What is a PLN?

What is a PLN?  In a short period of time, I have progressed from asking this question to creating my own online Personal Learning Networks.  I believe, like Barbra (2012) indicated in her blog “What are PLNs Anyway?”, I have had PLN’s all along ranging from co-workers to share questions and concerns with to people I met at conferences over the years.  However, the expansion of this to the electronic age and new online forums has been a much newer experience for me.

About three years ago, I began venturing out into the online PLN arena.  I started first with Facebook to catch up with friends from long ago and encourage family to join in as well.  After hearing about LinkedIn at a conference two years ago, I joined that network as well.  Within LinkedIn, I found some like-minded groups to join and regularly review those postings.  After having my arm twisted a little for a class, I added Twitter, YouTube, and an online Blog last fall.  I have subscribed to additional groups within those tools as well and enjoy the commentary from those venues as well.   After researching additional tools that looked interesting for this course, I now have Delicious, Diigo, and Google accounts as well.  I have to say that I have had some reluctance to adding some of these tools but the more I explore them, the more I really enjoy them.  I have used some of the commentary as leads to researching items for coursework, etc.  For example, I recently enjoyed a conversation on LinkedIn where they were discussing their “hero” John Dewey and some of his works which impacted them.  As I am currently working on an article related to Dewey’s work, I found this conversation directly relevant.  I used some of this information to extend my search for materials.  Even after all of my reluctance to add Twitter to my network, I am finding the updates from this application helpful as well.  My PLN quest has let me to discovery of many new online tools, such as Live Binders and Pinterest.

My biggest struggles with PLN’s at this point are related to my reluctance to stick my neck out and add my own commentary.  In line with this, Liz Davis (2009) has identified and outlined 8 different stages of social interaction related to personal learning networks as follows:

1. Learning Basic Trust Versus Basic Mistrust (Can I trust the world?)
2. Learning Autonomy Versus Shame (Is it OK to be me?)
3. Learning Initiative Versus Guilt (Is it OK for me to do, move act?)
4. Industry Versus Inferiority (Can I make it in the world?)
5. Learning Identity Versus Identity Diffusion (Who am I? What can I be?)
6. Learning Intimacy Versus Isolation (Can I Love?)
7. Learning Generativity Versus Self-Absorption (Can I make my life count?)
8. Integrity Versus Despair (Can I contribute?)

Related to stage 2, Liz indicated “I had to test my autonomy and put aside my fear of being embarrassed or ashamed of what I had to contribute. This is a frightening stage. It required venturing away from the people I already knew in my personal life and reaching out to widen my learning circle. At times it felt lonely out there. I might write something and receive no response. I took the chance of revealing my weaknesses and asking for help. I was able to build my own voice in the blogosphere and found myself supported in my opinions.”  (Davis, 2009)  I have been posting information in the various PLN sites, but alas, I have had no responses and only a few friendly followers (people I knew personally).  However, I have not yet had the courage to step up and respond to others blogs, tweets, and postings.  Although, I am finding myself increasingly more compelled to do so.

Jennie Snyder (2013) indicated that “In my work, I frequently hear profound trepidation about the big, wide world of social media.” (para. 2)  I take comfort in knowing that I am not alone in my trepidation.  Snyder continues with inspiring words to help motivate those of us who are still afraid of social media, to stand up to our fears and become “open leaders”, as outlined by Li (as cited in Snyder, 2013).   I especially enjoyed her comments “Social media is, first and foremost, about relationships. It is not about the digital tools for connecting; it is about listening, learning, dialog, and collaboration with real people. Social technologies can enhance personal connections; they do not necessarily replace them.” (Snyder, 2013)

In my very limited experience, I have seen many benefits associated with PLNs and see the much potential these resources have for my future.  I am inspired to continue my PLN quest and to move past Liz’s stage 2, and into stage 3, where she indicates “Once I had established a group of people online who I felt I could trust, I started to push those boundaries. At times I would take on issues that might be less popular. I became comfortable enough in my network to play or joke around, to add a silly comment here or there and to reveal more of my true self among people I don’t “really” know.”  (Davis, 2009) 

Snyder (2013) has made a call to everyone to be social media leaders and I plan to join this group.

