Learning Networks andProfessionalDevelopment

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORKS

Online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.”Social media are works of user-created video, audio, text or multimedia that are published and shared in a social environment, such as a blog, wiki or video hosting site.

What are social media?

Method of sharing and organizing online resources

Accessible 'on any internet connected computer

Subscribe to tags of interestFollow like-minded people through a network

Why Social Bookmark

Blogs (edublogs.org, wordpress.com)Micro blogging (twitter.com, plurk.com)Wikis (wikispaces.com, pbwiki.com)Social Networks (META: metamexico.ning.com)Social Bookmarking (del.cio.us, diigo.com)Digital Photo Sharing (Flickr.com, slideshare.com)Video Conferences – Chat (ie. Skype.com)RSS Feed Aggregates (ie. Reader.google.com)Podcasting and Vodcasting (voicethread.com)Virtual Worlds (secondlife.com, lively.com)

Web 2.0 generally refers to an interactive read/write Web rather than simply a passive read-only Web.

Getting Connected: Web 2.0 Tools

Learning is a network forming processCapacity to know more is more critical than

what is knownLearning rests in aggregating diverse, often

opposing, viewsContent is often the by-product of the

learning process – not the starting pointConnections, not content, are the beginning

point of the learning process

Connectivism

Learning can reside in non-human appliancesKnowledge can rest within our networks not

only internally in ourselvesAbility to see connections (pattern

recognition) between ideas and concepts critical to learning

Currency (up to date knowledge) is the intent of properly created learning networks

Decision making is in itself a learning process George Siemens, www.connectivism.ca

Connectivism

Typical Teacher Network

Personal Learning Networks (PLS) Source: Sue Waters, 2008 Blog

In a learning network, individuals will: Shift tools if they no longer suit the needs of the network.

Tag their content to aggregate it.

Make content come to them with feeds.

An Open Source project is a software product that is collaboratively built.

Everyone has access to help build the product if they have something worthwhile to contribute.

No one owns it. No one takes credit for it.Everyone gets to use the product… even

those who did not help build it.The “Sage on the Stage” is dead! Most of us

just don’t know it yet.

Learning is Becoming an Open Source Project

http://www.innovativeteachers.com

•Discovery Educator

Network

•ISTE

•Second Life for

Educators

•Classroom 2.0

•Educational

Technologists

•Using Wiki in Education

•School 2.0

http://

www.facebook.com/

Facebook Groups

Social-oriented applications and professional networks - new opportunities for learners and educators

Professional network generally refers to a professional network service, a virtual community that it is focused on professional

interactions instead of social interactions.A learning network is a group of persons

who create, share, support and studylearning resources (“units of learning”)

in a specific knowledge domain.

A model for personal learning environment (PLE) building is proposed

The modified Rogers’ model for competence development lifecycle in a learning network is used in order to be examined the main phases in competence progress of each student

Social networks contribute to the processes by which learners meet and communicate, and pool, share, learn about and reuse their resources, knowledge and competencies

PLE building is found to be a core for PLN and PLN deployment

The transition from PLE to PLN is an important step that supports students to become self-organized and life-long learners

Conclusion