Individualizing Learning through Personal Learning Networks

1. BHC Professional Training & Development
Steve Sorden
October 29, 2010

2.  October – The learning college engages
learners as full partners in the learning
process, with learners assuming primary
responsibility for their own choices.
Objective
 Explore ways that we can individualize
instruction, make it more meaningful to each
student, and encourage students to become
more engaged and take responsibility for
their own learning.

3.  Slides and links are available at SlideShare:
http://www.slideshare.net/ssorden/presentations

4. Be kind! Whole books on it.
 Generally refers to an
online conversation
about a live presentation
or speaker.
 Twitter is often used.
 Our backchannel for
today:
http://meetingwords.com/zBrfnMfalx
 You can also share other
links and info during the
presentation.

5.  Presentation
 Computer Activities/Exploration
 Discussion on Potential Uses for PLNs and
Social Media
 Collect DE and Library Surveys

7. "to teach is to model and demonstrate, to learn
is to practice and reflect”
(Stephen Downes, 2007)
http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-connectivism-is.html

8. http://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/06_Veletsianos_2010-
Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf
 Open access and Open teaching
 Learning theories
 Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
 Synchronous vs. asynchronous
 Primary learning environment
 Personal learning environments vs. Personal
learning networks
 MOOC – Massive Open Online Course

9.  Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)
people learn by watching what others do
 Social Constructivism (Vygotsky)
groups construct knowledge for one another, collaboratively creating a small
culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings
 Andragogy (Knowles) “Adult Learning Theory”
The role of the educator is minimized. The central idea in the context of
adult learning is that it is only after convincing him- or herself of the
rationale of learning, will an adult decide to learn.
 Connectivism (Siemens & Downes)
A learning theory which is based on the premise that knowledge exists in the
world rather than simply in the head of an individual.

10.  The zone of proximal development, often abbreviated ZPD, is the
difference between what a learner can do without help and what
he or she can do with help.
It is a concept developed by Soviet psychologist and social
constructivist Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934).
 The concept of scaffolding is closely related to the ZPD.
Scaffolding is a process through which a teacher or more
competent peer gives aid to the student in her/his ZPD as
necessary, and tapers off this aid as it becomes unnecessary,
much as a scaffold is removed from a building during
construction.
(Wikipedia)
 Technology is a Merry-Go-Round!

11.  Open access (OA) refers to unrestricted online access to
articles published in scholarly journals.
 The Open Access movement in academia is dedicated to
the principle of open access — to information-sharing for
the common good.
 Open teaching is the facilitation of learning experiences
that are open, transparent, collaborative, and social.
 Open teachers tend to be advocates of a free and open
knowledge society, and support their students in the
critical consumption, production, connection and synthesis
of knowledge through the shared development of learning
networks.

12.  We can individualize our own professional
development.
 We can teach our students ways to enrich
their lives and individualize their learning.
 We can flood the campus with new ideas.
 We can become very technically advanced,
very quickly, for very little money, largely with
the equipment we currently have.

13. Web 2.0
Services
ePortfolio+
VLE
(Angel,
Blackboard)
PLE
“A Personal Learning Environment is a facility for
an individual to access, aggregate, configure
and manipulate digital artifacts of their ongoing
learning experiences.” Ron Lubensky (2006)
http://www.deliberations.com.au/2006/12/present-and-future-of-personal-learning.html
Steve Downes on PLEs:
http://www.slideshare.n
et/Downes/personal-
learning-environments-
presentation

14.  Michele Martin divided learning in PLEs into
three areas:
◦ Gathering Information – reading and learning
◦ Processing Information – reflecting and practicing
◦ Acting on the Learning – what do you do with it?
How does it affect your practice?
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/04/my_personal_lea.html

15. Personal Learning Network theory is based largely on Connectivist
theories of learning and teaching.
“Learning is the process of building connections that enable us to
acquire knowledge and learn more. This focus recognizes the fact
that learning is based on "rapidly altering foundations . . . currency
(accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist
learning activities" (Siemens 2005).
 Stephen Downes (2010) on Connectivist learning and teaching:
http://www.slideshare.net/Downes/connectivist-learning-and-teaching
 Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge
(Downes, 2010)
http://www.engineering-science-reference.com/downloads/excerpts/34682.pdf
 Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
(George Siemens, 2004)
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
 Knowing Knowledge (Siemens, 2005)
http://www.elearnspace.org/KnowingKnowledge_LowRes.pdf

