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The authors postulate that within connectivist communities, the roles that people take (lurker, leader, expert, etc.) have as much or more to do with personality traits than the desire for engagement or ability levels of the participant. They use massive open open courses (MOOCs) as a testing ground and Personality and Self-determination theory as the prisms through which to view learner interactions within these communities.

This article begins by defining constructivism as the principle that all learning starts with a connection, be it neural, conceptual, or social, and that learning is the ability to construct and traverse connections. The authors acknowledge that it is widely recognized idea but not yet accepted as a formal learning theory. The paper focuses on four key principles for learning that exist within connectivism: autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. The authors also examine different theories regarding personality and self-determination and look at how these affect the individual's experience within connectivism.

Here, the author describes connectivism as the proposed learning theory for a digital age and is "based on the principle that all learning starts with a connection." Additionally, "learning in connectivism terms is a network phenomenon" and strongly emphasizes learners making connections. The concept of autonomy is also discussed in depth.

This article proposes that connectivism should not be considered a learning theory, and that it only is given so much attention because of the role it plays in the emerging area of MOOCs. The author looks at theories available to educators that can be valuable in modern education.

The article discusses connectivism and its use in MOOCs and the detractors of the learning theory. There are two definitions of connectivism - one as the learning theory and one that critics of the concept would prefer. The article also includes several scenarios that explain ways that instructors can use connectivism in their classrooms, if they have access to the different required resources.

This was an interesting article to read and to contemplate their arguments on whether connectivism is a theory or not.

This article reviews how behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism have all been central ideas that we based our teaching on. However, in the new digital age, it is becoming evident that we need to shift to a connectivism point of view. We need to use the resources we have to connect with teachers and learn from each other.

This article, written by George Siemens explains how connectivism is the theory behind the PLNs. The author describes how connectivism fills the limitations of behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism, the learning theories developed when learning was not impacted by technology. It is the complement. The author compares the connections in a PLN with pipes and says "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today." (Siemens, 2014)

A detailed article on connectivism, written by one of the biggest promoters of Connectivism- George Siemens. There is a lot of great information on how this impacts organizations which was particularly interesting. We struggle with this all the time at my company- "Connectivism addresses the challenges that many corporations face in knowledge management activities. Knowledge that resides in a database needs to be connected with the right people in the right context in order to be classified as learning".

This article gives 5 tips for creating a PLN online. It mentions other websites other than twitter, such as pinterest, scoopit and feedly. Twitter is well known, but this article is great for the beginner who can explore other resources.

Great tips. It does take some significant time to get it all set up but I'm finding that the organization is paying off because when my son ends up napping longer than expected, I can open up Feedly and have lots of cool articles in the line-up to read without searching. Now I'm adding Twitter to the mix. People constantly ask how I have time to go to school and I think it boils down to tactics like this that allow you to capitalize on those unexpected breaks.

Most of the articles I've found about PLNs all have only a few steps that aren't explained very well. This article has just enough tips and information for someone who isn't that tech savvy to be able to create a PLN. I also like how they include the links to the different websites so people can go step by step in creating their network, then refer back to the article for the next step.

This article explains why communities of practice are so important for the business realm. In one statement it explained that companies have now figured out that "knowledge = power, so share and it multiplies". This idea is synonymous with connectivism and the idea that in order to gain more knowledge more connections must be made through sharing, collaborating, creating, etc. This article also made the distinction between tacit knowledge that is rooted in people's life experiences with explicit knowledge that is deliberately shared outside of people. This distinction also helped me to really see the reason why connectivism, PLNs and CoPs work so well together. You have a group of people, connected by common interests and goals, that are expanding upon their knowledge by sharing their own collective experiences and goals in effort to connect with others that can share insight, collaborate with and add to their ideas, solutions and questions.

Allee uses the term organizational intelligence to describe how CoPs are becoming more prevalent in the modern workforce. He talks about how he has consulted with various multinational companies to help them create CoPs and to get employees at various levels to share their expertise.

This wiki describes the basic premise of connectivism. Included in the wiki is a table that compares major epistemological philosophies with connectivism.

This site defines connectivism and provides a clear list of some of the principles George Siemens deems to be most important to this theory. There is also a fun interactive component that allows the viewer to consider a situation involving connectivism that could be applied to the lives of many people.

Research primarily focused on exploring how online learners aggregate, relate, create, and share information. Noting that connections are made with people and/or resources. And that putting learners in charge of directing their own experience is dependent on confidence and competence with the tools at hand. When comfortable navigating the terrain of the internet, there is intrinsic motivation that results from steering your own learning.

This is a decent video of a discussion between two professionals who discuss CoPs.  It defines a CoP and gives examples of what might happen in a CoP.  It is informative and helped me understand the difference between CoPs and PLNs.  

This video contains an interview with Dr. Etienne Wenger in which he discusses communities of practice. Wenger describes his background and how communities of practice create partnerships in learning. Wenger explains that a community of practice provides a group of people one can turn to during a challenge, giving him/her a learning partnership to go to for assistance or ideas.

