My interpretation of CoPs, Connectivism and PLNs using Glogster

ITDML has opened my eyes to looking at my teaching practice differently.  I have looked at my classroom specifically as well as classrooms across all subject areas.  What I found fascinating is communities of practice, connectivism, and personal learning networks all have things in common.  For one, they all have been around for a very long time but might not have had a name attached to it.  Throughout my teaching career, the classroom has changed but the overall concept has not.  The information, although growing, has not changed.  What has changed in the way we not only obtain the information but also look at the data different.  My field of physical education has its own CoP's (Communities of Practice).  As physical education teachers, there are many opportunities for us to stay involved in the every changing subject of health and physical education.  Edmodo, twitter, and Facebook are only a few teachers use along with various other websites.  Connectivism is the way our information is not only presented but learned and shared.  Conferences, books, online readings, websites are only a few ways I connect with other educators.  Then there are PLN's (Personal Learning Networks).  These are online data bases for educators to connect to other educators and learn.  PEcentral is a great website used to share lesson ideas with other educators.  Ideas, critiques, assessments and much more can be found on this website.  As you can see all these areas of education interchange with one another.  Not only are they important, but they can enhance the classroom learning of the educator as well. One thing I have learned throughout my experience as an educator is technology is evolving.  Technology is also a main source where we receive and share our information.  It is our responsibility as educators to keep up with the technology. 

 

http://caricap12.edu.glogster.com/itdml-copconnectivism-and-pln/

Response to Robert Scoble Interview: Online Curation

Robert Scoble intrigued me on online curation and the options it can provide people with.  It is true, the internet can be a very overwhelming place.  There are many ways to get your information, some are credible and others are opinions.  Robert Scoble talked about finding a trend in the information and shifting through to develop a running feed on factual information of people living in the moment.  The example he gave about the earthquake was interesting to think about.  In the split second of an earthquake, people run to their devices to tweet, blog, or share the information for all to read.  I also think Robert Scoble defined online curation the best, "you are like a newspaper editor".  To be an online curator, you must look at the constant updating feed and determine what is useful and factual.  From there you can post or develop your own story for people to share.  The internet is a powerful tool that can help people in various ways.  The overwhelming part for most people is the enormous amount of information and the possible fear of shifting through it all.  As Robert Scoble stated, look for patterns, trends and most importantly, be credible.

Response to Steve Rosenbaum talk on Innovate: Curation!

I really enjoyed watching Steve's talk Steve about curation. 

• Choose your "digital clothing" carefully
• Listen...its a powerful tool
• People enjoy clear information

When the video started, Steve discussed how the web is constantly changing. The web used to be an individual database, "me web".  You might go on the web and look up things for your individual use.  Now the internet is evolving and becoming a "we web".  Each day we go on the internet and interact with people, experts, and friends.  I found this statement power and true.  Many of us go onto the internet to look up information.  Most of the information is generated by experts in that particular field.  Personally, I have looked for many answers through technology.  The amount of useful, practical and helpful information is not only available but also growing.

Cooking with TPACK

Cooking with TPACK: A demonstration of repurposing tools to accomplish a task...in this case, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a mug, plate, and a small whisk. Although it was not ideal, the tools did accomplish the task.

http://youtu.be/1m1iq0UNhBQ

Great article to check out for all those needing help with Twitter.  It's twitter talk 101!

http://edtechsandyk.blogspot.ca/2013/01/how-to-decode-tweet.html?utm_source=feedly&m=1

Response to Personal Learning Netwrok Projects for Teachers

Below are some things I learned after reading the personal learning network projects tips for teachers:

 Connect: Not only connect to the people you are trying to reach but also connect to different networks.  By creating and becoming more connected in the virtual world, more people will follow and connect with the information you are trying to portray.

Contribute: Through research don't be afraid to contribute your thoughts about other posts.  Also, it is important to share and ask questions through the connections made.

Converse: Don't be afraid to converse with other posts and people.  By conversing with other posts and responses learning can happen.

Request: Once the connections are made through contributing and conversing to others online, it would be more likely your questions can be answered thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Blog, Tweet, Classroom 2, Google+: Use various types of sources to get your information out to the public.

Be Patient: Many people try to define themselves on the internet before they actually have an idea of who and what they want to portray.  While trying to find an identity through the internet educators must understand it will not come easy so don't rush it!

Be Authentic: Be you!  Many people are not true to their personality on the internet for many reasons.  The most important tip the article recommended is be yourself.  Do not be afraid to let your true colors shine through. 

Response to PLNs on Pinterest

I looked at all the boards on Pinterest regarding PLNs. One I found interesting the 10 ways teachers can use twitter for professional development. I mainly choose this board to look into because I am not as familiar with twitter as some other people may be. Below are the ten items discussed in the article:

• Well-developed profile
• Be professional
• Use proper etiquette
• Know who to follow
• Don't be afraid to use hashtags
• Use the Twitter tools
• Twitter can be used for research
• Share, share, share •Don't be afraid to use Twitter for teaching and learning
• There are many creative ways to use twitter, look!

As many people do, before learning more about twitter and internet resources I was concerned with what “could” happen on the internet. Unfortunately, twitter as well as other social media networks have been a hub for bullying. Due to this fact, I felt concerned with using twitter as a way to learn and teach; however, reading more articles and discovering what can be done through twitter it seems beneficial when used properly. Most of our students are familiar with the internet but are unaware of how to use the internet properly and professionally. If teachers follows the simple guidelines posted by this article, twitter can be a tool used for learning in and out of your classroom.