16. Definition:
“the entire collection of people with whom you
engage and exchange information, usually
online.”
 Excellent blog post that provides a good
beginner’s explanation of what a PLN is and
what tools to start with.
http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy

17.  Massive Open Online Course
In 2008, Siemens and Downes taught a course called
"Connectivism and Connective Knowledge" which both taught
connectivism as the content and modeled it as a teaching
method. The course was free and open to anyone who wished to
participate, with over 2000 people worldwide signing up. The
phrase "Massively Open Online Course" was coined to describe
this open model. All course content was available through RSS
feeds, and learners could participate with their choice of tools:
threaded discussions in Moodle, blog posts, Second Life, and
synchronous online meetings. The course was again repeated in
2009. – Wikipedia
 Watch for next Connectivism & Connective
Knowledge course. Possibly in 2011?

18.  Personal Learning Environments Networks and
Knowledge 2010
http://connect.downes.ca
 Open Course in Education Futures
http://edfutures.com/courseschedule
 Images4Education – Digital Images in Learning
http://evosessions.pbworks.com/Images4Education
http://www.flickr.com/groups/images4education
 Connectivism and Connective Knowledge
http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism

19.  The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web
applications that facilitate interactive information
sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and
collaboration on the World Wide Web.
 Examples of Web 2.0 include social-networking sites,
blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services,
web applications, mashups and folkonomies.
Web 2.0 Workshop Series
http://marymac.pbworks.com/WEB+2*0+WORKSHOP+SERIES
Web 2.0 in the Classroom
http://campustechnology.com/web20guide

20. 1. Follow Education and eLearning Blogs, and
Subject-Specific blogs in Google Reader
2. Participate in a MOOC
◦ http://connect.downes.ca
◦ http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism
3. Follow and Interact with Educators in Twitter
4. Build Personal Learning Network Connections
through tools such as LinkedIn and Facebookhttp://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/06_Veletsianos_2010-Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf
Then practice in your own courses!

21.  Facebook (http://facebook.com)
 LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com)
 Ning (http://www.ning.com)
 PLN for Educators http://edupln.ning.com
(Courtesy Michele Bogue!)
 Free Ning Alternatives
http://www.jonbishop.com/2010/04/9-free-ning-alternatives-and-some-open-source-solutions
 Elgg (open source-needs a web server)
(http://www.elgg.org)
 Wikipedia list of social networking sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

22.  Finding Blogs
◦ http://technorati.com
◦ http://blogsearch.google.com
 Free Blogging Services
◦ http://wordpress.com
◦ http://blogspot.com

23.  Consolidating Blog & Internet Feeds
◦ Google Reader - http://www.google.com/reader
◦ feedraider - http://feedraider.com
 Mashups
◦ iGoogle - http://www.google.com/ig
◦ Pageflakes - http://www.pageflakes.com

24.  Microblogging is a networking service that allows
mobile users of cell phones and other Internet
connected devices to stay abreast of activities within
a group by receiving frequent published updates,
typically of 140 characters or less. Text messages are
uploaded to a microblogging service such as Twitter,
Jaiku and others, then distributed to group members.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-microblogging.htm
 Twitter (http://twitter.com)
 Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com)
 Jaiku (http://www.jaiku.com)
 Plurk (http://plurk.com)

25.  Great client (software tool) for Twitter: TweetDeck http://www.tweetdeck.com
 A Teacher’s Guide to Twitter http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/a-
teachers-guide-to-twitter
 Twitter in Plain English http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter
Brief and engaging video look at how Twitter works.
Twittering not Frittering http://www.edutopia.org/twitter-professional-development-
technology-microblogging
Explanation of how Twitter can be used as a professional development tool.
 TwittGroups
ADE and Teachers http://twittgroups.com/groups/ade and http://twittgroups.com/grou
ps/teachers
 Listing of many Apple Distinguished Educators and Teachers who are using Twitter
PR 2.0: Twitter Tools for Community and Communications
Professionals http://www.briansolis.com/2008/10/twitter-tools-for-community-
and.html
Many free tools and applications to help make twitter a more effective community and
communication tool.

