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Heather Wolpert-Gawron discusses using Facebook in the classroom. She writes about the experience of a teacher who used Facebook in their classroom.

A straightforward government-issued document on Communities of Practice that focuses on a variety of benefits for both organizations and individuals. Uses business at the working guide- not education- but the principles are the same. Very easy to comprehend document.

Thanks - I read this because it was not aimed at education which is where my interest tends to take me. I liked that there were examples with benefits but did find the description was probably a little narrow in stating that, ". .. who often collaborate via established Web sites. These community Web spaces are designed to allow community members to share ideas and knowledge in several ways" Enjoyed reading it though. Thanks.

short article critiquing connectivism as a theory - great resources in bibliography too

Yes, the resource list will be helpful! Interesting tidbit shared about Siemens and his perspective for sharing online - "Siemens (2008a) argues the type of peer review processes similar to those he has encountered through blogs and wikis are at least as demanding as those of any scholarly journal in the field, whilst also demonstrating 'currency' of knowledge exchange - a key argument in his theory." I found that helpful - a practical example. Additionally, I've never heard of PhD Wiki before - will have to check it out. Lots of resources packed into one post!

This article from the Educational Leadership journal is an interview with Karen Cator, former Director of the U.S. Office of Educational Technology. Cator goes into depth on the topic of personal learning environments. She says that PLEs bring in "the long tail of student experiences and interests." She also state that anytime you add a new technology, something gets amplified and something else gets reduced.

The first school that comes to mind when I read this article is about as poor and dysfunctional as the one in the article is well funded and utopic. In the last year there, not only have they not been able to get internet access and technology into the hands of all students, they have seriously discussed putting overhead projectors with plastic sheets back into rooms. The digital divide is alive and well, with the poor getting poorer. I truly believe that technology can make a huge difference in education, but how many students will be left behind waiting for it to get to them?

Cator hits home with a lot of these points for me. She speaks about how the digital and pedagogical divide amongst teachers and administration is so large. There are schools taking on the technological issues head on while others are still stuck in the old way of thinking. Before we can purchase all of this new technology, we need to get the teachers to realize what age they are living in and what is necessary to help them teach to the students in front of them.

Math Videos arranged by topic including introductory math, algebra, trigonometry and calculus. What I really love about this site is that it includes multiple (in most cases 3-4) videos from different people about a specific topic. For example, -7-2 has 4 videos on it for the same problem! It gives students a chance to see it in multiple perspectives.

I appreciate the example that John Brown lays out in his paper "Growing Up Digital". He speaks about the Xerox company sending in anthropologists to study how tech reps fix broken machines. They learned it is all about the communication and storytelling, never do reps use the manual. After developing an online presence for tech reps (CoP) to communicate, Xerox saves $100 million a year while the learning curve of the reps has grown by 300%. This is a great case study to get a better understanding of a CoP analyzed and at work today.

Article discusses the relevancy and power of social media, breaks down myths, offers concrete examples, and points out its connection to standards.

12 ways teachers are using social media in the classroom

An overview, including a quiz, about the relevance of social media in the classroom. Also delves into the myths of social media and links to resources about how to integrate social media into classroom activities.

This article provides readers the ability to consider their teaching practice and the impact PLN's (PLCs) can have on education. The article provides examples of working PLCs within different schools across the country.

First, I love edutopia. Second, I loved how it is directly related to PLN's and PLC's in education. Like Cassie, I too am familiar with PLC's at my current school. I definitely love how they allow collaboration. In my opinion, this is something that needs to be done in all districts. PLN's are very powerful!

In the article I liked the quote right in the beginning change doesn't need to come from heroic individuals. I have been a part of a PLC at my school for 3 years now and really enjoy the collaboration that I have among my colleagues. My school has seen a lot of innovation and positive change come from our PLCs.

This is one of my favorite resources for educational technology. Includes examples of videos and a matrix of key indicators of levels of technology integration in classrooms.

Thank you for this resource! When deciding to use technology, I struggle with efficiency vs effectiveness. Bu using the matrix, I can now frame my analyses in terms of "to what extent" does the tool meet student needs.

examples of ways to incorporate social media in the classroom

This site provides five concrete ideas in how to integrate social media as a learning tool in the classroom.

In this video, Dr. George Siemens provides a brief description of connectivism. He shares a number of practical examples of social knowledge sharing and building, several of which led him to publish the 2005 paper on connectivism (located in the Module 1 Resources of this course). Three levels of knowledge-building including biological, knowledge reconciliation, and networked processes are also discussed.

In this article, the author gives an introduction to communities of practice. It explains the definition, provides some examples, and gives suggestions for further reading.

This article defines and explains communities of practice. The article also cites the history and significance of communities of practice.

This article focuses on virtual communities of practice within higher education. It provides an overview of the definition, purpose, and literature concerning CoPs. Further the authors detail many of the benefits, barriers, and critical success factors associated with virtual CoPs. The article also includes numerous practical examples of virtual CoPs as well as quotes from faculty with experience in these communities.

This video does a nice job of showing the benefits of PLNs. I like the "3 c's" this video outlines: collaboration, communication, and contribution. It provides examples of what make PLNs work and compares them to the typical professional development environment.

This video provides the importance and opportunity of connecting using social networking and building up educators through connecting with each other. There are many examples of how being connected has worked for different teachers.

Educators have always been connected and new tools help them get connected easier to other knowledge sources. Like the interviewed people say in the video, how do we know that we are doing well if we are not connected and get feedback? I completely agree with the idea of the need of being connected to students, colleagues, parents, community...to be a 21st century educator.

Huwe, T. K. (2006). Breaking into Communities of Practice. Computers In Libraries, 26(5), 22-25. In order to increase information literacy, relationship building is key. Online classes can be an example of a community of practice since there are discussion boards and ways for students to connect together.

The article takes a look at learning process behind connectivism. It also compares constructivism to connectivism. It describes the features of connectivist learning objects or CLOs and the integration of CLOs together to contribute to learning. It also has some extra information like construction and communication or interchange of CLOs.

In this article, the authors compare constructivism and connectivism and look at how constructivism is moving towards connectivism. One important idea or theory is the use of the web in a more "collaborative framework." For example, individuals will collect, reflect, connect, and publish information from the web.

Interesting to see the point of view from the authors about some shared learning experiences that make possible informal learning from spontaneous connections between open networks. Most of the times it is said that the members of the network choose the other members to get connected but it is also important to pay attention to the unplanned connections.