Group items tagged

This article listed many social media sources to start your PLN. The biggest takes away that I got from this article are the two benefits of a PLN over a traditional personal development. The first one is that a PLN allows an educator to completely personalize their training. They can pick what to focus on. The second is that they can adapt the learning environment to meed the educator's needs. Once they have enough information, they can start learning and sharing about a new topic that they wish.

Describes a PLN, why we have PLN's, and the benefits of being a member of a PLN. This article talks about how PLN's allow educators to develop their skills beyond the more traditional methods and allows them to develop their abilities as an educator.

With more and more opportunities to develop one's skills beyond what traditional routes have provided, establishing your own PLN is an essential step toward deepening your abilities as an educator.

Very straightforward resource. From a teacher's standpoint, this resource is very beneficial. It demonstrates how teachers can enhance their skills away from old school (traditional) teaching pedagody and move into connectivist strategies to truly become educators in the 21st Century.

A PLN can be online or face to face connections but the virtual opportunities do not require your physical presence like attending a conference, a live master's degree program, etc. There are 2 distinct advantages to being online: 1. it's completely personalized to what each person is seeking 2. It can easily be modified based on changes in needs. Social media sources like Facebook, Twitter, and Wordpress blogs can be customized so that teachers can follow one-other and share the latest tools and information.

This discusses what a PLN is and how it can help you grow professionally. It also talks about the benefits of a PLN and how you can personalize things.

This is a great resource on the explanation of PLNs, why they are important, and how they can improve your work and learning environments. It has a solid definition and is key to understanding PLNs in a short read.

This article describes what a PLN is and how it relates to one's real world and social networking communities. It discusses why having a PLN is important to an educator today. In the past you need to be physically present to get your desired information and at times that was not even possible. Today a teacher can determine what training is necessary and find this information through their PLN network. The article explains how a PLN not only allows you to learn but also encourages you to share your knowledge with others.

Nice, simple article that explains what a PLN is. Thanks for sharing it. It can certainly help fill in any knowledge gaps for someone new to PLNs.

I liked the resource for the question "Why do I need one?" and the answers that followed. Teachers can connect themselves to resources from many different aspects of the world and teachers and sites they may not have otherwise found. It is no longer just "absorbing information" but sharing and creating new connections and ways to use the information. Honestly, after all this research, the new question is "Why don't I already have a PLN?"

This article defines what a PLN is and the necessity for educators to develop one. It describes the difference between developing a PLN and being "connected." It argues that PLNs allow educators to individualize professional development. With the emergence of technology in education, I see this as a necessary tool for the 21st century educator.

This article describes the need for teachers to be a part of PLNs. The author talks about the importance of making connections to other teachers and countless resources to make yourself a better teacher.

This article describes the benefits of developing your own personal learning network. The author touches on the traditional learning networks of the past and their limitations and examines the benefits of the tech driven network.

In the education world, PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. What it means is that an individual has developed their own personalized "network" of fellow educators and resources who are designed to make them a better teacher. This network exists both in their real-life relationships and online through their social media connections.

This article describes a PNL but also discusses the benefits of developing a PNL. By sharing within your PNL members will not only gain new knowledge, resources, and ideas, but will also develop relationships with people across the globe!

A PLN is not PD. A PLN has (at least) 2 additional benefits: you study and research topics applicable to you, decided by you; you can form a symbiotic relationship where everyone is sharing information

Catapano explains what a PLN is and why people should have one. A PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. Basically, it is a group of individuals who are fellow educators who work together both real-life and online to make themselves a better teacher. PLN are mainly through social media sources like Twitter, Facebook, or blogs. Teachers can share their resources across the world with their latest research, experiences, or discoveries. Teachers get to take control of their own professional development.