26.  Mahara – Free software for creating
ePortfolios. Needs a hosting service.
http://mahara.org
 FolioSpaces – Free hosted ePortfolio solution
that uses Mahara software.
http://www.foliospaces.com
 Explanation of FolioSpaces -
http://www.k12opensourceclassroom.org/?p=275

27.  Scribd – social publishing
(http://www.scribd.com)
 Slideshare - share PowerPoint, Keynote and OpenOffice presentations
(http://www.slideshare.net )
 dimdim – screen sharing and collaboration
(http://www.dimdim.com)

28. A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and
editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a
web browser. Wikis are typically powered by wiki
software and are often used to create collaborative wiki
websites, to power community websites, for personal
note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge
management systems.
Pbworks (http://pbworks.com)
WetPaint (http://wetpaint.com)

29.  Flickr.com (http://flickr.com)
 Flickr Creative Commons
(http://flickr.com/creativecommons)
 Picasa Web (http://picasaweb.google.com)

30.  Pixenate (http://pixenate.com)
 Google Picasa (http://picasa.google.com)
 Photoshop Express
(http://www.photoshop.com)

31.  Youtube – Create a channel
http://www.youtube.com/channels
http://www.youtube.com/user/ssorden2
 Vimeo – Similar to YouTube, but more space
http://vimeo.com/join
 Vimeo vs. YouTube
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/29508/vimeo-vs-youtube-internet-video
 Ustream - Broadcast yourself & record it
http://www.ustream.tv/get-started
 Blip.tv
http://blip.tv
 Animoto for Education – Easy videos from images
http://animoto.com/education
How to - http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/reviews/57062.aspx
 Video for Developers – JWPlayer & Open Source Tools
http://mohave.cc/grad2010

32.  Not a Web 2.0 tool, but necessary for Web 2.0
applications.
 Microsoft Movie Maker
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker
(For XP)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/default.mspx
 Jaycut – Free online editor - http://jaycut.com

33.  A method for Internet users to organize,
store, manage and search for bookmarks of
resources online.
 Cooperative Classification
◦ delicious (http://www.delicious.com)
◦ Diigo (http://www.diigo.com/educator)
Teaching Social Bookmarking with Diigo Education
http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/62228.aspx

34.  Free Web 2.0 LMS http://nixty.com
 Not recommended for MCC courses, but
interesting to be aware of it for other
possibilities.
 Let me know if you try it.

35.  Podcasting: Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net
 Screen Casting:
◦ ScreenToaster http://www.screentoaster.com
◦ Jing - http://www.techsmith.com/jing
 Free Blogging Software - http://wordpress.org
 For the more adventurous -
◦ My preferred Web host – http://hostgator.com
◦ Video Player – JW Player http://www.longtailvideo.com
◦ HTML5
◦ Scripting PHP - http://www.php.net
◦ Databases – PostgreSQL, SQLite, MySQL (Oracle)
 http://www.postgresql.org
 http://www.sqlite.org
◦ Content Management – Drupal http://drupal.org

36.  A video on Connectivism and how a learning
network can be used in your class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA

37. 1. Follow Education and eLearning Blogs, and
Subject-Specific blogs in Google Reader
2. Participate in a MOOC
◦ http://connect.downes.ca
◦ http://ltc.umanitoba.ca/connectivism
3. Follow and Interact with Educators in Twitter
4. Build Personal Learning Network Connections
through tools such as LinkedIn and Facebookhttp://www.aupress.ca/books/120177/ebook/06_Veletsianos_2010-Emerging_Technologies_in_Distance_Education.pdf
Then practice in your own courses!

38. Do one of the following activities.
 Create a Google reader account and find some relevant blogs
to subscribe to.
 Open a Twitter account and follow some people of interest to
your profession.
 Explore the PLENK MOOC http://connect.downes.ca
 Open a LinkedIn account and find a few people from MCC to
connect to.
 Explore some of the other tools demonstrated in the
presentation.

39.  Presentation
 Computer Activities/Exploration
 Discussion on Potential Uses for PLNs and
Social Media
 Collect DE and Library Surveys

40. BHC Professional Training & Development
Steve Sorden
October 29, 2010