Tag Archives: CCK11

Principles of Connectivism and the PLN

Posted on by acrystelle
1

Amidst attempting to work up some “headspace” momentum for writing my NLS5 paper, I thought I’d write my fortnightly post for the project….

During my literature review for the paper, I drew yet another link between the theory of Connectivism and the PLN concept. The “Principles of Connectivism” by George Siemens can be applied to the PLN context, in order to understand the purpose, characteristics and success factors of building and participating in a PLN. The eight principles (as stated in “Connectivism: a Learning theory for the Digital Age”) are: -

  • Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
  • Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources.
  • Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
  • Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
  • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
  • Ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill.
  • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
  • Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, does not mean it will be right tomorrow, due to the constant shifting in the information climate.

For a PLN to be successful – to thrive and for its collective knowledge to evolve – there needs to be a diverse set of people connected to the network. In the LIS community, this would involve cracking the echo chamber and include people who may not work in a traditional library per se, but who work in different sectors, information environments, and also those who work in varying degrees of information professional roles such as information/enterprise architects, educators, information technology and business management. What I would recommend to those contemplating establishing a PLN, new information professionals like me, is that it’s ok to select people outside of ‘library world’ to follow, to support learning goals and interests. Diversity strengthens a network’s ability to create meaningful connections between information resources and ideas by bringing together varying opinions and understanding. The key is have an open mind.

In the current “digital age”, it is becoming increasingly important to develop the ability to know where to find information, rather than know the information itself. This is due to the ever-changing and evolving information climate, in that connections are being formed every day, every minute. I believe this is where librarians and information professionals are ahead, we are already “connectivist” minded. Librarians and information professionals’ skills, are indeed, more valuable than ever in the current information landscape. It is then inherently clear that the need to continually fine tune information skills, strengthening our “connectivist” ability, is a key driver to establish and participate in a PLN.

PLN Participation Update

# of Tweets for fortnight     94

# of Followers gained     5

# of Mentions     71

# of People I started following     10

Total # of Blogs/Feeds     54 (down 2 from last fortnight)

Top 5 Blogs/Feeds I’ve found to be good reads recently

  1. Librarian by Day
  2. iLibrarian
  3. Alexandra Samuel
  4. Annoyed Librarian
  5. David Lee King

Abstract Accepted!

Posted on by acrystelle
4

What an exciting achievement….

Whooooaa! Hooooooo!!!  Yippeeee!!!  Woot! Woot!

I had to do that, and now its over with. Thank you for bearing with me.

I’ve never written a conference paper or presented before, so the New Librarians’ Symposium (NLS) this year will be a significant milestone for me as a new information professional, as well as a stepping stone towards presenting in the future. Presenting at the New Librarians’ Symposium will provide the opportunity to share my learning and experiences with establishing and developing my PLN, (hopefully) encourage and guide my peers in developing one of their own, to benefit from collaborative learning, current awareness of issues and professional development opportunities.

Time to report on how I’m going with the project….

I’m currently (still) doing the literature review on key, supporting concepts – personal learning networks and the e-learning theory of connectivism. From my initial findings and the #CCK11 course, I’ve found two more concepts, network theory and personal learning environments (PLE). All four concepts are highly relevant to my paper, but the question that keeps running around my head is, when do I stop looking for, reading and reviewing literature? I’ve also thought about the kind of literature I should be seeking. I’ll explain….in terms of academic literature, there really isn’t a lot out there, both for personal learning networks and connectivism. However, does the PLN concept have a place in formal, academic literature? There are large amounts of opinions and thought sharing on the concept through blog posts and presentations, so should I be looking at these resources? And if so, where do I start to find quality content? The very nature of a PLN suggests the best place to start would be my own PLN, twitter and RSS feeds, and having a look for content authored by the leaders I already follow.

I ran into the same issues with the last literature review I completed for my studies. Not so much the source of the literature, but the “where do I stop?” dilemma. I need to learn to set boundaries for myself and stop “the hunt” when I start going in circles. I guess these skills come with (loads of) practice. I’ll get there.

I’ve developed a concept map, initially on paper (which always works!), however I tried using the free version of MindNode to replicate. (On a side note, I’ve found MindNode to be quite limiting, I can’t show connections between concepts on different “branches”.) The concept map is not ideal, but its a start (at least for one in electronic format). Suffice to say I’m on the look out for more useful concept/mind map software, if anyone has any suggestions?

