Group items tagged

This article from Sh!ft Learning explains the differences between Personal Learning Networks, PLCs, CoPs, and PLEs. Anyone unfamiliar to the terms/acronyms would find this article useful in discerning the differences. The article also gives several reasons for why PLNs are needed, and ways they can help educators grows personally and professionally.

Gutierrez defines what a PLN is, what does a PLN do, and what a PLN is not. Lastly, Gutierrez explains why building a PLN is increasingly important. A PLN is where educators can gather, collaborate, communicate, and share information anywhere or anytime. PLNs are formed through social media and across the world. They serve three purposes including connection building, connection maintenance, and connection activation. A PLN is not a CoP or PLE. A Community of Practice is with people that have the same profession, vs PLN connections are more informal. A Personal Learning Environment is much broader than a PLN. A PLN is within the PLE. PLNs help professional development, expanding your thinking, find answers and advice quickly, and stay up to date.

The business blog post defines and contrasts PLNs, CoPs, and PLEs. It discusses the importance of building a PLN. The post points out that connections in a PLN are intentional with the purpose of learning from the other person rather than just meeting by chance. Several good references are provided. Included is a nice illustration showing the relationships between PLNs and PLEs and Personal Web Tools.

SUMMARY: Connectivism teaches students skills that are not attached to time or space. Rather they are necessary in the fast-paced, ever-changing whirlwind we live in. The chart near the end clearly compares major educational theories and helped me see the connections and disconnects between them.

Great article. Chaos theory is so interesting. The study of pattern shifts is so real to this day and age. For example, I think the role of memes play a big part in our culture and this absolutely propels the chaos theory. Nice share Natalie!

Summary: The most useful part of this resource comes after the definition of Connectivism cited from Siemens. The author includes a graphic that compares Connectivism to other learning theories. In addition, a section is devoted to critics of Connectivism as learning theory who instead see it as a pedagogical view.

If you are like me, where to start looking for PLNs to join leaves you a bit overwhelmed. Many of us already familiar with Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter-- but what about other options? This brief article offers up 5 additional PLN resources, most of which were new to me. It could be a great resource for finding PLNs to join.

Great list of resources! I have only heard of the EdChat before, but will be looking into the others. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for finding this resource! Some of these are completely new to me. I look forward to learning more.

Suggests that understanding how members of a learning community converse is an important component of understanding connectivism. The tone of the interactions in a forum rely on the design and management of the space. Furthermore, learning depends on sharing in conversations and interactions which themselves can be meaningful activities. During communication among learners, there is a balance of what is good for each individual and the ability to move towards a common purpose.

In this article, Andrew Ravenscroft explores a "dialogue rich view of connectivism" and how we can develop learners that can "think, reason and analyse." He takes inspiration from social constructivist theory to focus on dialogue as a vehicle for learning. Ravenscroft begins by detailing Siemens 8 principles of connectivism. He then asks 3 questions: how can we understand the dialogue processes of a networked world, what dialogue features make for quality connections and how do we design to promote quality connections. He starts to explore the questions with Socrates and the Socratic method. This method has applications for 21st century learning. He reviews Hegel's dialectic as well. Ravenscroft maps these positions to connectivism because dialectic helps refine knowledge from a diversity of opinions, supports the capacity to know more, consideration of alternative viewpoints, fosters a constant evolution of knowledge, and promotes critical and collaborative dialogue. Then he discusses dialogic processes and how they map to connectivism. Dialectic and dialogic can work, not in opposition, but together in different aspects. Dialectic focuses on the epistemic and cognitive dimensions of learning, while dialogic focuses more on emotional and interpersonal aspects. The author then details dialogue game interactions and how they can foster learning. To be successful they need to balance orchestration and openness. This article proposes that language and dialogue remain a "most powerful semiotic system."

What a fascinating article. Ravenscroft's discussion of a scaffolded system to build a learner's dialogic skills reminds me of research I did for my EdTech504 class on self-regulated learning. Roger Azevedo is developing and experimenting with a similar game, MetaTutor, which scaffolds student learning as well. I think self-regulation is complex and difficult to teach in the classroom, and am amazed that researchers are creating software to build self-efficacy!

This study observed and surveyed undergraduate students in a teacher certification program use Twitter to form personal learning networks. Researchers were interested in how students perceived Twitter before and after group discussion. Additionally, researchers wanted to know if Twitter was an effective medium for group discussion. Although some students had frustrations with Twitter's structure, most had a positive experience in using it for networking.

I like this article because it shows how social media is rapidly transforming all aspects of our professional lives. At first when I started reading it, I wondered what are the benefits of Twitter over the chat function in many Learning Management Systems. But then I realized students are more likely connected to Twitter with several devices. The chat session would stay around longer than the course page in the LMS. Additionally, the PLN created by the synchronous chat session exists outside of the classroom walls and can continue long after the class is over. The article was correct to cite that one of the drawbacks is the lack of critical thought that goes into Twitter feeds. The low number of characters allowed limits the ability to express thoughts clearly. However, if it is used to organize PLNs it becomes an effective tool as the participants in the study all attested.

The study supported the belief that Twitter chats provide a place where learners can be exposed to widely differing perspectives, not limited by geographical or socioeconomic constraints: "Twitter chats . . . to communicate to other professionals you may not even know but you will absolutely learn from them and what they have to say." I enjoyed the anecdote of the student who found himself in the same chat room as his school principal father!

This short journal article describes how one teacher in Louisiana uses Twitter to find and joing professional learning networks. She uses Twitter to collaborate with teachers on lessons. She also leads a weekly chat to discuss a variety of educational topics. In addition, the journal explains what Twitter is and how to use it for a complete beginner.

I appreciated the idea from this article that relationships started on Twitter can expand beyond Web 2.0: "Connections which begin online may lead to face-to-face meetings at conferences." Likewise, the river analogy helped me see how Twitter can be interpreted and integrated into an individual's personal learning network: "Consider a Tweet as an 'on-ramp' to deeper learning." Thanks for posting this link!

I love this website! I was originally hired as a cataloger and now I do reference and instruction. I spend 90% of my day teaching and I have never been taught how to teach. We didn't have classes on how to do library instruction in my library science program. What I usually do is come up with some ideas of what I want to do and then I search the freely available resources on CORA to see if anyone has perfected what I am thinking of doing in the classroom. It's a great resource for those who are starting out in the reference and instruction arena!

This source is a chapter in a book by several librarians from the IUPUI library system. The librarians set out to find ways in which they could collaborate with faculty to promote a more successful information literacy program on campus. The importance of this issue gave them the impetus to form a community of practice. This group consisted of both faculty and librarians who were all dedicated to discovering best practices for teaching and assessing information literacy concepts. The authors concluded the chapter with a discussion of some of the campus initiatives that came out of the CoP activities and what they may do in the future to further the growth and retention of student information literacy skills.

Thanks for sharing this article, Kelly. I appreciated the discussion of campus initiatives, including the student pre- and post-surveys, which yielded "abysmal" results. Even with those results, though, the initiative was successful in sparking the campus to start operating as a CoP.

Summary: Communities of Practice are all around us. They exist in most businesses and most professional communities. These communities are important because work is shared, revised, and organized; thus, making it better. The development of CoPs is dependent on leaders within these communities.

The sharing piece seems to be the most integral part CoP in my opinion. Also, before exploring these topics I feel my thinking was streamlined towards education, but I am understanding the need for CoP in all professions. If you are not sharing as a part of the community then you are not a contributor. This translates to the classroom and making sure all students play a role and have a place in the classroom's community! This starts as early as having a classroom "job."