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Connectivism
I decided that the most appropriate way to appraise my learning from the four months duration of this module is by applying the new theory of learning called "connectivism". Connectivism maintains that the type of learning which is most appropriate for the internet age is not so much the accumulation of facts or the development of specialised capabilities which may quickly be rendered obsolete, but the development of more and better quality connections in the personal and professional network.
At the outset then, I was a largely non contributing member of two yahoogroups - 'communities of practice' and 'online facilitation', and I subscribed to a large number of blogs, mainly about technology and education.
During the course of my research, as one thing led to another, I have improved the use of my existing network, and greatly expanded it to encompass many important new nodes, namely:
Association of Internet Researchers
An invaluable source of practical knowledge about the internet as a research environment, although few are involved with action research methodologies. Not really a community, but an important notice-board with occasional prolonged debates and discussions such as those over the citability of wikipedia and Dana Boyd's ethnographical study of MySpace. A source of information about internet research tools, which then make their way onto the DARnet wiki.
CPsquare (CP2)
A 'community of practice on communities of practice'. Although a gated community which functions behind a password protected environment, and even there seems to have an invisible core, this was the host environment for the web2.0 conference which provided the context for the main part of my activities throughout January. By being active in all areas of the conference, I made the most of the opportunity and built important lasting connections with individuals. From out of this came :
links and subscriptions to members and visitors who blog.
A group of people from CP2 who are experiencing the AREOL course together.
An invitation to the Prato dialogue
Several Linkedin connections
Community Informatics (cirn)
High quality and focussed discussions about a closely related subject.
Meatball Wiki
A long-standing resource and community of serious wiki practitioners who emphasise 'people and people'
DARnet
My own mailing list of seriously relevant people to which 11 joined during the barn raising and remain subscribed.
Also the wiki itself, with its growing set of links to external resources as well as a small number of active user accounts.
Linkedin
A social networking service to which I was invited early on in the research and have now accumulated a dozen or so strong links. With a few months experience, I don't think this is likely to help in further expanding my network but it feels like a good way to keep a grasp of existing significant connections. There is also an active bloggers group.
Some others
Wiki Wednesdays
RecentChangescamp
Barcamp
ITForum
prediction markets
actKM
knowledgboard
London geek dinners
Flickr group - DARnet
delicious tag: actionresearch
Wikiindex
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I decided that the most appropriate way to appraise my learning from the four months duration of this module is by applying the new theory of learning called "connectivism". Connectivism maintains that the type of learning which is most appropriate for the internet age is not so much the accumulation of facts or the development of specialised capabilities which may quickly be rendered obsolete, but the development of more and better quality connections in the personal and professional network.
At the outset then, I was a largely non contributing member of two yahoogroups - 'communities of practice' and 'online facilitation', and I subscribed to a large number of blogs, mainly about technology and education.
During the course of my research, as one thing led to another, I have improved the use of my existing network, and greatly expanded it to encompass many important new nodes, namely:
Association of Internet Researchers
An invaluable source of practical knowledge about the internet as a research environment, although few are involved with action research methodologies. Not really a community, but an important notice-board with occasional prolonged debates and discussions such as those over the citability of wikipedia and Dana Boyd's ethnographical study of MySpace. A source of information about internet research tools, which then make their way onto the DARnet wiki.
CPsquare (CP2)
A 'community of practice on communities of practice'. Although a gated community which functions behind a password protected environment, and even there seems to have an invisible core, this was the host environment for the web2.0 conference which provided the context for the main part of my activities throughout January. By being active in all areas of the conference, I made the most of the opportunity and built important lasting connections with individuals. From out of this came :
links and subscriptions to members and visitors who blog.
A group of people from CP2 who are experiencing the AREOL course together.
An invitation to the Prato dialogue
Several Linkedin connections
Community Informatics (cirn)
High quality and focussed discussions about a closely related subject.
Meatball Wiki
A long-standing resource and community of serious wiki practitioners who emphasise 'people and people'
DARnet
My own mailing list of seriously relevant people to which 11 joined during the barn raising and remain subscribed.
Also the wiki itself, with its growing set of links to external resources as well as a small number of active user accounts.
A social networking service to which I was invited early on in the research and have now accumulated a dozen or so strong links. With a few months experience, I don't think this is likely to help in further expanding my network but it feels like a good way to keep a grasp of existing significant connections. There is also an active bloggers group.
Some others
Wiki Wednesdays
RecentChangescamp
Barcamp
ITForum
prediction markets
actKM
knowledgboard
London geek dinners
Flickr group - DARnet
delicious tag: actionresearch
Wikiindex
<--- back to index | Forward to technology---->