Other tools I’ve been using to help me out with managing the project and methodologies are: -

  • Evernote – to record random notes and capture web content and links
  • Mendeley – to store and organise PDF articles/literature
  • Twitter/ Hootsuite
  • EasyTask – task management program
  • Calendar – tried and true month by month print outs to show project-specific due dates/schedule (I need a constant visual at my desk)
  • Diigo – to store bookmarks I envision I’ll use after the project
  • Dropbox
  • WordPress blog (of course!)

While on the subject of methodologies, I had a “lightbulb” moment approximately a week ago about my approach to collecting data on my participation and contributions to my PLN – on Twitter and my blog. I’ve been recording what I’m contributing, but not the return conversation – my “mentions” on Twitter, or the comments I receive on my blog. Tah-dah! Of course! PLNs are about “give and take”, so ideally I need to capture both sides of the conversations I’m having.

So up to this point, I’m a bit behind in my schedule I’ve set for myself, but all in all, I think I’m doing well. I did miss a scheduled post two weeks ago due to illness. I don’t like falling behind or skipping tasks. As long as I keep reverting back to my abstract, I can maintain focus on my goal and purpose of the paper.

My next steps for the project are: -

  1. Finishing up the literature review
  2. Review notes made/ thoughts captured in Evernote
  3. Start to organise my notes into a structure for the paper
  4. Review my abstract (also to assist with outline and structure)
  5. Get writing!

 

 

PLN Participation Update

# of Tweets for fortnight 60

# of Followers gained 2

# of Mentions 40

# of People I started following  1

# of Blogs/Feeds added 1

Top 5 Blogs I’m reading at the moment

  1. Freestyle Mind
  2. David Lee King
  3. Hmmm….
  4. New Grads News Online (ALIA New Graduates Group blog)
  5. Opinions from an OPL

Reflecting on PLN Engagement #CCK11

Posted on by acrystelle
1

PLN Participation Update

Number of Tweets for fortnight 118

Number of Followers gained 3

Number of People I started following 4

Number of Blogs/Feeds added 1

I’ve started to notice changes in my PLN participation over the last month or so. These changes are mainly attributed to:-

  • increased familiarity with the people I converse with;
  • increased comfort levels with the tools I use regularly (eg. Twitter).

Everyday Conversations

I am engaged with conversation with members of my PLN, mostly on Twitter, every day. These exchanges don’t need to be about library/information science at all. Conversations can simply be about ‘everyday’ things, helping one another get through the day; often just ‘being there’ can be a comfort in itself to others, like having a group of mates around you all day cheering you on, keeping you company. Members of my PLN certainly do not replace the work mates I have physically at work, but sometimes I need to bounce ideas or thoughts with people who are more like-minded, professionally. I believe these everyday exchanges an only strengthen my professional relationships.

Personality

I’ve seen pieces of my personality creep into my tweets and blog posts. This isn’t a recent phenomenon. There have been tweets I’ve thought twice about, perhaps typing a tweet then deleting it halfway through, some tweets I’ve even regretted. Whenever I start a tweet that may not be related to LIS, studying or professional development, I tend to remind myself of the purpose of using Twitter, being my professional channel. Now in saying that, I don’t think there’s any reason why my Twitter stream needs to be void of personality. So sometimes I do allow a tweet every now and then to slide. There’s room for a bit of ‘Alisa’ – my interests, what I do on weekends, etc – in my stream. I just need to ensure that whatever I post reflects positively on me as a professional as well as an individual. I continue to develop a self-awareness about my professional identity – directing, shaping and developing.

Tweeting about my work

On the weekend, I had finally finished writing an article about my role at work. Throughout its development I began tweeting my day-to-day tasks, perhaps getting comfortable with the idea of sharing what I do in aviation. Until now I’ve shied away from telling people what I get up to in the hangar (well, the office upstairs, but ‘hangar’ still sounds cool!), mostly because it seems no one ‘gets’ the unique information environment and industry setting I work in. I’ve since realised there’s no need to shy away, but by sharing what I do is a contribution I can make to my PLN.

