EDTECH at Boise State University

This video uses the nine dots puzzle and Etcha-sketch to describe how connectivism and social networking correlate.

This paper explores how social networks can be leveraged to enhance PLNs. The authors discuss the relationship between teacher learning and experiences with PLNs. They also discuss PLN frameworks and their potential for providing collaborative experiences among teachers and administrators.

This qualitative study explores the experiences of PK-12 teachers using PLNs for professional growth. The research questions focus on how P-12 teachers describe their PLNs, what teachers learn from PLNs and how they believe PLN activities affect their teaching, and how teachers perceive their participation in PLNs affect their students' learning.

This article reviews three PLN platforms: Edmodo, Classroom 2.0, and The Educator's PLN. They describe how teachers use the PLNs for learning, sharing, and communicating.

This article examines two communities of practice within a post-secondary online course. One CoP was an on-campus cohort formed by the instructors and instructional designers, the other was an online cohort in which the CoPs were selected by students in the program. This explored the role of teacher leadership in the "school ecology".

This paper examines the role of group learning at the university level to prepare students for interacting in CoP in the workplace. Researchers utilized Hoadley and Kilner's "C4P" framework to create an IT consultant scenario. The resulting reflections placed an emphasis on purpose, context, content, communication, and leadership.

This article examines how communities of practice can enhance research in higher education. They seek to gain greater understanding of what individuals gain from their membership, how CoP enhance personal research, and how CoP can be integrated into higher education.

This article discusses the four principles of learning: autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness. It also investigates how these principles and the theory of connectivism have been tested through MOOCs - massive open online courses.

@Ahallteacher Great share! Interesting to read how autonomy, diversity, connectedness, and openness appear in MOOCs.

Great article Allison! I like how it discusses MOOCs! I haven't seen many articles that have brought those up specifically and how those types of technology have been considered "testing ground".

The article opens with explaining multiple examples of dominant design and then leads into how the shift should move towards personal learning environments. The first thing it explains with this is how the learner can use a variety of technologies instead of just one software. The writer then states that it should be built to support the user's goals. After this it goes into explain how it can be used not only on a personal scale but global scale as well by the use of social media, knowledge bases, learning contexts, etc. The rest of the article discusses how the world is moving towards a personal learning environment and how therefore the other types may become a "less attractive option."

This article discusses personal learning networks, specifically in how they challenge the current design of educational systems. It argues that the current education system follows a dominant design which pushes following a typical design that focuses on the integration of tools, draws a very obvious line of who the teacher is and who the learner is, restricts content and connections, along with others. They should instead focus on creating personal learning networks which focus on the connections that are being created rather than the tools implemented, form symmetric relationships where any user can consume or contribute, provides open content, and many other reasons. It also gives possible implementation stratifies and possible challenges to this system or ideology.

In this article, Wenger defines Communities of Practice (COP) as a "tribe learning to survive," (p. 1) although learning isn't always the goal of the group but can be an outcome. Members are committed to their community and create a shared practice of networking for a specific purpose. Originally associations and groups, the Internet is extending the reach of COPs and increasing the flow of information.

For those who have never heard of communities of practice, this resource explains it well. What are communities of practice, what do communities of practice look like, where does the concept come from and how it is being applied is all covered.

This is a brief but comprehensive introduction as to what communities of practice are by Etienne Wenger. One important aspect addressed is that learning is a product of a community of practice whether intentionally or not. It also gives multiple examples of what a common community of practice can look like such as problem solving, discussing developments, and visits. The concept came to be as a learning model by Wenger and Jean Lave. The concepts has many applications but a couple common places these communities are seen are organizations, government, education, and technology.

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of students in post-secondary online courses through the lens of connectivism. This mixed methods study was framed around Downes' four properties of connectivism. The results showed that the principles of connectivism encouraged positive online learning experiences.

This article addresses the issues concerning the effectiveness of online learning and 21st century skills in higher education. While Web 2.0 proponents suggest that online learning environments encourage connections between students that are unique to 21st century learning environments, those opposing suggest that online interactions lack the substance and rigor needed for higher education. Incorporating the principles of connectivism as best practice can encourage high quality online learning experiences.

