EDTECH at Boise State University

This interesting article focuses on four key principles of learning in technology including; autonomy, connectedness, diversity and openness. The authors emphasize the importance of how individual personalities shape PLE and engage or alter the nature of the community.

This article describes academic advisors using connectivism to help students decide on future careers. There is a great list of questions that facilitates connectivism through academic advising and encourages each student to envision their future endeavors.

In this article from The Journal Patricia Deubel, Ph.D give a really good break down of connectivity and how learn now for students is not about know what but knowing where to find it.

One of the things that I really appreciated about this article is that it highlights how much learning has become a non-linear activity. I actually think that way naturally, but many people don't. This helps me to have insight into how to explain my process a bit and to appreciate that quality in other learners.

Great article discussing the emergence of connectivism. It describes an ecological approach to learning and mentions various tools that are available through CoPs and PNLs. It focuses on educators being lifelong learners and utilizing the resources that are available through digital networks.

I chose a definition site as my final resource. I think it is important that we are able to clearly and succinctly define what we are exploring. According to this site, "A personal learning network, also referred to as a PLN, is a powerful professional development tool that allows teachers and administrators to connect with other teachers and administrators across the country. These connections are typically made through social media outlets including Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc."

I like the quote "you get out what you put in" it describes the relationships in a PLN perfectly. This post gives many good examples of PLNs that I'm sure many people don't even realize are PLNs. Many teachers like to use Pinterest for lesson plan ideas or decorating their classroom, and what they don't realize is they are working with other people to gain this information. I think I'm a better educator because I am an active user of PLNs and I try to contribute as much as I use others ideas.

This article discusses how developing a PNL will make you a better teacher by challenging you to change the way we think about our classroom. PNLs are great because they save time and allow for quick and easy communication in various formats. Educators get to decide which areas they are interested in developing a PNL. I love that this article states that you will get out of it what you put in.

This is a more atypical resource for our assignment but I felt that it was very appropriate for many of my K-12 peers. This text discusses the history of PLN and how educators must use PLN as a part of their learning tool kit today. Both authors are educators as well as business men who ofter a mix of experience in their attempt to convince you that PLNs are one of the major ways to captivate and engage students in the learning process.

This is a more technical site that better describes CoPs.  It talks about what a CoP is and what the requirements are.  I particularly like that the it states that the learning is not necessarily the primary reason for the existence of a CoP.  It also gives some sources for further study.

This article is an outline of Communities of Practice with description of relevant terminology outlined and defined. Identifies the three components of CoPs - domain, community and practice. This article says that the central component of this learning theory is to draw participants deeper into the community through the attractiveness of developing skills relative to the domain.

This one I didn't summarize, only because I really had a hard time grasping the three elements of the CoP, and I thought this site encapsulated it nicely. Incidentally, my creative assignment for this week was inspired by the reference to Star Trek fans in this post. Here are the three elements make up CoP, and again, this information below is taken straight from the source (long quotes), because the definition is so good: 1. There needs to be a domain. A CoP has an identity defined by a shared domain of interest (e.g. radiologists, Star Trek fans, middle school history teachers, Seahawks football fans, etc.); it's not just a network of people or club of friends. Membership implies a commitment to the domain. 2. There needs to be a community. A necessary component is that members of a specific domain interact and engage in shared activities, help each other, and share information with each other. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other. In this way, merely sharing the same job does not necessitate a CoP. A static website on hunting in itself is not a community of practice. There needs to be people who interact and learn together in order for a CoP to be formed. Note that members do not necessarily work together daily, however. Wenger points to the example of Impressionist painters who sometimes met in cafes to discuss their painting styles. He indicates that even though these men normally painted alone, these kinds of interactions were essential to making them a CoP. 3. There needs to be a practice: A CoP is not just people who have an interest in something (e.g. sports or agriculture practices). The third requirement for a CoP is that the members are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of resources which can include stories, helpful tools, experiences, stories, ways of handling typical problems, etc. This kind of interaction needs to be developed over time. A conversation with a random stranger who happens to be an exp

This website is good just for the sake of brevity. It is a quick, simple, and concise overview of connectivism and links to a useful journal article. The database overall is a good place for quick summaries of learning theories and can be used to spur further research.

Provides an explanation of the theory of Connectivism, its key features, and how the MOOC resulted from this theory.

The real takeaway in this article is that the learner holds the responsibility for what is learned and also for sharing what they learn in a cMOOC.

This article provides a succinct definition of a personal learning network and provides a list of advantages of establishing your own PLN. The article also discusses ways to create your own PLN and methods to continue to make it successful.

This article is better at the set up of an PLN and how to use it. It does give 3 of the benefits of having PLN.

One of the things that really stands out for me in this article is the idea that you need to be consistent to get real results from PLNs. One of the reasons that I decided to take this class was to force myself to post regularly on social media. It's helps get your message out there and keeps you on people's radars. Cool article! Thanks!

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.

Cool site that provides educators with Educational Technology resources including tutorials, apps, webinars and links to professional development opportunity. The site is run by educators.

This article from Minnesota State University talks about the half life of information and how today information is growing and doubling at such a fast rate that no one can be as knowledgeable in there field as they were 50 years ago. By using connectivity it allows people to better keep up in there knowledge field.

This is a really interesting article. I never thought about it, but it is a compelling notion that one person cannot be an expert at anything any longer, simply because everyone can be an expert with a device in their hands.

This article gives you the standard overview of connectivism; however, the point about knowledge growing as more nodes are established is a great point. I would agree with Chris Denny. Can anyone (sometimes even the teacher) be the expert any longer without prescribing to connectivist theory?