Hand-in-hand with knowledge building, comes collaboration. This week we have been purposefully placed into groups where much of the discussion, support, and feed-back will take place for this course. I must admit that at the beginning of the program, the ideas of building knowledge and collaboration were really annoying to me. During my first course ETEC511, I remember being incensed that the instructor did not teach more. Rather, our learning was build through peer-to-peer dialogue and collaborative work and feed back. I wondered why I would pay high fees to listen to classmates who were not experts? Now, however, as I have progressed through the course, I have come to appreciate just how much learning has happened both through my own ability to build knowledge through the rich resources I have been provided in the readings and guiding assignments, and through the knowledge of others. Although each course was short term and offered a different mix of students, we were able to create communities of practice where people at varying levels of expertise and places in the program were able to work together to form a learning community. This has been a powerful constructivist experience. It is one that I will seek to continue through my own personal learning networks, and one in which I hope to create in my own classroom among my students. I have come to recognize that I am a constructivist at heart. I want to come alongside my students to create learning opportunities by offering them rich resources with which to build their own knowledge and interest individually, and in collaboration with their classmates.
References, Links, and Key Resources
Morrison. D. (2013, Jan 22). How to create a robust and meaningful personal learning network [PLN]. Online
Learning Insights. [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/how-
to-create-a-robust-and-meaningful-personal-learning-network-pln/
Wenger, E. (2006). Community of Practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
Morrison. D. (2013, Jan 22). How to create a robust and meaningful personal learning network [PLN]. Online
Learning Insights. [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/how-
to-create-a-robust-and-meaningful-personal-learning-network-pln/
Wenger, E. (2006). Community of Practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/