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This article by Stephen Downes provides a great insight into what an effective PLN looks like and how it functions. I enjoyed reading about his second stage of PLNs, which is the "personal learning environment." This idea is presented as the evolution of PLNs due to technology and connectivism in the classroom.

This article by Stephen Downes gives a definition of a community of practice and then discusses PLE's moving into networks and the characteristics of a learning network: diversity, autonomy connectedness and openness.

As I was relatively unfamiliar with learning networks before this course, I wanted to find resources that showed me what they looked like and examples of how they can be used. This article introduces the importance of using digital tools effectively and empower ourselves to gain the knowledge the web offers. The author states that "Learning therefore evolves from being a transfer of content and knowledge to the production of content and knowledge". Working in a network, PLE or communities of practice allow learners to be creative about information and knowledge, instead of just consuming information and knowledge. The article highlights the key benefits of a PLN: diversity, autonomy, connectedness, and openness.

The article offers an explanation of what a networked student model and a networked teacher model would look like. With the examples, it is suggested that these models could assist instructors in developing personal learning networks that provide the students with many opportunities to learn from many different sources.

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.

I truly believe that reflection takes place once you are involved in a learning community. That is the best way to achieve knowledge and change. This article was a nice read about how a learning community can boost professional growth. Students need to see educators taking ownership of their learning as an example of how they need to be in charge of their own learning as well.

While learning about PLE's, I wondered how it affects learning in the classroom and I stumbled across this article. This article discusses the flexible form of a PLE and how it helps students meld their own learning spaces. It can be difficult to incorporate such a new type of network in the classroom, but the research and examples in the article shows many ways that developing PLE's can help students develop their own learning and knowledge development.

I think this is a good article discussing the initial concept of a PLN and how it can be used in the classroom. I had never heard of Symbaloo, but can see how it can be helpful as an educational resource, just like we are using Diigo.

This journal article dives into the three biggest reservoirs of information based on the principles of connectivism: social networks, online classrooms, and virtual reality learning platforms. The author identifies some of these specific resources and addresses how they relate to connectivism.

I like this article. I like that the author breaks down the reservoirs of information in a graphic. I also like that the author talks about different social media that aren't as common or well-known. The examples of uses of podcasts, virtual learning and mobile devices are interesting in that I never considered using Nintendo DS in that manner.

In this article, the authors explore how PLEs, social media, and self regulated connect. Also introduces a pedagogical framework to for social media to support self-regulated learning

This article discusses how the use of formal and informal education can mesh. It talks about the importance of self-regulation in terms of connection to social media and how it can impact learning. It gives examples of how different media can be used in learning and enhance the PLN.

This paper is most useful for the discussion of how social media can help students develop self regulated learning skills in a PLE. A useful table is near the end of the article showing how teaches can use social media at 3 different levels of complexity for knowledge management.

This blog post is an attempt to discover the definition of a Personal Learning Network as compared to Personal Learning Environment.  Ironically, the author uses his PLN to help determine the definition. Great example of a PLN in action.

Excellent blog post in which the author ponders what a PLN really is. He asks for a definition and compares PLNs to PLEs. Worth a read and review of the comments.

This blog describes the basics of what a PLN is. It also provides a look back through recent decades at how the concept of a PLN has changed with newer developments in technology.

This is a fun article about teachers and there PLN. It goes through and talks about them from the pre internet 80's, the email 90's and the social 2000.

I loved reading thoughts about Professional Learning Networks from a very personal perspective. One woman discusses her personal experience with her PLN and mentions that some of her very best friends are teachers within her network. Teachers that we learn from, share with, and socialize with are excellent individuals to have within our PLNs. She also takes readers through a journey through time, discussing how PLNs have transformed from the pre-Internet 1980s, with very few resources, to now, where we have multiple resources and tools at our fingertips.

This website is monitored by edublogs and geared towards teachers who are wanting to create professional learning networks. Step 1 provides a detailed examination of what a pln is, which includes videos, images, and other media to convey content. From this page teachers can move forward in creating their own pln.

Great share Courtney! I love the videos explaining what a PLN is (very simple and to the point). The video about connected educators is one I want to share with my district on my proposal to get social media active. It discusses why educators need a PLN and how beneficial it can be!

