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I like the explanation of the difference between a full-blown theory and a developmental theory and whether connectivism is a theory or not at this point. I also appreciated the connection to earlier learning theories that this article termed pre-connectivist. With all of the different theories most educators have studied and incorporate into their teaching practices, it is helpful to see how some of them relate to one another.

Connectivism may not be an actual learning theory, according to the authors of this article. It may, they conceed, be a developmental theory that might one day become an actual theory. However, its full list of contexts has not yet been identified so its title as a learning theory could be premature.

This article argues that connectivism is not a theory because it does not introduce any new ideas. It is a great resource for reviewing other learning theories. In the article is states that Verhangen sees connectivism as a level of pedology and curriculum rather than theory. I like this quote from Downs 2007 "Knowledge is the set of connections formed by action and experience."

The author discusses about connectivism as a theory and how it affects learning in a digital era. Connectivism is a new theory that may not have a ton of research compared to other learning theories, but as the technology world continues to evolve, the theory of connectivism evolves too.

Kop and Hill give an overview of connectivism and discuss it as a learning theory. They also discuss the implications in education the increasing influence of the internet has. Kop and Hill look at the connection between connectivism and formal education. They come to the conclusion that, while they foresee radical shifts in education, they do not view connectivism as warranting its own place in learning theory structure.

In this journal article, Connectivism is referred to as helping develop new pedagogies and not a learning theory on it's own. The role of a tutor is diminishing as learners move from a learning environment controlled by an institution, to an environment where they direct their own learning.

I like this article for the overview of connectivism. The overview gives a good idea about what connectivism is. The article goes on to analyze older learning theories and how they need to be addressed in regards to the digital age. It explains how connectivism can build on older theories to better address current digital learning.

Connectivism: is a framework for understanding learning. Siemens (2004) states, "A community is the clustering of similar areas of interest that allows for interaction, sharing, dialoguing, and thinking together." Knowledge is always distributed and shared across learning networks. Information is gathered from everyone and then relating information back to everybody as well as receiving feedback from others.

This source really compares different theories about connectivism. It is discussed whether or not it is a learning theory or not, and what different people think in terms of connectivity. It also discusses some basics about connectivity, and how it means that information is just stored in different places and learners can move between networks to access different information.

This article discusses what learning theories meet the needs of today's learners and how connectivism is built on older theories to connect newer theories. (I didn't check the resources page until after I posted this - I'm hoping I can still use it because I spent a good 20-30 minutes on it!)

This article is a good critical evaluation of connectivisms usefulness in the modern classroom. Ultimately, the authors state that while new theories are emerging in response to technology, connectivism still plays an important role. This is due to the connective nature of technology and the internet.

This article sets out to distinguish Connectivism as either learning theory or developmental (learning) theory. The similarities and differences between the two are briefly discussed before relating how connectivism fits within the frameworks. One interesting aspect of this article is the importance placed on higher-order thinking skills and applications, which seems to be a growing demand in our current education and business markets.

It gives great insights on how connectivism is a learning theory. Also, I find the explanation for how connectivism fulfills the three main tasks for developmental theories.

Thanks for sharing this Alanna! This was a thorough article explaining the past and future of Connectivism. I liked how it puts it all into perspective and we can envision what is in store in the future regarding Connectivism.

Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age. What does that mean for existing learning theories. This articles questions if previous learning theories still meet the needs of today's learners, and the needs of learners of the future. This articles analyzes connectivism to determine if it has anything new to offer as a learning theory.

I truly appreciated this quote..."New learning environments are informing present and future trends from which both educators and students stand to benefit. Moreover, the way in which global networks and communities of interest are currently being formed through emerging technologies is encouraging young people, in particular, to develop new, creative, and different forms of communication and knowledge creation outside formal education." I also appreciated how this article examined, and almost made the reader feel, the discourse that often arises when new theories emerge. As an educator, I have learned that balance is key! It truly isnt one method or theory over another! Rather an intersection of theories is where powerful learning can take place. Connectivism is certainly a 21st century theory which I believe is built to capitalize how how connected today's learner are through the Internet and social media! Connectivism, to me, feels that a theoretical vehicle to deliver many different theories and strategies.

This article is an outstanding review by Mark K. Smith of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger's theories of social learning through communities of practice. It gives a great overview of the theoretical foundations as well as additional explanations of those theories.

This article outlines the theory and practice of communities of practice, and discusses the idea that learning is social and comes from of our experience of participating in daily life. The authors identify a variety of types of CoPs that all humans are engaged in, even if they are not formally identified as such. A CoP is defined along three dimensions: what it is about, how it functions, and what capabilities/resources it has produced. Also emphasized are the importance of the relationships formed between the people within the CoPs - hence, the community in CoP. Stemming from that, they extend the idea of CoPs to apply to the classroom culture and environment and discuss the need for educators to cultivate a similar idea to best facilitate learning among their students.

