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Teachers are developing PLNs to connect with other educators and professionals all over the world to stay up to date on their teaching methods and resources. This article gives an overview of why many teachers belong to a PLN and why it is beneficial to their professional goals. I appreciated that the author named and discussed three popular PLNs that I plan on looking into further. They were Classroom 2.0, Edmodo, and The Educator's PLN. I agree with the author completely when he states that "teachers are lifelong learners." This article is a great read for those new to PLNs.

I loved all of the information on the various tools that can used in managing a PLN, There were several tools I wasn't familiar with and look forward to being able to use in the future.

I found this post to be extremely informative regarding how teachers can use PLNs for learning, moreover for modeling learning for their students. The social network portion of this article was authentic to the purpose of this course and aided in making connections regarding the usage of social networks for educational learning tasks. The review of the three PLNs was also helpful as we navigate this course and begin to implement strategies and plans for the incorporation of social networking into our own classrooms.

MakeBeliefsComix.com is an educational comic strip creator from author Bill Zimmerman. You can create, print, email and post your original comic strips through this site. The site explains that: "Comic strips provide a perfect vehicle for learning and practicing the English language. Each strip's three or four panels provides a finite, accessible world in which funny, interesting looking characters go about their lives. And students with limited reading or speaking skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they may be with a book of many pages."

MakeBeliefsComix.com is an educational comic strip creator from author Bill Zimmerman. Create, print, email and post to Facebook your original comic strips through this site!

SUMMARY: Connectivism teaches students skills that are not attached to time or space. Rather they are necessary in the fast-paced, ever-changing whirlwind we live in. The chart near the end clearly compares major educational theories and helped me see the connections and disconnects between them.

Great article. Chaos theory is so interesting. The study of pattern shifts is so real to this day and age. For example, I think the role of memes play a big part in our culture and this absolutely propels the chaos theory. Nice share Natalie!

Summary: The most useful part of this resource comes after the definition of Connectivism cited from Siemens. The author includes a graphic that compares Connectivism to other learning theories. In addition, a section is devoted to critics of Connectivism as learning theory who instead see it as a pedagogical view.

The authors springboard from a Cornell University study of the difficulties that humanities doctoral students have in finishing their degree to discuss the ways libraries can help improve student success. They show that the establishment of communities of practice are a necessary component of the success of doctoral students in the humanities. They then advocate for libraries to create and support these communities through providing designated space for doctoral students to collaborate and share information in the library and by offering discipline-specific research skills workshops.

Suggests that understanding how members of a learning community converse is an important component of understanding connectivism. The tone of the interactions in a forum rely on the design and management of the space. Furthermore, learning depends on sharing in conversations and interactions which themselves can be meaningful activities. During communication among learners, there is a balance of what is good for each individual and the ability to move towards a common purpose.

In this article, Andrew Ravenscroft explores a "dialogue rich view of connectivism" and how we can develop learners that can "think, reason and analyse." He takes inspiration from social constructivist theory to focus on dialogue as a vehicle for learning. Ravenscroft begins by detailing Siemens 8 principles of connectivism. He then asks 3 questions: how can we understand the dialogue processes of a networked world, what dialogue features make for quality connections and how do we design to promote quality connections. He starts to explore the questions with Socrates and the Socratic method. This method has applications for 21st century learning. He reviews Hegel's dialectic as well. Ravenscroft maps these positions to connectivism because dialectic helps refine knowledge from a diversity of opinions, supports the capacity to know more, consideration of alternative viewpoints, fosters a constant evolution of knowledge, and promotes critical and collaborative dialogue. Then he discusses dialogic processes and how they map to connectivism. Dialectic and dialogic can work, not in opposition, but together in different aspects. Dialectic focuses on the epistemic and cognitive dimensions of learning, while dialogic focuses more on emotional and interpersonal aspects. The author then details dialogue game interactions and how they can foster learning. To be successful they need to balance orchestration and openness. This article proposes that language and dialogue remain a "most powerful semiotic system."

What a fascinating article. Ravenscroft's discussion of a scaffolded system to build a learner's dialogic skills reminds me of research I did for my EdTech504 class on self-regulated learning. Roger Azevedo is developing and experimenting with a similar game, MetaTutor, which scaffolds student learning as well. I think self-regulation is complex and difficult to teach in the classroom, and am amazed that researchers are creating software to build self-efficacy!

This article explores Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) as a way to introduce both formal and informal learning within higher education. Specifically, research shows how using a variety of social media tools to customize a PLE can foster learner-controlled instruction. To achieve the learning experience they desire, though, students must possess the skills needed to engage in a self-regulated learning system with the help of both an instructor and peers.

