EDTECH at Boise State University

This article examines arguments made for and against online learning and what is best for creating engaging and rigorous elearning environments. It argues the need for both asynchronous and synchronous opportunities to promote optimal communication and collaboration.

This is a training resource that I came across from a school district in Indiana. It focuses on how professional learning communities or communities of practice can avoid becoming a passing fad in educational reform. It gives three "big ideas" that educational CoPs need to focus on to truly be successful. They are: ensuring that students learn, creating a culture of collaboration, focusing on results by holding themselves accountable.

Thank you for sharing this. Just today, my school discussed starting PLC's and I feel that is important to focus on those three big ideas. I feel that this article makes us look closely at the questions and the answer to those questions before we begin creating networks and communities. Makes me think of the UbD-approach and how we should think about what the goals are and what we want our PLC's to do specifically before making them vent sessions amongst teachers.

This is a link to an audio/visual presentation given by George Siemens on connectivism. The entire presentation takes about 15 min, but you can navigate to specific areas using the menu on the left sidebar. In this presentation he explores what connectivism is and our needs/desires as humans to create meaningful connections. This is a great resource for the auditory or visual learner that doesn't require endless reading!

An audio presentation on this topic is a great resource! I saw several YouTube videos I thought were nice for overviews but I like that this is from the "founder" of connectivism.

What a find! I love having information via audio or visual presentations and the combination is even better. Siemens does (of course) such a nice job of explaining connectivism-making it super clear for me to develop a clear understanding. I also appreciate the navigation menu as I wanted to go back to certain sections. Thanks so much for sharing this resource @kristiedtech

Upon trying to find an article specific to CoP's and Twitter, I came across this study that utilizes Twitter to create CoPs. It is an interesting read, with the following quote laying a foundation to the context of article: "Twitter was not meant for building communities. Its original design - 140 character limit; postings accessible for a short time; and its prompting "What's happening" - were focused on immediate responses amongst those who already knew each other. But its enhancements such as improved search and the adoption by its users of conventions such as the hashtag and "@" symbol for communication have provided capabilities which can be used for conversation and collaboration (Gruzd, Wellman, and Takhteyev 2011).

This article talks about the evolution of Twitter and how recent enhancements like the hashtag (#) and the @ sign have made it a good tool for collaboration and conversations. The article gives a great overview of CoPs and Personal Networks as well. Twitter can now be used for what's trending in education and is more that only what is trending in social media news.

What an interesting article, I love how they are researching and analyzing social media tools such as Twitter. The graphs and data made this article easy to understand and helpful to those of us who are not so Twitter savvy. I especially love how it addressed the evolution of Twitter to address the users needs...THIS is education! :) Thanks for sharing @Katie Swanson Sathre

This source discusses connectivism and whether it should be considered a learning theory and what its place is. It also discusses how learning will change and has been changing.

I love this article! It clearly articulates how learning is changing (because of technology and the access to information at a constant rate) and that because of this teaching needs to change. It also addresses the reasons why it is taking so long for education to catch up. I find it interesting how they clearly articulated what are the requirements for a learning theory and how connectivism doesn't fit the bill. Thanks for sharing @ampengilley

This very simple slideshow highlights the key points of PLE's that have been researched and presented in many articles and experiences. The author directs your attention to the effectiveness and many facets of PLE's in the future of education, such as sharing, collaboration, reflection and storing information.

I appreciated the different way to learn about a PLN. I like the slideshow idea to interpret what a PLN is. It really grabbed my attention and the images reflected the ideas perfectly. Thank you for sharing it.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate images, they just have a way of really captivating my attention and helping my understanding. This slideshow did a nice job of highlighting key points of personal learning environments and their purpose/results. I loved that first quote by Mark Van Harmalen, such a nice way of articulating PLN's. Thanks for sharing @klauritsen

This site contains a lot of information about COP and is organized as answers to FAQs. Importantly it covers tools that can be used to facilitate CoPs

This article has a great layout. I appreciated how I could decide what information I needed and click on the questions for answers. All of the information was interesting and useful in order to learn about social learning, communities and networks as well as cultivating communities of practice. Thank you for sharing this great resource.

In this article with an interesting format Wenger & Trayner tackle the frequently asked questions surrounding social learning, communities, and networks. Section 1.2 on Cultivating communities of practice was most helpful to me to truly understand the purpose of COP's by looking at the objectives.

Ms Brown describes Communities of Practice in her article citing Wenger (who coined the term) in her references. She goes on to describe what communities of practice are and how COP's have changed because of the digital world (Twitter named specifically). I appreciated her list of qualities of a "good" community of practice and her video link of John Amaechi's speech on COP's.

In this article, Professor Gerstein articulates the power of Twitter as a tool for professional growth. The professor used Twitter itself to conduct informal research to discover how educators were using the tool and overwhelmingly their responses were "collaborating with colleagues". This article outlines keywords of those who responded to the survey providing insight to connectivism in the digital world.

This article explains how communities of practice are growing and evolving through technology and allowing teaching (and learning) to advance to new heights with very little limitations.

I truly believe that reflection takes place once you are involved in a learning community. That is the best way to achieve knowledge and change. This article was a nice read about how a learning community can boost professional growth. Students need to see educators taking ownership of their learning as an example of how they need to be in charge of their own learning as well.

What an excellent resource! 7 important things to know about PLE's? Why yes! This resource breaks down what they are, who started them/researched them, why they are significant, what is their future, their downfalls and their importance in education. This resource concisely explains PLE's and what educators need to know about them. The takeaway from this resource is that PLE's cause more reflection and deeper understanding, as well as develops student's information fluency to analyze the information presented on the internet.

Seven teachers in six cities participated in the development of this report on teacher's experiences with professional learning systems & documents teachers' on-the-ground experiences with professional learning networks. Focus is on how professional learning communities (PLC's) as seen in the US model needs to change the way that teachers develop professionally changes over time with the advancements of Web 2.0.

This very brief article discusses how learning theories are being questioned by educators due to the demands of the digital age. They discuss how students today are required to find the knowledge and information they need in order for them to "internalise it.". Technology has changed the way we learn and process information but they ask if there are any biological implications. The references provide a good source for further reading.

I like how this article addressed informal learning. How do we support our students differently in a digital age that supports informal learning?