Creative Expression of Communities of Practice, Connectivism, and Personal Learning Networks

Week 2

For Module 2, I had to create a piece that shows my creative expression of Communities of Practice, Connectivism, and Personal Learning Networks.

When I think of the connections made over the internet in regards to working with other people, everything connects and is equally independent at the same time, just like the lines of a Subway system. This system in particular, Tokyo, is one of the most complex systems I've seen in map form. There are so many lines that the colors needed to be varied by shade in order to link a color to each line. These remind me of the invisible lines created when people share knowledge over the internet. I added the three major theories that are the basis of learning through the use of social media, Communities of Practice, Connectivism, and Personal Learning Networks. 

When I image those three theories, I almost visualize them as the different lines you can take to get you to where you want to be. The stops on each line are the apps or sites. Facebook, for example, is a stop that could be access from all three of the theory lines. It is the prime example for Connectivism in that you are connecting with others to gain and share information. "...found that distant education students significantly outperformed classroom students when media-supported collaborative discussion tools were used among students in asynchronous undergraduate courses."(Hogg & Lomicky, 2012) Although Facebook isn't always seen as a site that could be used for learning, but with video tutorials, chats, and links, people are able to connect with one another.

For people who get together to solve problems in a Community of Practice, a site like Google Groups is perfect. It allows the user to experience "experiential learning, social constructivism, and connectivism can be combined, illustrating the limitations of trying to rigidly classify learning theories." (Bates, 2014)

When one wants to link different sites and make an academic connection, people can experience the "...seven factors play a pivotal role in professional learning through networks: sharing, motivation, perceived value of the network, feedback, personal learning, trust and support, peer characteristics and peer value." (Sie, 2013) 

Some sites can only be accessed by one of the theory lines, while other stops share two, or even all three theory lines.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). The role of communities of practice in a digital age. Retrieved from http://www.tonybates.ca/2014/10/01/the-role-of-communities-of-practice-in-a-digital-age/

Hogg, N., & Lomicky, C. S. (2012). CONNECTIVISM IN POSTSECONDARY ONLINE COURSES An Exploratory Factor Analysis. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 13(2), 95-114.

Sie, R. L., Pataraia, N., Boursinou, E., Rajagopal, K., Margaryan, A., Falconer, I., & ... Sloep, P. B. (2013). Goals, Motivation for, and Outcomes of Personal Learning through Networks: Results of a Tweetstorm. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 16(3), 59-75.