I always like to find resources that cut right to the chase and explain exactly what the topic is. This article does that with professional learning networks. This article can be presented to anyone who asks "what IS a PLN anyway". The article relates the evolution of PLNs to include social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, ect. Themes of connectivism and communities of practice are found throughout the article as the writer explains that the true benefits is that PLNs are based off teacher's interests and passions rather than the usual top down professional development experience so many teacher experience. It drives home the point that successful PLNs revolve around the sharing of experiences and resources rather just viewing and consuming.

@teachingjake503, PLNs have become so valuable to me, especially when I was a first year teacher. Having support from people outside of the establishment was extremely helpful. I think people often buy into them more because of the choice they have. They can choose to include only those they feel provide value, are positive, and can offer support.

What is a PLN? Why Do I Need One? This article provides a simple and easy to understand definition of a Personal Learning Network and how it can be used by teachers to help them become a better teachers and can be used to help educations personalize their training. The article focuses on the use of social media as the primary resource for PLNs. http://www.teachhub.com/what-pln-why-do-i-need-one

The following article discusses why educators need a PLN. These networks are design to make you a better teacher. The personal learning networks are exactly that "personalized." Most professional development is designed by others, but your PLN is created and designed by YOU.

Written by Jordan Catapano who simplifies what a PLN is and explains why one might need it. He explains that a PLN is usually designed by educators networking with fellow educators to make them better teachers. This article goes through the theories and benefits of a PLN and what they intel or include.

"Why do I need one". This article discusses why a teacher should use PLN's and more importantly, create their own PLN. This was a nice read for me to put PLN's in perspective.

This is a summary of the work of Lave and Wenger on communities of practice. It focuses on the need for social participation for learning. The article also highlights how learning is central to human identity.

Wenger and Lave first used the term Communities of Practice (CoPs) in 1991 and furthered their explanation in 1998. CoPs are a process of social learning in which a group of like-minded people regularly collaborate with the objective to learn something. Wenger specifically notes that this definition does not include "intentionality," stating that learning can happen incidentally. This article goes on to explain the three components of a CoP: domain, community, and practice. Finally, the summary ends with a list of methods commonly seen to collaborate in a CoP including problem solving, seeking others' experience, discussing developments, and mapping knowledge

This article also explains how participation is a huge part of communities of practice. It states that these communities are groups that have something in common and people can learn from one another through the interactions taking place. One big focus is how the participation that is going on needs to be active and continuous. A person's active participation can then help motivate them and others in the community to continually want to learn.

This quick overview of CoPs gives a plain-English approach to the definition and components of CoPs. This allows for a quick understanding without having to dissect the meaning of each word of the definition. Wenger's simple definition is given, as well as the required components for a CoP, and it is concluded with the concept of social participation as a learning focus.

Since I hadn't heard of CoPs, I thought I should find out what it is. For those in the same boat, there are 3 things necessary to have a CoP: 1. domain (common interest), 2. community (engaging together in activity and sharing of information), and 3. practitioners (members are not just people with a shared interest, but practicing).

Introduction to and required components of a community of practice.

This article outlines the components of a community of practice as well as discussing what a community of practice is not to help learners better understand what is necessary to have a community of practice.

Communities of Practice were first used in 1991 by Jena Lave and Etienne. A CoP is social learning aimed around a specific subject with people who have common interests and collaborate over a large period of time in an online community. The learning that takes place is often natural and happens through the social interactions. There are three requirements for a proper CoP. The first is that there needs to be a domain. The people involved in the CoP need to have shared interests. The second is that there needs to be a community. The people involved need to interact and engage in activities to help and share information with each other. The final necessity is that there needs to be a practice. This means that they are actively engaged within the community and work to inform everyone involved. CoPs work using social interactions to create the learning community. 

This short but informative article helps get to the root question of "what are communities of practice?" The article describes the three main components of the communities of practice theory which domain (shared, common interest), community (sharing of info, activities), and practice (members of COP need to be practitioners of the domain and not just casual observer). To be a true COP, the above components must be present. The article breaks down Wengers belief that "groups of people who share a concern of a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as the interact regularly". It discussed how COP's are becoming more present through online communities formed through the Internet and social media. COP's are being seen as avenues that promote innovation and building of social capital through the spreading of knowledge.

