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Here is Wikipedia's definition for a personal learning network. The explanation begins by explicitly stating that a personal learning network is an "informal learning network," which I think is an excellent distinction. The personal learning networks that we establish are for us to learn and grow as educators. I know Wikipedia sometimes gets a bad rap, but it came with references. :)

Connection between Personal Learning Network and the Constructivism theory. It explains how the members of the network are the ones that make the connection with another person with a specific intent that some type of learning will occur.

This article features an easy to digest definition of personal learning networks which includes a connection to connectivism in explanation of how PLNs work. The resource is made even more accessible in helping a reader understand the subject matter with a video and infographic examples of the authors own personal PLNs.

This article gives a brief overview of PLNs and the theories behind them. It explains connectivism and its role in the benefits of PLNs. It also gives two examples of the authors' PLNs in the form of graphics.

This article discusses the value of PLNs specifically for educators. It gives the who, what, when, why and how for the reader.

I really like how this article breaks down what a PLN is, how to learn from one, and where to network. So often, I think that these basics are what keep people from joining in. Though networking can sound intimidating, this piece notes why they are so important to educators and, potentially, students, thus encouraging and motivating users to join in.

This is a nice overview of what a PLN is and how teachers can get involved. It discussed important reasons that PLNs are useful. The article breaks down the need, structure and value of a PLN. #EDTECH543 #EDTechSN #PLN

Teachers should make sure that they understand the goals for including technology in literacy instruction. Second, they need to know how to design instruction to support students in achieving those instructional goals. This blog will address both of these issues.

This adds some perspective on Siemen's core principles of connectivism and includes a nice TED talk on the power of visualization; there is little research on ways connectivism is implemented in the classroom and how it actually affects learners; requires a rethinking of education and the roles of teachers, students, and technology

This is a great explanation of how online learning and connectivism are connected and how this is a relatively new idea and that online educators can try out a lot of the ideas. It helped me understand the theory of connectivism a little more and how it can be used in online learning.

I like the ideas for applying connectivism principles in the classroom. The author explains the teacher's responsibility in helping students make connections that will allow them to learn now and in the future.

George Siemens discusses the changing roles of educators and instructional designers as a result of networked learning. Several instructor metaphors are depicted. He says that instructional designers become educators to the educator with knowledge of available technologies, pedagogies, and open resources.

This article discusses the theory of connectivism. It discusses the difference between being a learning theory or instructional theory and the differences between each. I like the basic definition that this article gives for connectivism which is that it "is social learning that is networked." Technology in our society is becoming increasingly more prevalent and this theory recognizes this change in our society. The article explains how connectivism is a learning theory because it is characterized by how a student's learning is enhanced by a personal network, the vast amount of data makes it impossible for someone to know all that is needed for different situations, and by current learning theories not acknowledging technology and the changes it brings they are limited. The opposing viewpoints are also discussed and explained that this will be a debate for probably many years to come.

Kristin, Thanks for sharing this great resource! The comparison between connectivism, constructionism, and cognitivism is very helpful.

In this article the author makes the argument that a hybridization of PLCs and PLNs would benefit students and teachers. It provides an introduction to both concepts before it offers ideas on hybridization and why they would benefit stakeholders.

I like the argument. Hybridization of these two vital elements will provide teachers and learners with an all around better experience in a school day. I know that in my building PLC is often frowned upon by the staff, because they find it a waste of time. I think that the integration of PLNs in the process could provide far more than simply meeting and discussing policy/educational tools.

I really liked this article because I feel at my school there is many PLC, but no one is really connected to PLN (including myself). As a member of the technology commitment, we have a small group looking to create goals and share knowledge, but sometimes its doesn't go beyond our meeting walls. If the communities could be connected to PLN then the walls are broken down and the collaboration and problem-solving input increased.