Blogs

I currently subscribe to fairly popular blogs, such as Librarian by Day and David Lee King, whose blogs I just don’t feel comfortable commenting on (yet). These are people I view as leaders and influencers in the LIS online community. I almost don’t feel ‘worthy’ to comment. At this early stage of my LIS career, I find commenting on blogs of my peers, mostly from Twitter, more enjoyable and satisfying. This may be because my peers on Twitter, who I liaise with often, feel more ‘local’ or closer than popular blogs. There’s more of a ‘sandpit’ comfort commenting on blogs by my peers. I’ve said this before (and I’ll say it again), I like to help people out where I can. So if I think I can make a worthwhile contribution to someone’s blog post, either provide a different perspective, share an experience or some partial knowledge, it’s when I’ll post a comment. I don’t like to comment for the sake of it, I’d like to show I’ve engaged with the person’s content they’ve put in an effort to create, returning the courtesy by posting something noteworthy.

Levels of participation in my PLN will vary over time. There will always be continual progress to be made in developing, maintaining and managing the relationships I make in my PLN. But I’ve definitely found reflection beneficial to this process. Have a look at how you participate, I recommend it.

PLN Adoption: Which stage are you at? #CCK11

Posted on by acrystelle
4

PLN Participation Project Update

No. of Tweets        45

No. of Followers Gained        2

No. of People I started following        15

No. of Blogs/Feeds added to Reader       5

Participation in my PLN has been slightly less over the last fortnight, possibly due to #ALIAioc which I was content with just following what was happening. Many thanks to those who were tweeting at the conference. You provided a highly valuable stream of information from which I managed to ‘get the gist’ of the key themes and content that was presented. While I had contributed less to my PLN, I was involved with more conversation over Twitter, and over dinner with a study colleague celebrating our own small version of #ALIAioc. Also, during the last fortnight I noticed I started to tweet more about my job role, as I was writing my first Incite article for the Energise, Enthuse & Inspire column, aiming to provide a very short overview of my working environment in aviation, its challenges and opportunities.

Now, to this post’s topic – Stages of PLN Adoption.

My initial reading for this project uncovered a blog post from “The Thinking Stick”, written by Jeff Utecht, which identified stages of PLN adoption. The model encompasses five stages – Immersion, Evaluation, Know it all, Perspective and Balance. Utecht points out that not everyone will go through each of these stages, and may possibly find themselves at more than one stage, even to varying degrees, according to different interests.

At Immersion, you literally create any network and establish as many connections as possible. At this stage, you’re afraid you might miss something important or an opportunity; you cannot leave your newfound stream of information and ideas. Once immersed, you develop a hunger to learn even more….

My experience: Yes, can totally relate to the stage of immersion. It was me back in July last year when I first started on Twitter. I followed anyone who had a connection to others who were recommended to me, were a leader or influencer in the online LIS community, and who passed on information in the network. I still find myself at this stage, though the urge to increase the number of people I follow has definitely slowed down.

At Evaluation, you start to focus on which networks or people are worthwhile following or aligned with your interests. I guess you tend to target those who are involved in both similar and contrasting stages of career, job roles, areas of expertise and professional interests. A healthy mix I believe is the way to go. At this stage of PLN adoption, you’re more aware of the time you spend connecting with your network, so you choose where to invest your time. But begin to sense there’s a lot you don’t know….

My experience so far: I started to be more selective with who I follow on Twitter and the blogs I read a few months ago. There’s a lot of information to take in and we can’t digest it all and still function! So I’ve identified a few professional interests I wish to read up on, at least for now. No doubt my interests will change, but when they do, I’ll have access to current information.

At “Know it All”, you may feel like you can’t disconnect from your PLN. You’re always “on”. You begin to understand concepts around your chosen interests and realise you don’t know much at all. So you attempt to “know it all”, find you’re spending way too many hours learning as much as possible, aiming to become a bit of an expert.

My experience: I don’t think I’ve reached this stage in its entirety. I do always feel “on” and I’m checking Twitter until after 10.30pm nearly every night because ‘I just can’t put it down’. I still feel I’m far from being highly knowledgeable in any area of LIS, so this takes some of the pressure off. I’ve realised there’s plenty of time to learn and my learning is not limited to my formal studies.

Then at the fourth stage, an event that forces you to leave your network for a time, such as a holiday without internet connection, starts to put your life back into Perspective.

