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This website talked about 5 key resources needed for educators to being and grow their own personal PLNs. http://ning.com offers podcast downloads, discussion forums, videos, relevant blogs, videos and more resources. Powerful Learning Practice is a professional development opportunity that teacher can attend. It offers hands-on applications and the know-how to build and use technology within the classroom. Webinars are conferences people can attend online to join discussions and offer insight to like educators. EdChat is something we can join now on twitter using the hashtag #EdChat every Tuesday. Game based-learning tutorials and talk can be found on http://edweb.net where mentors and people who've successful implemented these practices in their classrooms can offer advice and help.

Those are 5 really good resources. Thanks for sharing.

By Dr. Etienne Wenger tthis is a stong definition oa community of practice with some thought given to implementation.

I especially liked how the CoP was referred to as a joint enterprise that is continually being renegotiated. Isn't that what learning is supposed to be all about? The table listing the relationships between CoP and businesses was interesting. The bootleg relationship does not surprise me at all. This one frustrates me greatly since it only applies to a select group of people who keep many things to themselves. Just think if they were to share some of their knowledge what an impact it could have on the organization. It was good to see the seven different styles of leadership defined, however I believe a good leader would exhibit a bit of each one of these characteristics. Being a leader is not a simple task but it is important to be well rounded.

I like the graphic organizers that are included with the information on communities of practice. The first is almost like a life cycle of a community of practice. Nothing that I read in my research acknowledged that a community of practice may have a timeline on it, so even though it may be implied, it was nice to actually see it in print. The second, the table, defined certain types of categories that CoPs may fit into. I was drawn to the third column, the challenges of each group, because it shows that working in a CoP and sharing beyond the community itself may not always be free of issues. Thanks for sharing this resource!

I found this valuable for those of us who are trying to implement their own PLNs from the ground up. They have compiled a Google Doc with all of the Twitter chats and hashtags to use to be involved in the conversations of like-minded educators. You can join the conversation now by checking out this document and using the appropriate hashtags http://tinyurl.com/29cn2uc You can also Tweet right now to #Itnchat each Thursday to advice on how to use Twitter as your own personal PLN starting point.

This is a cool blog that includes a lot of resources for implementing social media in classrooms.

One of the highlights of the current Horizon report is the section on Personal Learning Environments. The report lists PLEs as being a personalized collection of tools and resources assembled to support your own learning. Horizon lists PLEs as being 2-3 years out from wide implementation in K-12 schools.

This particular document looks at the communities of practice model from the lens of a government agency in its' partnership with businesses, foundations, non-profits, and other organizations. The document's value comes to life in the fact that it focuses on how the communities of practice implemented are more of a valid method for productivity because a shared interest is involved and the experiences are shared. First time viewers of this document would benefit from the diagram on page 8 that explores the distinct features of the community, domain and practice which lead to a successful community of practice. The diagram is an excellent means of introducing the model to new participants or those already engaged in a community of practice, but simply unaware of their involvement. I also appreciate this document because it offers practicality and context in viewing how multiple entities can come together to form a community of practice united by a common purpose.

I found this article interesting because it talked about the value of using CoP's in management, in particular government. It details the changing age of technology in meeting the demands and needs of communities and organizations around the world. As needs and wants begin to move, so do the challenges that are provided to government. In this regard it talks about utilizing the value on online communities to help create a network of highly skilled people to meet these new demands. By engaging people in this kind of networking through social media people are able to better handle new situations by connecting with people who have experienced similar problems in the past.

The authors propose seven principles that they believe will allow communities to be "alive" and connect with members.

The seven principles for designing, implementing, and evolving a community of practice is the focus of this article. It does a very good job of describing these activities in terms of promoting a growth model within the community and the members. This desire to attract and connect with more and more people will only serve to grow the communities knowledge and abilities (this is somewhat mentioned in principle #2) by opening the conversations among those who are in and outside of the community.

This article, for Innovate: Journal of Online Education, was written by Stephen Downes. It discusses connectivism as implemented in an online course Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, lead by Downes and George Siemens.

In this study, the role of a PLN using Twitter in a teacher preparation program. Teachers who were already using Twitter found that the power of Twitter as a PLN came not from the sharing of resources, but from the collaboration and conversations of other educators. Many new teachers were initially hesitant to use Twitter as a PLN, but with virtual mentors and an explanation as to the power of a PLN, new educators were more likely to use it as a powerful tool to develop their teaching practice.

I found this study particularly interesting as recently read a blog post by Etienne and Bev Wenger about whether or not colleges are utilizing the ideas of community of practice in their teacher prep programs. The findings of the study are not particularly surprising, teachers are hesitant to use Twitter but find the collaboration worthwhile. Both control groups were graduate students, I would be interested to find out if this is being implemented in any capacity at the undergrad level.

This study discusses the concept of using PLNs during teacher preparation programs. It discusses how newer teachers are more hesitant to use social media like Twitter and do not understand how valuable the tool can be. The studies findings emphasizes how PLNs promote professional development and allow for instant feedback through conversations and collaboration. The study also discusses how some teachers are hesitant at first, which I think is common thread for new and veteran teachers.

If you are looking for reading strategies for elementary students, this site is wonderful. There are strategies for each of the components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) as well as writing. For each strategy, there is also a chart that recommends whether to implement the strategy before, during, and/or after reading.

Edublogs Teachers. This has a Step by Step process of how to create a PLN in just a few weeks. Very useful information given here.

Who can't use a step by step guide for PLNS? This is great. I can use guides for everything! I love quick breakdown and references that are presented in this blog. Thank your for sharing... I may be borrowing this into my diigo library! I think I now officially have a PLN to do list. Thank you for this find.

I love the step-by-step ease of this blog. Bookmarked this and definitely going to use it to my benefit!

"K-12 Blueprint provides the insight and resources education leaders need to successfully plan and implement technology in education." What do you think about Intel's efforts to provide an online network and toolkits for educators? I find the site to be easy to network and great as a resource for teachers looking to build their schema.

Just a couple of ways to use Social Media to connect your classroom to the world!

Provides ideas on how to inspire students in classrooms to become engaged in their learning. Lots of ideas on how to implement social media in the classroom.

How and why use social media in the classroom. I'm looking at this especially for Language Arts.

This app would be a great addition to any problem-solving unit. Compatible with iOS, it provides a structure that students can follow, learn and implement.

Presidential campaigns implement extensive efforts to capture the youth vote by posting huge amounts of information on the Internet. This lessons combines students, social media, and politics.

How the use of databases can help teachers to work smarter, not harder.

Graphite is a website created by teachers which is a searchable collection of educational technology resources for teachers.

Common Sense Graphite is a site by teachers, for teachers that helps you find the best educational technology resources and learn the best practices for implementing them in your classroom. Brought to you by Common Sense Media: Empowering kids to thrive in a world of media and technology.