This article summarizes a study aimed at explaining collective behavior on social networking platforms through intentional social action, which is known as the We-Intention theory. The study focused on Facebook in particular, because it is widely popular among university students and could, thus, illustrate social media's impact on students' motivation to learn via virtual communities. In the article, the We-Intention theory is driven by social influence factors, social presence, and elements of the uses and gratifications (U&G) model. U&G, as defined in the article, explains why individuals gravitate toward certain digital media over others. U&G assumes individuals are both goal-directed and aware of their needs, listed as purposive value, self-discovery, entertainment, social enhancement, and maintenance of interpersonal connectivity. The study identified two U&G needs, entertainment and interpersonal connectivity, as significantly determining intentional social action under the We-Intention theory.

That article is very interesting stating that most use Facebook for instant communication and connection. The need for instant gratification. Joining too many groups or trying to connect to too many people does make it hard to have a specific connection to one group. May be the reason that people post so many random topics and photos.

Interesting perspective on Facebook from the point of view of students using the platform.Since most of my background is from K-12 education, I have not witnessed teachers using the platform with their students. I have found that most K-12 teachers use Facebook to communicate with parents. It does seem to have a similar impact on getting parents motivated and active in class activities. Most parents use Facebook and once they know they can follow their child's teacher and get updates via the social media app, parents tend to do so

Beth Transue, a librarian at Messiah College, begins this article with the suggestion that librarian educators reflect the tenets of the connectivist learning theory when designing their information literacy instruction. Transue mentions how the adoption of this theory in the development of library instruction can happen very easily as many of the connectivist principles are already evident in the steps of the research process. Transue spends the majority of the rest of the article talking about how the connectivist theory is connected to the model of the networked student proposed by W. Drexler in 2010. According to Drexler, a student uses information from four different domains: information management, contacts, synchronous communication, and RSS. The information management domain essentially covers the traditional library resources. The contact domain covers those who should be part of the student's personal learning network such as teachers, librarians, and classmates. The synchronous communication domain covers platforms like Twitter and the RSS domain covers blogs, wikis, and other social networks. The author spends the next couple of pages offering very specific directions for librarians to address individual domains in their information literacy instruction. Transue concludes the article by talking about what an information literacy session rooted in the connectivist theory might look like.

Hi Kelly, Interesting article. In one of the videos I found, the connection between research and connectivism was highlighted. I had not thought about that before, but it makes sense! And I've always enjoyed research, so good to know I've already been practicing connectivism on some level.

Suggests that understanding how members of a learning community converse is an important component of understanding connectivism. The tone of the interactions in a forum rely on the design and management of the space. Furthermore, learning depends on sharing in conversations and interactions which themselves can be meaningful activities. During communication among learners, there is a balance of what is good for each individual and the ability to move towards a common purpose.

In this article, Andrew Ravenscroft explores a "dialogue rich view of connectivism" and how we can develop learners that can "think, reason and analyse." He takes inspiration from social constructivist theory to focus on dialogue as a vehicle for learning. Ravenscroft begins by detailing Siemens 8 principles of connectivism. He then asks 3 questions: how can we understand the dialogue processes of a networked world, what dialogue features make for quality connections and how do we design to promote quality connections. He starts to explore the questions with Socrates and the Socratic method. This method has applications for 21st century learning. He reviews Hegel's dialectic as well. Ravenscroft maps these positions to connectivism because dialectic helps refine knowledge from a diversity of opinions, supports the capacity to know more, consideration of alternative viewpoints, fosters a constant evolution of knowledge, and promotes critical and collaborative dialogue. Then he discusses dialogic processes and how they map to connectivism. Dialectic and dialogic can work, not in opposition, but together in different aspects. Dialectic focuses on the epistemic and cognitive dimensions of learning, while dialogic focuses more on emotional and interpersonal aspects. The author then details dialogue game interactions and how they can foster learning. To be successful they need to balance orchestration and openness. This article proposes that language and dialogue remain a "most powerful semiotic system."

What a fascinating article. Ravenscroft's discussion of a scaffolded system to build a learner's dialogic skills reminds me of research I did for my EdTech504 class on self-regulated learning. Roger Azevedo is developing and experimenting with a similar game, MetaTutor, which scaffolds student learning as well. I think self-regulation is complex and difficult to teach in the classroom, and am amazed that researchers are creating software to build self-efficacy!

