Group items tagged

In this entry by First Monday, the article explores personal learning networks as it relates to our professional careers. They explore a model of personal professional networking for creating a personal learning network, based on an investigation through a literature study, semi-structured interviews and a survey.

I was quite impressed with how intricate the model was with attitude converting to attention and then these governing activity and skill on the hierarchy. The part of this article that stood out to me the most was how the interviews supported that "this attitude emerges with people who a) experience the value of their network at first hand (Hamm, 2007) and/or people who b) reflect on their work and learning in a broader perspective than their day-to-day practice (Margaryan, et. al., 2009)." I appreciate how straightforward this article was in this model.

In this article, the author explains what a PLN is and how it can be used in other work environments outside of education. The authors of the article were looking at how PLNs support different professions. The article also discusses the factors that individuals use to build and create a PLN.

Explores how personality affects interactions and perception of interactions amongst learners. Noting that there is sometimes tension between being connected enough to benefit from plethora of choices on the internet & still experience individual, personal development. An important component of understanding connectivism is to never assume that those who do not show overt involvement are not as engaged as those who do.

This paper, by Ana Maria Marhan examines connectivism and social media. The author points out that because today's learning is a "messy, nebulous, informal, chaotic process, we need to rethink how we design our instruction. This hit home because I just moved to a new state and a new district, and they are very strict with, well, just about everything on the computer! I teach at a Title 1 high school, and these kids would truly benefit from instruction that wasn't so linear. These learners (like all learners) form their own pathways of knowledge, and I believe I could make a stronger impact on them if I could use more tools.

Marhan, A. M. (2006). Connectivism: Concepts and Principles for emerging Learning Networks. In The 1 st Conference on Virtual Learning. In this article author, Ana-Maria Marhan does a good job exploring the principals pushing forward Connectivism as a pedagogical helper. This becomes apparent right from her abstract "Connectivism views learning as a network creation process, and looks at how we might provide 'learning ecologies' to meet the learners' needs.". In her first section, she defines learning as "a persisting change in human performance or performance potential which must come about as a result of the learner's experience and interaction with the world." As soon as I read the last few words "interaction with the world", I began to connect the dots (no pun intended) to what I've read thus far about communities of practice. She spreads out on a handful of relevant and interesting subtopics to the overall theme of Connectivism. After she describes more about the new connected and growing world we live in she tackles the basics of Connectivism as a theory of learning and the principals behind it. Again like other articles she echoes many of the same sentiments George Siemens made when he originally proposed the learning theory. After the background on Siemens theory, she begins to draw everything together. One statement that I enjoyed was "Individual is the starting point of Connectivism: personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into communities, organizations or institutions, which in turn feed back into the network and then continue to provide learning to individual". She does a great job of supporting the use of technology not as the new power of learning but as a tool to unlock that power. "When knowledge, however, is needed but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill".

I also appreciate how Marhan suggests that connected learning is cyclical: "Individual is the starting point of Connectivism: personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into communities, organizations or institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual."

How three theories have shaped distance learning over the years. Connectivist theory shows how learning is about forming connections with others through human and digital interaction. Developed in the digital age and assumes access to social networking technologies.

This is a March 2011 journal article that highlights the shifts in technology and theory for distance learning. First, there was the cognitive-behaviorist with it's focus on read, watch, and recall. As the web developed, we saw constructivism shift the teachers duties from content creator to a guide through the content as students synthesized. Connectivism promotes the teacher as a "co-traveler" helping students to explore, connect, and create.

Bonnie Stewart makes connections between Boyer's four components of scholarship and network participation. She contends that networked engagement fits Boyer's model for scholarship, and broadens scholarship, building connection, collaboration, and curation between individuals rather than roles or institutions.

A very interesting article! Even though the word "connectivism" isn't used (that I could find), what the author describes is essentially that. I especially liked this quote from the article: "Twitter served as a space for thinking aloud, sharing expertise, and raising investigative conversations. Participants appeared to carve out regular areas of discussion and investigation for which they become known, in their Twitter circles; peers would then send them links on those topics due to their expressed interests, and signal them into conversations in those areas, thereby extending participants' network reach and visibility." Sounds like connectivism in action!

