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Another page from the EPA website, this database provides educators and learners a like with more information on environmental topics. Want to learn more about air pollution? or you want to see evidence and data? This is the place to start your search. A great resource for students to research environmental topics themselves.

Students at Burton High School in San Francisco worked on a project where they Tweeted ideas regarding a current, topical issue. Student involvement and engagement was increased due to the use of social media, and students can participate in discussions with classmates and the teacher on the given topic.

Doing my research I found this resource for social networking in education. Now mind you it does not have a specific site or topic except for "educational networking" but it does list hundreds of network sites that can be very useful for an educator to find a specific topic in educational networking.

In my research surrounding the topics of communities of practice, PLNs, and connectivism I kept coming back to the Wenger-Trayner website. There were many helpful writings and diagrams produced by Bev and Etienne (Team BE), however this blog post stuck with me. When I attended undergrad at Michigan State University these practices were newer and not taught. Does anyone know of programs that use these topics in their curriculum authentically? Are their teacher prep programs or universities that have really embraced these concepts?

These videos have a short and long versions as well as an associated PDF document. The videos focus on teaching one topic and the class is other adult ESL learners. These videos would be good supplemental at home review videos for associated class topics.

gives 7 things to consider in personal learning networks; what they are (a learner-centric approach to learning), major universities who utilize PLEs, why they are significant (extension of classroom learning) and some of the downsides (constant need to maintain, organize, and grow learning networks), where PLEs are headed and their implications in education (deeper engagement with content)

I think the 'who's doing it' section is very useful. It's helpful to see how it is being implemented.

Teaching us about PLEs through a story and simple bulleted points is an ingenious idea to get straight to the point. Rather than a long dissertation, writing a short article can sometimes be more powerful.

Math Videos arranged by topic including introductory math, algebra, trigonometry and calculus. What I really love about this site is that it includes multiple (in most cases 3-4) videos from different people about a specific topic. For example, -7-2 has 4 videos on it for the same problem! It gives students a chance to see it in multiple perspectives.

This article is actually a blog on connetivism. THe author of this post focuses on "sensemaking". He defines it as, Sensemaking is an activity that individuals engage in daily in response to uncertainty, complex topics, or in changing settings. Sensemaking is not about truth or right from wrong, bu rather about making information make sense.

Here is a great blog site from George Siemens where he posts on various topics in education and their relativity to connectivism. The blog has not been updated in some time, but there is still a lot of great info on the site.

This website page is the perfect summary of what Connectivism is and what it really represents. Stephen Downes states, "Learning is the creation and removal of connections between the entities, or the adjustment of the strengths of those connections. " This is probably the best resource I have found for truly understanding what Connectivism really is.

Excellent videos on common math topics - Jennifer Frisk

Thanks for sharing this!! I work in Higher Ed. So I always thought the Khan Academy was for very young kids. It does appear that is still who it is geared towards, but looking around I can see some beneficial information for all ages. Great resource!!

Khan Academy is one of the most popular tutorial websites on the internet. This website covers every subject you can think of with step by step tutorial videos along with the option to practice the concepts as well. The students receive feedback from the practice and the tutorials provide detailed instructions for each lesson.

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!

If you have never watched a TED video, you are in for such a treat! Great speakers on a range of topics! Would love to go to one of their live presentations.

This project gives students an introduction to ePals and allows them to connect with their ePals from another school. Students work to learn about other communities and cultures by discussing certain topics with their ePals and then creating digital presentations to share with their classmates.

This Facebook project could be used for a Science, History, Geography, Foreign Language, Math, or English class. The idea is for the students to create a Facebook page but for something they might be learning about. It is a fun and innovative way for the students to look up facts and represent them in a way that they can relate to.

Teachers from many different subjects have joined together for this project, having students create Facebook pages for a topic or character relating to their subject. Students get to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts being explored by incorporating such a popular type of social media.

Using Edmodo, students discuss with other global classrooms about various aspects of their lives. Teachers will guide chat topics, and students seek to understand and appreciate the opinions and cultures of others.

This blog is a wonderful resource for elementary Science teachers. I teach a lot of similar topics so I find it helpful when I need out of the box and fun plans.

Edutopia writer Vicki Davis discusses how PLNs have empowered her students to guide their own learning experiences. She discusses the weaknesses of PLNs and how they work.

While this blog posting from Edutopia does point to some "how tos" and practical application, it does offer key theoretical practices for setting the stage for applying the PLN model for student use. Vicki Davis, the teacher and author of the blog post, states that her students are familiar with breaking news due the development of their own PLN that acts as a "virtual locker." She goes on to discuss how their research builds the content of their PLN and the content changes based upon the assignment. The big idea is that the PLN model allows students to act as the orchestrator of their own learning and allows them to analyze information via an avenue that is personalized to student's learning needs. It also teaches students to embrace connectivism where they make connections between domains in order to form a more complete understanding.

The article goes into the role of a PLN for students. Students can create their own networks to possess information at their fingertips on any topic they could ever desire. By establishing a networking system, the students don't necessarily have to go out and scour the internet for sources when their network could bring relevant information to them.

I really like annotated bibliographies because they provide so much information on a topic in a fairly simple analytical summary, and they allow the reader to delve further by providing the source. The author, Kristi Newgarden, has two fields of interest: educational technology and teaching English as a Second Language. Overall, the focus of the bibliography is on Communities of Practice and Lave and Wenger's concepts of Legitimate Peripheral Participation.

Scott, it's great that you found this annotated bibliography. What caught my attention initially was that it was posted on a TESL website, but after reading further the author mentioned that the resources mentioned could benefit any teacher in any subject area. This is a nice way to find resources on a topic without having to type in a search engine or review resources at the end of a research study. Even better when there is a summary provided so you don't have to figure out if that is a beneficial resource or not.

J Matibag - One thing I didn't touch upon, but didn't, is the benefit summaries provided in an annotated bibliography like this one. Thanks for putting that into your post. Having these description certainly gives the reader a chance to discover more sources in less time. Most studies I've read tend to be 10-25 pages, so this circumvents sifting through studies that may not be what one is looking for.

Wolfram|Alpha is more than a search engine. It gives you access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics, including science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music... This is a great review site for students. I tend to use it as a refresher for algebra for my physics students. Care must be taken however that they don't use it as a cheating shortcut for math courses.

Wolfram|Alpha is more than a search engine. It gives you access to the world's facts and data and calculates answers across a range of topics, including science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music...

plenty of topic examples

The "community of practice" is defined and there are examples. The characteristics are the domain, the community, and the practice. There are examples given and explanation of where the concept came from and where it is being applied.

Great article on Community of Practice. It is defined and there are examples listed. Its very basic.

Wegner describes three important criteria for a community of practice, the domain, the community, and the practice. When the three criteria are combined, it creates the basis of a community of practice where interaction takes place and participants gain knowledge on a topic/topics.