personal learning network Tag Archive

My Connectivist Personal Learning Network | Learning The Connectivist Way – Part III

( Authors Notes: Learning the Connectivist Way is a three part series describing my journey to self directed learning and connectivism.)

Personal Learning Network
A personal learning network (PLN) is a group of people who you connect with to increase your knowledge of a particular subject (Lynch, 2017). PLNs typically fit into a connectivist paradigm of learning of creating, connecting with people or nodes, to increase learning. Connecting with people is basically aimed at learning their ideas, thoughts, questions, reflections and even references. It can be personal or professional, formal and informal, local or global and even on and offline. Here is an example of a connectivist learning network.

I started to explore PLNs in 2007 when I started to blog about healthcare. It got me into thinking, this might be the answer to increasing my learning!

According to Downes (2010), learning in a connectivist way entails 3 important ingredients- relevance interaction and usability. These “ingredients” also makes or breaks a personal learning network. In the field of orthopedics and medicine, currency of one’s knowledge is vital. Information on print media such as books is usually 5 to 10 years behind. Current advancements in medicine are almost spread instantaneously via the net. So its crucial that I have to be connected to the net to gain access fast to this advances.

Technologies for Personal Learning Networks

Aggregating Relevant Information
I use Feedly (or Google Reader) to acquire, organize and filter vital updates in medical field. Most websites have RSS feeds and you only need to subscribe to be updated of their latest information. These feeds can be “pulled” by a Feedly account and then I curate information according to categories of interests like medicine orthopedics. Most paid journals nowadays include abstracts on their feed already.
I blog my reflections about these curated information in a self hosted WordPress site. Reflective writing is thought of as a higher form of learning. I post it on relevant discussion forums, Facebook, LinkedIn and on twitter for critical reviews and feedbacks. I help build a network of blogging physicians as sort of community peer review on many topics. To interact with colleagues and people of interest, I use twitter, Linkedin or Facebook .

Building Interactivity
Twitter is a personal favorite because I can build networks of global, medical thought leaders in no time. Twitter has also been the launch pad of #HealthXPh– a collaborative effort of healthcare social media practitioners online, discussing social media and other emerging technologies that impact healthcare in the Philippines (Aguilar, 2015). Twitter gave birth to hubs of interactivity for healthcare in twitter chats, twitter journal clubs and organisational conference tweets. I can interact, learn and engage with mentors and colleagues, anywhere, anytime. #HealthXPh is presently the launchpad of a healthcare social media summit we started 4 years ago to bring practitioners together in a face to face synchronous conference for healthcare in the Philippines. We had a social network presence on Facebook since then and this serves also as a way of rapidly connecting with local colleagues as this is very popular in the Philippines.

Simplifying and Improving Usefulness of Content
All these tools don’t have steep learning curves for usage. It can be tweaked easily to fit learning styles. My aggregator for example, curate only information from subscribed relevant feeds. The hashtags on twitter filters topics I’m only interested in. Discussion forums and threads are easily read and replied to. I became adept at blogging so much that I also went back to improving on my writing. Reflecting on the curated information pushes me to summarise and clarify and synthesise thoughts. I began to organize information into simple and understandable body of information to myself. I use my own words to better understand concepts in medicine and orthopedics and to the many other relevant topics.

Unlike a purely connectivist learning, I still attend face to face conferences, workshops and other sessions to expand my learning. In this face to face sessions however, I made it a habit to connect and exchange information to people through twitter or Linkedin or even Facebook. I bring my online connections too, offline.

Organising information and growing my network of learning individuals increased my access to open educational resource as well as paid journals. A tweet to authors for example increases my chances of being given special permission to use articles for research without paying through hefty sums at journal paywalls. More importantly, these social network tools allowed me to connect to information, anytime and anywhere.

Now what do I do with the information I get from this ever growing personal learning network? How do I turn them into knowledge? This is where Bloom’s Taxanomy for Learning comes in. (This is will discuss in another post though)

Blooms Taxonomy for Learning (img src https://tips.uark.edu/using-blooms-taxonomy/)

In summary, I presented my evolving story and influence towards connectivism as a learning paradigm. Learning in connectivism is mainly building and interacting in networks through aggregation, co creation, storage and retrieval of information. I embraced connectivism as a learning paradigm rather than theory, based on the absence of clear, replicable and research validated pedagogy for teaching in my field so far. Advancements in internet and communication technology improved learning way and I presented technologies enhancing salient features of connectivist learning. Finally I shared a technology enhanced strategy to maximize learning in a connectivist ecology.

I’d love to read your thoughts on these, feel free to comment below.

  1. What is your personal learning network? 
  2. What tools do you employ to build interactivity, relevance, usability to information derived from this PLN?

