Creating networks for personal learning and accessing educational resources is becoming more and more a global endeavor. Through the internet we can communicate with more information repositories and people, faster and more efficiently than ever before. With Social Media such as Twitter or Pinterest we can set up networks to assess material that others are sharing and make available what we are creating. One key to building efficiency is creating a strategy to maximize our efforts. Effective use of hashtags can greatly focus what we access from others and how easily others have access to our creations. Who we “follow” or access on a regular basis can greatly affect the quality and type of information and ideas that we get exposed to. Having a greater understanding of what supports creativity and solutions will support more effective strategies for networking. When building Learning or Resource Networks, many people “silo”, meaning they align predominately with experts in the field they are interested in. This can actually slow down creativity and novel ideas. When creating networks, ensure that you have a sprinkling of experts in other aligned fields, and add newcomers, outliers and youth. This is often where the most creative answers come from. For example, Innocentive, a crowdsource innovation organization, invites experts from many diverse areas to solve social, technical, business, policy, and scientific challenges. They’ve had great success! Researchers have discovered that newcomers and outliers, especially younger ones, are often more likely to develop wildly creative solutions.
When setting up your network remember to be aware that you will need to keep experts from other fields and newcomers interested in what you are offering, otherwise they may disengage.
As you build your networks you will have greater and diverse access to resources and ideas. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of data getting thrown at you. It’s extremely important to have an effective curation, filing or organization structure to easily sort through and access the information. Many people end up with the digital equivalent of an extremely full storage space jammed full of “stuff” that may or may not be useful and you can’t find it anyways….
These types of skills and processes can be modeled and taught to students, which will assist them to be better prepared for success in their lives. Of course you want to be age appropriate and be aware of potential dangers such as students being exposed to inappropriate material or advances by those seeking to exploit them.
As more and more open resources become available, the need for continuous improvement and quality assurance is more pressing. Organizations such as Open Education Europa, Commonwealth of Learning, and BCcampus OpenEd are doing much in this area.
There is always the next best thing to grab your attention and connect with others. It’s easy to get lost and expend huge amounts of time and energy exploring resources and ideas. Having a time management structure for yourself and your students will greatly enhance your effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
New skills mean new habits and there is always a learning curve. Build time for these activities into your schedule and into your courses. You will greatly increase your success!
When setting up your network remember to be aware that you will need to keep experts from other fields and newcomers interested in what you are offering, otherwise they may disengage.
As you build your networks you will have greater and diverse access to resources and ideas. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of data getting thrown at you. It’s extremely important to have an effective curation, filing or organization structure to easily sort through and access the information. Many people end up with the digital equivalent of an extremely full storage space jammed full of “stuff” that may or may not be useful and you can’t find it anyways….
These types of skills and processes can be modeled and taught to students, which will assist them to be better prepared for success in their lives. Of course you want to be age appropriate and be aware of potential dangers such as students being exposed to inappropriate material or advances by those seeking to exploit them.
As more and more open resources become available, the need for continuous improvement and quality assurance is more pressing. Organizations such as Open Education Europa, Commonwealth of Learning, and BCcampus OpenEd are doing much in this area.
There is always the next best thing to grab your attention and connect with others. It’s easy to get lost and expend huge amounts of time and energy exploring resources and ideas. Having a time management structure for yourself and your students will greatly enhance your effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
New skills mean new habits and there is always a learning curve. Build time for these activities into your schedule and into your courses. You will greatly increase your success!
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Source and Resource Links for Creating Networks and Finding Open Educational Resources