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This is a short but direct explanation of PLN and how they can be helpful for an individual's own professional needs.

This article takes a brief but clear view of a PLN. The short video makes it easy to see the importance of being involved and what a PLN can do for professional development. #EDTECH543 #EDTechSN #PLN

Etienne and Beverly Wenger-Traynor provide an introduction to communities of practice in this PDF found on their website. The introduction includes a definition, examples of what communities of practice may look like, how they began, and in what sectors of the community they are used today. Myths about communities of practice are also addressed.

By Etienne and Beverly Wegner-Trayner, this is an 8 page pdf of the basics of CoPs. I really like that there are myths debunked and demystified within the content of this paper as well.

I appreciate the scope of this resource including elements such as where the concept of communities of practice comes from, where it is applied, and myths about its usage. Moreover in regards to the myths I find it helpful that the resource includes a guide to how true the assumption listed may be such as: partially true, mostly false, false and maybe. I believe this section adds value to the theory of learning communities by acknowledging the misconceptions and limitations. Additionally I found the table with dialogue examples featuring various types of learning community tasks to be quite helpful in making sense of the dynamic ways these communities can be utilized.

This article discusses the theory of connectivism. It discusses the difference between being a learning theory or instructional theory and the differences between each. I like the basic definition that this article gives for connectivism which is that it "is social learning that is networked." Technology in our society is becoming increasingly more prevalent and this theory recognizes this change in our society. The article explains how connectivism is a learning theory because it is characterized by how a student's learning is enhanced by a personal network, the vast amount of data makes it impossible for someone to know all that is needed for different situations, and by current learning theories not acknowledging technology and the changes it brings they are limited. The opposing viewpoints are also discussed and explained that this will be a debate for probably many years to come.

Kristin, Thanks for sharing this great resource! The comparison between connectivism, constructionism, and cognitivism is very helpful.

MakeBeliefsComix.com is an educational comic strip creator from author Bill Zimmerman. You can create, print, email and post your original comic strips through this site. The site explains that: "Comic strips provide a perfect vehicle for learning and practicing the English language. Each strip's three or four panels provides a finite, accessible world in which funny, interesting looking characters go about their lives. And students with limited reading or speaking skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they may be with a book of many pages."

MakeBeliefsComix.com is an educational comic strip creator from author Bill Zimmerman. Create, print, email and post to Facebook your original comic strips through this site!

Siemens is known for his theory of Connectivism. In his TedTalk, he opens with his frustration in the solutions for today's problems in education. George shares his limited view and connectedness when growing up in Mexico. He later states "our focus in education should be to collapse tot he point of a connection." George is worried about society's views of raising and teaching to the corporate setting, rather than being vital contributors to society, all in a connected way.