Reading 4

     Chapter four explores the concept of collaboration, and creating a professional environment for working together. While the lesson provided refers to the environment of an educator, collaboration is not exclusive to education. Artists can collaborate all throughout their careers, assuming they work well with others. By The Connected Educator's definition, the artistic equivalents of a learning environment are peer review and constructive criticism. Artists can learn a lot from one another, just as educators can teach others new concepts of teaching.

     A building block of collaborating is the relationship of those collaborating. This portion of the chapter elects to pats itself on the back for following the previous chapter about how to learn from others, because the reader couldn't have come to that conclusion on their own. Yes, learning from other people is a key component of collaboration, and learning to collaborate will build a professional relationship.

     With any professional relationship, trust is important. Collaborating with a co-worker means trusting them with your time and how successful the final product will be. Collaborating requires mutual trust, because there are mutual risks and rewards. You have to be able to trust that others are going to be as professional and goal driven as you to encourage an environment for collaborations.

I hope you found this informative, thank you for visiting, and good luck!

Reading 3

     Chapter Five was a pretty natural progression from our Web 2.0 Smack-down presentations. This chapter is all about web tools, and how they would be very apt in the life of an educator. As an artist, web tools like Teachertube are a bit less useful to me professionally, while I've been seeking out a means of cataloging websites (my favorites bar is already full) like Diigo.

     Web collectors like Diigo are a convenient means for educators to store web addresses and web tools, but I foresee myself creating a library of artistic references, Lynda lessons, and the list of social media and professional networks I'm subscribed to. For those not well versed with the ins and outs of microblogging, it's a glorified way of saying you use social media sites like Twitter. The concept being your microblog's content can be accessed through a social media hub, but yours is not the only content available, and your content seems microscopic compared to the masses of other content being shown on a social media site.

 

      I never realized there were wikis other than Wikipedia. I mean, it's obvious now, but i though Wikipedia was a unique concept and other "wiki" sites were just individual blogs. Wikispaces is one of the best ways I know of making collaborative content for the web, but that isn't saying much. I could see myself using Google Docs more often. Google's document sharing platform can transfer most file types for a variety of programs, so should I ever have another artist to collaborate with, Google Docs will make it even simpler.

 

(Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, collaborating artists) 

     Another resource brought up in this chapter was podcasting, which kind of surprised me, because I didn't know they had much of a professional value. While I can't readily apply podcasting to my own studies, it would be an invaluable too for those learning a less visual medium. 

     The last lesson of the chapter is a good summary of this course. Making your presence on the internet professional, is tantamount to success. If the first thing people learn about you when searching for you on the internet is that embarrassing Twitter photo from your High school graduation party, they might not seek your professional expertise.

Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

    

                           

Reading Two

     This is the chapter Professor Juliani warned us about. From the first sentence this chapter is all about Professional learning networks in a teaching environment. In spite of the author's intentions, the information seems applicable to any profession, and can be quite insightful.

     This chapter elaborates upon building a Professional Learning Community. A Learning Community is identical to a Learning Network in function, providing professionals with connections to others with new resources and skills which they can offer, but a Community seems to hold a more localized setting. For example, in a school setting teachers may rely on one another for alternative methods to teaching, or a further expertise in web tools.

     That's good and all, but what does this mean for me, someone who isn't getting a degree in education? Simple, Personal Learning communities are not exclusive to educational settings. Personal learning communities can be small and specialized or grand and diverse, all depending upon the goals they share. To exemplify myself, as an artist I would need to make professional connections with those who take part in my projects. Computer technicians, printing professionals, other graphic artists, marketing teams; they're all invaluable connections that can help one another complete a complex task.

     While having a solid support system is a big plus for Personal Learning Communities, their key purpose is learning from your connections. Art is an ever changing study, and few artists have the exact same level of study and understanding in every medium. As artists, we benefit greatly from studying the techniques and practices of other artists, so a Personal Learning Network of artists could uniformly produce a wider variety of art than any single artist could create on their own. That's why the concept of using social media like Twitter and LinkedIn makes so much sense to me, as an artist.

Reading One

     Chapter Six of the Connected Educator appears to have a heavy focus on the initial application of Personal Learning Networks and how Social Networking can contribute to building one's Personal Learning Network. It seems to be written by someone who had developed Professional Networks before Social Networks were as prominent as they are today. Another thing of note is the difference between a network and a community.
     As similar as they may be, a network is a group of people connected by a shared interest or interests. A community is an interest shared by a group of people who aren't necessarily working together. I'm quite curious as to how varied the skill sets of a network can have. Ideally, a network would have some connections to every skill set or trade, or at least those which pertain to the network's intended purpose.
     Another enlightening concept was the idea of roles. Individuals with specialized positions within the Personal Learning Network. It kind of escaped me that building a network means being a part of it yourself, you are as much a part of helping as anyone else involved. This chapter also says it's imperative that one's network is in a constant state of achievement, constantly innovating or working together to build the community. It's a lot more involved than my first impression, a contact list of people who could help myself and one another.