 

Barbara. (Jan 3, 2012)  What is a PLN, anyway?  Teaching Village.  Retrieved from:  http://www.teachingvillage.org/2012/01/03/what-is-a-pln-anyway/

Snyder, Jennie (March 30, 2013) Moving forward in the face of fear…  The Educators PLN.  Retrieved from:  http://edupln.ning.com/profiles/blogs/moving-forward-in-the-face-of-fear

Davis, Liz B.  (January 26, 2009) 8 Stages of PLN (Personal Learning Network) Development.  The Power of Educational Technology.  Retrieved from:   http://edtechpower.blogspot.com/2009/01/8-stages-of-pln-personal-learning.html

Wiki’s Make Great Educational Tools

According to Richardson (2006) “a wiki is a collaborative Webspace where anyone can add content and anyone can edit content that has already been published.  In schools, teachers and students have begun using password protected wikis to create their own textbooks and resource sites.” (p. 8)  

Wikis are great for collaborative projects where multiple people can create and edit content.  Wikis can include graphics, links, annotations, reflections, PowerPoint presentations, video and audio files, and spreadsheets.  (Richardson, 2006, p. 65).  Wikipedia, perhaps the most widely known wiki, adds that “wikis serve many different purposes, such as knowledge management and notetaking.  Wikis can be community websites and intranets, for example. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access). For example, editing rights may permit changing, adding or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Other rules may also be imposed to organize content. (Wikipedia, 2013)

Thomas, King, Minocha, and Taylor investigated 56 wikis produced by over 250 students enrolled in two courses at Open University (OU).  They found that “the wiki does have sufficient functionality to enable collaboration; however, to be fully effective in realizing all of the potential benefits of collaborative activities, our research suggests that a wiki alone is insufficient for the task.” (p. 82)  They further noted that some of the limitations of the wiki, which included the inability to put a diagram within the text and file size limitations, impacted how the students interacted.  (Thomas, et al., 2008)

Richardson (2009) notes that some school systems are beginning to use this application to replace textbooks, such as California and the entire high school curriculum of the country of South Africa.  “This is happening on an even wider scale at Wikibooks, where almost 10,000 textbook modules have been created in just 2 years (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_page).”  (Richardson, 2009, p. 66-67)  He also points to several examples of wikis being used in K-12 education including East Side Community School in Manhattan who uses it like Wikipedia where the students and faculty contribute to content as well as school and community news, classroom projects, art shows, sports updates, and other topics of interest to the students.  Another teacher in North Carolina created a “Teacher’s Lounge” where teachers share lesson plan ideas and activities.  Another wiki includes math educators who participate in mathematics encyclopedia, called Planet Math.  (Richardson, 2006, p. 66-70)  West and West (2009) describe how to design a wiki for collaborative learning including knowledge construction applications (resource bank, frequently asked questions, error finding and correcting, historical time line, annotated bibliography, online dialogue, glossaries, summaries, and class encyclopedias), projects for critical thinking (“What if…?” scenarios, case studies, debates, collaborative research papers, evaluation or research study, frame-based writing, nominal group technique, and online critiques), and wiki projects for contextual application (event plan, process maps, virtual science lab, field research project, story creation, team challenges, media design project, and service learning projects).  (p. 32-34, 60, 80, 102) 

There are a number of free tools available to create a wiki including PB Wiki, JotSpot, SeedWiki.com, Wikicities.com, Web Collaborator, Wikialong, GoogleDocs, and WetPaint.  (Richardson, 2006; West & West, 2009)  A more comprehensive listing of wikis are available on Wikipedia which lists 42 different wiki applications along with an analysis of the various functions and uses of each. (Wikipedia, 2013)

 

Thomas, P., King, D., Minocha, S., and Taylor, J.  (2008).  Wikis supporting authentic, collaborative activities:  lessons from distance education.  In:  Proceedings of the 15th Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C 2008): Rethinking the digital divide, 9-11 Sept 2008, University of Leeds, England, UK.  Retrieved from:  http://oro.open.ac.uk/16200/1/Pages_from_altc2008_research_proceedings-2.pdf

 

Richardson, W. (2006) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press.

