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This was an interesting article I found on the ISTE site where two educators provide two different points of view about whether teachers should have a professional social media presence. One writer say that teachers should absolutely have a social media presence so they can be models for their students while also broadening their own professional learning network. The other writer recognizes the amazing benefits of having a professional social media presence but also says that teacher's should not be required but rather educated in the benefits of social media for themselves and their students. This is a great article for looking at both sides of the social media presence coin and will lead to some good thinking on this topic of connectivism and professional learning networks online.

Jake, great resource! I often find that items that are mandated see more pushback from teachers even if the mandate is helpful. I think offering opportunities for teachers to learn and engage in social media will help build the grassroots movement and it will inevitably catch on.

This video is a concise overview of what communities of practice are in K-12 education the form of a PowToon. Brought to you by the Institute of Excellence in Early Care and Education.

Introductory video on what Communities of Practice are. It lists benefits of CoPs and where to find more information. Audio is just music, basically, a slideshow turned into a video.

This short journal article describes how one teacher in Louisiana uses Twitter to find and joing professional learning networks. She uses Twitter to collaborate with teachers on lessons. She also leads a weekly chat to discuss a variety of educational topics. In addition, the journal explains what Twitter is and how to use it for a complete beginner.

I appreciated the idea from this article that relationships started on Twitter can expand beyond Web 2.0: "Connections which begin online may lead to face-to-face meetings at conferences." Likewise, the river analogy helped me see how Twitter can be interpreted and integrated into an individual's personal learning network: "Consider a Tweet as an 'on-ramp' to deeper learning." Thanks for posting this link!

This article discusses the power that social media has in adult education. It discusses the ability for knowledge to be shared and discussed worldwide. The article also points out that social media is changing the way society communicates and networks, and that the world has become more interconnected than before. I appreciated the author also bringing up that consumerism, mostly in the form of advertisements, can be a downside of many free social media applications. The author argues that the ads could perpetuate harmful spending habits of users. I think this argument is one to take into account when using social media in primary and secondary education.

Thanks for posting this article, which exposed me to a brand-new term: Pedagogy 2.0. Using social network tools, Pedagogy 2.0's teaching and learning practices advocate learner choice, self-direction, and flexibility in learning activities, which are key components to adult education. I also enjoyed the article's discussion of consumerism and power structures, which are engaging in "social surveillance."

On page 7, there is a useful table comparing behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism. Connectivism is seem by some to apply only outside formal learning environments and so serves as a great vehicle for life-long learning. On page 13, the author discusses that connectivism is dependent on electricity and runs the risk of tying learners to their computers to the detriment of their physical and psychological health. This is something I have thought about and was glad to find this author acknowledging it.

Summary: Connectivism often features student choice, personalization, and varied paces. Social connections and collaboration are highlighted in this theory. A librarian at Wichita State University implemented connectivist ideals in a research class to make the course more meaningful and useful in the future. She asked students to comment digitally on student created research guides that could be used in the future with other students. This professors success came with strong plans and deliberate use of collaboration among students.

Connectivism is presented as the latest theory in library education. It combines elements of cognitivism and constructivism. As librarians engage in traditional 50 minute instruction periods they often miss the individualized instruction that produces the best results. In this article a librarian at Wichita State was looking for ways to take her intruction to the next level. Fortunately she got that opportunity while working with an upper-level English course. Students made connections between sources and among each other by completing a course research guide. At the end of the article the author offered several tips for improving library instruction. Librarians must have a detailed lesson plan in place, strong faculty collaboration, and include fun active learning exercises.

This graduate dissertation was particularly interesting to me since it focuses on K-12 Spanish teachers. The author discusses how communities of practice can be used as professional development and ongoing language training, particularly for non-native speakers. The research includes the use of technology in that the community of practice studied was conducted online.

I can see the use of CoP being very beneficial for non-native speakers. The technologies are the tools that would help to bridge the learning gaps and support learners. Non-native speakers often feel very isolated in learning environments, as having more than one learning group would be helpful. What a great dissertation topic.

In this article Mark McBride, a librarian at Buffalo State College, discusses the recent changes that he made to his information literacy course. He talks about how he incorporated constructivist principles and problem-based learning activities into his course structure. In the process of making these changes, however, he discovered that he is really incorporating connectivism into his classroom. He makes the case that librarians should begin to adopt connectivist principles when teaching information literacy concepts. Additionally, he acknowledges that if librarians are going to move in the direction of the connectivist theory, the Association of College and Research Libraries must take a look at its information literacy standards and update them to acknowledge the ways in which learners can share and create information through the use of social media.

This article is part biography of George Siemens (one of the founders of the connectivist movement), part history of the connectivism movement and formation of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course). The article is relevant to our EdTech 543 discussion because it gives an in depth look into the beginning of the connectivism in the classroom, as well as why Siemens is a proponent of the movement.

Summary: This research delves into the use of personal learning networks with teachers via survey. The two main sites used among the responders were Facebook and Twitter. A user of Twitter expands their network when they deem they have found someone interesting, whom they have learned something new from. It continues to discuss features that would be needed with both sites in order to further future professional growth opportunities

This research effort developed by Barbara F. Hartigan, Ed.D. and Marialice B.F.X. Curran, Ph.D at University of Saint Joseph that looks at connectivism in the context of using social media as a mentorship program for pre-service teachers. It is based off the researchers witnessing teachers on Twitter who engage in the Twitter chat #kinderchat mentoring a first year kindergarten teacher through their weekly chats. This developed into a research project where they embedded social media into the program for 19 pre-service teachers. They used mostly Twitter, Skype, and blogging and found that all of the participants learn from and value learning and teaching ideas and methodology obtained from their social media interactions. They note that next steps would be to follow those educators into their classrooms to see their continued development using social media.

Summary: Communities of Practice are all around us. They exist in most businesses and most professional communities. These communities are important because work is shared, revised, and organized; thus, making it better. The development of CoPs is dependent on leaders within these communities.

The sharing piece seems to be the most integral part CoP in my opinion. Also, before exploring these topics I feel my thinking was streamlined towards education, but I am understanding the need for CoP in all professions. If you are not sharing as a part of the community then you are not a contributor. This translates to the classroom and making sure all students play a role and have a place in the classroom's community! This starts as early as having a classroom "job."

This article gives an overview of what Connectivism is and how learning happens in the digital age. Siemans describes the basic principles of how learning is a network of information sources referred to as "nodes." It doesn't describe how learning occurs within but how learners connect with the networked world of people and information.

Thie video shows teachers utilizing communities of practice. This video was a great way to see CoP in action. These teachers show how amazing CoP can be in their classroom and students. My big take away was that all the teachers, regardless of grade level, felt it was valuable to them.