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This article talks shares some history on the Personal Learning Network (PLN) and how the term came to be and how technology use impacts the PLN. It also highlights some of the different definitions for it. One thing that stood out for me was the point that they are dependent on the reciprocity and trust of members, as well as the literacy level and drive of the members.

Our everyday life is revolved on some type of social networking (i.e. cellphones, email, social media, etc.). Through networking, we build a personal learning network (PLN). As we continue to use networking, as users, we need to be able to find out how we learn best and then seek out for networks that fulfill our learning needs.

Here the author argues that Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) are not an application but an approach to learning. They require a radical shift in how we use technology, but they supply a holistic environment where students learn to take responsibility for their own education.

This article presents the features and reasoning for personal learning environments in e-learning. It discusses reasons for its importance in e-learning and lifelong learning. The ways that "learning" is changing with new technologies and resources are considered. The social aspect of personal learning environments is also described, with an emphasis on the tools that are used to facilitate the connections.

The author discusses the potential of learning environments in eLearning and how these LEs can bring together more authentic contexts for learning. The paper also reviews the different purposes and uses of Personal Learning Environments. Through PLE, individuals are responsible for many aspects of their own learning within the most useful contexts. Blogging was also covered as a way to incorporate informal learning. Attwell considers the challenges associated with continued LEs after a course is over, and points out the overarching questions regarding the responsibility for institutions or teachers to continue to support this ongoing learning.

Attwell, G. (2007). Personal Learning Environments-the future of eLearning?. eLearning Papers, 2(1), 1-8. In Graham Attwell's article he offers some insight and ideas towards why personal learning Environments may be essential to learning in the future. . He details the technology behind the buzz surrounding personal learning environments and examples of how we can use them going forward. What I enjoyed about the article was the notion that everyone's learning environment, style, context, and situation are different and PLE's enable the learner to pace themselves and grow on their own terms. While detailing lifelong learning the author grabs the theory of self-driven education being helped by personal learning environments. Graham does a good job of not following into a common misconception that technology directly correlates to better learning, but rather approaches the aspect of what technology could do for learning as well as what personal learning environments could do for learning as well. From his own personal PLE list of software to explaining the next steps in adopting personal learning environments on a wider scale Graham makes sense of a complicated theory.

Great video, especially for those of us visual learners.

I have to critique this video on two levels. First the video itself seemed more an exercise in using a non linear editor than in telling a story of communicating an idea. The message was lost in the many irrelevant images used by the authors of the video. Secondly it offed a minimal look at what connectivism is and the current thinking surrounding the use of connectivism as a learning theory. We need to hold electronic media to the same academic rigor used for scholarly peer review works. The authors of the video should have understood this as it was produced for a graduate level class. We as consumers of media need to be able to filter appropriate information for a given task at hand, and although alternatives to print media are desirable in education, the video was not able to address the theory level of connectivism effectively.

This gives the Department of Education's take on communities of practice.  It describes their efforts and projects that support this form of learning in educational settings.  Links to these projects are provided.

This link is to a DoE posting encouraging the use of communities of practice. The specific domain for this page is to encourage k-12 education to use CoPs with a particular target of ones offered by the DoE: Investing in Innovation, Promise Neighborhoods, and Race to the Top. It is encouraging to see the DoE support these efforts.

It is encouraging to see how the Dept of Edu, through the use of CoPs hopes to decrease the achievement gap. It is a worthy notion to hope that through collaboration, sharing and research across a vast diverse audience, a solution could be found.

I really like how the article points out that "A great part of the answer lies not only in the types of tools, programs, and strategies used to close the achievement gap, but also in how education researchers and practitioners share information with each other." Whether this is in person with our co-workers or via some PLN, this sharing of information is vital for success!

This article discusses the National Educatioal Technology Plan and references where it calls for teacher to become connected. It asks them to become part of learning communities both locally and other wise using communities of practice.

This article describes three types of connected learning communities. These include professional learning communities (PLCs), personal learning networks (PLNs), and communities of practice (CoPs). All three are used in schools across the world now and serve different but very similar purposes.