 

West, J. and West, M.  (2009) Using Wikis for Online Collaboration.  San Francisco, CA: Josssey-Bass.

 

Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. (2013, June 8). FL: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved June 8, 2013, from http://www.wikipedia.org

Supporting Online Learners

1.       How are online learners different than your face-to-face students? What type of support, in general, do they need? What type of support does your particular group of students need?

Online learners are different than face-to-face students in the methods of communication, some of the skill sets needed, and in the approach to learning.  As previously discussed in the on-line learner discussion, the website “What makes a success on-line student,” from the University of Illinois, points out the need for the student to think critically, analyze information, and make resulting decisions before responding. (What Makes a …)   In general, online learners use their own style of learning.  In doing so, they need clear objectives, assignments, guidelines, and facilitation from the instructor.  Furthermore, online learners need to know what additional resources are available to them and how to obtain additional instruction or information from the instructor if they have any questions, concerns, or problems.  (Cowley et al)

Now that entire degrees can be found in the form of on-line courses, I chose freshman as a group to examine with respect to special needs to take into consideration in the classroom environment.  According to research conducted by Marcelo Clerici-Arias, and Economics Professor from Stanford University, in terms of intellectual development, Freshman do not learn as much as Sophomores and upperclassman.    According to Dr. Clerici-Arias, most freshman fall into one of two intellectual development categories.  The first category of students is “passive, taking lecture notes and memorizing facts and theories.”  This group believes faculty and textbooks are absolute authority.  “A definite structure is very important to freshman in this stage, and a lack of it at the beginning of the course may throw them off and cause a reaction that would negatively affect learning.”  The next category of students is a stage where everything is questioned.  “Students believe that their opinions are as good as the professor’s, even if their opinions are unsupported by evidence.”  After coaching the students and demanding support for their conclusions, students “gradually realize that they must make choices and draw conclusions, both in the classroom and in real world situations.  This stage of intellectual development…is rarely achieved by freshman.”   (Clerici)  Based on his description, I believe that freshman may be the most challenging of on-line learners.

In reading further into Clerici-Arias’ article, freshman require clear assignments, objectives, and very specific and guided instructions.  At the beginning, you should present them with information, then encourage a response to the information, and finally, towards the end of the semester, have them apply the information.  The best environment is collaborative where sharing and learning from each other is encouraged.  (Clerici)  Based on this, I believe the instructor will need to have a far greater role and that this group will need to have the instructor as a leader first and then transition into a facilitator towards the end of the semester.

2.       What type of strategies and activities could you implement in the online environment to help online students in general and your students in particular?

Foster a collaborative learning environment which encourages student interaction and learning from one another.  This can be accomplished through a variety of activities throughout each phase of the course, beginning with an “icebreaker”.  Each phase involves the participants into more interactive activities, with “the goal of learners gradually being able to turn to a community as opposed to a single instructor for information and support.”  (Conrad and Donaldson 10)

Conrad and Donaldson list several icebreaker activities in “Engaging the Online Learner”.  My favorite activities include Bingo, which uses a bingo card format to match up information about classmates with the classmate, or Snowball which has each person find ways to identify with at least two other classmates.  Full descriptions are outlined in the text on pages 54 and 62. (Conrad and Donaldson)