My experience: Yesterday I wrote a post about keeping perspective between work life and the other areas in life which are important to me, such as the simple things. I was able to leave Twitter for a few hours, but what about a whole week when I go away to Fiji in June….??

The final stage, and probably the stage we’ll all struggle with, is ‘Balance’. At this point, you realise you can’t know it all, understand it all, take all of it in and so you rely on your network to bring the most relevant information to you, to learn for you and store knowledge for you. Here, you completely understand that “you’ll learn when you need to learn”.

My experience: I think I already exhibit some of the characteristics of this stage, though only touch it ever so slightly. The previous stages, evaluation and ‘know it all’, have a strong pull whenever I sense this stage.

So which stage are you at with your PLN adoption? Are you similar to me in that you find yourself at different stages to varying extents?

Or have you found your balance?

Further to this model of PLN adoption, I tend to ask myself, at what point can you say that you’ve past a stage? Would you have to find comfort in one stage to sense the pull to the next? This model is definitely worth exploring and developing further and I plan to. Its the only framework I’ve found which I can effectively use to monitor my PLN adoption.

Reference – Utecht, Jeff. 2008. Stages of PLN adoption. The Thinking Stick. URL: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption.

Focusing on Network Theory #CCK11

Posted on by acrystelle
1

During the last couple of weeks in the CCK11 open course, I’ve looked at Network Theory and Connective Knowledge. The readings from Week 3 about Connective Knowledge made me think about what it is I want from participating in the course. Basically, by my taking this course I aim to develop an understanding of Connectivism in a relatively structured way to feed into my current research in Personal Learning Networks – experiences and approaches to developing one for the new information professional and the value of an PLN to continued professional development. Suffice to say, focusing on applying network theory and concepts to one’s development and maintenance of a PLN seemed more relevant to my learning objectives for CCK11.

In the readings about Network Theory, I came across a number of different frameworks, all to enable analysis, description and determining effectiveness of a network.

Firstly, there are basic elements of a network – entities, connections and signals (or message). “Entities” being people, I assume individuals at this point; “Connections” being the channel or tool used; and “Signals” being the message or a piece of information if you will. From here, the network can vary with the following properties:-

  • Density – “how many other entities each entity is connected to”;
  • Speed – “how quickly a message moves (or is received) by an entity”;
  • Flow  – “how much information an entity processes – sent, received and transferred for other entities”;
  • Plasticity – ‘frequency of connections made’;
  • Degree of connectedness – “a function of density, flow and plasticity”.

Networks which are described as “effective” will exhibit the following elements or characteristics: -

  • Diversity – does the network encompass a wide variety of viewpoints?
  • Autonomy – are people contributing to the network on their own accord and not acting on an agenda of a group of organisation they work for?
  • Interactivity – is the knowledge produced by the network a product of interaction or just “a mere aggregation of perspectives”?
  • Openness – are different perspectives ‘allowed’ into the network, heard and interacted with others?

Relating these elements back to PLNs, a question would be how can we measure these elements to determine if we’re participating in an “effective network”? Can identifying an “effective network” be a strategy or approach to building and maintaining a PLN which will maximise learning opportunities? Network theory has prompted my thinking about the outcomes I’m looking for from participating in my PLN as a continual professional development activity.

Downes’ (2006) paper continues to outline “elements of network semantics”. While another relevant framework, I think there are only so many ways you can describe and interpret the climate of a network. I will need to create a visual to further understand how this other dimension can fit in a practical sense. Off to MindNode…

Now, just quickly on “connective knowledge” – Downes describes how connective knowledge occurs by stating that “a property of one entity must lead to or become a property of another entity….the knowledge that results is “connective knowledge”. For there to be connective knowledge an interaction must take place.  Makes sense, but how does a simple statement require over 30 pages of text? After the readings, I still couldn’t grasp the concept of “connective knowledge”. The readings were too wordy, beyond the depth required to explain it and filled with unnecessary jargon, in my opinion. So I came out of Week 3’s content with no real clue as to what the learning objectives actually were.

In a few weeks CCK11 will cover Personal Learning Networks, to which I’m looking forward to. This post may need to be teased apart to examine network theory and connective knowledge more closely…..

References

Downes, Stephen. 2006. Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge.
Downes, Stephen. 2005. An Introduction to Connective Knowledge.
Downes, Stephen. 2005. Learning Networks: Theory and Practice (Presentation)