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This Edutopia article explains what a PLN is, how they develop through thought, that PLNs are collaborative, what PLNs can do for you, and how to build a PLN. The article brings up three deterrents of PLNs for educators: PLN is a mindset, there is an overwhelming amount of techno-babble, and requires more digital literacy than a Google search. A good quote from this article is, "We must remember that lifelong learning requires effort." The article ends with a list of resources on PLNs.

Edutopia's article defines PLN and provides concrete ways for educators to establish one. While it addresses the barriers for mass adoption of PLN, the focus is to highlight the collaborative nature of PLN. It is this collaboration that allows for personal and professional growth.

This is yet another great and practical article. I especially like how the author outlined how we can each develop a PLN in 20 min/ day and gave some great suggestions for what we should do with those 20 minutes. 20 min/day feels very doable, even to someone new to PLNs or social media.

This is the newest Horizon Report. This report identifies the key trends in educational technology, challenges, and important developments.

This blog post discusses what a PLN is and how educators can create a PLN to support meaningful and relevant learning. It describes a PLN as an aspect of a PLE (personal learning environment) and then compares and contrasts the two. The author also provides examples of PLNs and discusses how to use MOOCs (massive online open course) and cMOOCs (connectivist massive open online course) to help build a PLN.

In this blog from Debbie Morrison it looks at creating a PLN. However, what make it interesting is her discussion of the difference between PLE's and PLN's which she states are often used interchangeably but shouldn't be.

This article has some interesting points about personal responsibility in creating a PLN.

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.

Here is a list of my resources that I found for this assignment. I put my summaries in the descriptions.

This video talks more about what a PLN is and how you can set it up to be "your own filtered TV station/programming."

This video talks more about what a PLN is and how you can set it up to be "your own filtered TV station/programming."

This is an interesting video which communicated the process of reciprocal learning well. Having the inclusion of text being pointed to with a highlighted mouse arrow was awkward for me to watch, but could be a tool to help engage the viewer.

here are my strategies to develop a positive digital footprint!

Stevens, V. (2008). Trial by Twitter: The rise and slide of the year's most viral microblogging platform. TESL-EJ: Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 12(1). This article did not focus just on Connectivism or just on communities of practice but provided a clear example of both after my previous readings. If you think about the basic fundamental of twitter it would be easy to discount at first whether or not it would be successful. I'm sure along the way some may have even felt that it was a fad destined to fail or fade. Who would want to be limited to only one hundred and fifty characters to get out a complete thought and why would anyone be interested. Well right now according to this article twitter is the most popular microblogging tool that has existed. I found it interesting if you have read my previous articles especially about linguistics in communities of practice that twitter type has made its way into our everyday vernacular, such as saying hash tag in actual dictation. Interesting that a change in our speech and actions are indicators of belonging to a certain community of practice, much like how some groups say 'lol' instead of actually laughing out loud. This article draws these dots that are easily linked together to show Connectivism. The author spends time explaining when he "got" twitter, or when it dawned on him this is an excellent tool. From there he uses some great analogies to describe the connected world twitter produces for millions of users a day. My favorite quote from his article "To 'get' twitter, you have to have your finger on the pulse of what is pumping lifeblood through the Internet, and that is the people on it and how they come together (Connectivism), connect, and relate to one another (communities of practice) in virtual learning networks". (Stevens,2008)

I didn't realize Twitter had been around as long as it has - I also didn't know it's origins. Lost most of the social media sites it's changed a lot since the beginning!

Great post and I was cracking up at "The Twitter Curve" image. It gave a good explanation to me about what makes Twitter so powerful and its benefits but am also glad it touched on things to be leery of.

This is a one-page graphic that describes the nuts and bolts to the connectivism theory. Produced by Western Education, it concludes that this theory was successful in a controlled study in which each student chose 10 modules to study from a longer list. With the use of a group to share ideas, each student became a vital cog in the experience, not just bystanders.

Great concept map! I really like that everything is included on one page and in a format that is easy to understand and follow.

I wish I had stumbled onto this concept map a few courses ago! I like how it summarizes how connectivism flows through the cycle of a course into easy to digest chunks of information.

