This was a slide that came from Alec's video slides on week 5.
In the diagram the Course Management System (CMS) is represented in comparison to the Personal Learning Networks. In the distance learning courses that I have taken as well as have those that I have delivered the CMS model is the one I have experienced. It certainly was a whirlwind of information and a quick learning curve where at the end you left your course community behind. Of course there were always those people that you work with that in the CMS's that end up in your PLN but they were more the exception rather than the rule.
I have always enjoyed my courses with the CMS model. I learned a lot in a short amount of time and always knew what the end goal was. I was always able to tailor the assignments to meet my needs and I knew how long, how many, and the marking rubric for every assignment. It met my needs very well.
Dave Cormier spoke on one of our classes about Nomadic, Worker, and Soldier learners. To be honest I am not sure I am ready to be a Nomadic learner and I am not sure that we should all aspire to be all the time. For what Alec was asking us to do in this class, namely to make this class your own, one had to become a Nomadic learner to some extent. There had to be a period of floundering around in circles for a bit until we decided on our direction, until we decided what our learning path would be. We weren't given rubrics, expectations on the number of blogs and responses, or even topics required to study. We were simply asked to make this course our own without limit to our creativity and needs. That sounds pretty Nomadic to me and I wasn't sure I was ready for the trek. I have to say that as much of a paradigm shift this was for me, I think I get it now. This was the type of learning that you couldn't possibly predict the outcome lest you squash the potential of what it could be for each person.
It has become clear to me throughout the class that Alec has been trying to get us to develop our own personal learning networks. This class has been a catalyst to set us on our way through creating traffic to our blogs and creating a support network through twitter. Twitter certainly added to my sense making and way finding in the class. We will take this network with us when we leave the class rather than comming together for a brief period of time and then have the community die out when the class is done. This has been a huge paradigm shift for me and I feel that I am only just starting to realize the potential of the gift of having my own Personal Learning Network. I am thankful that we will be leaving with this community rather than leaving it behind.
Thank-you to everyone who posted on my blogs and for everyone for having such great blogs to learn from as well. I cannot thank everyone enough for their participation in my journey, whether it has been through leaving a blog comment, tweeting information, or sharing your journey. I am looking forward to a continued journey.
Alas, here is my five minute summary of my learning in this class. Keep in mind that this is a finite artifact for the beginning of my infinite Personal Learning Network.