SUMMARY: This page found on the Education 2020 Wiki details Connectivism theory and provides resources that help clarify the unique components of this theory compared to others. I found myself exploring the site more deeply and I appreciated the vast amounts of resources and clarifications available on this wiki. Feel free to get lost in it too!

This is a neat little article on connectivism. The best part is that it has a video contained within it by George Siemens that really helps you understand what this idea is getting at.

Connectivism is learning for the digital age. This article does a great job at explaining the principles of connectivism."Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements - not entirely under the control of the individual."

The following peer-reviewed article notes the expectation of professional development in the workplace. Individuals and cohorts in all professions may receive training and PD that only goes so far. It's critical for all individuals to continue to develop and strengthen their skills, attitudes, and knowledge through the use of Personal Learning Networks. This article highlights the pros and cons of a Twitterstorm, but ultimately captivates the need to seek-out other professional beyond your institution.

This interesting article focuses on four key principles of learning in technology including; autonomy, connectedness, diversity and openness. The authors emphasize the importance of how individual personalities shape PLE and engage or alter the nature of the community.

This study shows a very specific CoP example, using geography teachers in New Zealand as the subject of research. In the introduction, the researcher states "mandating professional development services to several hired geography teachers is impractical...and needs to be voluntary rather than mandatory." This statement is consistent with CoPs having membership of like-individuals connecting because of their learning needs and wants. Furthermore, the study shows a positive result when connecting 'distant' people as a cost effective way to circumvent budgetary restraints for professional development.

Communities of Practice need to be voluntary and non-threatening in order for an individual to join. In this study, I like how they set up their Community of Practice so that the individual could join a topic or subject matter group that was relevant to their situation or needs. As teachers we are often placed in professional development training that has no relevance to the needs of our classroom. I also like how they set up a dialogue for the members of the group. Participants not only posted their own ideas but shared thoughts and ideas through discussion with others in the group. It seemed to be less intimidating because much of the dialogue took place online. One of the factors that impacted the participants was time. Just like educators in the U.S., the educators in this study found it difficult to find the time to fully participate in these Communities of Practice and some did not even finish the modules. As a result, dialogue toward the end of the module fizzled out and was less engaging for some participants. That is one of my concerns with Communities of Practice. Sometimes if one is not being forced to complete a project, it does not get completed. It takes a lot of discipline to be part of a Community of Practice and a willingness to be there for the other group members.

People learn from watching others and then applying that knowledge in their own experiences; learning is seen as a social process rather than an acquisition of knowledge; in order to be useful, knowledge needs to have a context within a community

The authors have endeavored to find the motivations involved with professionals in the creation of Personal Learning Networks (PLN). The concluded that there are four common factors that for why people choose to use a PLN. These factors are : enhancing professional communication, remaining in touch with people in the network, positioning an individual in a network, and finding new people and expertise within the network. They point out that these factors are not necessarily the determining influences that comprise an individual successfully becoming a member of a network. They point out that there is metacognitive level, that of the attitude of the practitioner that is a determining factor for the success or failure of an individuals PLN.

Communities of Practice are becoming an important focus in organiation development because of the learning and collaboratiave aspects of CoP. Theory and practice of CoP's are reviewed. The model of situated learning is reflected upon as CoP's are viewed as a process of engagement.

This is an article that dives deeper into the theory and practice of communities of practice. The article hits the main components of domain, community, and practice but dives deeper into the thinking of the researchers Lave and Wenger. I appreciated how the article dives deeper into the process of these communities and how many of us join COPs as periphery learners and then as we gain competence through out interactions with the COP we move to full participation. The cornerstone of the theory being that learning not is solely acquisitional but rather a process of social participation. There are extended quotes from the researchers that provide a deeper context to their theory and more is discussed about the processes of their research.

This article provides a great overview of the writings of Wenger and Lave on communities of practice. Their basic points are that we are all involved in communities of practice and they are valuable tools to become better educators. They also explain how our learning never ends as education continues to change. We constantly need to adapt and change our methods to fit our learners.

Not only does this resource provide a solid description of what a PLN is, it also answers the important "why do I need one" question. It was particularly helpful to get an idea of how social media is essential to a strong PLN.