For a freshman class, I think I would use Conrad and Donaldson’s Lost In Space, Name that Movie, or Portrait as these activities use personal attachments, music, movies, and images.  I think the younger students would be more responsive to these activities given that my assumption is that most teenagers are interested in movies or music.  This would give them an opportunity to say things about themselves without having to write biographies, which I think are hard for this group to express.  These specific activities are outlined in the text on pages 57, 58, and 60.  (Conrad and Donaldson)

3.       Does an online learning community have the same significance to each community member?

Online learning communities do not have the same significance to each community member.  While the community is critical to the online student, each student will have their own perspective regarding their relationship within community.  Some will be intimidated and reluctant while others will be enthusiastic and open to communication.  Much of this is based on whether they feel confidence in their knowledge of the subject, how “safe” they feel in the environment, and the individual personality type (introverted versus extroverted, etc).  As Faith Goad pointed out in the Online Learner and Community Success discussion, it takes a lot of “courage” from students to participate in the online community. (Goad)

4.       How does the concept of engagement fit in all of this?

As I mentioned previously in my blog posting related to online learner success, “Through the various readings provided, the common themes discussed for students in on-line learning to be successful include time management, engagement through participation and communication, motivation, and commitment.”    Student engagement is key to student success, especially in an online environment.  “Engaged learning stimulates learners to actively participate in the learning situation, and thus gain the most knowledge from being a member of an online learning community.” (Conrad and Donaldson 5)

References:

Cowley, J, Chanley, S., Downes, S. Holstrom, L., Ressel, D., Siemens, G., Weisburgh, M.  “Preparing students for elearning”.  Web. Oct 2002.  http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/Preparingstudents.htm

“What makes a success on-line student” University of Illinois, Web 2010. http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp

Clerici-Arias, M.  “The Challenge of Teaching Freshman” Stanford University. Web March 12, 1994.  www.stanford.edu/~marcelo/Teaching/Papers/challeng.pdf

Conrad, R and Donaldson, J. Ana.  Engaging the Online Learner California: Jossey Brass, 2011. Print.

Goad, Faith.  “Discussion:  Online Student and Community Success” 2012.

 

Getting Started Example

EDUC 456 Distance Education Admin

Instructor:  Kim Rumford

Welcome.  All of you should have already received a welcome email.  I very much look forward to this semester and getting to know all of you.  It should be a fun semester.

Module 1:  Getting Started

This module of the course gets you prepared for navigating the course and related technology, what is expected of you, and introduces you to the learning environment.  In addition, we will get to know each other in a relaxed setting so that we may foster an environment of collaboration and support.  Please feel free to share your ideas and personal experiences so that we may all learn together.

If you have questions or need assistance at any point, please use the Ask Me, Ask We topic in the discussion section of Canvas.  Additional ways to contact me are provided in the syllabus.

Assignments – Week 1

Orientation. Time: 1 hour. Value: 0 points, but knowledge is everything.

Please plan to attend the orientation scheduled for Tuesday, October 9 at 7pm.  The orientation will provide navigational assistance, review the syllabus, and provide an overview of the course requirements.  There will be an opportunity to meet classmates and ask questions during the event.

If you are unable to attend or wish to review the orientation again, it will be recorded and made available for you online subsequent to the event.

 

Reading.  Time:  2 hours.  Value:  0 points, but knowledge is everything.

Read the course syllabus, Discussion Protocol documentation, online identity documentation, and scan the required textbooks.  Reviewing this information now will assist you with completing the course assignments, not to mention the quiz.

 

Getting Started Quiz. Time: 1 hour. Value: 15 points.

This online quiz will cover contents of the reading assignments, orientation, and canvas system navigation.  A link to the quiz is available from the course syllabus or assignments tab.  The quiz is available for up to two tries.  The highest score of the two attempts will be final.  The quiz is due by midnight on Wednesday, October 10.

 

Assignments – Week 2

 

Discussion: Introductions. Time: 2 hours. Value: 20 points.

Introductions are important for gaining more confidence in the social, learning, and technological environment.

