Connecting 131031

I have enjoyed posting about Connecting in October.
Following up on links and suggestions has made me more aware of my personal learning (connecting) environment.
A post by Jackie Gerstein encouraged me to think about how I might visualise this environment. I liked the way Jackie encouraged her students to create a PLE diagram that included at least ten different online communities and then to reflect on this PLE.
Jackie’s post includes Cynthia Mills‘ reflection:

The first thing that I learned about myself as I created my diagram of my PLE was that I’ve come a long way since the beginning of this class when it comes to being involved in social media and actually forming a PLE! To be honest, I’m not sure I even knew what a PLE was. Not only do I see myself evolving, I see myself growing as an educator because now more than ever I am inspired by educators from all over the world. I think what makes this new-found knowledge even better is the fact that I am not intimated anymore; I’m having fun, and I’m not “afraid” of making a mistake anymore!

I do think fun and playfulness are keys to developing a personal learning (connecting) environment. Like Cynthia, I believe we grow as educators by sharing openly.
Bonnie Stewart has encouraged me to think about identity too. I liked her observation that “I think the conversation about becoming a networked educator needs to be – at least in part – a truly public conversation, one where random connections can be made and the scope and scale of the discussion isn’t limited by membership on a class list, even if that class list is free to sign up for”.
Bonnie will be facilitating a week-long conversation on “Building a Networked Identity: Becoming a Connected Educator” as part of the MOOC-ish course on Online Instruction for Open Educators. She has a one step guide to becoming a connected educator … “um, talk to people. Online, offline…network with people who are interesting and interested in stuff you find interesting. Learn. Grow”.

I enjoyed reading about Bonnie’s work and liked her description of her blog:

This space is intended to be both a public conversation and a breadcrumb trail of work and ideas in progress. Feel free to engage with these ideas, borrow these ideas (with attribution, please and thank you) or tell me I’m wrong about these ideas. Preferably civilly.

My October has been a delight following breadcrumb trails, conversing and reflecting.