In this article Etienne defines Communities of Practice (CoP) 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." This learning that takes place is not necessarily intentional. Three components are required in order to be a CoP: (1) the domain, (2) the community, and (3) the practice.

Essentially, that is what learning is all about! Lifelong learning is key for all individuals. One of the rewards of PLN's is developing lifelong peer friendships. Even if it is only in an online community! Great job!

Edmodo is an LMS so I guess then all LMS would be PLN tools. I guess I never thought of them that way but they are. Ive used Edmodo once before to organize a project among faculty but have mostly used it with students.

Staggering number of teachers that are enrolled in Edmodo, which show how the education field truly embraces the concepts of communities of practice. The communities of practice idea has not fully been accepted into the USCG and I'm excited to work to create one.

The article is a comprehensive view of PLNs. It gives concrete examples of how to design and grow a PLN. By examining three widely used PlNs, it might encourage more teachers to begin a PLN. I appreciated the statement: Only the teachers who are continual learners [who] work to improve their practice, skills, and instructional strategies can successfully help others learn.

Being a teacher your PLN is so important to your growing and developing. This article really focus on that and how teachers us it. It also give example of other services that teachers can use that will increase their ability to find and use information form the internet,

Resourced by an edutopia article, I found this information to be both user friendly and helpful. Best of's, design tips, and aspects of PLNs that make people want to be active are included

The mention of RSS in this article is very helpful because it is such a simple way to keep track of all your networks. It keeps everything in one location so you only have to open one program to read it all!

This site explains in plain terms communities of practice. For example, it explains that a community of practice is not just a club. It is a group of people who are committed to a certain domain of interest.

This was a concise, but well written overview of the definition of communities of practice.

Communities of practice are used across a variety of groups of people. According to Etienne Wenger, there are three characteristics that constitute a community of practice: domain, community, and practice. Communities of practice exist on small local scales, to worldwide networks. This allows people to share and obtain knowledge about common practices with others who are actively engaged in the same domain.

Allows the reader to determine the general guidelines to what a community of practice is. Cites examples ranging from artists seeking transformation to surgeons trying to discover new methods. The article is very simple, yet effective in describing a community of practice.

by Etienne Wenger CoPs are formed by people who are engaged and interested in common domains. These can be done in many domains as long as there is an underlying interest. CoPs provide a new way to learn from one another in a safe environment. All members take responsibility with their members to access knowledge while sharing new ideas.

In this article, Wenger provides a quick overview of what a Community of Practice is. I like how she discusses the three components of a CoP and gives an example of what is not considered a CoP in each component. She addresses that just because something is a community, doesn't make it a Community of Practice. She also discusses where the concept of a CoP is being applied. It is helpful to see that it is being applied in many different fields including: education, government, organizational design, and businesses.

This website, from the National Center for Dissemination of Disabilities Research, identifies 3 characteristics of strong communities of practice: the domain, the community, and the practice. It briefly identifies what makes COPs unique and identifies specific applications. There are additional links in the sidebar that provide more information about COPs and prompts for further research.

This article gives an overview as to what communities of practice CoP are. It describes the characteristics of CoP: domain, community, and practice. The article stresses that CoP are not just like-minded people, but they are where people can interact with others to learn with and from others. CoP rely on active participation. Sharing and learning are at the heart of CoP.

Provides a good, crisp explanation of CoP. This is more of a recap, but sometimes saying something in another way helps to get the point across better. What I particularly liked about this one is that it emphasizes how these communities interact based on a passion that they'd like to learn more about or to improve skills.