Take the Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PSLI) available at http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jshindl/plsi/taketest.htm.  Post an introduction of yourself including a discussion of your results of the inventory, some personal information about yourself such as family and hobbies, your professional background, and why you took this course on the discussion board established for this assignment; due by midnight on Monday, October 15 (15 points).  You will also need to respond to the introductions of at least two other classmates, due by midnight on Wednesday, October 17 (5 points).

Initial posts and responses must comply with the Discussion Protocol documentation.

Instructions for how to post the initial post:

Within Canvas, go to the Assignments tab.  Select the Introduction topic.  Start a new thread by clicking in the “Write a reply” box immediately under the Introduction assignment instructions and typing your introductory message.  Once you have completed your message, select the “Post Response” button.  Once posted, you may edit or delete your response by selecting the wheel button at the top right hand side of your posting.

Instructions for how to post a response:

Within the same Assignments tab and Introduction topic, read the posts from your colleages.   Once you determine which posts to respond to, you may respond by clicking in the “Add a side comment…” box and typing in your response.  Once you have completed your message, select the “Post Response” button.  Once posted, you may edit or delete your response by selecting the wheel button at the top right hand side of your posting.

Technology Update. Time: 2 hours. Value: 15 points.

Skype (5 points).  Skype is a free application which allows two or more people to connect online via video, voice, or instant messaging.  This is a useful tool for collaborating online.  Skype has applications available for the mac, personal computer, cellular phone, and iPad.  Skype is available at http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home

“Join Skype” by creating an account and invite your instructor to be a contact.

Gmail (5 points).   Create a gmail account at gmail.com and send an email to your instructor.  Detail instructions are also available at http://www.ehow.com/how_5089299_create-new-gmail-id.html

Technology Survey (5 points).  The link to this is available from the Technology Update Assignment posting.  Please complete the survey and submit it via Canvas using the instructions within the Assignment posting.  The purpose of the survey is to determine what experience you have with technology so that I know how I may better assist you.  The grade will be based on the completion of survey, and not your experience.

This assignment (including all three parts) is due by midnight on Wednesday, October 17.

Online Learning Communities

• What, according to your readings, is an online learning community and what are its characteristics?

According to our text, “Collaborating Online”, the online learning community consists of people, shared purpose, guidelines, technology, collaborative learning, and reflective practice.  (Palloff and Pratt 8)  Samual Ebersol provides definitions of what it means to have a “sense of community.”  The majority of his article explore four factors identified by McMillan and Chavis (1986)  “that are essential to a sense of community; membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection.”  (Ebersol) “The Art of Building Virtual Communities” points out some characteristics of a “healthy community” which includes, but is not limited to, active and consistent participation; collecting data and sharing information; the members all see a benefit and achieves results; the members work through problems; the group sustains itself; and everyone is a leader.  (The Art)

• What do you think about the different roles and the phases of participation as      discussed in The Art of Building Virtual Communities?

The author of “The Art of Building Virtual Communities” discusses four roles of members in online learning communities based on the level or amount of participation.  This ranges from the linker who happens upon the site and checks it out from time to time, to the lurker who spends time at the site checking out the conversation and sometimes participating, which is followed by the learner who is actively participating and sometimes leading, and finally the leader who is committed to consistent participation and encourages commentary.  (The Art)

The author then discusses how members ease into the progressive roles “as they gain understanding and confidence” in phases starting with the consumer (or lurker) who is “not yet visible to others” which then advances to the role of commentor who asks questions and makes comments.  The next level is the of confidence is the contributor who has is open, distributes information, and presents their ideas.  The last phase he describes is that of the commentator who actively reviews information available, is a leader in the community, and draws attention to the “bigger picture”.  (The Art)

I have heard of the various roles described in the article, although I have not seen them so clearly defined before.  The correlation implied between the phases and the roles makes sense where community members would advance their participation as they build more confidence in the community.  Thus, the phases and roles go hand in hand from curiosity to leader.  However, to get to that final level of leader and commentator, I think that in addition to confidence and knowledge, as described by the author, the participant would need to have passion for the topic, trust in the community, and the courage to present it.