This short ten minute Tedx Talk by a teenager covers topics of homeschooling and the pursuit of happiness through education. My favorite part is that Logan spends one day a week outside for the entire day as part of his education.

Inside California Education is a public television series that explores the challenges, issues and stories of public education. -tagline from website. The series recently featured the School in the Park program, of which I am an employee. Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3KV6CUPbEA

This article opens by explaining that personal learning networks are about learning through interactions with others in multiple ways. These PLNs allow learners to join multiple groups and access resources to help them learn when needed. One big topic it hits on is how the learning is initiated by the learner on their own. The writer goes on to say that today there is access to so much information on the internet that makes it so much easier to access the resources to help people learn. It also discusses how learning is self-directed yet the resources within the personal learning network can make that easier.

This article states that a personal learning network is a major component within digital learning. After that, the writer explains that simply "surfing the web" is not an example of a PLN, but monitoring a specific set of resources is. It then goes on to discuss how personal learning networks can help teachers use class time more effectively while giving students access to materials through the use of the internet. The article explains this with the use of a blog for a class.

This article explains connectivism by taking a hard look at the other learning theories that set out to explain the way in which the world learns now. It explores research scenarios that allowed people to "cope with rapid change in the "information ecology"". I think that that is a great talking point for connectivism because it does act as a way to do this. It explains how this theory is expanding the development of new pedagogies that view a less important role of the facilitator and more important role on the autonomy of the student. The author states that connectivism is not the catch all of learning theories and needs to have more studies done in order to really evaluate its importance in the classrooms and virtual classrooms.

This peer reviewed article is compelling because it provides a historical look at the evolution of Connectivism while considering what detractors say are the inherent flaws in the theory. Additionally, the authors provide relevant discussion of the rise of and failures of MOOCS. Finally, 5 scenarios are provided to illustrate the discussion.

This article first discusses how the internet plays a role in connectivism, but also how it is not equal across the world as far as internet use or access. The article then goes on to state that connectivism has replaced behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism because all three of those had some limitations. After explaining this, it then goes into different situations in the classroom and depending on what is going on within the classroom, relates it to the theory of connectivism or another theory. It discusses how some say connectivism is insufficient in the classroom, but the writer goes on to explain that there still isn't one single theory that can do it all in the context of learning within the classroom.

Hi Guys! This is my classroom website that I used throughout the 2016-2017 school year. I visit it often but I am hoping to create a better one!

I am biased as I am a Will Richardson fan. I went to a day with him last year and it changed so much about what I thought. As a direct result I signed up for twitter and began to try and connect with people. He wrote a book on PLN's and his last TED book 'Why School' is a must read. Here he talks through the whole topic as well as big picture issues. Focused on education and good practice. Love the way he thinks and explains. Worth a follow think he is @willrich45

Thank you for the post, It was very insightful. I like how he compares a PLN to your own bigger brain, or something along those lines. I think this is a great way to think of a PLN. There is so much information out there one person can't possibly conceptualize it all, so we create PLNs a system of more brains to consult whenever we have problems or questions.

Richardson summarizes the importance and components of PLNs for educators and students. He summarizes that PLNs are networks of like-minded people that act as a network that converse and brainstorm answers to questions. Richardson notes that PLNs act as powerful sources of professional development for teachers. He discusses the current state of PLNs in our students' lives and how they are creating their own connections through various social media platforms. Finally, he relays the responsibility of teachers to inform themselves about PLNs in order to properly and safely guide our students through the use of PLNs.

George Siemens presents fundamental tenets of the theory of connectivism in context of and as a substitute or followup to behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. He discusses the principles of the theory as well as the implications of the theory and why it is superior in a digital age of abundant information sharing.

George Siemens introduces Connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. In this article, Siemens outlines the main principles and expresses the need for a new learning theory given today's technological advancements. Siemens begins by analyzing the three key learning theories (behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism) in order to describe how these three theories have become outdated and no longer work for today's learner. With Connectivism, Siemens and Downes believe that learning no longer exists solely in one learner; instead, they assert that learning happens best when networks of people come together to create and pursue knowledge. Siemens and Downes explain that because the Internet has so much information, and because that information is constantly changing/updating, learning is not about the knowledge itself but the pursuit of knowledge as it emerges through connection, conversation, and inquiry.