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This article gives "real life" examples of connectivism using twitter as a medium.

I'm also taking Global and Cultural Perspectives in Educational Technology this term and this article really relates to the discussions on culture that we are having in that class. It made me realize that in some ways connectivism and the use of social media- i.e. back channeling and tweeting- are a whole new culture to learn and this is why I'm struggling a bit with it.

Great article. Like Nona, it home for me as well. I appreciate how the author uses her own personal experience in the classroom to demonstrate her understanding of social networking. Today, I encourage my students to use their phone to take pics of assignments, tweet info, and access information. Back channeling is a great term!

Here is a great tool for quick messaging your parents and students classroom reminders or information. The great thing is the communication is one way and does not disclose your personal cell phone number.

The secret that fulfills the promise of 'phablet' computing is -- wait for it -- wearable computing! Some people describe their own giant phones or mini tablets as "phablets."

A great leaping off (or summarizing) video on what a PLE is and its connection to connectivism. This apparently was a high school class production. My only qualm might be that their concept of a PLE is a bit web-centric, but this is really well done. I particularly like the end portion about the role of the instructor in a connectivist world. A definitely worthwhile five minute investment.

At my institution we were just involved in developing a student learning outcome to meet our assessment plan. We made sure that information and technology literacy went past the Internet and would include professional networks that were F2F and also be able to pick up a phone and call someone.

Project K-Nect is designed to create a supplemental resource for secondary at-risk students to focus on increasing their math skills through a common and popular technology - mobile smartphones.

In North Carolina, about 100 ninth-grade students in four schools in North Carolina have been issued smartphones for use in their math classes. They use the phones to network among themselves on problems, receive instruction from teachers, play math-improving games, or watch an animation showing the problem being solved.

Through a grant from a smartphone maker, students were given devices that would allow them to contact other students and tutors about math problems when not at school. It also gave them access to materials for class that they otherwise would not have had away from school. While this wouldn't be applicable in all schools, the social networking aspect of the program helped students better manage their personal learning experience.

AudioExpert is a free and simple online audio editor, file converter and sound recorder. All the standard functionality of an audio editor provides you with an easy way to create a ringtone for your cell phone.

Save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see. Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there. Search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images. Get Evernote. It's free.

I recently just started integrating Evernote with writing my lesson plans and lecture notes. In my classes I have a mixed bag of students. Some of my students have varying degrees of IEPs. For along time students who needed audiobook publisher support, to have the chapter notes read to them were bound by 1. The book we were using in class and if it had that type of support and 2. What the publisher thought was important to include in the audio, which often does not provide alternate examples for the concepts the student are trying to learn. With the record Evernote feature I have a simple and easy way to integrate audio and send my recorded lecture notes, examples and recorded exam questions to the students that need this type of alternative learning experience . I'm aware there are other resources where this was possible. Evernote just happens to be in my opinion the best one stop app to write a lecture ,integrate pictures,graphics and audio to effectively reach my entire class. So if you were on the fence about Evernote or have never heard about it before be sure to check it out from the link I provided

Create polls for students to answer or test questions with group polls using cell-phones. Great educational tool for higher ed.

This is a student response system that allows students to text their answers in, making lectures more interactive without expensive clicker systems

Add polls to your presentation.

Mimi Ito discusses how children are using digital media and the learning that goes on as they hang around and geek out - informal learning. She explores the role education can play in this and the role of the adult and how to support their engagement. She discusses the difference between friendship driven activities online and interest driven activities and the opportunities for learning in those spaces (personal networks). It looks at ways that these could be linked to school-based activities.

I like the comments made near the start of the video that the digital media and communication in which children are engaging is no different from the personal networks that have been formed in generations past. It serves the same purpose in their development, socially and academically.

Some of my take aways from this video are: "social relations are important for learning." "The mediated environment isn't so different from when we were trying to get our daughter off the phone or our son to come in." "How can we be more active in connecting the informal learning with learning." Let "Sts reflect and not just consume." Ideas are along the same lines as others in this field. As an educator I want to have students participating in student centered learning, but come up against road blocks admin and district don't understand.

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.

Summary: This is a site that provides a community of practice startup kit. This site walks through with detail the process of starting a community of practice. The visuals are great, and there is a ton of valuable resources provided. The page is a bit old, "2000" but much of the information is still pertinent today.

Todd - What an AWESOME find. I am just not sure just how current all the information is. Many times the article references the "Winding Down" of CoPs, mainly because this seems to be more of a corporate-type CoP model. As educators come and go from a CoP, I am not convinced it would wind down. Also, this article references the value of the telephone and Convergence since 2000 has increased the values of Podcasts, SKYPE, Google Hangouts, blogs, glogs, Facebook, Twitter, and online chat as nearly replacing the phone. The guidelines posted in the article have a great deal of value. The Venn diagram on page 9 and the indicators of a successful CoP on pp. 9-10 resonated with me. I will be interested to see how they mesh with our coursework.

This site is from Education World and is speaking about using technology in high school classrooms. This post notes that students in this generation almost demand that technology is to be used in the classroom because that is what they are used to and have grown up with. Cell phones, music devices and tablets have become more prevalent each year with more and more students bring them to school. They cannot seem to separate themselves from social media, music, games, etc. This site has listed some great ideas of how teachers can incorporate technology into their classroom, some of them are: online quizzes, online databases, Microsoft OneNote, online classes, student online portfolios and blogging.

Voxer is a messaging app for your smartphone with live voice (like a PTT walkie talkie), text, photo and location sharing. Download Voxer for iOS, Android, Windows phone or use Voxer for web.

iNaturalist is a social networking app for naturalists. It harnesses the power of crowd sourcing by enabling any person, with a mobile phone and access to the internet, the opportunity to participate in citizen science. Users create 'observations' by posting images of the local flora and fauna. If the observations include geolocation/time data and the specimens, are confirmed by two other users, then it becomes research grade. This means it could be used in real studies being conducted by scientists, such as herpetologists and botanists. The app is great for identifying wildlife and connecting students with experts.

This article talks about how communities of practice are all around us and that more than likely, everyone is in multiple groups or communities. It also discusses how knowledge is what holds the communities together rather than tasks doing so like on a team. As it explains what a community of practice is, it also goes into how to develop the community as well as how to maintain it. To help a community of practice to succeed, it says no member needs to be on the outside of the community, but for all members to be fully inside the community and fully committed.

It is nice to see how communities of practice are used in areas outside of education. I feel this really highlights the importance of them beyond the theoretical value and into real-world application.

This article provides characteristics of communities of practice and examples of where they can be seen but what stood out to me as being useful information is how to keep CoP's productive and "nurtured." The focus of implementing CoP's is not in education but rather business; however, the information is still relevant and applicable.