Group items tagged

Article describing common mistakes with iPads--something worth reading and thinking about.

Library of images, videos, and other resources in the public domain. Not as widely contributed to as one would expect.

This article discusses communities of practice from a business perspective, which I found interesting because CoPs truly to exist in all professions; they aren't strictly and education trend. The merit of CoPs, according to the author, is that people share their experiences and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to solving problems. They discuss the various benefits of CoPs and then examine why they aren't more prevalent, concluding that though the concept has been around for centuries, it hasn't been widely accepted yet and therefore companies (and education) haven't spent a long time cultivating them and helping people learn to effectively develop them. They refer to CoPs as the new frontier and predict that they will become a more and more important part of knowledge acquisition for professionals in the future.

This is a great resource that focuses specifically on the use of communities of practice in business environments. However, the information is easily transferred to other areas of industry or academia. It addresses the fact that CoPs are different than the traditional approach of working in teams in that their success and usefulness can be difficult to measure. The author gives tips for how to evaluate the success of a CoP through the sytematic gathering of anecdotal evidence.

This is a great resource for businesses to gain insights into the use of Communities of Practice. In this article, Wenger and Snyder discuss Communities of Practice and their value for organizations.

Unlimited access to hundreds of leveled news articles and Common Core-aligned quizzes, with new articles every day.

Unlimited access to hundreds of leveled news articles and Common Core-aligned quizzes, with new articles every day.

For Common Core resources, teacher videos, strategies and lesson plans, go to Teaching Channel. Find great ideas and strategies in classroom teaching videos covering Math, Science, English, History and more.

Etienne Wenger discusses elements of Communities of Practice, with a focus on the private sector. Though the discussion is pertinent to all uses of CoP. Noted as a crucial component is how the community is managed by facilitators, for that is who is ultimately responsible for caring for the domain of information. And who must know what the group needs in order to prosper. Where the information is being shared by peers to address questions and challenges in common. While interactions among community members include cultural and structural components, there is space for each participant to realize their identity through connections and engagement

December 17th, 2012 by Claire The Internet is a bountiful place, full of information, wonder, and an endless supply of heart-melting puppy videos. But what may sometimes seem in short supply are fantastic, free photos to easily-and legally-use for your presentations or blog slideshows.

Good ideas for teaching research to middle school students. Includes relative advantage talking points for video instruction.

Diigo has clear advantages to the individual that needs to store and recall important information. But how can it be used in the classroom? This blog post shares a few options for using Diigo in the classroom. One common problem of student computer use in schools is access to student work from home. Using Diigo, students can bookmark important websites and access them from school, home, the library or any internet-connected computer. Students will always have access to this data. Teachers and students can use the group and list features of Diigo to organize bookmarks on themes or topics. Classes can also collaborate and discuss information within Diigo.

By Loertscher, David V. and Koechlin, Carol (2011). Check out the library at BSU for full text! Discusses each component of digital PLEs in greater details and provides a model that divides the PLE intro three distinct stages of development (each phase empowers the learner to manage specific aspects of his/her learning potential.)

This page defines the creative commons licenses and shows us how to properly attribute CC work.

This brief article, while focused primarily on online communities of practice in healthcare, has clear implications for learners in other fields as well. One key quote about the value of online CoPs: "an OCoP provides a safew engagement space to enhance knowledge development, strengthen social ties, and build social capital...OCoPs can develop from knowledge networks as relationships strengthen, and motivation to work together on common problems increases." Who wouldn't want to be part of this?

This text is similar to others posted in that it highlights the main features to the communities of practice theory. However, this particular text's focus draws to the readers attention the importance of the commitment factor in order to form a successful community of practice. A community of practice can exist in haphazardly fashion, but when the commitment is to the common purpose and shared experience the success will be more vivid. It also alludes to the seven principles outlined by Etienne Wenger which include: shepherd the evolution, encourage internal leadership, weave private and public space, invite multiple level of participation, find rhythm between familiarity and excitement, build momentum, and develop both communal and personal identity. The author states that the communities of practice platform is the perfect place for new and unattempted concepts or ideas to be practiced with nurtured care.

A critical review of George Siemen's (2005) article "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age". A distinct relationship is made with Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) and connectivism: The individual, and his/her abilities to create a personal learning network, is the "starting point of connectivism" (Siemens, 2005, p. 6). A great summation of the original article.

I thoroughly enjoyed this article! To some degree I have always associated Common Core with connectivism because I am seeing the ways in which Common Core is pushing students to be critical, analytical thinkers able to justify their responses. It isn't so much memorizing content as much as it is learning skills to apply to different terrains of knowledge which is similar to part of Siemen's definition that connectivism involves "determining when and what knowledge should be retired and replaced with updated knowledge." This statement prompted an "ah-ha" moment within my head as I was able to begin connecting some dots between connectivism and the practical aspects of my own teaching practice.

Is connectivism limted to Western and technologically advanced cultures? Learning theories such as behaviorism, constructivism and even cognitive and socioclultural theories can be applied to learning in various cultures. It seems that connectivsm requires a certain amount of freedom and access to technology. If this is the case, can it be considered a learning theory?

This blog describes some differences between social learning and communities of practice. While it is written by an instructional designer in the corporate sector, many of the details and examples are still applicable to education.

This post aims to distinguish between social learning and communities of practice. It offers an interesting take on the two sides. What I really got most out of it was actually from the first comment from another reader who offers an amazing example of a community of practice. The author of the comment uses Professional Chefs as an example of a community of practice which was one of the best real world and simple to understand explanations I have seen. "My favorite example of a community of practice is professional chefs. They are a community in every sense of the word even though no one maintains a membership list. Chefs identify with one another. They spend time together. They share their knowledge and swap secrets with one another. They enrich the practice of the profession. They nurture people entering the professional and guide their professional development. They set and maintain standards. You can even spot them by the clothes they wear. What brings them together is the "practice." That's terrible term, for it's subject to misinterpretation. We're talking practice as in legal practice or medical practice, not as in piano practice or football practice." Their goal is not making profits; it's furthering the practice.

CoPs are becoming much more popular with the use of technology. Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave are two of the most respected names when it comes to communities of practice. CoPs are groups that are focused on collaboration of common interests while having a purpose and motivation.

This project takes place during a science fair and utilizes Twitter. As judges view the science projects, students ask simple "interview" questions and tweet the judge's responses using a common hashtag. Parents, students, and community members are able to comment and provide encouragement.

This is a link to a paper about building online communities of practice with social networking tools. It details the CoP model introduced by Wenger, McDermott & Snyder: that is comprised of members and continually changes, that it is mutual engagement that binds members together, and that there is a shared set of resources that develops over time. The domain of CoP is is common ground that created a community. Practice comes from the resources that are created. The authors lead of of this into their proposed phases of the learning process in a CoP: Context, Discourse, Action, Reflection, and Reorganization.

This paper shows how members of communities of practice can increase their learning through social networking tools. They discuss how social networking is the forum for the domain (common ground) where people can discuss their ideas. This helps create personal meaning. This happens with a community which is a group of people who want to learn and interact together. The practice is the knowledge that the group develops. Within the article, he discusses how different social networks enhances communities of practice.

Digital Citizenship materials