The document discusses the importance of developing a personal learning network (PLN) and the benefits of online and community connections in education. It highlights strategies for effective networking, including the use of social media, and emphasizes the value of collaborative learning and sharing experiences. Additionally, it outlines the significance of 'working out loud' to enhance visibility and facilitate connections that promote professional development.

1. Developing a personal learning network and open
co-learning opportunities
Invited Speaker at the University of Reading
Sue Beckingham
@suebecks

2. "If learning is
measured by a desire
to learn more;
to continue learning,
then the focus has to
be on creating the
conditions for that to
happen."
Richardson 2015

3. Leveraging the new learning
ecosystem
https://twitter.com/degreed/status/694276812973678592

4. It's true that online learners will not have
the same types of interactions as their
on-campus peers. However, we need to
stop thinking about what's "missing" or
"lacking" and focus on what we can do
to increase connection and build
community via digital channels."
Eric Stoller

5. Private (defined recipients) Public/open
Via University systems Via branded platforms
Intermittent Always on
Formal tone Informal tone
Adapted from Curran and Horrocks 2015
Traditional University
Communications
Social Media
A new environment for engagement

6. Crowd Learning
Involves harnessing the knowledge
and expertise of many people
in order to answer questions or address immediate problems.
Sharples et al 2013 - Innovating Pedagogy Report

7. 1. WHO could you connect with?
2. WHAT would you gain from making new connections?
3. WHERE could you make new connections?
4. WHEN could you make new connections?
5. WHY would you make new connections?
6. HOW could new connections benefit your career?

8. Your network(s)
YOU
peers
employers
professionals
experts
professional
bodies
tutors
friends

9. Three important networks
OPERATIONAL
NETWORK
DEVLOPMENTAL
NETWORK
STRATEGIC
NETWORK
Purpose Getting work done efficiently;
maintaining the capacities
and functions required of the
group.
Enhancing personal and
professional development;
providing referrals to useful
information and contacts,
Figuring out future priorities
and challenges; getting
stakeholder support fro them,
Location and temporal
orientation
Connections are mostly
internal and orientated
towards current demands
Connections are mostly
external and orientated
toward current interests and
potential future interests.
Connections are internal and
external and orientated
towards the future.
Players and recruitment Key connections are
relatively nondiscretionary;
they are prescribed mostly by
the task and organisation
structure, so it is very clear
who is relevant
Key connections are mostly
discretionary; it is not always
clear who is relevant.
Key connections follow from
the strategic context and the
organisational environment ,
but specific membership is
discretionary; it is not always
clear who is relevant
Network attributes and key
behaviours
Depth: building strong
working relationships
Breadth: reaching out to
contacts who can make
referrals and introductions.
Leverage: creating inside-
outside links.
Harvard Business Review 2011

10. Image source: Noah Sussman
3
1
2
Building a valuable network

11. Weak Ties
Strong Ties
YOU
Strong Ties
Friends or
Peers are less
likely to be
able to provide
new
information or
connections
Weak Ties
May be able to
introduce you
to new people
with potential
company
information
and potential
job offerings

12. Close
connections
Outer circle of
connections
Layer of
opportunity
Connections

13. Expand your network

14. Network
The network aspect refers to
the set of relationships, personal
interactions, and connections
among participants who have
personal reasons to connect. It
is viewed as a set of nodes and
links with affordances for learning,
such as information flows, helpful
linkages, joint problem solving,
and knowledge creation.
Community
The community aspect refers
to the development of a shared
identity around a topic or set of
challenges. It represents a
collective intention (however
tacit and distributed) to steward a
domain of knowledge and to
sustain learning about it.
Wenger et al 2011
Wenger et al 2011

15. COMMUNITIES
community of
PURPOSE
community of
CIRCUMSTANCE
community of
PRACTICE
community of
INTEREST
Marathe 1999

16. MOTIVATIONS
TO JOIN
shared
purpose
shared
circumstances
shared
practice
shared
interest
to explore or express
their passion
to contribute to getting
something done
to connect with others
in a similar life
condition
want to acquire or
impart knowledge or
skills

