of choice in a personal learning network, as it is a "personal" decision who to connect with, when to connect with them, and why you connect to begin with. Next, he discusses the idea of a "network" and how the Internet provides connectivity to people of all backgrounds to engage in conversation on topics of similar interest. Finally, he explains the crucial "learning" aspect of a PLN, asserting that learning happens through observing (or "lurking") as well as contributing to a discussion.

Great article Michelle! I like how it breaks down and explains "personal" and "professional" learning networks! Great insight!

Good resource. Simple, to the point. The video is a good resource to share too. If you have colleagues who don't know about PLNs, this is a good place to start.

Hi Cinnamon. I love this blog post on connectivism and personal learning environments. Perhaps my favorite part was the inclusion of strategies recommended for incorporating connectivism into the classroom. By having students join professional networks or survey others online, they are able to build knowledge through the social interaction that characterizes social media tools. These examples really helped me to visualize the way connectivism could work in a classroom. Thanks for sharing!

I really enjoyed the connections and examples made in this post. The analogy of comparison from connectivism to a spider web and allowing the individual to form their own path while utilizing it was great in terms of putting this into perspective. I think out of resources I have been viewing/sharing that is one of the best examples I have seen. Thanks!

The author discusses what connectivism is and some ways to apply it in the classroom. I really liked the way the author related connectivism to a spider web. The more connections you have to the material, the stronger your knowledge web will be.

Great article and very practical! I liked the suggestion of creating an assignment where students reach out to their existing social networks about a specific topic of interest. They would use their network for surveying popular opinions or crowd sourcing information. I think that it would be a very safe and effective way of using social networks in the classroom.

Remington discusses the theory of connectivism, providing a great metaphor of connectivism and a spider's web. He also offers examples on how teachers can design instruction based on the theory.

Remington outlines the impact of the digital world on learning. He explains connectivist learning as a shift from what a student knows to the knowledge of where to acquire the knowledge. Various strategies are given to help teachers incorporate connectivist principles into the classroom.

Connectivism encourages learners to make connections between ideas and their own experiences to better understand new material. It also emphasizes the vitality of learning together to strengthen education, gaining knowledge from the experiences and ideas of others. It describes connectivism as a spider web which strengthens as more and more connections form. I enjoyed reading this!

I have studied connectivism in other courses and also feel it is hard to really understand the concept because I don't fully practice it. Perhaps this is why so many people disagree with whether or not it is a learning theory. #EdTechSN

Although many organizations create groups that include people of varying specialties to complete specific problems, people are organizing themselves into communities of practice, informal groups who share "expertise and passion" for a common interest. These communities are new to the business world because their spontaneous, informal nature makes them difficult to supervise. Managers cannot mandate communities of practice, they can only create a supportive environment. Members self select based on common interests and perceived advantage. The authors provide examples from Hill's Pet Nutrition and Hewlett-Packard. While communities should not be forced into creation, managers can cultivate them by identifying potential CoPs that will benefit the company's "strategic capabilities", provide infrastructure to them, and assess their value to the business through "nontraditional methods." Business managers need to realize the wealth of potential available to them through communities of practice.

Prior to my studies in the Educational Technology program, I had never heard of the term Communities of Practice. Until I read this article, I have only seen research about CoP in education. This article begins by discussing CoP in business, and how long CoP has been around as well its benefits for businesses. I was really surprised to hear how long CoP has been around, you would think more businesses would invest the time to develop them. A couple examples mentioned show that it can take up to a year or more before change is implemented, but the long term benefits are worth it. Also, I noticed that another article broke down information in a table, much like the "Snapshot Comparison" section in this article. This is a nice way to compare things in an easy to read and understandable format.

This article, while a bit longer, introduces and explains communities of practice in an in depth and thorough fashion. I enjoyed the comparison to real-life companies organization and the history coming all the way from Ancient Greece. Two of my favorite comments states that communities offer "creative ways that foster new approaches to problems" and "they give you both the golden eggs and golden goose that lays them". It makes me realize how essential deeper understanding and knowledge can be developed within these types of communities. The article also develops an understanding of a comparison chart of different types of work groups to show when using communities of learners are most effective.

