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David Weinberger ("Cluetrain Manifesto") was one of the recommended authors for further reading on Communities of Practice. The central premise of this book is that the digital era fundamentally changed how we store and reference information. In a physical storage based world, an book or article can only be filed in a single way. Digital materials can be filed in unlimited ways and thus enable a greater degree of connections to be made. The next generation of web search technology "semantic search" will tap into this.

This research paper looks into success factors for communities of practice. Although the "success factors" portion of the article may fit better with future "how-to" assignments, I found the breakdown of CoPs helpful. Retna covers the basic idea that adults learn from day to day experiences, not just activities specifically designed for learning. Knowledge transfer is explained with emphasis on what it looks like in organizations. The paper goes on the account for CoPs in a multi-national company based out of Singapore. The findings are explained in the three components domain, community, and practice. The key success factors are identified as leadership, culture, and individual motivation to learn. 

First thing that caught my attention was, "An employee picks up the most relevant know-how in an organisation from day-to-day activities and by watching and talking with other employees." This absolutely defines what a community of practice is. Professional development is a great way to learn, but many of us learn best by seeing a theory, action, or idea in practice. Communities of practice connect people who have similar interests, providing them with a wide range of resources to draw upon. Motivation is also a major part to making a CoP a success. Once a member, one must stay active. Having a responsible leader helps to maintain motivation and organization of the community. I especially appreciated the emphasis on informal CoP. Members are there because they want to better themselves and periodically the leader may provide a reward however I believe knowledge is reward enough. Great paper!

I like how this article talks about knowledge is best understood as a "habitus". This habitus is everything that a person does that helps them acquire knowledge. This includes their activities and life experiences.

The Activity Theory model breaks down PLE's into subject, object, tools, rules, community and division of labour.Context is not an external container but it is constituted through an activity.The most common context for PLE's takes place through Higher Education (31%) and Lifelong Learning (15%), followed by enterprise,organisations and workplace (9% each).

This paper included many diagrams documenting personal learning environments. The PLE is broken down into six distinctive parts. The subject is the person with the object leading the subject to the outcome. Tools connect the subject and object within a community where the subject acquires knowledge. Rules are present to minimize conflict and help to guide the subject toward the object and possibly most importantly, the PLE has a division of labor. This is how the community is organized and includes contributions from all subjects. Without any one of these parts, the PLE would not function which would lead to the loss of knowledge within a community of practice.

A helpful--if lengthy--article explaining what a PLE is, and how to conceptualize the structure and role of a PLE in terms of Activity Theory. Helpful section distinguishing PLEs, PLNs, and CoPs on p. 24.

This video funded by the EU explains why it is important for educators to look outside of their local community for their PLN. The video highlights three main reasons that a vast and diverse PLN is important: Availability, knowledge, willingness to share. The video focuses on the PLM for foreign language. The ability to connect with speakers globally has revolutionized how, when, and where we can learn from.

This is a mix of Stephen Downes, George Siemens and others discussing Chaos and how it relates to our learning and Connectivism as whole. Downes mentioned that in the last decade he has posted over 16,000 posts on learning. That is a stunning chaotic number for me to try and filter. Siemens uses working on a automobile engine and have bolts left over. Downes mentions that if a butterfly flaps it's wings in Central America it causes a thunderstorm in Central Park. This cause and effect on our inter-connected universe gives me pause to think about my own information filtering and what I try to absorb.

Finally helped me connect the dots between the difference of Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks: it's all about taking it social.

An interesting angle on how communities of practice are being presented for a specific purpose. In this case, it is for NIRSA- a company that is tied to collegiate recreation. This site encourages people to get involved in a community of practice largely for sharing resources and discussions.

SUMMARY: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are designed to take advantage of social networks and track the learning of specific topics and specific users across tools, sites, apps, and more. MOOCs can be a part of your PLE, or your PLE can be an integral part of your MOOCs. Either way, Connectivism is at the heart of every MOOC.