The point that I learned from this article is that communities of practice go beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skill. They build relationships where people within the community work together to share their skills, knowledge, and interests they have learned in order to complete new or more complex tasks. We learn best through active participation.

Articles like this one make it clear that we are actively involved in communities of practice every day, without even realizing it. This is largely due to the internet; now, if one needs to reach out to another person for advice on baking, for example, one can use online forums or message boards to connect to others in their community of practice. This was not possible before the internet, or at the very least it was difficult to accomplish so easily. I'm interested to learn a little more about what COPs might have looked like before the internet.

Learning is social and takes place by participating in daily life. Learning takes place situationally in communities of practice. These communities of practice exist all around us: home, work, school, etc. As we pursue our goals within our groups, learning occurs. Members off s community of practice (CoP) are united by common activities and by what they learn through participating in those activities. A community of practice is defined by three factors, "what it is about," "how it functions," and "what capability it has produced." For a community of practice to be effective, it needs to "generate and appropriate a shared repertoire of ideas, commitments and memories." There also need to be resources like documents, tools, procedures, and a shared vocabulary. The the developers of this theory, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, focused on the kinds of "social engagement" that caused learning to take place. People join groups and initially learn from the periphery. Eventually, they become more proficient through their participation as they move toward the center of the group. The situation in which the learning occurs has a significant effect on the learning.

After reading through this article, I kept coming back to this quote: "Rather than looking to learning as the acquisition of certain forms of knowledge, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger have tried to place it in social relationships - situations of co-participation." These are ideas I try to integrate into my classroom on a day-to-day basis because healthy social relationships can enhance learning experiences due to students becoming vested in goals. Students are more willing to put their feet outside of the box, without fear of sharing and participating in these learning environments---and they become active inside members of these groups, rather than outside onlookers.

Deborah, I love the idea of students guiding their own learning. It seems to be a great way to get them involved and motivated instead of just listeners in the classroom they are part of the learning network. Thanks for sharing!

While this site leans towards the how-to aspect of a PLN, I found it illuminating simply for the fact that the students described in this article create a PLN for each project.  It emphasizes the fact that a PLN is personal and not the same for everybody.  PLNs are personal, can be permanent or temporary, and exist for the sake of the person to learn.  

The website title really grabbed my attention and I wanted to find out what it meant. This was very interesting because it discussed netiquette and cyber-bullying as well. It helped to relate real-world with online by explaining how with a virtual locker it would change with what courses the students are taking. This really broke down what PLNs are and how they work. It was one of the better articles I have read. Thank you!

I'm still a little hesitant to assign the term Personal Learning Network to an assembly of RSS feeds as describe din this piece. A great part of it, but only part of it, I think. That feels a little too "one-way" to develop the interactivity that seems to be so indicative of the PLN. An interesting idea that came from this for me was that each time a student started a new project (cyberbullying, understanding the Constitution, cancer treatment research, etc.) they would develop a new PLN. This underscored the idea that a PLN is not stationary, but, rather, a dynamic network that will continue to evolve as long as one is striving to learn. It almost becomes a technological reflection of oneself.

Written by the Cool Cat Teacher, this article states that using PLNs allow her student to connect to informational sources and become self-directed lifelong learners. It moves students into the driver's seat and helps them sort through the plethora of information.

In this post, an educator likens student's personal learning network to virtual lockers where they store what they learn and produce academically and otherwise.

This article explains how students (teens) are using PLNs to organize and share their school work and projects. It also discusses the pros and cons of PLNs.

This is an interesting take on how a PLE can work in a school environment. Students can use their PLN as a collection system for information when they are doing their projects.

I appreciate the fact that they presented both sides to the story here. They discuss the advantages of PLNs but also raise questions on issues educators may be facing with them at this current time. As an educator, I like when others bring up concerns because then it allows me to brainstorm ways to circumvent the issues. It also assures me that I'm not the only educators facing issues implementing PLNs perfectly within my classroom. The authentic touch this article displays is refreshing to me. Don't get me wrong, I really love PLNs, but at the moment, there are kinks that need to be worked out to be fully effective in an elementary classroom setting.

I like how this article focuses on student use of PLNs. I tend to focus on their use for teacher PD, but they are certainly something we should be teaching our students! I also like how the article describes some flaws of PLNs, this will help people think of ways to make PLNs even stronger.

Interesting is that the focus is on RSS feeds and it feels very academic while middle school students are an upcoming demographic on twitter. Their use of twitter is of course social, but I wonder about using twitter as more immediate way to share information.