This article defines professional learning communities, personal learning networks, and communities of practice. The learning theories supporting each are described, as well as the impact technology has had on each. While the article focuses on how each can effect professional development for practicing teachers, the ideas within could be generalized to almost any profession.

Summary: This article identifies a three pronged approach to teacher professional development: PLC, PLN and CoP. These three types of learning communities are explored by connecting each type of learning community to a learning theory or theories and / or how the use of technology also improves learning communities. Support is provided by citing studies and literature most relevant to community learning in the digital age.

This work addresses the importance of technology throughout personal learning communities, personal learning networks and communities of practice and describes its importance to connected learning. Technology is an amplifier and enabler of connected learning as it addresses the challenge of time by allowing 24/7 interactions. Technology has allowed the exponential growth of PLN's as it enables finding, synthesizing and evaluating information. Technology also increases the potential for learning across communities which can then be translated to practice helping improve education.

This was a great article to see the different ways in which any professionals can gain and share knowledge with one another. I enjoyed reading how each is connected to learning theories. It is interesting that the common theme is how they rely or depend on technology. I can attest to the importance of technology for the learning communities and networks that I am involved in. Technology makes these types of professional development possible to some people who, without technology, would not be able to partake. Most of the time technology is a wonderful thing. It truly makes you wonder what we did without it :)

I agree that technology has helped PLN and PLC's to grow. Technology allows us to collaborate with people all over the work rather than people who just work in our building.

This article summarizes key differences and similarities among different connected learning communities utilized by educators including, PLCs, PLNs, and CoPs. Within the article, each learning community is described in terms of its organizational structure, purpose, and effectiveness. This research based article discusses the learning theories that are applied within each of the learning communities to support their descriptions and findings.

PLN's occur in many ways. With the growth of technology they are becoming much more popular. Many of them are engaging through blogs and other forms of social media. With these becoming more and more popular connections are constantly being made. Creating PLNs and bringing back resources and other information to our PLNs is extremely popular. Personal learning networks are happening because of connections being made with others.

This article looks into the theories that support the theory or idea of personal learning networks. It touches the effectiveness of teacher professional development in terms of PLNs. It discusses technology in terms of PLNs and also the challenges and dilemmas of PLNs.

This site describes communities of practice (CoP) as "groups of people who share a passion for something that they do, and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better." It then goes on to describe the history or CoPs, when and how to use them (providing a flowchart for cultivating communities of practice), and concludes with tips, examples, and related resources.

This resource outlines CoPs and provides relevant examples. Explains that the emphasis of these communities is the quality of content shared by individuals. States that the creator to consumer ratio is 0.07%. Where's the YOU?

This article provides an overview of, applications for, and tips the use of a community of practice.

This article give not only the basic idea of a CoP, but also gives tips and lessons, examples and stories, and more references for those interested in learning more. Some of the resources are in Dutch (?), so be aware.

Great summary of CoPs and their usefulness in education. I like how the article explains that they can be short term or long term depending on the purpose and goals of the community. I also really like the graphic and saved it to my desktop!

The image in this article is great! The tips section is also helpful when you are thinking about creating a CoP. Overall, great article with great examples.

This is a really great resource! Like Ryann, I love the image within this page. It really puts some of the important aspects of communities of practice in the simplest terms possible. I love the emphasis on key questions to ask when thinking about CoP. Consistent attitude is something that needs to be taken to all communities! If the purpose is to teach and learn, then the attitude needs to be there to match.

Guide that shows how other educators are using social media to grow their personal PLN's.

Creating your PLN is easier than you might even thought. Most of you are already familiar with some social media platforms such as Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Diigo, LinkedIn, but do you really know how to use them to create a personal learning network ? EDTECH543 Personal Learning Network

This is a great resource for educators that are looking into personal learning networks. There is a five minute video that goes over personal learning networks, numerous resources that go over all the information needed to know about PLNs, and different tools and resources that can be used for PLNs.

I guess I shared this link in a previous course, but it is a good one! Tony Bates discusses designing, learning from and defines communities of practice in the digital age. EDTECH543, Communities of Practice.

