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This post talks about a project where graduate students at John Carroll University were asked to use social media while learning about gender in modern Africa. The students created a public awareness campaign around an activism project. They were then charged with using social media to get the word out about their campaign. 

This article was accessed via login at Boise State Library. The research article is a survey of a small sample of graduate students who indicate that many students are used to using facebook in informal ways, but perceive the potential for acceptable grading and learning outcomes through a facebook format.

I am not sure where many districts or states are in technology integration stages. Our specific state has developed a profile of where we want to see each student at the graduation stage.

This article discusses the use of communities of practice for libraries and library science. Due to the nature of university libraries being located far from one another geographically, communities of practice tend to be online. Additionally, this article talks about the differences in communities of practice, communities of inquiry, and communities of learning.

Just about my favorite scholar. She leads the Futures Initiative at the Graduate Center at CUNY and writes extensively about participatory learning, the history of technology and innovations in education, including personal learning networks. This website highlights her books, research and blog.

This study looked at how Twitter-using educators were using Twitter to collaborate, network, or engage in professional development

Molly, I really enjoyed this article. It is especially relevant with this course. Honestly, I could never image using Twitter as any kind of professional resource, but after reading this and using Twitter for this class and one other, I can see how it would benefit educator to collaborate. It is also very easy to use. Thank you for sharing this article!

Hi Molly, This is very appropriate for our class, especially since we are using Twitter to share articles and resources with each other - - in our own personal learning environment. I focused on the discussion portion of this article. I noticed that for educators, personal learning networks are important and useful for professional development. It was interesting that the study found greater use in high school environments (maybe because we are influenced by our students?). The benefits of Twitter and professional development, is that one can access and participate at any time and any location - - it is self-directed! I would be interested in finding out how to promote this type of professional development within a school. What type of training is needed for educators to get started? How would one track satisfaction and learning?

This is a more technical site that better describes CoPs.  It talks about what a CoP is and what the requirements are.  I particularly like that the it states that the learning is not necessarily the primary reason for the existence of a CoP.  It also gives some sources for further study.

This article is an outline of Communities of Practice with description of relevant terminology outlined and defined. Identifies the three components of CoPs - domain, community and practice. This article says that the central component of this learning theory is to draw participants deeper into the community through the attractiveness of developing skills relative to the domain.

This one I didn't summarize, only because I really had a hard time grasping the three elements of the CoP, and I thought this site encapsulated it nicely. Incidentally, my creative assignment for this week was inspired by the reference to Star Trek fans in this post. Here are the three elements make up CoP, and again, this information below is taken straight from the source (long quotes), because the definition is so good: 1. There needs to be a domain. A CoP has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest (e.g. radiologists, Star Trek fans, middle school history teachers, Seahawks football fans, etc.); it's not just a network of people or club of friends. Membership implies a commitment to the domain. 2. There needs to be a community. A necessary component is that members of a specific domain interact and engage in shared activities, help each other, and share information with each other. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. In this way, merely sharing the same job does not necessitate a CoP. A static website on hunting in itself is not a community of practice. There needs to be people who interact and learn together in order for a CoP to be formed. Note that members do not necessarily work together daily, however. Wenger points to the example of Impressionist painters who sometimes met in cafes to discuss their painting styles. He indicates that even though these men normally painted alone, these kinds of interactions were essential to making them a CoP. 3. There needs to be a practice: A CoP is not just people who have an interest in something (e.g. sports or agriculture practices). The third requirement for a CoP is that the members are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources which can include stories, helpful tools, experiences, stories, ways of handling typical problems, etc. This kind of interaction needs to be developed over time. A conversation with a random stranger who happens to be an exp

Good research article detailing the use of social media in graduate level learning.

In this study from the University of Central Florida, the researcher focuses specifically on how classroom activities drive student learning towards the CoP model, most notably collaboration. The researcher uses a graduate public administration level class to conduct her study, which is important because all student participants share the same learning and degree outcome---essential to the effectiveness of CoPs. One finding this study presents is the concept of building 'friendship networks' in CoPs. The study shows that friendships were "greatly strengthened" throughout the course and there were no "weakly connected individuals" at the end of the semester (Napucu, 2012). Furthermore, in this study, emphasis is placed on the facilitator (in this case, the professor) of this CoP and how that facilitator structured the course to fulfill the learning needs of the students in the created CoP. *Note, you'll need to log in to Albertsons Library to read the article in full.

A mostly visual representation to explore connectivism as it occurs through an open learning system. Points brought up include learners making meaningful choices while exploring their personal interest in order to guide learning. And as participants engage in making connections, a natural result will be content development and eventually those more experienced students becoming mentors.

Great video that has a section about how our students are "different" than when we were in school. "They [Students] expect to learn from technology because that is what they are used to." As soon as ALL teachers realize and accept this fact, then we as teachers can be one step closer to helping our students achieve their FULL potential!

I like the idea of learners making meaningful choices. Anything that can guide students to make effective and relevant connections is a great resource. I also think teachers have a lot to learn about the way our students learn these days. The idea that students actually need to be a force in their own learning and that they expect instant gratification are concepts I have been seeing more frequently in my own classroom. Great resource!

This article examines the nature of learning communities constructed among a diverse group of adult learners in an online graduate-level 16 week instructional design course. Researchers analyzed course artifacts, survey responses, online profiles and project evaluations to explore communities formed in an online setting that involves 21 international participants. Data was collected through observing recorded audio webcasts and chat discussions, and analysis of student profiles, artifacts, survey responses, and course evaluations. The authors found evidence of community building without significant differences associated with race, culture, or gender. Instead, evidence for community building was more dependent on active participation, forming of shared identify, and the establishment of social network. The course design allowed individuals to work and communicate collaboratively. The authors admit that the study is narrow in scope with a small number of participants, making it unreliable for wider contexts.

Jeff Jarvis, a professor at City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, gathered a conference that discussed the use of alternative media for reporting news. Blogs with comment sections seemed to be the main technology of course for the conference participants.

One of our readings discussed a 2008 graduate online course in educational technology (EC&I 831) that was one of the first to translate connectivist principles into practice. Shortly thereafter, the leaders of connectivism, Siemens and Downes, moderated a similar class (CCK08) as a MOOC with thousands of participants. This article documents both the successes and struggles associated with the CCK08 MOOC.

This article provides another example of an actual case study attempting to implement a connectivist pedagogy in a smaller size ( to something else. For example, is a limited participant (closed) class automatically disqualified?