Trekkie’s forgive me if I butcher this analogy, but it’s relevant here:
In one of the original Star Trek movies – I think Star Trek III – there is a scene in which the Enterprise is chasing down a stolen ship, carrying the Genesis Device.  The stolen ship, captained by Khan, heads into a nebula to try escape.  Moments pass where neither ship knows where the other is, and they’re effectively flying blind.  Then suddenly Spock makes an observation to the effect of “Khan is not used to space.  He only …

A comment by Artie on my last post reminded me that I’ve yet to write a post about Discussion Forums for our Facilitating Online Communities course. Essentially we are to locate a forum somewhere on the web, cite it in our blogs, and use the example to discuss the concepts of facilitation and communities with regards to forums.
Background
Discussion Forums are centralised spaces where groups or communities can house their conversations. While forums come in many different forms, communication is typically done via multiple, concurrent, threaded conversations. The …

As part of the second online course I’m currently taking this session, Facilitating Online Communities, I’m meant to be posting weekly blog reflections about designated topics. ‭ ‬Unfortunately in the excitement of start of session at work and then Week One of CCK08,‭ ‬my contributions have slow to a trickle,‭ ‬and then dried up completely. ‭ ‬So in the interests of getting back on track here are my thoughts on the topic of Blog Networks.
Specifically we’re asked to discuss what characteristics we see in a Blog Network,‭ their nature, strengths and weaknesses …

Jeffrey Keefer said to me today: “You seem to have a large and wide network yourself. How do you foster that?”
The short answer to this is: “I actively seek out my network contacts and go where they go” or as Robert Scoble has said before: “I go where the conversations are.”
The longer explanation, as you might expect, is more involved that that.
Background
I’ve heard a couple of CCK08 students state that they had implemented Connectivism in practice long before they even knew what it was, or that it had a formal …

Perusing some of the discussion threads and blog posts on the CCK08 course I’m taking tonight I was met with a stark realisation that I’ve left a crucial element out of the description of my criteria for a personal learning network as well as the people in it:  respect for others.
I made an attempt to look at some of the criticisms being leveled against the suggestion that Connectivism is a Learning Theory – and indeed the whole notion of Connectivism itself – and I am appalled by some of the …