This article discusses communities of practice in a very understandable, clear way. It describes communities of practice as individuals working together in collaboration with a common goal, or passion, in mind. I feel that one of the most vital parts of my job as an educator is to collaborate with other teachers about best practices to use in the classroom. It was fun to read this informative article!

This is a great overview of Communities of Practice. I appreciate that it distinguishes between a community and a community of practice because "not every community is a community of practice." I also appreciate that it gives where the concept can be applied.

The article provides a definition of communities of practice and gives examples of these communities. It also gives the three "crucial" characteristics of communities of practice.

Wenger's excerpt focuses on a crucial aspect of CoPs - the difference between a community and a CoP. Wenger outlines the three characteristics of a CoP and the role each plays in executing a CoP. (1) The domain in a CoP is not just a group of people. It is a network of people with similar interests and commitment to the growth of that interest. (2) A community engages, shares, and collaborates in order to learn from one another. (3) The practice of a CoP involves creation. The members act as "practitioners" that develop and share over time and through continuous interaction.

This article discusses how the community of practice is a shared domain between its members or those who engage in the community. It also says not all communities are all communities of practice. To explain that, it lists the three important parts that help show it is a community of practice. It states those parts are the domain, the community, and the practice. With that, it explains that all three should be developed within the community itself.

The author of this article explains that a community of practice is more than just a community. Communities of practice have to have three elements. The three elements are the domain, the community, and the practice. The domain is a shared interest. The community is people engaging in joint activities and discussions while helping each other and sharing information. The practice is the members of practice are practitioners. Communities of practice are being applied in business, organizational design, government, education, etc. Communities of practice have become a learning system throughout the entire world. They help practitioners take responsibility for managing knowledge, create a direct link between learning and performance, and create connections without formal structures.

Kayden, what a great site and explanation of communities of practice. I particularly like the distinct description of what a community of practice is including what it is not!

This site gives an outline of three factors that make a community one of practice vs. a non-specific group of people. The domain, community, and practice all combine to create a community of practice. The site then goes to explain where the concept of a community of practice is applied furthering the idea of "practice," as well as why they are catching on in workplaces and organizations.

An introduction to and application for communities of practice.

I thought I had a simple understanding of connectivism, but as I read this I realize that I had a 'bubble gum /reality tv' version stuck in my head. This breaks things down easily and has begun to help me understand more deeply. Downes covers, what a learning theory is, what learning is, how it occurs. He compares with behaviorism and instructivism. A good lead in to the academic theory.

This is a succinct overview of learning, learning theories, and in particular, a discussion of connectivism in relation to learning. Also delves into the question of the evaluation of learning through a connectivism lens.

This site is a blog by Stephen Downes discussing Connectivism. Downes describes what learning and learning theories in the context of Connectivism. He then talks about how learning occurs in terms of looking at how connections are formed. He compares/contrasts connectivism with other learning theories such as behaviorism and constructivism.

While this is a blog post, it is a post by Stephen Downes, who is a major contributor to the connectivism theory. This post gives reason to how connectivism is a learning theory by not only explaining what a learning theory is and how people learn as well as how connectivism fits. It also goes to explain how connectivism is valuable to learners and why it contains "principles of quality educational design."

This resource helped me understand the definition and different looks at the concept of a learning theory a well as the learning happens according to the learning theory. It was valuable to look at the author's point of view of connectivism as a learning theory. It was even more valuable to read the comments to the blog post.

This blog post by Stephen Downes discusses connectivism as a learning theory. Downes goes through what a learning theory is, what learning is, how learning occurs, and building on a theory. He compares the connectivism learning theory to other learning theories.

This blog is a great resource on how Connectivism is a learning theory and how it's going to change online learning for everyone.

Stephen Downes writes about connectivism, making clarifications that it is a learning theory and not a method of teaching. The article provides definitions and commentary into what is a learning theory and briefly defines the other 3 theories for reference and contrast.

Excellent review of connectivism and how to decide if its a theory.