Blog #2- The Connected Educator Chapter 6

In chapter 6 of The Connected Educator, authors Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall guide us through the steps of implementing a connected learning community. The most important part is asking what you want to accomplish and setting goals. To begin, one should choose a tool and think about the outcomes and what you'd want to use the tool for. As a college student, I use blogs for my coursework and this is an example of the many tools to choose from. In my future profession as an accountant, writing and posting blogs could boost my credibility. Constantly writing articles that educate peers and business owners or inform them about important tax and accounting news/ updates will help establish myself as a valuable and useful source. Next, who you follow and connect with is very important for getting started. Accountants typically work and connect with financial professionals and similar professions. Who you connect with depends a great deal on the purpose or focus of your network.

The following step in implementing a connected learning community is nurturing your personal learning network. This means to engage in conversations safely. Nussbaum-Beach and Hall state that through ongoing in reciprocal sharing, you develop relationships which allow the possibilities of learning to expand. Ultimately, this then allows for the network to grow more significant. As your network grows, the number of community members grows. A great example included in this chapter is an educator at Arapahoe High School, Karl Fisch created a blog and personal learning network to turn to as he planned lessons and assessments. On his first blogpost, he shared his intentions on gaining knowledge from his readers. In his next posts, he received responses to all of his ideas. He reciprocated by putting a window to his classroom in his following posts so his network can learn from it. An accountant could do this same thing. As an accountant, success is not dependent on one team member doing something by themselves. When accountants open up and work with other financial departments, they can produce more accurate data, in addition to being able to make more timely decisions. Also, an accountant may need some clarification to make sure records and statements are complying with laws and regulations. They can ask and receive feedback. In the same way, they can offer feedback to peers. I think that posting blogs to receive feedback is a strategic way to learn new ideas and draw in community members to participate and grow the connected learning community.

Designing your connected community plays an important role in implementing a new connected learning community. Nussbaum-Beach and Hall say that the goal is to create a compelling enough community that it can successfully get the attention of busy educators and students. Since communities are voluntary, they need to generate excitement, add relevance, and bring value to members. An accountant could create excitement and relevance in their blog by leveraging current events and news. There is always something interesting going on in the finance world and economy.

A connected learning community is overall a great way to engage, teach others, and learn from others. Using an online community of practice is adequate to strengthen your local professional learning community. There are endless possibilities and tools available to do so. What tool would you choose to start with if implementing a new connected learning community?