17. Communities of purpose
formed by people who are trying to
achieve a similar objective, who assist
each other by sharing experiences,
information, and peer-to-peer knowledge.
Communities of practice
formed by groups of people sharing a
similar profession or vocation who seek
to share experiences and facilitate
professional exchange (which may also
add value to offline networks)
Communities of circumstance
which are similar to communities of
practice but are generally more
personally focussed, or related to life
experiences, and not driven by
professional activities.
Communities of interest
linking people who share their ideas,
passion, and knowledge in a common
interest or theme, but might know very
little about each other outside this shared
interest.
ONLINE
COMMUNITIES
(Rennie and Keppell 2010)

18. COMMUNITIES
community of
purpose
community of
circumstance
community of
practice
community of
interest
e.g. a campaigning
organisation committed to
changing public policy
e.g. an association of
professionals
e.g. a community of
people with a particular
medical condition
e.g. a leisure or social
activity
#celcshooc
conversations about end of life care
#epccmooc
enhancing prostate cancer care
#XFactor
@TheXFactor
#RWC2015
@rugbyworldcup
#LTHEchat
learning and teaching
in higher education
chat
@LTHEchat
lthechat.com
ALS Challenge
Arab Spring and
the uprising in the
Middle East
Natural disaster
responses
#HomeToVote
and #LoveWins

19. @ahpshooc
#celcshooc
conversations about end of life care

20. 8 key steps to building a personal learning network
1. explore
2. search
3. follow
4. tune 8. respond
7. inquire
6. engage
5. feed
Rheingold 2011

21. 5Cs
Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014

23. Making Connections
for example at a conference
Twitter
• Check the speaker list and follow
• Either add to an existing list or create a new group
• Reach out and interact
1
LinkedIn
• Send invite to connect with a personal message
• Receive updates on activities
• Share own activities
2
Blogs, SlideShare and other spaces
• Follow and connect as appropriate
• Sign up for email alerts
3

24. Building your network
Now @EdTechNeil

25. #ScholarSunday
'recommend an educator to follow'
like #FF or #followfriday
@raulpacheco
http://www.raulpacheco.org/2012/09/scholarsunday/

26. Make good use of your bio

27. 5Cs
Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014

28. engage
learn
share
Interaction and
dialogue increases
the opportunities
for professional
development
Social Connectedness

29. • Adding images to tweets
• Embed video clips into blogs
• Add SlideShare presentations to your LinkedIn profile
• Collect and share useful resources using Pinterest
Communicate your work - the visual augments the written
Over 16k views

30. 5Cs
Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014

31. Twitter list
YouTube
playlist
Pinterest
board
Storify
Scoop.it
page
Paperli
SlideShare
collection
Diigo
bookmark
collection
Curating useful resources

32. 5Cs
Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014

33. Collaborative
writing
Google apps
Collaborative
discussions
written
Twitter, Blogs,
LinkedIn Groups,
Slack, Trello,
WhatsApp
Collaborative
discussions
verbal
Skype, FaceTime
and Google
Hangouts
Collaborative spaces

34. 5Cs
Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014

35. /
Learning and Teaching in Higher Education - weekly chat
Wednesday 8pm
@LTHEchat #LTHEchat http://lthechat.com

36. https://byod4learning.wordpress.com/

37. Create and grow your
personal learning
network and
communities

38. https://moz.com/followerwonk
My Twitter community

39. The #SocMedHE15 community NodeXL map

40. Consider how many excellent resources
are hidden away...

41. Open resources
but how clear is the signage?

42. A sharing learning community
provides signposts to
conversations
examples
resources
images
video
Q&As

43. To benefit from learning
and working out loud we
also need to progress
from selective hearing
to active listening

44. The Lurker
to be in a hidden place : to wait in a secret or hidden
place especially in order to do something wrong or
harmful
computers : to read messages written by other people on
the Internet in a newsgroup, chat room, etc., without
writing any messages yourself
Vicariousness
experiences or felt by watching, hearing about, or
reading about someone else rather than by doing
something yourself
Is 'listening in' vicarious lurking???

