The Process of Learning

I’m the webmaster at a technical college and our content management system is Microsoft SharePoint. I’m a SharePoint enthusiast so if you choose to read my posts be forewarned I will be talking about it a lot.

As I thought about the concepts of connectivism, personal learning networks, and communities of practice I realized I use all three whenever I’m faced with a tough challenge with technology – specifically with SharePoint because there is such a robust online community of users. I created a PREZI (first time creating one – go me!!) to illustrate how each concept connects to my learning, but I’ll summarize it below as well.

 

Connectivism – I often don’t have the SharePoint knowledge I need – but I know where to get it. A search engine is my first stop. I switch between Google and Bing and use different keywords to narrow my search.

Community of Practice – Twitter has a HUGE SharePoint community and I’ve used the hashtag #sphelp and people who I don’t know have tweeted back tips or pointed me to resources. So cool.

Personal Learning Network – I’m part of SharePoint user group that meets online and virtually where other SharePoint enthusiasts brainstorm, network, and share resources. Nerdiess at its best.


References
Theories for the digital age: Connectivism - Steven Wheeler
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2012/10/theories-for-digital-age-connectivism.html
Is Twitter a Community of Practice? - Daniel Hooker
http://danielhooker.com/2011/03/twitter-cop/
How to Create a Robust and Meaningful Personal Learning Network - Brian Metcalfe
http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/how-to-create-a-robust-and-meaningful-personal-learning-network-pln/