References:

  1. Aguilar, R. (ND). What is #HealthXPh? [Weblog post] Retrieved from http://healthxph.net/about/what-is-healthxph
  2. Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed.) (pp. 45-74). Alberta, Canada: Athabasca University.
  3. Downes, S. (2007, February 3). What connectivism is [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-connectivism-is.html
  4. Downes, S. (2010, May 6). Connectivist Learning and Teaching [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/Downes/connectivist-learning-and-teaching
  5. Kop, R., & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? International review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3), 1-13.
  6. Lynch, M. (2017, August 5) What Is A Personal Learning Network? [ Web log post] Retrieved from https://www.thetechedvocate.org/personal-learning-network/
  7. Morrison, G., Ross, S., Kemp, J., and Kalman, H. (2011). Designing effective instruction. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
  8. Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism – A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1), 3–10.
  9. Siemens, G. (2006b). Knowing knowledge. LuLu.com Electronic book..
  10. Wade, M. C. (2010,December 14). A Personal Philosophy [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://cybergogue.blogspot.com/2010/12/personal-philosophy.html

By • November 6, 2018

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Taking Control of My Own Learning | Learning The Connectivist Way – Part I

I’m taught the behaviorist, cognitivist way since childhood. Naturally, I seek learning and probably teach in the same way. This learning and teaching outlook changed with the information explosion of the 21st century. There’s too much information to learn.Information grew vast and travelled fast thanks to the affordances of Internet and communications technology. Existing pedagogies of learning and teaching couldn’t keep up with the influx of information. My context of teaching and learning needs changing if I am to be relevant in this knowledge economy.

( Authors Notes: Learning the Connectivist Way is a three part series describing my journey to self directed learning and connectivism.)

First, My Story
I grew up in Tacurong City, part of Sultan Kudarat in southeastern Mindanao. Private educational institutions provide the best available education around this area but tuition and school fees are quite expensive. Many students study elsewhere because quality of learning is thought to be better in urban educational hubs. My family could neither afford private school fees nor the cost of living in urban centers. I took control of my own learning because of this personal and social context .

Why I’m learning the connectivist way?

Changing Learning Context
I’m taught the behaviorist way since childhood. Formal school is no different, where teaching is mainly aimed at acquiring desirable behaviours or skills among students. Due to the social and technological occurrences that unfolded at the end of 20th century, cognitivism and constructivism dominated my higher education learning paradigms. Naturally, I seek learning and probably teach in the same way. This learning and teaching outlook changed with the information explosion of the 21st century. There’s too much information to learn. Information grew vast and travelled fast thanks to the affordances of Internet and communications technology. Existing pedagogies of learning and teaching couldn’t keep up with the influx of information. In medicine and orthopedics for example, some of what I learned entering med school was already obsolete by the time I finished residency training. My context of teaching and learning needs changing if I am to be relevant in this knowledge economy.

Studying Multiple Disciplines at the Same Time
I took radio electronics technician course with NMYC (forerunner of TESDA) while concurrently taking secondary education in formal school. I had extra computer classes, was a working student and a scholar while pursuing a college degree. I’m also earning teaching units while in med school. I also took organic agriculture and accounting courses while practicing medicine and orthopedics. At the heart of this learning straddle across seemingly unrelated disciplines is my belief that learning is, lifelong and interrelated. The ability to interact and traverse these interrelated disciplines gives you an edge over domain specific skills in a rapidly changing knowledge economy.

Why a Synchronous Face to Face Learning Instruction Isn’t Always A  Sustainable Path for me
The behaviorist and cognitivist way teaching and learning is particularly engrained in the medical field.  Essential medical knowledge and skills are learned and assessed this way. There’s little or no room for deviations in a standard surgical skill sets for example. Much of the aim of teaching and learning in this field is about acquiring a standard notion of a “skilled surgeon” with desirable qualities culled from experiences of mentors in their respective era.

Information explosion and developments in Internet and communications changed all this. New information rendered some of our long held medical knowledge obsolete. Technological advances increased surgical accuracy, multiplied our “working hands” and freed the surgeons from many routine surgical work. I realised there’s so much more learning to do by the time I finish orthopedic training. I’m also about to go back to my hometown to practice orthopedics.

Realising the need to keep abreast with the developments in medicine and orthopedics, I plan to continue learning aggressively while practicing orthopedics in my hometown. To keep abreast with developments in my field, I affiliated with the nearest teaching hospital, some 3 hours drive away from my place. When financially able, I attend conferences, conventions and workshops to upgrade knowledge and skills. Going back to formal training was always an option, but this is both costly and time consuming for me. I could also take on formal face to face short courses, attend face to face conferences, workshops and training but this is also costly and will take me away from my practice and earning. I figured formal face-to-face learning is costly and alone, couldn’t keep up with the rapid developments in my field. Thus, I had to direct my learning to include formal, face-to-face sessions as well as informal ones, from various sources, on and offline.

Next- Part II – Explains what Connectivism is, its salient features and why I gravitate towards it.

I’d love to read your thoughts on these, feel free to comment below.

  1. Have you ever examined your own learning context? How?
  2. How would you relate your personal learning context to the current, prevailing flux of information?

By • November 4, 2018

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