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PLN have been around forever but now we use technology to help increase those who can be involved. Most of the Personal Learning Networks are online and we can communicate with others from around the world. This article gives examples of how to use a PLN and how to build your own.

I liked the video clip that showed how networking can be beneficial. Simple video that explains it for people like me who are new the world of PLN's.

I like the chart of resources. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all of the social media tools available out there on the Internet, so the chart in this blog post is helpful. Thanks!

Great article on schools using teachers to help teach others in the school about different areas in technology that they are competent in. My only thought was that it really should have gone further and reported on schools using its students to train the teachers and fellow classmates. We have a school nearby that has a class on basic computer repair and then the students then spend one hour a week going around the school helping out the teachers. Really cuts down on expenses and students have a sense of pride and a useful and marketable skill!

This pages provides ten links that are basically guides for creating effective PLNs. I was going to post them individually, but thought it was more effective to post them here together. As I browsed them - I saw some pretty cool ideas.

I truly enjoyed reading this page. The guides were short but very helpful. The comment about being a beacon of light was spot on. How often do people take, giving nothing back in return. The whole foundation of a personal learning network is to give and receive. Being an active member also means to help out those who are new to the community. There have been many times when I have struggled with a new concept or application and I know someone in one of my classes knew how to help but chose not to. This is a huge strength of a PLN, helping one another and sharing information. I think introducing elementary students to the concept of a PLN would be useful not only now but in their futures. Learning how to network is a 21st century skill that everyone must know how to engage in.

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.

This article provides insight into personal learning environments by answering seven basic questions about them. A scenario in which an avid car enthusiast uses a PLE to help him gather knowledge to restore a car provides a helpful image as an introduction. Additionally, an overview of PLEs is provided, along with some examples of institutions that encourage their use and how they are used. Web 2.0 allowed the evolution of the PLE into a digital world. One drawback mentioned by the article is that students who have never practiced metacognition in their own learning practices are said to have difficulty at times with the format of PLEs.

This is a pretty simple explanation of connectivism. Basically it is about adding nodes to your PLN which connects you to another resource.

Usually when I see anything WIki that has to do with research I have the initial tendency to try to stay far away because in my undergrad years I was constantly reminded to pursue peer reviewed articles. What I really appreciate about this resource is how simple and basic it is on Connectivism. This wikispace provides all the "nuts and bolts" of Connectivism and is a great starting point for digging deeper into understanding its theory. Great find!

"Connectivism is a learning theory promoted by Stephen Downes and George Siemens." Learning occurs with connections in networks. This article believes that with connectivism we can move to a new age of learning. Learning can be more collaborative and global. With connectivism we see the use of networks with nodes and connections to elaborate on our learning.

Defines CoP's and reinforces that CoP's focus on sharing knowledge and developing best practices. Identifies CoP's as a model for connecting people for learning, knowledge sharing, collaboration and organizational development. Provides great key questions for growth of a CoP.

This is a great guide from Educause on the "nuts and bolts" of establishing a PLN. This resource provides a step-by-step guide to establishing a CoP.

This article is really helpful since it gives practical there are some things you can do. My favorite is "Design." You can not just set up spaces and expect people to interact. You have to drive purpose and there has to be meaning there.

Great site dedicated to helping teachers find websites and resources to help teach health and nutrition.

Abstract: Student Response Technology (SRT) involves the use of hand-held remotes by students during classroom lectures to electronically respond to questions. This study surveyed 350 students enrolled in one of 13 lower-division university science classes taught by five different instructors who used SRT. The survey probed students' perceptions of SRT in terms of enhancing student learning, and investigated which features of SRT students felt had the greatest/least impact on student learning. The majority of students reported that the SRT increased their content understanding, class participation, alertness, and interactions with fellow students, helped with examination preparation, provided important and immediate instructor feedback, and made class more enjoyable. Students in this study scored more positively than peer groups on survey questions related to student engagement in academic and intellectual experiences, suggesting that SRT helps to promote student engagement. Important instructor actions identified during this study that augment the enhancing effects of SRT on student learning, even in large lecture settings, include designing clear, substantive questions, reviewing correct and incorrect answers with students, and making pedagogical adjustments based on class responses.