A great article that offers many valid and important reasons that an instructor should join PLNs.

This article supports why we all need to join PLN! Great read!

This resource defines Personal Learning Networks as a network of connections where people in the groups interact with one another. Karla Guiterrez explains that the connection of individuals are built through the technology that they use. She explains what a PLN does and what it doesn't do for an individual. She also explains how a PLN is important to the individual and to the members of the PLN.

This blog was particularly interesting to me as it not only addresses PLNS, but it also expounds upon common misconceptions and confused terms (i.e. PLN vs PLE). Further, it also gives several suggestions for building a PLN and explains why it is increasingly important.

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.

The author creates a great case in favor of digital PLNs. She explains why they are so important and relevant today. The emphasis of the article is on the need to work together, not on best practices, but rather on emerging practices. The author takes the stance that best practices require training with known knowledge for known outcomes. While we should be collaborating and innovating together to tackle the emerging practices.

In this article, the author explains why you should build a PLN, why PLNs are important, how to build a PLN, characteristics of a PLN, and skills needed to build a PLN. We need to stay relevant and connected with our personal development and can do that through PLNs. In the 21st Century, it is essential and key to success to stay informed, updated, and connected. PLNs make it easy to learn at the pace of change.

This article discusses why building personal learning networks is important when information changes constantly. The key to survival is learning how to learn continuously through building Personal Learning Networks. Creating networks where people can collaborate and learn from each other in order to remain on the cutting edge. PLNs allow for continuous learning, exchange of thoughts and ideas, and validate and challenge one's thoughts among a diverse group of individuals. PLNs have to be a sharing process of ideas.

In this article faculty and graduate students at the University of Plymouth wrote about the growing use of blogging in higher education classrooms. The authors see connectivism as the theory that helps to legitimize the use of blogging in the teaching and learning environment. They acknowledge that Web 2.0 tools such as blogs give students the ability to easily make connections with their peers and others outside the classroom walls. One of the most interesting aspects of the article was that the authors advocated for the use of course blogs rather than individual blogs for the simple fact that it promotes a single platform for students to share and connect. The authors gathered much of the information for this article from a case study that they did with university students. They asked several students to complete a survey. Instead of a survey, the staff involved in the project were interviewed. Through this case study, the authors were able to produce both qualitative and quantitative data on the use of blogs. Overall, the results showed that blogs are an acceptable medium for using the connectivist model and that by and large, most students achieved the learning goals while completing the assignment.

Kelly, This is a very interesting article especially since I have had to use blogs for many courses and have considered having my own students use them as well. I definitely understand having a single platform, but I wonder if that takes away from the individuality students gain from getting to create their own.

Tiffany, I too am torn on the use of a single platform in the classroom. I love that it would be easier to manage one account rather than individual student accounts. I have over 100 Spanish 3 students (which doesn't include my Sociology and Spanish 2 classes). It could be a nightmare to monitor appropriate blog use of all of those students. At the same time, I agree that students lose the ability to create a personal site, and could be less engaged on the single platform.

Connectivist theorists argue that the way in which individuals acquire knowledge has changed. Academic institutions (which have historically been considered as the place in which individuals acquire knowledge and information) are being supported and/or replaced by groups of people within a learning network. The process of learning involves the creation of knowledge through these personalized networks and identifying the relationships between one's own knowledge and the knowledge of others within a network. These connections can occur in a variety of ways and with a variety of learners.

This article helped me to understand how to apply connectivism in the classroom. It also pointed out misconceptions that educators have about using social networking in the classroom.

Written by Kegan Remington, an Instructional Designer, the article discusses what connectivism is and how it can be applied in the classroom. He lays out the four simple ways of introducing connectivism in the classroom.

Seamon states in this article that there is evidence that social communication (PLN) can strengthen human relationships, particularly for introverts. It may help foster family and business as well. It encompasses learning from feedback, insights, new contacts, and is based in reciprocity and trust. It is needed to increase the chance of higher levels of learning maturity.

The author addresses concerns about the feelings of isolation that can stem from the use of technology (in the sense that it is utilized to the exclusion of in-person connections) but makes sure to point out the benefits of technology as evidenced by Personal Learning Networks.