As a nice start to the New Year I have an article published in Human Resource Development International on professional identity and identity-work in open online communities. The article is available here and the abstract reads: Defining Human Resource Development (HRD) as either a scholarly domain or field of practice is widely recognised as problematic. This article investigates … Read more
I’m currently writing up some ideas on open online professional learning that includes considering personal learning networks. I came across this interesting post from Martin Weller on the apparent decline in interest or discussion of personal learning networks. The reasons suggested include the mainstreaming of the practices associated with PLEs, a consolidation of the tools used … Read more
This is a very short post on my LinkedIn network map. The identification of three distinct clusters of contacts is interesting and (kind of) makes sense. What is particularly useful is identifying the links between clusters that ‘should’ be stronger. In terms of developing a professional personal learning network as part of a personal learning environment, … Read more
Kineo, the e-learning company, have issued a new report on e-learning insights based on interviews with “learning leaders” to identify key emerging trends. I’m not going to repeat the report but will look at a few of their ten key insights: 1. Learning is pervasive. Learning is continuous, collaborative and connected and most learning lives outside … Read more
More on edupunk/ hacking the education “system” here Although I think there is a conflation of two issues here: (a) the brand recognition and market value of possessing a recognised degree (preferably from a prestigious university and (b) the power of the www to enable lifelong learning. So one is concerned with the confirmation that … Read more
A well argued post here on personal learning environments as a dynamic environment rather than a product or device. This chimes with my own views on PLEs as something that is personal rather than a product as well as with the tension in views of enterprise 2.0 between the techno-determinists and those focused on people … Read more
Its been a couple of weeks since I started using twitter. Like some others I’ve been an erratic user. Initially (and perhaps, still) it can feel a bit overwhelming and a time sink – so many people to follow. A few things stand out: – offers of support/ advice came almost immediately (thanks harold, Christian,Shawn) … Read more
just a quick addition to my previous post on learning environments as I should have referred to this post from Pontydysgu that discusses how/ whether micro-learning objects developed through social learning technologies can and do ‘mature’ into more formalised learning content, eg, through a process of aggregation and validation perhaps. The essence of this for … Read more
A great post from Stephen Downes here on personal learning environments [PLEs] and reflecting on the experience of running the connectivism course. I was taken with the argument that the value PLEs is greatly enhanced by extending social networks – a similar argument to the one made here by Malinka Ivanova. The paper reminded me … Read more
A very interesting paper from Graham Attwell and Cristina Costa at Pontydysgu on linking personal learning and work. I particularly liked the following quote: there is a discontinuity between the idea of integrating personal learning and working environments and the business strategies of many companies, a discontinuity which is fuelled by present policies and trends … Read more