This article goes over the basic understanding of what a PLN is, and how to get one. Basically, it explains that a PLN is not something that one can acquire, but rather a person has to build that PLN based around the needs. It gives some steps for an educator, or anyone looking to network, to follow in order to begin setting up the accounts needed to create their PLN.

This seems like a really helpful resource for getting started with a PLN. Though it does make it clear that there is effort required.

Before you can research PLNs, you need to know what a Personal Learning Network is. This article explains PLNs in an easy to understand format, while also giving rationale for why PLNs are needed to develop well-rounded, 21st century educators. Personal Learning Networks go beyond traditional Professional Development offered by schools and school districts. Instead, they are a way to change educators' mindsets on collaboration and digital literacy.

This article on the Edutopia website describes what a PLN is and how to go about getting one. The author explains that a PLN will use social media to "collect, communicate, collaborate and create with connected colleagues anywhere at any time." Some barriers to gaining a PLN are also discussed but for the most part you will gain insight on what a PLN can do for your professional growth.

Thanks for this resource Patricia! I will definitely keep some of these tips in mind when I gather people for my PLN for our assignment in this module!

First, this is cool that it is authentic material by one of the originators of connectivism. It gives an insight into what a connectivist class looks like and into how one may go about managing the many loosely joined pieces form an instructor standpoint. It does not offer a lot of detail about the theory but looked at holistically, gives a complete skeleton view of the connectivist classroom.

Slide presentation providing overview of personal learning and learning environments in connectivism highlighting the distribution of knowledge across a network of connections.

Pinterest Personal Learning Network portal with a wealth of PLN information available from theory to practice and everything in between.

I realize this is a bit outside the scope of being a "theory" based link, but I had to post it none the less. This is a creative use of Pinterest, a social networking site, to share PLN resources.

I just loved this - someone has created board on pinterest for personal learning networks. Social media at its best. :)

Great visual representation of PLN's. Reminds me of symbaloo which I use for bookmarking.

I found this one too and posted it! I love the idea of using a personal learning network to explain a personal learning network. :)

okay, who doesn't love Pinterest? Well here is a TON of information on PLNs on Pinterest. Many resources here.

I am a huge fan of Pinterest so I thought I would check there first for more information on PLN's. I really had no prior knowledge of what PLN's were so I thought this was a great starting point. There are several websites about PLN's.

This gives the Department of Education's take on communities of practice.  It describes their efforts and projects that support this form of learning in educational settings.  Links to these projects are provided.

This link is to a DoE posting encouraging the use of communities of practice. The specific domain for this page is to encourage k-12 education to use CoPs with a particular target of ones offered by the DoE: Investing in Innovation, Promise Neighborhoods, and Race to the Top. It is encouraging to see the DoE support these efforts.

It is encouraging to see how the Dept of Edu, through the use of CoPs hopes to decrease the achievement gap. It is a worthy notion to hope that through collaboration, sharing and research across a vast diverse audience, a solution could be found.

I really like how the article points out that "A great part of the answer lies not only in the types of tools, programs, and strategies used to close the achievement gap, but also in how education researchers and practitioners share information with each other." Whether this is in person with our co-workers or via some PLN, this sharing of information is vital for success!

This article discusses the National Educatioal Technology Plan and references where it calls for teacher to become connected. It asks them to become part of learning communities both locally and other wise using communities of practice.

This graphic depiction of the Connectivist Theory gave me pause at first. I was not certain what I was going to gain. However, in the Conclusion portion I noted the group discovered Growth, Enrichment and Cognitive Dissonance. The conclusion found value in each group member and applied dissonance as part of the success through the study. It makes sense that if we all viewed things exactly as the other, or if we only kept to our specific content area, we would not see when the "Emperor is naked." Thanks for finding this, Kyle.

Borrowing this from bluejayteacher as I think it's great... saving for my own future reference. Thanks!

I love this concept map. I'm going to refer to it throughout this course, and I hope you don't mind but I saved it to my diigo also. (not for this assignment, but just for my reference). It's a useful, quick glance at Connectivisim and how it relates to learning. I can appreciate the smaller breakdown / explanation of each section too, incase (if you're like me) you forget what things mean sometimes.