Introduction to core area 4
My story in core area 4 is about working as openly as I can in a connected, uncertain and uneven world. I mentioned (see my introduction) a few platforms where you might find some of my digital footprints. I use the screens I have (laptop, tablet and,phone) in tandem with platforms to grow a professional learning network. And where I can I get together in conferences or meetups or synchronous events and form my community of practice (COP). Both my PLN and my COP then supports my ongoing professional development. In this section, you can expect me to explain more about my PLN and my COP.
My PLN
I use a range of diffuser platforms as vehicles to develop my personal learning network (PLN). They are temporary habitats, spaces where birds of a feather flock together. While platforms allow me to search for help, aggregate and share professional knowledge and work alongside others. The PLN are the people of these platforms that keep this knowledge growing. It is difficult to describe and define my PLN as the “members” are in flux. The are found on social media, through common friendships, in communities of practice, on the cloud etc. Following Thom Cochrane’s lead, I tried to map out my online presence using David White’s Digital Visitors and Residents map. This was useful exercise at the time as it offers an option to understand both tool and place for my meetings. But the four quadrants do not offer the opportunity to identify the multiple purposes that lie behind the use of each of these platforms or tools and the degrees of engagement in those spaces.
Perhaps the best way to explain my PLN is to describe the my behaviors and experience that is enabled as a result of the use of the following three platforms. Namely Twitter, my wordpress blog and WhatsApp
On Twitter, the “digital-me” sets out to project the image of an informed, self regulated and critical educational designer. I also use it as a vehicle to raise complaints about water and electricity. On my blog, the digital version of myself is as a pragmatic implementer who shares his opinions, skills and practices. The blog sits on my domain (weblearning.co.za) and is the hub upon which my business rests. On my mliteracy WhatApp group, I am the facilitator, managing a community of practice. In other digital spaces, I am the photographer, the dad, the enthusiastic evangelist, lecturer or public speaker.
Reflection
Twitter made my ed-tech life more serendipitous and stimulating. The platform connected me to people from all over the world who share similar interests. It enabled new dialogue across different boundaries. It’s world felt a bit flatter and the importance of status, age or location was diminished.
Twitter also stimulated my thinking. It opened small windows from where I could peruse a range of ideas. It also allowed me to diffuse what I was learning to others. In bite sized chucks. Twitter also held within it self the potential for noise. I made specific choices as to who I would follow or follow back. Where Twitter really worked for me was In my career. From the back of my garage (where I ran my consultancy) I connected to a range of people.
I celebrate #mytwitteranniversary on the 19th of April. Been over 12 years that I posted my first Tweet. Since then I’ve met and followed dedicated and talented ed techies from all over the world. Read musings on Blogger & WordPress, appreciated stunning Flickr & Instagram pics, subscribed to podcasts, laughed at their humor become a part of their PLN’s.
As an exercise, I capured my Tweets for each year as a word cloud. The themes that run across 10 years of Twitter
My blog
My blog is a mechanism to extend my thinking, find a voice, grow my expertise. The contents of my blog vary. From technical discoveries, learning activities, a sustained and critical piece to absolute gibberish! Twitters 140 characters allowed for brevity. My blog is an attempt to open up myself and my thoughts further.
Reflection
Extended thought does not come easily to me. I’m not an academic or a scholar. But I also resonate with Siemens ideas of connectivism, and recognize that I’m one node within many larger networks. My learning journey is not necessarily planned or linner, but takes place as I connect with others and plug into this constant information flow. Within my PLN platforms, I choose to focus on my capacity to know, rather than my current knowledge. My voice is not one of a teacher or a student but a heutagogist, who sets out to use my own and other’s experiences to reflect, interact, scan and problem solve.
WhatsApp Groups
Digital communication in South Africa is primarily via mobile (because of ubiquitous ownership of phones) and low data costs makes regular access possible. WhatsApp is not just a replacement for SMS. The group functionality on this platform offers many here on the margins, a more affordable form of digital access.
PLN’s are not normally associated with closed platforms. I set up two WhatsApp groups with the specific intention of developing a community of practice on them. This allowed me to find “new perspectives” to be found that I would have otherwise missed. The change
My communities of practice.
OE4BW
A domain of your own
In 2005 I decided to pluck up my courage and find my voice using a WordPress Blog. I used it as a mechanism to make my thinking visible, articulate my opinions, share my stuff. Your own domains, I think, are important. Many other platforms offer you a digital space for free. But in exchange, you agree to limit your fluencies to a particular platform, you associate you digital identity with the platform makers and its users and you choose to let go of your own privacy and supply the platform with personal data and information.
Evidence
Personal Learning Network – a presentation about getting to know a person through “who they know” and “what they can do” [SLIDESHARE]