Group items tagged

Summary: Although instant and text/SMS messaging is beginning to supplant email for some groups' primary means of Internet communication, effective and appropriate email etiquette is still important. This resource will help you to become an effective writer and reader/manager of email.

How do I compose an email to someone I don't know?

a meaningful subject line

to show her students how far a message can travel on Twitter. The way her message spread throughout Twitter provides a great example of how retweeting works, and why hashtags matter.

First, hashtags

Second, Kim asked people to retweet her message

network coding.

Most networks right now are built roughly along the same principles as a transportation network, or any other network that’s trying to deliver tangible goods,

With network coding, however, a router doesn’t just hand off the packets it receives; it mathematically combines them into new, hybrid packets. If the combination is done cleverly enough, this makes the whole network more efficient.

I have used the term Personal Learning Network (PLN) dozens of times over the last few years, and have seen it mentioned countless times in blog and microblog posts, and other forms of media. However, I cannot seem to find a solid reference or definition for the concept of PLN.

I thought it was appropriate to ask the question to my PLN (or what I perceive as my PLN) via Twitter. I asked if anyone had a definition for a PLN, or if they knew the difference between a personal learning network and personal learning environment (PLE). I received varied responses, and the majority of these are pasted below. To make more sense of this conversation, read these from the very bottom to the top as they are in reverse chronological order.

From a simple question on Twitter, I received dozens of twitter replies, direct messages, and email responses. While I am still having trouble defining exactly what this is, I know that what I observe to be my PLN has dramatically changed the way I view teaching, communities, and the negotiation and formation of knowledge.

Abstract: This paper explores how personal web technologies (PWTs) can be used by learners and the relationship between PWTs and connectivist learning principles. Descriptions and applications of several technologies including social bookmarking tools, personal publishing platforms, and aggregators are also included. With these tools, individuals can create and manage personal learning environments (PLEs) and personal learning networks (PLNs), which have the potential to become powerful resources for academic, professional, and personal development.

This paper explores personal web technologies (PWTs) and their learning applications.

Connectivism and the need for continuous learning In today’s world, learning needs extend far beyond the culmination of a training session or degree program. Working adults must continually update their skills and behaviours to conform to the constantly changing demands of the workplace (Lewis & Romiszowski, 1996). In times of rapid change, it is not always prudent or possible to offer formal training for each individual’s every need, and some needs may best be addressed by the individual him/herself. Using freely available personal web technologies, employees can create a personal learning environment (PLE) to manage their own learning resources; whether these are wikis, news feeds, podcasts, or people.

Facebook is a social place and they should use it for social purposes. It's THEIR place, THEIR space, THEIR party

they need to have a place to vent their exasperation about education (how telling is that!) in desperate messages in which they complain how much studying sucks

humanist critic of how the internet is shaping our lives and cultures

I disgree too. I was there for the good old digital days, and I don't miss them a bit. Web 2.0 is far more inclusive than anything that has come before.

Instant messaging (IM) services like AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, or Windows Live Messenger make it possible for you to chat in real-time with friends, colleagues, and students.

But do you really want to have all of these different tools open at once? Probably not. In order to cut down on applications or screens that you have open on your desktop, you can use an IM aggregrator.

Digsby allows you not only to manage all of your IM streams, but also works as an email manager for web-based mail and as an interface for social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook

experimented with a variety of methods to engage my students in their learning.  My latest endeavor involves introducing different kinds of technology to enhance the teaching

PikiFriends

PikiFriends is an interactive website where students can post blogs, pictures, and short messages on each other’s page.  The purpose of creating PikiFriends was to help EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students practice elements of the English language.

Wikipedia, which turns 10 years old this weekend, has taken a lot of heat over the years.

But as a Pew Research report released today confirms, Wikipedia has become a crucial aspect of our online lives, and in many ways it has shown us — for better or worse — what all information online is in the process of becoming: social, distributed, interactive and (at times) chaotic.

53 percent of American Internet users said they regularly look for information on Wikipedia, up from 36 percent of the same group the first time the research center asked the question in February of 2007