Cate - After watching this video, I found MOOC to be very similar to what we are doing in this class. Engaging in the learning process and connecting/collaborating with one another. However, there are differences, such as - we do pay for this course! Overall, great social networking tool for learners. Thanks for sharing.

Cate, I liked this post. It was nice to get to listen instead of read, read, read. I found the information interesting. I had never heard of a MOOC or at least not identified as one. It fit perfectly with the connectivism. I found his comment about promoting life long network learning valuable. We are there, might as well take advantage of the opportunities.

Don't let the academic sound of the title push you away from reading this article. The author, Bopelo Boitshwarelo, presents arguments: "This paper set out to propose a research framework that will aid in advancing the research agenda of connectivism, particularly developmental work. " It is very dense with lots of synthesis of research that has been done on Activity Theory, Connectivism, and Communities of Practice from 2000 - 2011, when it was published. If you need to do a content-based paper on activity theory, connectivism, or communities of practice, this has several references listed at the end that will help you find original sources of ideas.

Thanks Melissa, this is helpful. No doubt that many of us are going to benefit from this type of research in our own academic pursuits. As you said, this study is fairly dense. But I also found that it breaks things down in nice chunks. I liked the explanation that a learning community is "a group of people learning together through continuous dialogue."

The author, Bopelo Boitshwarelo, from University of Botswana, points out the interconnections of online communities of practice, design-based research, and activity theory. The author proposes designed-based research as a framework to advance connectivism. I found the first half of this article particularly helpful with definitions and key points synthesized from pioneers in the field of connectivism. Central ideas encompass the importance of learners connecting in a CoP both as providers and gleaners of information. Learning networks or communities of practice are complex and dynamic in nature, providing challenges to researchers and studying their effectiveness. The article provides food for thought about the complexities of the interconnections of these theories and the development of frameworks to monitor and assess learning success when putting them into practice.

This blog post does not simply apply to the gifted classroom. Connectivism can be used to benefit any classroom and group of learners.

Siemens video explaining his experience with Connectivism is very interesting. Explaining the qualities of connectivist teachers was also interesting and made some great connections between gifted and regular classrooms.

This journal article titled: Personal Learning Environments - Challenging the Dominant Design of Educational Systems was posted by one of the authors, Colin Milligan. The paper looks at the formal and informal learning and the connections that lead specific learnings of both types and how VLEs (virtual learning environments) play a role.

I found this to be a fascinating paper, which really made me reflect on how an LMS is and is not a good portal as a PLE. I particularly appreciated the diagram on page 4, which shows how technological tools such as tunneling, feeds and APIs can be used to turn a VLE into more of a PLE.

This is a link to an archived session from the 2013 Leadership in Educational Technology Virtual Conference. The session links CoP as a model for professional learning communities. At the link you will find the downloadable research paper as well as a link to a recording of the session.

I had to check this out because the concept of Guild was introduced to me last year with 3DGameLab. I was happy to see one of the presenters is Steve Isaacs because I met him last summer while playing in the 3DGameLab. I understand he is now in the EdD program, so it makes sense he would do a presentation on this type of connection. I have not spent enough time listening to our EdD students, so thank you for bringing this presentation to our attention.

This study delves into the formal and informal aspects of networks. It highlights the need for informal in a teachers' complex job, but the struggles with qualifying/managing the occurrence. It also speaks to administrations delicate roll as a "gate-keeper" or "barrier". Interesting read. 

Nice find Cassie. While the study is lengthy to read it is full of excellent information. I believe the ladder half of the text (discussion and key points sections) is where the most valuable information lies. I always appreciative objectivity and honesty, and the authors of this study were clear that networks aren't for everyone. Everyone is a unique and distinct learner so to blanket the idea of a network as something that is a "must" for effective professional development wouldn't be fair. Yet, it does acknowledge that from a team initiative perspective, networks are a blank canvas and platform for maintaining open communication so all parties involved grow.