I appreciate the substance of this article as it goes beyond simply defining communities of practices and discusses the theoretical framework for developing effective CoPs. The seven tips offered for designers of CoPs provides structure and guidance for those interested in implementing this practice. I also found great value in the text's analysis of communities of practice in a technology rich generation. The digital age is dominating culture and as people seek to re-evaluate programs, organization, and life they tend to think they need to dump the old and start from scratch. This article, however, points out that communities of practice will be a powerful tool in the digital age by "it is probably a mistake to think of them as a replacement for traditional forms of education." Great perspective!(

A Community of Practice is essentially a group of people who share a common interest and learn how to polish and perfect that passion by regularly interacting with one another. Communities of Practice apply various theories of learning as the group members interact and glean from one another. Researchers argue that a Community of Practice differs from other types of learning communities in that the group members share a common interest, they engage in activities around that common interest, and all group member are practitioners of that interest. As a result, the learning that occurs in a Community of Practice comes from the sum of all group members.

This article focused on what traits a successful community of practice has and how they are taking shape in the digital world. Of particular interest in this article is the role that MOOCs are beginning to play in digital learning and also how the design of a community of practice can impact how long it stays useful and relevant to its users.

In this article, author Tony Bates refers to MOOCs as communities of practice, and then makes a distinction between "instructionist" MOOCs and "connectivist" MOOCs, the latter being designed to function as communities of practice. This has prompted me to look for more information on the distinction, as I am only familiar with instructionist MOOCs. In addition, I find the article of interest because of the subsequent and continuing scholarly conversation that ensued in the comments.

Very interesting article. I like how Bates explains the theory behind communities of practice and then provides the definition. It helps provide context for CoPs. I also found the "Designing effective communities of practice" section to be very helpful. It outlines what a good CoP should look like and encourages the diversity that can be within a community. Thanks for sharing!

This article from Tony Bates provides another great overview of CoPs. One of my favorite parts of this article is the section on designing effective communities of practice. Bates provides a list of key design principles (adapted from Wenger) for creating an effective CoP.

I love how this article recognizes that 1 plus 1 is not 2. That the sum total of knowledge exceeds what was put in.

This blog post discusses what communities of practice are, the learning theories behind CoPs, designing effective CoPs, and learning through CoPs in the digital age. It goes into depth about the seven key design principles for creating effective and self-sustaining CoPs. It also discusses the importance of Massive Open Online Courses.

In this post, Tony Bates discusses communities of practice including what they are and their characteristics. He also discusses ways to create and sustain effective communities of practice. Finally, Mr. Bates discusses how we can learn through communities of practice specifically through the use of MOOCs.

This article by Tony Bates gives examples of CoPs in companies like Xerox and how they work together within the company to create projects. It also provides a visual from Wenger assists companies with integrating a CoP within the workspace.

This post disusses what a community of practice is and the theories behind them. It also addresses the design of a community of practice and the three criteria involved, domain, community, and practice. Finally it discusses MOOC's.

This article gives some background and insight to the different parts of a Community of Practice. What I found to be most relevant about this article is the fact that it is based around digital learning. There is an image included in the article that displays the different websites that can be used as a tool for a CoP. This image is helpful in visualizing all of the ways to meet and communicate with peers in the digital realm.

This article looks at corporations that are encouraging CoPs like Google & Apple. Xerox was able to save $100 million by collecting tips that repair men were sharing over breakfast and sharing them on a larger level. CoPs can enhance organizational effectiveness and profitability by increasing knowledge sharing.

He is writing a textbook, Teaching in a Digital Age, and this is his discussion about communities of practice. It explains what communities of practice are, how they work, and how they can be successfully used. He argues that they are not a replacement for other forms of education but does mention that they can be great tools.

This article is a chapter for a book, Teaching in a Digital Age. It gives a good summary of the principles behind communities of practice. While the author does not fpbelieve that CoPs should replace other forms of learning, he sees value in them.

The author, Tony Bates, reviews what makes a community of practice by clarifying the main components of an effective one. My favorite part of the resource is the graphic organizing the tools and activities associated with a community, which also integrates the technology available. The article focuses on the idea that communities of practice is a method of informal learning and discusses how to use online learning to its highest potential.

To me the most interesting part of this resource is the comments. Very interesting arguments being made by various players especially Downes and Harasim. I often learn more from comments sections than from the main paper.