Group items tagged

This article is focused on making development projects successful with using communities of practice. Organizing technology is believed to enhance efficient sharing of knowledge, but still involves obstacles to overcome.

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.

There are four main aspects to a successful PLN: 1. Tools - depend on learners ability level but commonly include social media 2. Connection - groups of people with similar interests and goals. There is no boundary for location of group. 3. Delivery - can be through any method the learner prefers 4. Opportunity - with the development of technology, this can happen anywhere the learner has access.

This wiki site was one of the most simplest definitions displaying the elements of a PLN: tools, connections, delivery, and opportunity. Tools allow the learner to use what is most familiar, connections provide the ability to build relationships with others, delivery includes how information is disseminated, and opportunity is when the learner has the time to practice.

This is a great site for someone new to PLNs. It provides a description of what makes up a PLN along with visuals. I also like the "growth" section of the wiki. In the first paragraph it discusses district PLCs. Many districts like to have vertical meetings, where all of the math teachers from elementary through the high school meet to see how their coursework aligns. These meetings are inconsistent because it is difficult to get all of the teachers out of class at the same time. Digital PLCs for vertical meetings would be a great way to allow for more constant collaboration.

This is a great resource for Software Support Tools for Assessment and Grading. This was put together my NEWA the organization that developed the MAPS test. Some of these I wouldn't have thought of for Assessment, like Lino. Lino is an old-time virtual bulletin board where you post "sticky" notes. I've seen this used as a "parking lot" for questions during PD, but I think I'll try it for assessment with teachers next training I lead.

This site contains articles that relate to issues affecting developers of educational systems and the educators who implement and manage these systems. The articles contain information related to the perspectives of both of these communities and how they relate to each other.

The new development for educational technology.  I became a member here since their goal is to improve learning and teaching by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and higher education.

An adventure series and website based on NCTM standards, designed to help kids develop mathematical problem solving and reasoning skills.

Ashley Leneway Week 2, Link 1

The Mobile Learning infoKit is a developing resource from JISC infoNet launched at ALT-C 2011 alongside the new JISC publication Emerging Practice in a Digital Age

"This Blended Learning Toolkit is a free, open resource for educational institutions interested in developing or expanding their blended learning initiatives."

I enjoy this site because of the wealth of information available to educators. Whether you are interested in professional development or employment in an independent setting, you can discover opportunity here.

Succinct blog post about what PLNs are, why they're useful, and how to go about developing one. The post is aimed at K-12 educators but can apply to anyone.

Great blog post that keeps PLNs simple with great explanation.

The authors examine how professional learning programs can benefit from including communities of practice. When approached from a connectivist perspective, teachers can create their own networks of practice that challenge more traditional methods of professional development offerings at universities and school districts. The theory of communities of practice learning demonstrates the changing participant's role, as each person becomes an active contributor using his/her own teaching practice in context within socially networked modalities. The changing role of the student creates a new way of approaching professional learning. Challenges include constraints of using online courses that have a definite beginning and end to the interactions. The authors point out that a key to redesigning online courses is to encourage participants to develop their own networks of practice that extend beyond the confines of the course structure and timeline.

This article examines a study done in New Zealand on 15 teachers online professional learning as part of a graduate ICT program. It attempts to draw connections between their PLN's and two learning theories. The two learning theories examined are Social Constructivist theory and the Communities of Practice Social Theory. The article describes how teachers create learning networks through their online and offline interactions with peers. The article is scholarly in nature and focuses very much on the research.

This is another resource from Albertson's Library. If you click on the link you will be prompted for your MyBoise login information before being redirected to the article. This article looks at how professional learning networks are developed and why they are successful. It describes how people use their social network to reach out and find the content they are most interested in. It also talks about networked learning being focused on the learner whether the learning is personal, collaborative or collective. It describes the importance of having a far reaching social network to facilitate the learning and how this approach is being adopted by educational institutions.

Special Issue - Connectivism: Design and Delivery of Social Networked Learning: This article supports the idea that Web 2.0 tools help teacher connect with wider educational communities to enhance their own professional development.

This problem solving website is awesome for students who need development with character, setting, and plot.

Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum. Great interactive activities and lesson plans for all subject areas.

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. I spent last week at the LOC in a teacher institute learning how to maximize their digital collections of primary sources to support my social studies class.

LOC "offers classroom materials and professional development tools to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching." (from homepage)