Group items tagged

The author discusses what happened when he created a PLN during the summer. He focuses on the qualitative data he collected from participants. He describes the two many barriers most participants shared which were a limited amount of time to develop and learn from their PLN's and also the information overload associated with connecting your PLN to social media. He also describes how the participants used the different tools.

As someone that tries to read everything in my own PLN, I appreciate the authors recommendations on ways to not become overwhelmed. Starting out by only using one or two tools and setting aside a few minutes every couple days is great advice.

This article was found through Ebscohost in Albertson's Library and will require you to login with your MyBoiseState account to read. While this article is directed at school librarians the information applies to anyone that is interested in expanding their PLN. The article is written in an easy to follow format and has great graphics throughout. It discusses why you should develop your PLN and provides management tips on how to make your PLN effective.

Research regarding the benefits of being a member of a community of practice. While the information seems a bit forced (the communities of practice used for the study were exclusively face-to-face communities), the benefits of being a member of a community of practice still seem valid. According to the study, they are (1) autonomy and freedom to think beyond, (2) sources to ideas, (3) sounding board, (4) intellectual discussion, (5) like-mindedness, (6) alternative perspective and cross-pollination of ideas, (7) overcoming intellectual isolation, (8) move towards collaborative research, (9) response to research pressure, (10) synergy and leverage, (11) time and energy saving, (12) an informal ground for learning and training, (13) fostering of tangible returns, (14) driving research, (15) opportunities to met, (16) networking, information sharing and updates, (17) support and guidance, (18) sense of belonging, (19) identity, and (20) intrinsic fulfillment. As the article is about higher education, there are certainly some benefits that are more specific to their context, but I think the findings of the article are still valid.

Edublogs Teachers. This has a Step by Step process of how to create a PLN in just a few weeks. Very useful information given here.

Who can't use a step by step guide for PLNS? This is great. I can use guides for everything! I love quick breakdown and references that are presented in this blog. Thank your for sharing... I may be borrowing this into my diigo library! I think I now officially have a PLN to do list. Thank you for this find.

I love the step-by-step ease of this blog. Bookmarked this and definitely going to use it to my benefit!

Statistics on Teens and Technology from Pew Research Center.

This is one of my favorite social networking sites for education. It looks like a pre-timeline Facebook account but is just for education. I use it with all my high school classes. Check it out!

Edmodo provides a safe and easy way for your class to connect and collaborate, share content, and access homework, grades and school notices. Our goal is to help educators harness the power of social media to customize the classroom for each and every learner

Edmodo is an easy way to get your students connected so they can safely collaborate, get and stay organized, and access assignments, grades, and school messages.

A social networking site for classrooms. Teachers can create class groups where students can safely share post and share. This can also be used by teachers to give and collect assignments and give quizzes.

An eBook creator and social sharing tool that provides a lot of interesting illustrations that you can customize along with your original story. 

I love this site! I was just looking for something similar to Photostory on PCs. This isn't exactly it, since it doesn't allow audio voiceovers and student drawings (at least from what I can tell) but it is drop-dead gorgeous. Can't wait until they release an iPad app -- imagine this on the retina display :) I am definitely going to use this in class -- maybe even this week. I also love that it's a creative writing social networking tool that encourages best work, creativity, and collaboration. Thanks for posting!

Discover an endless library of free books, picture books, & poetry or use simple tools to create books in minutes. Storybird is a creative community where readers & writers celebrate storytelling.

Includes lots of practical ways to use Twitter in education.

Summary from the article: Many critics of Twitter believe that the 140-character microblog offered by the ubiquitous social network can do little for the education industry . They are wrong. K-12 teachers have taken advantage of The following projects provide you and your students with 50 ways to Twitter 's format to keep their classes engaged and up-to-date on the latest technologies.

This resource offers many ways to incorporate social media into everyday curriculum and activities.

LRNG is an organization who works with cities and organizations to connect students' learning with career opportunities, and to prepare them for life and work in the modern economy, by providing guidance and access to local and national opportunities, peers, and mentors.

Great full episodes, worksheets, quizzes. All from recognized and reputable networks.

A look at the "basics" of communities of practice. This text does a great job of answering the basic questions that make the concept a little fuzzy. It discusses the evolution of CoP's from its inception to today's practice.

This article explores the classroom as a community of practice and examines the role classroom activities have in students' collaborative learning. The study uses a graduate-level public administration course as the case.

This article discusses the use of a university classroom as a community of practice. The survey showed how leadership played an important role in increasing collaboration among the students. Learning took place during engaging and reflecting class activities. Classroom activities that were designed for social interaction promoted learning. Collaboration occurred through a diverse set of ideas leading to a common goal. Students stated that including activities that encourage students to learn from their peers by connec classroom knowledge with real-world examples creating a community of practice.

This article is written on the challenges people face by using the connectivist learning theory. It states that it will work for some students, but like all theories, not all students will benefit with this theory. Knowing your students and being flexible is key in having a successful class.

iNaturalist is a social networking app for naturalists. It harnesses the power of crowd sourcing by enabling any person, with a mobile phone and access to the internet, the opportunity to participate in citizen science. Users create 'observations' by posting images of the local flora and fauna. If the observations include geolocation/time data and the specimens, are confirmed by two other users, then it becomes research grade. This means it could be used in real studies being conducted by scientists, such as herpetologists and botanists. The app is great for identifying wildlife and connecting students with experts.

This is one of my favorite teacher Instagram accounts to follow! She has awesome math resources and ideas!

Great idea to put a teacher Instagram account in the group! Instagram could work as an excellent resource to support a personal learning network for educators. I currently have an Instagram, but I don't post any school-related material. I will need to alter my approach to Instagram. Thanks for the suggestion!

Here is a very complex study. Fortunately, the highlights tell us some important findings. This study went with the understanding that teachers have organically formed professional learning networks using the Internet, and report that they like them. This study focused on putting some data behind that, which it has provided. As a teacher, I found this quote very refreshing, about a researcher that "argued that top-down teacher PD in schools often aligns with hierarchical structures that de-skill teachers from their intellectual work by treating them as passive recipients of mandates. Even the term "professional development" conveys that teachers are "deficient and in need of developing and directing." In my own PLN, I have learned much more about teaching and learning from an 8th grade math teacher than I have in any of my administration-mandated social studies PD sessions.

I'll be honest, I did not read the entire study, but the highlights from this article and the abstract once again confirmed what I'm starting to realize. We are teaching in a way that is behind the times when it comes to the current ways students learn naturally. We are fighting their expectations trying to bottle them into the box that is traditional education.

This text composed by George Siemens, an entrepreneur of the connectivism learning theory, explores the traditional learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism in order to reveal a more modern learning theory that encompasses the digital age. Connectivism, simplified, is the idea that individuals engage in learning processes that hold real world application via various resources and contacts to which valuable information can be extracted to create new learning that builds lasting knowledge applicable to a diverse number of circumstances. In this academic article Siemens explores the basic principles and implications of the connectivism theory and heavily emphasizes that this type of learning doesn't necessarily occur within the human, but can be drawn from different nodes which then connect to build individual understanding.

"The pipe is more important than the content of the pipe." Siemens says that it is more important in a digital world to know how to find the information you need, when you need it, than it is to possess the knowledge itself. And he recognizes that our current educational system needs to change to accommodate new ways of learning and new technology.

This article provides an interesting view of connectivism as an alternative to behaviorism, constructivism, and cognitivism. It argues that in the digital age, these theories don't properly meet the requirements of modern learners. Connectivism corrects these theories faults and looks at learning as a group activity.