This post describes PLN's and what they look like and the purpose they serve. The author goes on to describe ways people use PLN's, provides a chart with resources, and my favorite part was the stages of PLN adoption section which helps newbies get started without feeling overwhelmed.

In this article with an interesting format Wenger & Trayner tackle the frequently asked questions surrounding social learning, communities, and networks. Section 1.2 on Cultivating communities of practice was most helpful to me to truly understand the purpose of COP's by looking at the objectives.

This article makes a case as to why Personal Learning Networks are an important part of continuing education. She describes this age as one of constant influx and change and therefore encourages people to use their PLN's to tackle new practices with a sense of creativity and innovation.

Ms Brown describes Communities of Practice in her article citing Wenger (who coined the term) in her references. She goes on to describe what communities of practice are and how COP's have changed because of the digital world (Twitter named specifically). I appreciated her list of qualities of a "good" community of practice and her video link of John Amaechi's speech on COP's.

This is a great overview of COPs. The author defines COP's and gives the three major characteristics: domain, community, & practice (and goes on to clearly define each of these). He explains the origins of COP's, describes them and gives examples of COP's today, addresses common myths of COP's and provides an influx of resources. A great site with a lot of valuable info!

A fabulous article that describes exactly what a PLN is & isn't. They define it as: "A network of trusted connections with whom an individual interacts (and learns from) on a regular basis." - Jane Hart. It stresses that while technology has advanced and changed PLN's they are mainly about the connections formed & relationships made. It describes a PLN as being "random" while a COP is more intentional & formal (since COP often share professional expertise).

In this piece, Siemens explores behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism and their deficits when it comes to learning in the digital world. He explains how Connectivism addresses the change in learning in that it is no longer an internal activity because of technology.

In this article, Professor Gerstein articulates the power of Twitter as a tool for professional growth. The professor used Twitter itself to conduct informal research to discover how educators were using the tool and overwhelmingly their responses were "collaborating with colleagues". This article outlines keywords of those who responded to the survey providing insight to connectivism in the digital world.

This article explains how communities of practice are growing and evolving through technology and allowing teaching (and learning) to advance to new heights with very little limitations.

Seven teachers in six cities participated in the development of this report on teacher's experiences with professional learning systems & documents teachers' on-the-ground experiences with professional learning networks. Focus is on how professional learning communities (PLC's) as seen in the US model needs to change the way that teachers develop professionally changes over time with the advancements of Web 2.0.

Currently my favorite website is Prodigy because my students are SO ENGAGED in solving math problems because of the FREE wizarding games provided within the site. If you work with kiddos in grades 1-8, check it out!

Connect your students with people and ideas from around the world. This is the tool that not enough educators are using!

Edmodo is an easy way to get your students connected so they can safely collaborate, get and stay organized, and access assignments, grades, and school messages.

From your hobby to your career, your class notes to your final exam, your mood board to your runway show, padlets help you organize your life.

Transforming media into collaborative spaces with video, voice, and text commenting.

Wordle is a toy for generating "word clouds" from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.

Seriously a VERY EASY to use video creation software. A bit pricey $8 a month but that includes student accounts. Really helps guide students through some multimedia principles. Used By: over 7 million members around the world Amazing videos and presentations created with PowToon! Communicate with colleagues and clients in an unexpected and refreshing way by using PowToon's Ready-Made Templates for plenty of business situations. It's as easy as making a PowerPoint presentation and as impactful as a viral video.

Make great videos, easily. Turn ordinary photos and video clips into stunning, HD videos with Animoto's online video maker. Free for educators & includes 50 student accounts!

Easy to use presentation software created by Google, as part of the basic suite. Google Slides facilitates presentations and allows for collaboration between users. Ceate a new presentation and edit with others at the same time. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Slides to edit PowerPoint files. Free from Google.

Easy to use survey software created by Google. This program facilitates the process of creating surveys and works with Google Sheets to analyze the results.