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Authors discuss the random, fluid, and brief nature of most social media interactions, noting that these give little opportunity for meaning construction but facilitate information gathering and individual sense-making. The restrictive nature of social media interactions presents opportunities to find new means of utilizing the technology in learning. Circulating knowledge does not generate meaning, but collaboration does, especially on tight time scales. The authors further present and discuss the term, generative learning communities, which appear to be similar to communities of practice.

The focus of this article is that the foundation of CoPs and learning is social participation. Various scenarios are discussed where CoPs are formed, even informally, like students on a playground. These groups are illustrated as "shared histories of learning" where the information is handed down from generation to generation. Inherent practices enable the evolving membership to continue to develop.

You will need to use your BSU information to access this scholarly article. This article discusses how situated learning can evolve into Community of Practice. The author asserts, " The basic argument made by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger is that communities of practice are everywhere and that we are generally involved in a number of them - whether that is at work,school, home, or in our civic and leisure interests." Some CoPs are formally created while others are much more casual. This article is a great summary of Wenger's initial discussion of the topic.

Summary: The goal of this project was to look into the preparation of teachers on the topic of PLN's and a range of other eLearning tools. This project is interesting because they really dove into the current teacher training methods. The project goes through all of the major hurdles into getting these new eLearning principles used in the classroom by the new generation of teachers.

In this article, Chandler and Redman discuss how teachers have access to many collaborative technologies that enable them to develop personal learning communities. The article also discusses how to integrate new teachers into these learning communities during their educational programs.

Summary: Educators from Australia uncovered that the most useful collaboration taken from a course was student-led and student generation conversations. The users were able to exponentially grow professionally with the help of their peers through social media. The collaboration in this case was not mandated by the professor, but merely a suggestion. It was the desire to learn from others that sparked the community created digitally. It was through the social media that the learners were able to share ideas, questions in a way that was organized and beneficial to all.

Very interesting article. I always sign up for MOOCs and find I always take away something but have never had that social connection experience in the course as they did in this article; maybe it was the instructor(s) and their encouragement to connect outside of the MOOC. I am going to pay more attention in the future to see if I see connectivism, PLN, and communities of practice.

Great article. I wanted to dive deeper into the MOOC's but just did not have the time. I am so glad you found and posted this article. I would really like to find a MOOC with the social interaction described in this article. I think that would be a very valuable learning opportunity.

The study in the paper was interesting as it looked at K-12 educators and their use of Twitter to research, relate and form PLNs. Twitter and other social medias have allowed teachers to form networks that are specific to their needs and wants in terms of their own professional growth. In the "End of Isolation" the researchers findings touched on the fact that "over 82% of the time, the educators in this study chose to follow other educators or content experts related to their field of teaching so they were able to create a personal learning network meaningful to their professional needs." Now I just need to work with teachers at my school site to help them realize the individualized professional potential!

This study underscored the benefits of Twitter for the educational community. The article shared the advantages to new teachers in particular, where one participant stated it changed her vision and practice in the classroom. Very powerful!

Of all the resources I have read thus far on PLNs, this particular article forced me to think deeper and reconsider my interpretation of this concept. First of all, I found that the article provided a picture of the quality of interaction that can occur within Twitter. The data collected by researchers provides an in depth look at Twitter as a PLN - a feat that few other resources I have read have accomplished. By detailing the amount, quality, and type of interactions and connections, a tangible conception of a PLN emerges, even for someone who has little to no experience with Twitter. Of the 10 surveyed, a majority of their connections and tweets were professionally related. According to Nussbaum-Beach (video I posted), the difference between a PLN and a CoP is the familiarity of the people and the connection to an idea or problem. However, this study provides a different perception of a PLN that is largely professionally based with strong two-way connections. These conclusions made me wonder if it is possible for facets of a PLN on Twitter to transform into a CoP. Further, at what point can one argue that a PLN has successfully transform into a virtual CoP? Thanks for sharing. This was an excellent read!

PLN have been around forever but now we use technology to help increase those who can be involved. Most of the Personal Learning Networks are online and we can communicate with others from around the world. This article gives examples of how to use a PLN and how to build your own.

I liked the video clip that showed how networking can be beneficial. Simple video that explains it for people like me who are new the world of PLN's.

I like the chart of resources. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all of the social media tools available out there on the Internet, so the chart in this blog post is helpful. Thanks!

This article is a good definition of what a community of practice (CoP) is and how they are used. It is not specific to online/social networks but offers good background on how communities are formed and what they are used for. With this general knowledge can be applied to many specific domains such as a personal learning network, a google circle or an anime club.

Did a search on Twitter and these examples came up from our professor. They are prior student examples. I thought I would include them, but they don't have to be counted as one of my ten. I love the music example.

Heather Wolpert-Gawron discusses using Facebook in the classroom. She writes about the experience of a teacher who used Facebook in their classroom.