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Slides by researcher Stephen Downes provide some basic elements of connectivism. Included is an analysis of VLE (virtual learning environments using LMS) vs. PLE (personal learning environments) and the types of knowledge these promote. Also addressed is personal vs. social knowledge, collaboration vs. cooperation, and network design principles. Especially interesting here is the VLE vs PLE analysis.

Kim, Thank you for sharing! I liked the visuals throughout the slide show!

Mr Downes makes thought provoking distinctions between a number of concepts (e.g.VLE and a PLE, personal vs social knowledge, and cooperation vs collaboration). Thanks for sharing.

Provides nine strategies--one for each month of school- for incorporating social media into your classroom in ways that can encourage critical thinking through analysis and engagement.

Provides nine strategies--one for each month of school- for incorporating social media into your classroom in ways that can encourage critical thinking through analysis and engagement.

A content analysis of 100 academic blogs that looks at reasons academics give for blogging and the connection it may have to community of practice.

I really enjoyed reading this article as it provided further insight into the "why" teachers and higher ed professionals should engage in blogging. Three main ideas really jumped out to me and solidified the validity of blogging: "blogs are a way to expand and disseminate knowledge, make contact with potential collaborators, and have scholarly discussions on a global scale". By engaging in these blogs we enter into a CoP that promotes these virtues by nature as all those involved in the CoP have similar motivations and goals. The communities then function as an opportunity to collaborate on materials, subject matter, and other issues pertinent to the educators. One aspect that is noted is that blogs provide a specific function, thus different blogs will contain different topics, subject matter, and ideas that can be shared online.

When I used to blog, I realized it was a passive-aggressive way for me to complain about my District. So, I stopped. However, I have found other academic blogs useful. One of my classmates in the EdD program blogs daily, and she is a great source of information. Blogs are also good starting points for research. Reading them often broadens my perspective which in turn helps me in my search for sources.

This is an article about using Worlde as a tool in class. It isn't really used in social networking, but I think it could easily be tweeted or posted as an update on Facebook. The power is in the words and analysis of the rhetorical features in the words.

While it is short, and doesn't offer much in the analysis or theory market, this article offers 4 additional resources for finding PLNs to join. Three of the four resources mentioned were new to me, but the information included about Twitter does help explain why the platform is great for PLNs (just in case anyone is knew to Twitter). One thing to note about these sources is that each is free and may also include a paid option for additional resources.

This is a blog that highlights innovative ideas. This page emphasizes digital storytelling projects they had students create to promote how amazing the books were that they read. They present their digital analysis of the book in VoiceThread so that other students can make comments and discuss the themes, characters, plots, or whatever they want to share about the book.

YouTube has grown to become the largest and most highly visited online video-sharing service, and interest in the educational use of YouTube has become apparent. Paralleling the rise of academic interest in YouTube is the emergence of YouTube scholarship. This article presents the results of a review of 188 peer reviewed journal articles and conference papers with "YouTube" in the title that were published between 2006 and 2009. Four questions were answered through the review of YouTube literature : (1) What is the overall distribution of publication activity for refereed journal articles and conference papers with "YouTube" in the title? (2) How are publications with "YouTube" in the title distributed across academic disciplines? (3) What have scholars writ ten about instructional methodologies involving YouTube in a sample of literature containing "YouTube" in the title ? (4) What have scholars reported about the results of studies involving YouTube in a sample of literature containing "YouTube" in the title ? An analysis of the publications revealed that the literature emerged from multiple academic disciplines. The sample of literature included 39 articles and papers describing methods for teaching with YouTube. A total of 99 articles and papers containing the results of research studies were identified and categorized. This literature review is particularly relevant to those online educators who are interested in learning what scholars from their own academic disciplines are writing about YouTube . An emphasis is placed on trends in teaching and research discussed in the sampled literature .

A virtual library of mathematics manipulatives for grades preK-12. The manipulatives are broken down into the five components of mathematics; numbers & operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis & probability.

An interesting critical analysis of Connectivism. Jon Dron compares Connectivism to Connectionism, Distributed cognition, and Collective intelligence. The comments are worth reading as well.

A really cool app for the iphone and ipad that will do video analysis for motion problems in physics.

This post explains very clearly what the purpose of connectivism is and why it is critical to student learning. It explains 6 things educators should do with their students and how to encourage them to explore and connect with ideas. At the end it provides a few examples of tools readily available to use in connecting people and technology.

This article states the knowledge exists "through the variety of connections established amongst students, instructors, and technologies." It gives 6 skills that connectivist educators need and examples of networks and tools.

Great article! I have been very intrigued about connectivism since I heard about it in my learning theories class. This article gives good reasoning behind connectivism as well as a few ideas for how to incorporate it.

This post discusses George Siemens 2005 article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and examines the limitations of this theory as well as its relevance to teaching and knowledge management practices. The relationship of connectivism to learning in a MOOC is described. It is suggested that widespread adoption of connectivism in formal learning will face resistance because of its stance that 1) the network is more important than content 2) knowledge is a process rather than an artifact 3) and knowledge can be retrieved rather than memorized.

This source is actually a summary/review of a different article, but it provides some good insight. The author argues that the explosion of technology and internet sources has changed the way that we acquire knowledge. Different pieces of information are accessible by tapping into different sources. The author also discusses how connectivity can be used in the classroom and how some people may resist the use of the connectivity theory.

I found it valuable to go through Siemen's fundamental principles of connectivism. Siemens considers connectivism as a significant departure from previous learning theories because connectivism includes learning occurring outside of the learner, within the network. I also found it valuable to go through the applications of connectivism in classroom and managing knowledge.

Summary: Although the paper identifies three challenges to Connectivist Learning (self-directed, presence and critical literacies) the findings, based on Kop's research, suggest that social networked learning does work. The paper includes students responses, both positive and negative, about their learning experiences. I found that aspect of the paper fascinating.

This paper highlights current theories of learning and gives a critical analysis of connectivism ""within the context of its predecessors" in a attempt to establish whether this theory is indeed anything new to offer for teaching and learning in the digital era.

This article looks at the challenges that could be faced by using PLEs and Connectivisim in social networking. The article breaks down the challenges to Connectivist learning and then explains the research methodology behind their findings.

Lexia provides explicit, systematic, personalized learning on foundational reading skills for students of all abilities, and delivers norm-referenced performance data and analysis without interrupting the flow of instruction to administer a test. This site is awesome for the at-risk student who needs help mastering the more basic principles of reading.

This paper defines PLE's and PLN's and creates a model for social teachers' presence optimization. It does this after a literature review and analyzing survey results about teachers' use of online social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Results suggest there is potential for personal and professional development of educators through these networks.

This article really just digs in to what connectivism is and analyzes the different ways it is implemented in post secondary online courses. The author considers the use of technology in education and makes the claim that online enrollment has increased due to the recent boom in technology. The article goes on to explain how students with technology involvement in their courses tended to outperform students taking more traditional courses.

People learn from watching others and then applying that knowledge in their own experiences; learning is seen as a social process rather than an acquisition of knowledge; in order to be useful, knowledge needs to have a context within a community