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This article in the First Coast News is about how the Lee County School District is limiting teachers use of Facebook with current students. It is a very interesting take on how to use a social network site and learning.

I somewhat facetiously posted in my class introduction that I would not be "tweetered". I felt it only fair that I should begin my study on a topic for which I have distrust. This article did present an interesting and creative use of Twitter. The applicationn provided the means to accurately record data by having subjects record actions in real time (by tweeting). This gives the observer more accurate information, as there is no need for the subject to recall and reconstruct occurrences from memory. This research was directed toward a broader end of understanding the role of informal learning, the authors called these "learnscapes" as opposed to classroom learning. The lingering impression for me is the creativity in which technology is being applied in support of the redefinition and understanding of learning. It's why I believe this is actually one of the most interesting times to be an educator.

Timothy, glad to see you start your study with Twitter :) I agree with you- this is an interesting application of Twitter for educational purposes. I can also see some possible spin offs that could be used in my institutional setting. We have students who are off campus all over the world during their last term of chiropractic school. Perhaps they could Twitter about what patient conditions they treat each day and post links to where they found information supporting evidence-based practice for those conditions.

This presentation does nothing more employ multi-media to list 18 names of individuals who are associated with the field of education in various manners.It is short and to the point. What is special, however, is that these 18 names are active members of blogs, wikis and a host of connections. Out of the 18 , I Googled 3 and was quickly transported to several presentations, links and information regarding Google Wave and the importance of using "Backchannels" in the classroom. When I was an undergraduate, I had a professor whose name was Robert Peck. He often commented that "like minds ought to form networks so as to be able communicate easily and often…but how do we make this happen?" Were he alive to see the connectedness of the Ed Tech community he would smile.

Hey Dennis- I appreciate your posts. I'm an old basketball coach and, as such, not so cerebral, but I do try. I read the link with the research evaluating exemplary teachers vs their peers. Interesting work. When reading education research, it is the publishing dates I generally find discouraging. In this case, It is ten years later, have we really moved the ball on any of this? (That's a football coach reference, but, whatever). How many generations of students will pass before we begin to ensure they receive the education that might provide them advantage? Or will America be the lagging country-still presuming standardized tests are evidence of.....heck, anything. ts

I found this web site through a simple Google search and three hours later came up for air and realized that I was in my apartment in St. Marys, PA. The site contains video, discussion, chat, events, and so on. Specifically, I was impressed with a speech (http://edupln.ning.com/video/valedictorian-speaks-out) made by a Valedictorian of a high school, a speech in which the young girl asserts that she is only equally as intelligent as her peers but much better at following orders. And as a result of this, she is leaving her high school without hobbies and interests and is, therefore, actually at a disadvantage with regard to competing in life with the "B" and "C" students who spent the same years pursuing their own interests and expertise. I highly recommend this site and am happy to include it within my PLN.

Andy Carvin is the host of this PBS blog that covers everything from the extent to which teachers are obligated to police the social networks to a student nearly being expelled for administering a facebook study group for his college course. The posts were thought provoking as were some of the responses.

There is a neat video in this blog that explains a PLN's in a really simple way. Very creative and informative.

Abigail- I like this simple, concise definition of a PLN- "the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online." Also, the description at the end of a video regarding the role of the instructor in this type of learning- "learning architect, modeler, learning concierge (I especially like this one!), network sherpa" etc.

Abigail, I am a big fan of the Keep it Simple concept. I do not think that social learning is complicated, in fact I think it allows students to individuate and respond to questions more easily than in a classroom setting. The instructor is an important facilitator in this process because they can structure the learning to meet the needs of the learner and class. Thanks for sharing your post. Brenda

I just learned two valuable lessons…one write your work outside of the textboxes and save it because your computer may freeze and you'll lose your work…how many times have I told my online students this, yet I did the same mistake?! Secondly, develop a system of finding the same resource over again. Perhaps save it in your favorites or copy and paste the link somewhere… I spent 15 minutes trying to refind my resource. Grrr. Back to the purpose of this post...This video link provided a summary of how teachers can use a PLN such as Twitter to "stream" information for use in their classrooms. You can take what you like or let the information float by knowing that more information always comes down the stream. It provides a simple visual example of using PLN. Much of the information contained in the video has already been stated throughout our Diigo group, but I chose it because I liked how it summarized PLNs. I actually used my newly established Twitter account to find this resource. I typed "Personal Learning Networks" into the search field , scanned through the posts that were in English, found one with "teachers" in the title, which is my interest and reviewed the resource posted. I liked the resource and felt I should share it with my Boise peers. From this point, I can read further into the topic by clicking on related links or I can explore the person's profile that provided the link to get to know the source. However, I chose to take the information and move on in the interest of time. Perfect!