Helpful site for math. Students could use it from home to get help with math homework (be careful, some advertising)

Throughout this website, Etienne Wenger describes Communities of Practice as "groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly." It strongly conveys the importance of working together and emphasizes teamwork as a vital component for success. I could not agree more.

This short summary did a really good job of making this concept simple to understand. It explains that you need three things for a COP: a domain, a community and practice. Great short explanation

This article is an overview of CoPs. The highlight for me is that it must be a collaboration over time, not a one-time Professional Development.

This article describes the features in communities of practice and provides a real life example of how it is used and what it looks like in an educational setting. The article also shows how communities of practice can be extended through the use of new technologies.

This article really captivated me, especially how it started with the vignette about the English teachers collaborating over how to mark their students' papers. I am an English faculty at a university and I have sat through collaborations on such things. I appreciated how such a simple paragraph on this collaboration could embody the three tenets of communities of practice.

The National Council of Teachers of English wrote this briefing with the intent of helping not just English teachers but any educator understand the alignment, implementation, and instructional support of a CoP. The comprehensive but short article is an easy read to get a basic outline of communities of practice.

This adds some perspective on Siemen's core principles of connectivism and includes a nice TED talk on the power of visualization; there is little research on ways connectivism is implemented in the classroom and how it actually affects learners; requires a rethinking of education and the roles of teachers, students, and technology

This is a great explanation of how online learning and connectivism are connected and how this is a relatively new idea and that online educators can try out a lot of the ideas. It helped me understand the theory of connectivism a little more and how it can be used in online learning.

I like the ideas for applying connectivism principles in the classroom. The author explains the teacher's responsibility in helping students make connections that will allow them to learn now and in the future.

This article explains connectivism with academic advising. Within this article, the writer states that connectivism can be useful to help combine old information to new information. It then states how that will help people to understand new material by connecting it to the old material. The writer also states how technology has impacted connectivism. It says connectivism is influencing students' decisions and knowledge through Siri, Amazon Echo, etc and that those tools of technology or other resources they have access to are impacting their decisions based on connections they've made to other information.

This is an interesting article that explains connectivism in the context of academic advising. I found this especially helpful as it makes it easier to understand connetivism as you first receive information and then that information is put into a contextual situation.

This article explores the ways in which using a model of connectivism can help an academic advisor in higher education better connect with or direct the student they are assisting. One example features the way in which students view their advisor, where some students see the advisor as a guidance counselor others are able to differentiate between the two roles distinctly. The article continues on with various examples of interactions and scenarios that students and advisors could encounter that when approached through the model of connectivism would assist the student in combining thoughts, theories, and general information.

Teachers are developing PLNs to connect with other educators and professionals all over the world to stay up to date on their teaching methods and resources. This article gives an overview of why many teachers belong to a PLN and why it is beneficial to their professional goals. I appreciated that the author named and discussed three popular PLNs that I plan on looking into further. They were Classroom 2.0, Edmodo, and The Educator's PLN. I agree with the author completely when he states that "teachers are lifelong learners." This article is a great read for those new to PLNs.

I loved all of the information on the various tools that can used in managing a PLN, There were several tools I wasn't familiar with and look forward to being able to use in the future.

I found this post to be extremely informative regarding how teachers can use PLNs for learning, moreover for modeling learning for their students. The social network portion of this article was authentic to the purpose of this course and aided in making connections regarding the usage of social networks for educational learning tasks. The review of the three PLNs was also helpful as we navigate this course and begin to implement strategies and plans for the incorporation of social networking into our own classrooms.

Describes the value of PLN's as well as the support it provides in learning. Ways in which educators use PLN's are identified as professional development, resource sharing, mentoring, technology integration strategies.

This provides some simple reasons to develop a PLN. I love that it encourages busy teachers to create a PLN by letting them know that it will make their work easier! This page also includes a "how to", but the "why" part is a terrific resource on its own.

This gives you 10 reasons on how to jump start your Personal Learning Network. Great tips for a beginner like myself.

One of the challenges of teaching creative writing can be just getting students to start a story. The app Scribeasy can be helpful because it provides visual prompts that aid as story starters.

One of the challenges of teaching creative writing can be just getting students to start a story. The app Scribeasy can be helpful because it provides visual prompts that aid as story starters.