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This presentation doesn't follow a specific project, but it has some great ideas for using Twitter in the classroom. I particularly like Twitter book club, and Twitter as a backchannel.

Coursera is a place where people addicted to online learning can get a fix. I think by default all of their courses are free. I get to take courses taught by professors I may never meet who teach at universities I may never be admitted to as a student, so it is in many ways an honor to have access to the information in the courses. I have yet to actually finish a Coursera course, but they don't seem to mind. It is someplace you can go for the joy of learning without the anxiety that comes with accountability.

Great resource for national and state-by-state data on K-12 online learning. I subscribe to their blog as well.

Views connectivism as a learning theory. Lists the 6 key skills that educators today should posses. These skills are: technical competence, experimentation of teaching methods, provide learners with autonomy, engage in creation, play and explore big ideas as well as capacity for complexity.

Author Sam Gist defines connectivism and explores some of the possible challenges that educators may face in adapting to this into their classrooms. He also highlights skills that may help educators embrace connectivist principles.

Faculty eCommons is a nice resource for educators incorporating social network learning within the classroom. This specific page adresses connectivsim; its meaning and use as well as connectivist pedagogies.

A George Siemens article discussing the need for educators to embrace the Connectivist approach.

All of George Siemens articles have been so good. He really captures the essence of connectivism and why it is important in this day and age. There is so much information available on the internet nowadays and it is always changing. Creating a PLN helps filter all of it and lets us adapt it well into our teaching and learning.

Step2Step Physics is an iPad app that was put together by a group of physics teachers as they were beginning a one to one iPad program in their school. It is a physics tutor in an app!

This link downloads an article by Antonio Calvani from the University of Florence. He gives his take on whether connectivism is a legitimate learning theory or just a re-branding of the traditional three. He comes to the conclusion that digital access requires that we must re-think learning theories based on tools that were un-imaginable when those said theories were created.

Calvani, A. (2009). Connectivism: new paradigm or fascinating pot-pourri?. Journal of E-learning and Knowledge Society, 4(1). This article is a little hard to swallow at times. In what seems to be a love affair for his own writing he denounces, disagrees, and argues against the text Knowing Knowledge, By Siemens. I am all for disagreeing and arguing but not at the expense of the writer's own opinion where he cannot incorporate any research that supports his position. The author argues that many are too quick to adopt "isms" as a new learning theory and web 2.0 buzzword. He seems to jump from Connectivism as an unfinished theory and being incomplete, again though with no research backing up his own opinion and claim. Just when I thought he was done speaking about anything that I could connect with, Mr. Calvani did illicit a head nod. "A wild transfer of Connectivism to school would lead to think that putting students on the net is enough to produce knowledge, thus consolidating that widespread harmful cliché according to which the more technologies we use, anyway we do it, the better it is for learning".(Calvani,) As an alternative viewpoint to Connectivism he does draw some interesting end points, albeit at the sake of providing actual research for his own defense.

In this article, the author does some 'digging' in order to unearth the origins of PLNs

I like the use of the word "digging". It reminds me of onion metaphors where you peal back the layers to "reveal" the story. That is what I liked on this site, the different uses and definitions reveal what PLN's have been.

This reports the results of a survey of students about using instant messaging in an asynchronous distance learning course in library science. The students came to believe that instant messaging was not appropriate for class related learning, but it was shown to have developed relationships between classmates and to have successfully simulated the types of informal relationships that occur in brick and mortar classrooms. These type of relationship can help build PLNs.

This paper argues that using Personal Learning Environments (PLE-these are functionally equivalent to PLNs) self regulation is important. Because the use of PLEs are based on individual goals and actions the use of behavior which proves effective at reaching goals is important. They then suggest a framework for self regulated learning when using PLEs.

This blog post was written as part of a masters program, and seems to be comprehensive and well done. Lubensky begins by debating some of the merits of what at the time was still an emerging technology. He looks at things that may hold back the effectiveness of PLEs, the potential for the future, and what have been some of the reasons that PLEs are moving to the forefront of discussions in educational theory.

This article considers the connections between connectivism and chaos theory. It makes the observation that they do share similar features in the basic theory.