• When you think of the courses you teach or will teach, what type of community do      you envision – what characteristics will it have?

Ideally, you would have a community with active participants primarily in the category of “Learner”, as described by the author of “The Art of Building Virtual Communities”.  I envision a group where the members all actively participate; share information, ideas, and experiences with one another; trust among the members of the group; the members of the group demonstrate a sense of compassion for one another; and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

• How will you balance teacher/social/cognitive presence?

The text “Collaborating Online” describes how the instructor can support a collaborative community in the virtual classroom.  This includes providing an overview of importance of collaboration and clear guidelines for expectations; providing the students with a place to meet (discussion board or other tools available to the students) along with expectations for participation and conduct; modeling collaborative behavior; defining the instructors involvement in the process; and evaluate the process (Palloff and Pratt 19-23)

Using those suggestions, I would be a leader for the group in the sense of providing guidelines on the topic, clear instructions of what needs to be completed, and resources to complete the task.  I would make myself known to the students through introductions and regular weekly communications.  In a discussion board type setting, I would comment on their discussions once the group provided all of their responses to provide feedback and possibly additional resources if additional learning opportunities are presented.  If there is a group project, I would ask the group to set milestones and check in with them periodically to make sure they are on target for successful completion.  I think this approach would provide appropriate feedback and guidance as teacher, social interaction to where the students feel comfortable with me and with the process, and provide them with learning opportunities where they learn from their own research and relate that research to their own experiences, the research and experiences of classmates, and occasionally some additional information from the instructor.

• How do you imagine the interactions in this community?

I would have formal settings for discussion on each topic which are graded as well as informal areas to discuss other items with the instructor and other areas for discussions with each other.  If there are smaller group projects, they would have areas to discuss their project independent of the course discussions.  I would set expectations that students would need to participate in the community two or more times a week.

I would hope to be able to foster an open, positive, and trusting atmosphere where the students could share their ideas and experiences without fear.  Further, I would hope to create an environment where the students would inspire each other to learn more and be creative, collaborative, and enthusiastic.

References:

Ebersol, Samual.  The Journal of Education, Community, and Values.  12.9 (2012) Pacific University Oregon Burglund Center for Internet Studies. Web.

McMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 6-23.

Palloff, R., Pratt, K., Collaborating Online CA: John Wiley and Sons, 2005.  Print

“The Art of Building Virtual Communities”  21^st Century Learning.  Web.  5 Aug. 20

OTL On-line Learner and Community Success

Through the various readings provided, the common themes discussed for students in on-line learning to be successful include time management, engagement through participation and communication, motivation, and commitment.  While these characteristics seemed more intuitive to me, the website “What makes a success on-line student,” from the University of Illinois, points out the need for the student to think critically, analyze information, and make resulting decisions before responding.  (What Makes a …)  I am finding these additional characteristic to be the most pervasive and critical in the two on-line courses I am currently participating in.

Of the characteristics mentioned for on-line student success, I feel I am strongest in time management, motivation and commitment, my desire to participate and communicate, and in critical thinking.  My biggest challenges are overcoming my comfort level in participating in different modalities as well as the external demands of family life and work.  However, my desire to learn, my motivation to better myself and my family, and time management all help to overcome these challenges.  I am determined to be a successful on-line learner.  I am already succeeding by posting my first blog, thanks to the inspiration from my colleagues.  🙂

References:

“What makes a success on-line student” University of Illinois, Web 2010.  http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/StudentProfile.asp

 

Hello world!

I set up this blog to advance myself into newer technology.  I am participating in an On-Line Teaching and Learning course and wanted to post items from this course into my new blog.  How exciting, my first blog.

Happy blogging!