I love this video! I posted an article about Twitter before I watched this video, now I have even more information I can bring back to my principal to support the use of Twitter. Thanks for posting this!

I like the link. I like how descriptive it is, and it gives an interesting introduction. In my last class, (522) I did a web cast presentation on how to use twitter effectively for teaching purposes. This video validates a lot of my research on the use of twitter in education. There are so many cool social media outlets, I wonder what the next "biggest thing" will be? The presenter's English accent threw me at first, but then I envied his brogue.

This was an interesting blog post that essentially asks, is it better to remain uninformed? This is a very real question for the passionate educator. Once one connects in to best practices, it can become increasingly difficult to abide in the current practice of one's own school. As an example, my wife is a nationally board certified teacher, she works in a private school with great resources (her third grade classroom is one to one laptops) , but through fairly poor leadership, the technology largely remains outside the circle of meaningful practice in her school. Her peers largely rejected any thought of instructional transformation, and as a result, her school has essentially provided every student a laptop computer to utilize as a sixth textbook, or a word processor. Being a progressive educator, engaging in professional reading, and attending conferences, can be incredibly frustrating when one understands the possibilities and sees dynamic change occurring elsewhere. It's almost like you are standing outside the gate, seeing the party, but have no means of entering. This might seem like whining, and the comments in the post somewhat bear that out, but it is part of the burden one must assume in working to create change. So, is ignorance bliss? In all honesty, sometimes it can feel so.... ts

If I may... There just may be areas of life about which we are better off not knowing, but I'm not sure. Then again, I'm happy that many hostile biologists do not possess the sequence and the genetic code for the small pox virus. Your addition to this page does raise some interesting questions.

Whenever I read or hear "Ignorance is bliss" I can't help but see thee image of Cypher chomping down on a huge steak in the Matrix. While there are definitely areas in life where mankind should remain ignorant (nobody wants that seventh grader bringing a laser gun to class), teachers being more aware of better practices or what's happening in more technologically advanced schools is one of them. Seeing these new ideas can lead the teacher to ask, "How can I make that work in my classroom even if I don't have everything they have?" At least a passionate educator might. The dispassionate educator probably isn't even utilizing a PLN.

This website caught my attention when I was searching for a resource to describe social network learning. There were a couple of key points that were addressed on the website. The first was Personal Learning Style (PLS). I think that determining what PLS works best for a student enhances the effectiveness of the instruction. The website suggests that PLS is now being adopted by companies to enhance work performance. Since I have a hearing disability I gravitate towards visual learning so my individual learning is much different than an audio learner. The other key point identified on the website is that social network learning should be inclusive of all generations. The instruction or social mechanism should take into consideration learner autonomy. The learning community for academics is much different than personal. However, because the two may be interrelated, the learner must adopt some control over their learning environment whether it is social academic or social personal.

This article on PLC's is a good one. It goes over the definition of a PLC and explains why they are now so commonplace in education. I highlighted the key point, "suggesting that when teachers had opportunities for collaborative inquiry and the learning related to it, they were able to develop and share a body of wisdom gleaned from their experience." Because I think it sums up all the reasons why PLC's are now being utilized so often in education. Research has proven that when PLC's are utilized effectively in schools, student learning improves greatly.

This is a great resource for finding great tools found in Google for educators. A lot of great things are out there and the teachers in this group are great at filling you in! I liked Google templates in particular. It's a great resource for history teachers. The time line template would be a great activity for my art history students. http://diigo.com/0d2vd

The article is a good display of how to use social media in a school. I especially liked the first comment I highlighted because it states plainly what we already know that kids are accessing social media sites, we should move with them and teach them how to use those sites safely and for good purposes. The article goes on to explain about sites that can be used for free that are kid and school friendly like edmodo, edublogs and kidblog.org. The article also offers teacher input from those teachers willing to try social media in their class and the results it produced. I think Elizabeth Delmatoff made a strong case for using and keeping her pilot social media program. I couldn't agree more with the concluding statement, "The teachers and parents who embrace social media say the best way to keep kids safe, online or offline, is to teach them."