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I am very pleased with this video. It's an interview with Etienne Wenger and he explains, in his own terms, his research and definition of the Community of Practice.

I also liked the explanation about how members from a Communities of Practice are engaged in a similar practice but they may do it in different settings. They don´t need to do it together. The learning contract between the members is the key of success.

Dr. Wenger talks about his Community of Practice. This discussion gives us an outline of how skills be shared through a CoP. According to Dr. Wenger, the CoP creates an on-going network of resources to communicate problems and discuss solutions. The learning and knowledge sharing can even create knowledge creation as solutions are discussed.

This paper reviews and relates the connections between learning theories commonly associated with constructivist education. These theories include active learning pedagogies, experiential learning, anchored instruction, situated cognition, activity theory, authentic learning, and connectivism. With the advance of active and connected learning pedagogies, the author recognizes the need for a system to effectively apply the theories through education technology design and teaching practices. I found the article a great review of the research and work done to define these different theories and instructional methods. As I am noticing with each article, this author attests to the need for further work and research required to organize these theories into a useful framework for educational technology projects and activities

Connectivism is controversial as a learning theory. Many people don't see it as one of the majors like behaviorism, cognitivism, or constructivism but those 3 are falling short in terms of describing what is happening in the digital age. Connectivism can be described as distributed learning or using information outside of your primary knowledge. The author thinks that connectivism should be the new constructivism.

Retirees maintain personal interests---just as commonly as non-retirees. The love of learning and being a part of community does not disappear once one has retired. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people 65 and older spend at least 2 hours per day undertaking leisure activities. This article explores the idea of shifting from professional communities of interest to personal communities of interest in retirement and discusses PLNs in retirement that usually consist of friends and family members. The author focuses on the usage of social media for retirees to keep connected with one another.

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 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.

This is a resources describing the effect of connectivity in a PLN. "If I surround myself with people doing great things, then I am going to benefit." This video explains PLNs and how these networks cause exponential creative growth.

This video really describes PLNs and CoPs in a nutshell. It shows how valuable these networks are to education and learning in general. As the video states, "there is no way I can be the best at everything." It takes a network to benefit from the knowledge of many others. No longer do we, as teachers, have to to know all of the facts.

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

Khan Academy is looking for people who are great at explaining difficult concepts to help students succeed and learn. Prizes will be awarded to the top ten finalists with the potential of a video creation contract.

This is the blog of Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois. Dr. Schroeder offers no commentary on the blog, instead he uses it to curate articles, news and research pertinent to online learning. I subscribe to this site through RSS readers on my laptop, iPad and phone.

I like this slideshare because it broke down Constructivism in a very simple way. It also brought up that knowledge gained doesn't only happen by making connections but by being able to travel across those networks of connections. This is important because it's one thing to connect to an idea, but to be able to take that connection and connect it to something different is difficult. Knowing how to access that knowledge once the connection is made is crucial to retention.

I like how this slide show clarifies a misconception that some people can have about what connectivism is. "In connectivism, there is no real concept of transferring knowledge, making knowledge or building knowledge." ... "we are growing or developing ourselves our society in certain (connected) ways." Brilliant explanation!

Cheers! Glad that this resource mentioned the initial developers/founders of connectivism, so many sites lack that credit. I enjoyed this how this presentation used mixed forms of media to communicate, very accessible for a variety of learners.

This article explained what actually is done in a CoP and it helped me to connect it to PLNs and Connectivism. In a CoP, communities of people that have common goals and interests are sharing, collaborating and discussing ideas, solutions, and problems that have to do with their particular interest/goals. Through these interactions, new knowledge is formed and they are able to continue to gain more insight and advance in their endeavors. A CoP is a PLN and uses Connectivist theory to enhance the learning and networking.

Communities develop through a variety of ways. A table is provided with many examples that help to clarify these ways. Some include problem solving, requests for information, seeking experience, reusing assets, and discussing developments. It is very easy to apply these examples to a variety of personal and professional CoPs.

This article really helped to define knowledge in the Connectivist theory. To know something, means that you are able to organize and connect ideas together. The author makes a brilliant point that the more connections you have to the idea, the stronger your knowledge of it is. It also states that it is more important to continue to search for more knowledge and connections than it is to be satisfied with what is currently known.

This article discusses different learning theories. One of the theories was network semantics and connective learning. This section describes what it means to be a network. Then it connects networks to what it means to be connective.

After reading this article I can get my head around how important PLN are and I applied it to my corporate job. Both my peers and the people who report to me connect in many ways.

This article focused on how CoPs are beneficial in a mixed methods approach to teaching. The four ways in which these CoPs show a shift from the normal paradigms of research include: they center on a specific problem that are deemed significant to obtaining knowledge, CoPs are all about shared practice of knowledge, CoPs are also about a shared identity or people that are connected by a common goal/interest, and lastly CoPs are operating under the idea that they are research based. They encompass all of the fundamentally basic principles of good research. This helped me to connect CoPs and PLNs because I think that the reason why these CoPs are so effective is because they are using PLNs to engage each other across further distances and topics with the stroke of a key.

This is a great video that showcases how Connectivism acts as a source for finding new information. The author shows an Etch a Sketch and gives a complicated puzzle to solve. The solution to her problem is also directly related to Connectivism because in order to obtain the information that she needs, she will have to connect with people outside of her "box".

A funny way to demonstrate to a "newbie" how connectivism and PLN (and teamwork) can get you through some tough times!

A funny way to demonstrate to a "newbie" how connectivism and PLN (and teamwork) can get you through some tough times!

Simple and effective. Not to mention how easy it is to rally like-minded people from around the globe through social media platforms! Good find!

Explains the role creation plays as a component of connecting. Creating artifacts and participating in activities forms knowledge connections, that are most desirable in an open space with open content. The formation of new connections can lead to the redistribution of power in society.

The visuals of networks (among people and space) were powerful. I agree that one of the most impressive features of a MOOC is the creation of peer networks.

I really liked how the author began with demonstrating networks and then showed how learning is also a network. Shelly was right in that it is very powerful to see as a visual.

Edshelf is a collection of digital tools for educators. It is updated frequently and people post reviews about the digital tools.

Examination of how learning has evolved in the digital age. For example, engagement with learning content has changed from the student acquisition of knowledge through books to the interaction with content via the internet.

I love how this article demonstrates connectivism. Email wasn't just born, it was born out of the idea of the world wide web. From there came other email applications. It is so true and I think so easily forgotten.

"Fakebook" allows teachers and students to create imaginary profile pages for study purposes. Use "Fakebook" to make a fake Facebook page for a historical or fictional character or chart the plot of a book, the development of a character, a series of historical events, the debates and relationships between people, and so on!