A PLN is personal because you choose who is in your group and if you want to lurk or comment. A PLN is what you want when you want it- reminds me of the Burger King slogan- "your way right away"

This article comes with a downloadable PDF that shows visuals of PLNs. It gives examples on what a PLN is and how to create your own. It also provides a list of experiences that will be available to someone who creates a PLN based on their needs.

George Siemens and Stephen Downs were offering a free course to the first 2200 people to discover connectivism and study its principals. They chose a free online course format to illustrate connectivism.

I love the explanation of connectivism at the beginning. The explicitness with which they say it's not about the content but the process is refreshing and true to my experience in the classroom as well. There are many days when I know the student will never remember the content I taught but they will remember how they found it and the way that they discussed, dissected, and applied it to their selves.

I think out of all the articles I read about connectivism, this one was the easiest for me to understand and truly grasp the meaning of connectivism. The author gave clear examples of how learning happens through connectivism and that the course he was providing truly used this theory in helping the learners. This article helped me solidify how important I think schooling is for school aged children and the connections they make with their peers academically and socially. They are using this theory without even thinking about it, and in connecting with others ideas they are learning on their own without a teacher telling them facts, dates or formulas.

This study shows a very specific CoP example, using geography teachers in New Zealand as the subject of research. In the introduction, the researcher states "mandating professional development services to several hired geography teachers is impractical...and needs to be voluntary rather than mandatory." This statement is consistent with CoPs having membership of like-individuals connecting because of their learning needs and wants. Furthermore, the study shows a positive result when connecting 'distant' people as a cost effective way to circumvent budgetary restraints for professional development.

Communities of Practice need to be voluntary and non-threatening in order for an individual to join. In this study, I like how they set up their Community of Practice so that the individual could join a topic or subject matter group that was relevant to their situation or needs. As teachers we are often placed in professional development training that has no relevance to the needs of our classroom. I also like how they set up a dialogue for the members of the group. Participants not only posted their own ideas but shared thoughts and ideas through discussion with others in the group. It seemed to be less intimidating because much of the dialogue took place online. One of the factors that impacted the participants was time. Just like educators in the U.S., the educators in this study found it difficult to find the time to fully participate in these Communities of Practice and some did not even finish the modules. As a result, dialogue toward the end of the module fizzled out and was less engaging for some participants. That is one of my concerns with Communities of Practice. Sometimes if one is not being forced to complete a project, it does not get completed. It takes a lot of discipline to be part of a Community of Practice and a willingness to be there for the other group members.

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.

Set up quiz games that students can play using clickers or by texting their answer from a cell phone

This is an example of an instructional game type of software. This is a fun and entertaining educational game that students can play on their mobile device or tablet. Teachers can search for pre-made Kahoot games (in math) or make their own. Students are engaged and points add up to show a leader board and the score of each student to introduce some competition.

Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn - any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

This article gives good examples of 6 different platforms educators can use for a PLN. These are already established, and allows the educator to lurk, or become involved. Some of these outlets educators use already, so the learning curve isn't a harsh as joining something you haven't used before. It gives a good description of each tool and some provide links to pre-made education groups or people to follow.

YouTube video: . The Networked Student concept map to help understand networked learning in the 21st century.

I also came across this video. I think this video does a great job representing connectivism and networked learning for students and educators.

This example explores the experience of a networked student based on the theory of connectivism and how it can benefit students. It starts by describing the process for being such a student. This in fact models what we are doing in this course.

This video provides a run-down of examples of Communities of Practice. Some of which we trivial and some of which that changed the video creator's life. The nature of these communities implies that there can be a network of CoPs to help users identify which CoPs would be useful.

This article discuss the different ways school librarians have access to self-regulated professional development opportunities in the form of online personal learning networks. Examples include discussion lists, webinars, blogs and twitter feeds. A twitter group was researched and was found beneficial.

I didn't even consider how librarians could be brought into the PLN era. When thinking about my school librarian, the first thought is how she deals with books all day. Then you have to consider their use of online databases and the potential to converse with professionals all over the world.

This was an interesting read because my soon-to-be sister-in-law works in a university library and I had a conversation with her last summer about how technology affects her work and how she uses technology to help her, instead of librarians becoming obsolete as many think they will.