46. Positive Silent Engagement (PSE)
I would argue that positive silent
engagement (PSE) is not only valuable,
but an essential component of digital
connectedness.
We learn by listening. It is no different
online

47. “Working Out Loud starts with making your
work visible in such a way that it might help
others. When you do that – when you work
in a more open, connected way – you can
build a purposeful network that makes you
more effective and provides access to
more opportunities.”
John Stepper

48. 5 Elements of Working Out Loud
Making your work
visible1
Making work better 2
Leading with
generosity3
Building a social
network. 4
Making it all purposeful5
Stepper 2014

49. 1. Being purposeful
2. Building a social network
3. Leading with generosity
4. Making you and your work visible
5. Improving yourself and others
https://www.702010forum.com/Posts/view/john-stepper-explains-the-concept-of-working-out-loud

51. Benefits of Working Out Loud
Internal: enterprise social
network
• peer-to-peer recognition
• improved internal
communications
• better working
relationships
• humanised work
• higher productivity
• increased innovation and
collaboration
External: professional social
networks
• build and extend
professional networks
• opens virtual doors
• crowd source information
• breaks down
geographical barriers

53. Connect
establish a connection with a person online,
typically by following them on a social
platform or subscribing to their updates.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
1

54. Show appreciation
Recognition and appreciation are “universal
gifts” that Dale Carnegie wrote about in How
to Win Friends and Influence People.
It could be a Like button or a public “thank
you” or giving someone credit for their good
work.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
2

55. Share learning
Sharing interesting content and the work of
others you admire are low-risk, low-cost
contributions that can help others.
Feedback on your contributions can further
your own learning.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
3

56. Connect the dots
Take something you found valuable and help
spread it to other individuals or groups that
might find it useful by @-mentioning it or
sending it to them directly.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
4

57. Ask a question
When done well, this takes more time. That
might include showing how you tried to get
the answer before asking, offering
recognition and appreciation for help, and
ensuring the answer is available in such a
way that it can help others.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
5

58. Answer a question
This helps the person asking and anyone
else who benefits from your answer in the
future. When you answer questions it also
highlights your reputation as someone who
is knowledgeable and helpful.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
6

59. Offer feedback
Here you’re trying to build on the work
someone else has done in a way that credits
the person’s original work while also helping
others. The gift is constructive feedback that
advances the work, and your feedback may
also include appreciation or a question.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
7

60. Share your experience
Reflect on your work. What have you learned –
from both failures and successes – that might
help others? For example, this could be
resources you find useful or techniques you’ve
found effective.
Frame it in a way it feels less like “Look at me!”
and more like “I thought you might be
interested in this.”
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
8

61. Offer original ideas
Beyond reflecting on what has been done,
you can imagine what might be done in the
future and frame that as a contribution. What
opportunities do you see for improvement of
some kind and what are your constructive
ideas? Credit other people and build on their
work wherever possible.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
9

62. Connect a purposeful group
One of the most powerful contributions is
connecting people who care about a particular
topic and enabling them to work together on
some positive change. It could be a working
group that’s focused on a particular problem or
a community of practice where members are
interested in getting better individually and
advancing the practice overall.
10 types of contributions (Stepper 2014)
10

63. Patience and perseverance
https://twitter.com/Hewlett_Found/status/684118586554712064

64. Give
yourself
with others

65. Sue Beckingham | @suebecks
Educational Developer and Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University
with a research interest in the use of social media in education.
Blog: http://socialmediaforlearning.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suebeckingham

66. Developing your academic online presence with social media
Led by Sue Beckingham SFHEA, Senior Lecturer in Information Systems and LEAD Associate at Sheffield Hallam
University, this workshop will provide an opportunity to learn about new approaches and practical examples of using social
media in higher education; and as co-learners share examples of effective practice and consider how these might be applied
in your own contexts. The session will also provide participants some time and space to network and potentially make new
connections.
The workshop aims to provide participants with an opportunity to:
• Gain a better understanding of how social media can be used in a scholarly context
• Appreciate the value of developing a rich professional online presence
• Learn about opportunities for social and open informal learning through social media
• Appreciate five elements of ‘working out loud’ (Stepper 2015) and how these can be of value to both yourself and others
Using the 5C Framework (Nerantzi and Beckingham 2014, 2015) as a lens we will consider how social media can be used to
connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and create. In doing so consider the value of:
• Developing a digital professional persona to share scholarly achievements
• Cultivating your own personal learning network and co-learning communities
• Sharing learning journeys through working out loud
Programme
Tuesday 26 April 2016
10.45-11.00 Networking and registration
11.00-12.30 Becoming a Digital Scholar using social media
12.30-13.15 Lunch
13.15 -14.30 Developing a PLN and open co-learning opportunities