This article really demonstrates the role of the teacher in modeling and encouraging effective use of social media. In my opinion, the framework created by the author would work best under a constructivist learning environment since so much of the class would be taken up by teaching how to use technology. That said, once students were proficient, they could explore class subject-related information online.

In this article Librarian Andrea Wilson Brooks discusses how the educational theory of connectivism can be used to enhance the delivery of information literacy instruction. She begins the article with a discussion of the connectivist theory and then moves on to the specific role that this theory can play in 21st century library instruction. The instruction that Brooks talks about in this article utilizes mobile technology, in particular, tablets. She concludes the article with a series of specific examples of lessons based on connectivism. Each activity involves the use of mobile devices, various apps, and social media platforms to engage the learner while developing his or her information literacy skills.

By Etienne Wenger, this site offers her defintion and categorization of communities of practice.

This article provides a simple definition of the term - "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better." Businesses, organizational design, government, educational, professional associations, civic life and development projects use the concept of community of practice to focus on people and the social structures that enable people to learn from each other.

This article focuses on defining communities of practice and includes several examples. I like that they break up the words and meaning to simplify and better understand the meaning and benefits of communities of practice. For example, we might live in a community neighborhood, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we live in a "community of practice."

In this article two university librarians advocate using social media platforms to teach information literacy concepts. They believe that social media platforms, which students already engage in, provide a perfect focal point for showing students how they can access all kinds of information sources outside the realm of the traditional sources like books and scholarly articles. Because of the need to critically evaluate information found on the web, the use of social media for research provides an excellent demonstration model for this essential skill. Librarians, the authors say, should embrace a connectivist approach when using social media to show students the process for making connections between different sources of information.

This article seems so relevant, especially to my teaching experience. I think that teaching students how to use social media and evaluate information on the internet is not just something librarians should teach; it should be something all teachers cover as it is extremely valuable. As the world around us changes, so to must our teaching practices and the content we cover.

This source is a Wiki on connectivist learning theory. The Wiki goes a little bit deeper than other articles I have read and is well organized. I especially liked the discussion at the end of the Wiki as it gives some good ideas to think about in regards to connectivism.

This Wiki article explores the theory of connectivist learning. The theorist argue that educators have long believed experience has been considered the best teacher of knowledge. "Since we cannot possibly experience everything, other people's experiences, and other people, become the surrogate for knowledge." In other words, learning by forming connections may be a better way to acquire learning in the digital age. http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Connectivist_Learning_Theory_-_Siemens

I agree with your comment that there is no way we can learn everything and being able to connect with others to add to our knowledge is the only way we are going to be able to keep up with the changing digital age. I think the principle of connectivism say it all: Principles of connectivism - Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. - Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. - Learning may reside in non-human appliances. - Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known - Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. - Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

In this article Nicole Cooke, a Reference and Instruction Librarian encourages fellow librarians to keep abreast of the latest technology and the most current ways of seeking information so that they are prepared to help satisfy the needs of today's library patrons. She suggests that librarians prepare themselves for the evolving library patron by participating in professional development activities. In particular, Cooke advocates that librarians seek out the current educational opportunities that are available through various Web 2.0 applications. Cooke then moves on to describe how librarians can incorporate new learning opportunities into their day to day functions through the use of social media platforms such as blogs and wikis. Cooke ends the article by talking about personal learning networks and how librarians should take advantage of social media platforms to form connections with others in the field for professional growth.

I think this is a great article. I agree that anyone who is in education has to stay "savvy." I especially liked the comment "Maintaining competence and learning new skills must be at the top of every professional's "To Do" list. It is an ethical responsibility, to be sure, but also one that is pragmatic and critical for career success. [...] Continuing professional education is no longer an option, it is a requirement of professional practice. "

I am glad to see you posted a link to a PLN for librarians. I think understanding PLNs purpose and framework comes easier when it is viewed from a particular perspective (i.e. Librarians). I do think PLNs are particularly useful in the digital age with some much information and professional development resources readily available.

This source is a chapter in a book by several librarians from the IUPUI library system. The librarians set out to find ways in which they could collaborate with faculty to promote a more successful information literacy program on campus. The importance of this issue gave them the impetus to form a community of practice. This group consisted of both faculty and librarians who were all dedicated to discovering best practices for teaching and assessing information literacy concepts. The authors concluded the chapter with a discussion of some of the campus initiatives that came out of the CoP activities and what they may do in the future to further the growth and retention of student information literacy skills.

Thanks for sharing this article, Kelly. I appreciated the discussion of campus initiatives, including the student pre- and post-surveys, which yielded "abysmal" results. Even with those results, though, the initiative was successful in sparking the campus to start operating as a CoP.