In this video, Dr. George Siemens provides a brief description of connectivism. He shares a number of practical examples of social knowledge sharing and building, several of which led him to publish the 2005 paper on connectivism (located in the Module 1 Resources of this course). Three levels of knowledge-building including biological, knowledge reconciliation, and networked processes are also discussed.

I know, I know. Wikipedia. In an educational context. I have been a Wikipedia editor since 2012 and I have found it to be a rewarding experience. More than my anecdotal experience, there is increasing evidence of Wikipedia's increasing acceptance in academia. There are even Wikipedians in residence at major universities. This article on connectivism is a great overview and a good starting point for understanding the concept and some of its intellectual underpinnings.

This link provides 10 tips for using PLNs and 10 tips for establishing productive ones. Using Diigo is the first tip for establishing a productive PLN - I thought that was pretty cool.

"Sharing discoveries is more efficient and honorable than patenting them" - I love that! The steps outlined in this post definitely are based on this great principle. It's also great to know that that's exactly what we do at Edtech (unlike in so many other grad programs where so much of the student work never gets shared.) Great post!

I like lists and how-tos. This article by Miriam Clifford provides a great introduction to the nuts and bolts of establishing a PLN.

Twitter chats are absolutely the best way to connect with educators on Twitter, and there are Twitter chats for every conceivable subject or location. But how do you know where to look? Just check this handy list...

Defines CoP's and reinforces that CoP's focus on sharing knowledge and developing best practices. Identifies CoP's as a model for connecting people for learning, knowledge sharing, collaboration and organizational development. Provides great key questions for growth of a CoP.

This is a great guide from Educause on the "nuts and bolts" of establishing a PLN. This resource provides a step-by-step guide to establishing a CoP.

This article is really helpful since it gives practical there are some things you can do. My favorite is "Design." You can not just set up spaces and expect people to interact. You have to drive purpose and there has to be meaning there.

This article lists several benefits of integrating technology into the classroom.

EDUTOPIA-The George Lucas Educational Foundation What Works in Public Education The benefits of integrating technology into the classroom A great source where you can join the Edutopia group, add comments and read other's replies.

This links to a composition by Etienne Wenger, who co-coined the term Community of Practice. Wenger gives an overview with a specific statement that a CoP can be viewed as a social learning system, but is also part of a much broader social learning system, as a result of the network in which it takes place. Wenger goes on to identify the identities that happen as a result of being part of a CoP.

Another article by Etienne Wenger, this appears to be a synopsis and an update to his previously published book. While he does not go into great detail about the topics, he talks about communities of practice as social learning systems and in social learning systems. He also talks about the power of COPs, as well as the relevance to learning today.

This is another article by Etienne Wenger discussing communities of practice. I like it because it works in social learning systems. Social learning systems are similar to connectivism, CoP, and PLNs so I think it fits right in with our topic of study for this module.

I stumbled across the video that a former student created that shows the differences of CoPs, Connectivism, and PLEs. What is cool is that the author uses only pictures, music, and written text to define them - no dialogue.

I watched this because it was made by a former student. It was nice because it was different - the no words was a nice touch. I wasn't really a fan of all the images and I think they only made sense because I am watching this last. If I watched this first, I am not sure I would be much wiser. Not a criticism of the video per se, just didn't do a lot to further my rather limited knowledge. Sorry Matt! ;-)

I watched the video and now need to go improve my presentation. The student did a great job of finding images that exemplified the topic. Even knowing this was for module 2, I kept waiting for words, not because I didn't get the message but I think people (teachers and students alike) are just so used to having words to rely on.

I really like this article. Gives so many examples of free collaboration/sharing tools in the classroom. I appreciated the use of not only social media sites, but so many interactive sites that include collaboration tools - Even game-based learning ideas. Thanks for sharing! Matt

I have to try more of these tools out. It's great that this resource is found and can help our learners stay connected and that we have these kinds of resources to allow them to digitally create and collaborate on projects, and ideas.

What a fabulous find! I will definitely be taking a closer look at some of these! Nice job finding this incredible resource.

This study from Pew Research Center offers a good look at just who in American culture plays digital games regularly. The statistics here might be surprising.