I saw a reference to MOOCs when I was researching so I wanted to dive deeper into MOOCs (massive open online courses). This article serves as a report card discussing the successes and needed improvements for MOOCs. MOOCs biggest successes seem to be the huge reach they have with their online presence. Millions of people enroll in the courses and top universities, such as Harvard and MIT, have MOOCs. However, some pitfalls are that less than 10% of people who enroll in MOOCs actually finish. The article gives ideas for improving MOOCs mostly based off the belief that online courses can be isolating and more collaboration with actual humans, via chats and videos, need to be included in MOOCs. I found this read interesting because the MOOCs are founded with the connectivism theory in mind, however many of this components that drive connectivsm and communities of practice are lacking.

Jake, I found a resource on MOOCs as well and while it was a positive presentation of them, it also noted some of the pitfalls. The fact that they draw mostly highly educated students, makes me wonder how accessible they are for all people. However, I know they are new and evolving, so it will be interesting to follow their development.

This article was extremely interesting! I was surprised to see the the high percentage of people who sign up for MOOCs and don't finish. I also strongly agree with the comment in the article, "people need people." Thanks for sharing!

This page by TeachThought Staff connects to a video by Marc-André Lalande that gives a simple definition and explanation of a personal learning network.

Summary: Defines what a PLN is, also has a great video resource. Focuses on how personal a PLN can be and how we are all connected.

Perfect resource for understanding what a PLN really is. I love the simplicity of this article and the way it guides the reader through with a video. It really is a great place to start to being to make sense of PLN. One thing that was shared at the end was that views will continue to change as technology evolves. Love that thought.

The author creates a great case in favor of digital PLNs. She explains why they are so important and relevant today. The emphasis of the article is on the need to work together, not on best practices, but rather on emerging practices. The author takes the stance that best practices require training with known knowledge for known outcomes. While we should be collaborating and innovating together to tackle the emerging practices.

In this article, the author explains why you should build a PLN, why PLNs are important, how to build a PLN, characteristics of a PLN, and skills needed to build a PLN. We need to stay relevant and connected with our personal development and can do that through PLNs. In the 21st Century, it is essential and key to success to stay informed, updated, and connected. PLNs make it easy to learn at the pace of change.

This article discusses why building personal learning networks is important when information changes constantly. The key to survival is learning how to learn continuously through building Personal Learning Networks. Creating networks where people can collaborate and learn from each other in order to remain on the cutting edge. PLNs allow for continuous learning, exchange of thoughts and ideas, and validate and challenge one's thoughts among a diverse group of individuals. PLNs have to be a sharing process of ideas.

This source is a Wiki on connectivist learning theory. The Wiki goes a little bit deeper than other articles I have read and is well organized. I especially liked the discussion at the end of the Wiki as it gives some good ideas to think about in regards to connectivism.

This Wiki article explores the theory of connectivist learning. The theorist argue that educators have long believed experience has been considered the best teacher of knowledge. "Since we cannot possibly experience everything, other people's experiences, and other people, become the surrogate for knowledge." In other words, learning by forming connections may be a better way to acquire learning in the digital age. http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Connectivist_Learning_Theory_-_Siemens

I agree with your comment that there is no way we can learn everything and being able to connect with others to add to our knowledge is the only way we are going to be able to keep up with the changing digital age. I think the principle of connectivism say it all: Principles of connectivism - Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. - Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. - Learning may reside in non-human appliances. - Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known - Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. - Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

Connectivist theorists argue that the way in which individuals acquire knowledge has changed. Academic institutions (which have historically been considered as the place in which individuals acquire knowledge and information) are being supported and/or replaced by groups of people within a learning network. The process of learning involves the creation of knowledge through these personalized networks and identifying the relationships between one's own knowledge and the knowledge of others within a network. These connections can occur in a variety of ways and with a variety of learners.

This article helped me to understand how to apply connectivism in the classroom. It also pointed out misconceptions that educators have about using social networking in the classroom.

Written by Kegan Remington, an Instructional Designer, the article discusses what connectivism is and how it can be applied in the classroom. He lays out the four simple ways of introducing connectivism in the classroom.