NETWORKING

MATHEMATICALLY

“The summation of human experience isbeing expanded at a prodigious rate,

andthe means we use for threading throughthe consequent maze to the

momentarilyimportant item is the same as was used

inthe days of square-rigged ships.”

Vannevar Bush, 1945

WHAT IS THIS SOCIAL NETWORKING

Personal Learning Networks are deliberately formed networks

ofpeople and resources capable of

guidingour independent learning goals

andprofessional development

needs.

An important part of Personal Lreaning Networks is the theory

of connectivism developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes.

Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to

their professional development (mathematical skills) and knowledge.[

The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet

them in person.

YOU HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE!

But a Network isn’t just following

The first officially recognized social network was sixdegrees.com that launched in 1997 and officially shut down in 2000. According to the Wharton School of Business, as of October 2008 social networks impacted more than 230 million people worldwide.

HOW DOES ONE CREATE THIS PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORK

RSS to save the day!

Identify people in your field whose work you admire

Find their individual and/or organizational blogs

Subscribe to their blog’s RSS feed

Expand the list of experts you subscribe to by:

Checking their blog roll Following links on their blog

to other blogs Checking to see if your

favourite twitter users blog

Class chatter that allows students to continue discussion topics outside the classroom (Parry, 2008)

Follow professionals who are actively engaged in particular topics or events. For example, students can follow any number of correspondents at MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets

Writing assignments where students build on each other’s tweets to generate a story, poem, or haiku. (Parry, 2008)

Collaboration with students from other countries regarding specific topics of political or historical significance

APPLICATION OF PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS

Respond to Blog Posts

Sharing Links

R

ole

s

Acti

vit

ies

S

tart

pag

e

en

vir

on

men

t

Tools

/Serv

ices

P

rocesses

Searcher

Assemblator

Learner Resear

cher Innovat

or of data, information, knowledge

of subject matter, technologies, how to learn

Create

Share

Com

mu-

nicate

Connect

RSS feeds

, links

Search

engines

Blogs,

wikis

Feel and look

Social book-

marking

Images/

AV

Chat/AV conferenc

e

Email,

forum

Facebook/

Twitter/ Ning

To-do list,

notes, commen

ts

calendar

Design learnin

g strate

gy Plan activiti

es

Perform

activities

Document

results,

analyze

Share results

, evalua

te

Choose technolog

y/ applicatio

n Arrange

environment

Extend/modify

environment

Share environme

nt/ collaborat

e

Search

Gather

Aggre-gate

Productivity

improvement

Customi-zation

Compo-

nents, panel

s, tabs, widge

ts widgets

Goals, needs, interest

s, motivat

ion, proble

ms

Blog, wiki

Learning resource

s

Designer

OTHER TOOLS FOR PLN

REFERENCES http://

www.slideshare.net/rgibson/social-networking-1517710

http://www.slideshare.net/malinkaiva/from-personal-learning-environment-building-to-professional-learning-network-forming

http://www.slideshare.net/bethanyvsmith/creating-an-online-personal-learning-network-presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/corinnew/creating-a-personal-learning-network-5016387

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_learning_network