This slide share touches on what social learning is.  It suggests that people learn a great deal of information on their own and in their own manners--sometimes just by talking to others.  It focuses on the need for a tool or web software that promotes social and informal learning but still takes into account data privacy and security.   

create virtual box containing digital artifacts to support your point-of-view or to describe events/people/places... a different type of presentation tool

This article discusses how e-learning is evolving and learning is now relying on our personal networks Perrsonal learning networks have changed from just family, friends, and those in our section of our class to include many more people with the e-tools and social networks.

A community of practice can be seen through e-learning as groups of people come together to share a common interest, interact with one another and learn.

By: Eitenne C. Wenger and William M. Snyder Wenger, E. C., & Snyder, W. M. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard business review, 78(1), 139-146. The first article I started with was a Harvard Business review entry regarding communities of practice within organizations. While my other articles focused on the education world and describe actions within the social environment, this article took a different approach in explaining the inner workings CofP's play in the office. The fundamental meaning communities of practice represent go unchanged, but it is interesting that this article puts a table and explanation for the differences other office groups represent, such as an informal network, project team, and formal work group. This distinction allows for other varied communities of practice to be represented. Such as the education field and social psychology. Wenger and Snyder then take the article one step further by explaining the uses of CoPs for management and how to facilitate their growth for strong company cultures.

This article is great that CoPs and PLNs (PLEs) build upon one another to drive a foundational strategy. The primary group might only be a few people but will continue to build to the point that the entire organization is involved. I also think it is important to discuss how this is utilized not only in education but also in business (or other fields). Great pick Jason!

I liked some of the real world examples for benefits of CoP's. The story of the technician who came up with the pneumatic tube idea that was ulitmately adopted because of support from his fellow technicians was really cool to hear.

Smith, M. K. (2003) 'Communities of practice', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm . In this article, author, mike smith explains the beginning concepts that Jean Lave and Entienne Wenger developed for communities of practice. What I liked most about this article is it was the first reading I had that took communities of practice and put a learning centered spin on the theory. "Suppose learning is social and comes largely from our experience of participating in daily life. Their model of situated learning proposed that learning involves a process of engagement in a community of practice" (Smith, 2003). Mr. Smith defines and reiterates what Lave and Wenger argued, structure communities of practice. I also appreciated the time Mr. Smith took note the weaknesses that could be potential downfalls within their own research, such as "romanticizing communities of practice" as Mr. Smith puts it. "In their eagerness to debunk testing, formal education and formal accreditation, they do not analyze how their omission [of a range of questions and issues] affects power relations, access, public knowledge and public accountability" (Tennant 1997:79). He goes on to discuss organizational development and follows up with a conclusion that included the below phrase I really enjoyed. "Learning is in the relationships between people."(Smith, 2003) If you think about the history textbook version of what the authors and historians assumed thanksgiving was like and the weeks and days leading up to the day of thanks, you can see a great example of learning as a relationship between people.

I'm in love with world of graphic design. How many people can say that they teach their craft, I can. That said, I needed to find a CoP that does just that. Although this is from the University of Brighton it provides support with young aspiring graphic designers. 

That is great! I would love to teach more of what I love to do. This is a great article that explores CoP within a specific group of learners interested in the same topic (graphic designing).

The article discusses connectivism and its association with online learning. Some people have different views on how people learn the most knowledge possible. This article puts different views in perspective of online learning and its ability to change the future of learning.

This website talked about 5 key resources needed for educators to being and grow their own personal PLNs. http://ning.com offers podcast downloads, discussion forums, videos, relevant blogs, videos and more resources. Powerful Learning Practice is a professional development opportunity that teacher can attend. It offers hands-on applications and the know-how to build and use technology within the classroom. Webinars are conferences people can attend online to join discussions and offer insight to like educators. EdChat is something we can join now on twitter using the hashtag #EdChat every Tuesday. Game based-learning tutorials and talk can be found on http://edweb.net where mentors and people who've successful implemented these practices in their classrooms can offer advice and help.

Those are 5 really good resources. Thanks for sharing.

How three theories have shaped distance learning over the years. Connectivist theory shows how learning is about forming connections with others through human and digital interaction. Developed in the digital age and assumes access to social networking technologies.

This is a March 2011 journal article that highlights the shifts in technology and theory for distance learning. First, there was the cognitive-behaviorist with it's focus on read, watch, and recall. As the web developed, we saw constructivism shift the teachers duties from content creator to a guide through the content as students synthesized. Connectivism promotes the teacher as a "co-traveler" helping students to explore, connect, and create.

The video from the Digital Media and Learning Research Lab examines how education has changed from supplying curriculum to connecting people with the right peer or mentor that can help engage and develop them. Schools, universities, and professionals no longer control learning and hand it out. Instead, they should arrange learning so that the right people are able to come together for learning. Networks and connectivity are tearing down borders in education.

I enjoyed this video. I'm always intrigued by the anthropological view learning theories, I like Mimi Ito's point that students have to find ways to support their interests based upon what they want to do with their lives and the adventation of the internet has opened them to a world of experts that learners may not have otherwise had access to. Further, because of technology, like-minded learners are able to connect and foster collaborative and involved learning.