Creative Expression of CoPs, Conectivism, and PLNs

This image above is a compilation of images as I was making my dinner. As I thought through the making of my meal I thought that each aspect is analogous to the concepts we have researched in this module: Communities of Practice, Connectivism, and Professional Learning Networks. All of these concepts really do come together as a meal comes together from the beginning to the end.

What I believe to be the most basic level are the Communities of Practice (CoPs). Communities of practice are a group of people, with a common interest, who meet regularly in some fashion that may not necessarily be in person, who engage in a form of learning together (Wenger, 2013). In my dinner image I see the CoPs to be the individual elements such as the chicken, spinach, pasta, asparagus, etc. I see these to be the individual elements of the big picture. Individually, these pieces are cooked and primed with the end goal to be to come together for something bigger.

The piece that I see to tie all of the pieces together is the learning theory of Connectivism. Learning occurs when connections are made and not primarily through an individual. (“Connectivism”, n.d.) In my analogy of my meal, the pieces I see to be Connectivism are what I will refer to as the tools. These are the knives, the stove, the pots and pans, and the bowls. These are the pieces that bring the meal together. Without them, I would still have chicken, asparagus, spinach, and pasta, but through the tools they are transformed and brought together.

Finally, we have a meal. At this point all of the pieces (CoPs) have been brought together and connected and transformed and each of these pieces belongs to something much bigger. I see the final product, the completed meal to be an example of a Professional Learning Network (PLN). The PLN combines the groups of connected people to form an intentional bond (Gutierrez, 2016). I feel my example of the meal represents a Professional Learning Network well. At the end I have provided an image of a potluck (Woods, 2012). I feel an example of a potluck shows the many different PLNs as they come together. My meal shows one PLN, but in reality there are millions of PLNs in the world all which are also connected together as well as in a potluck there are multiple meals that come together to form the feast.

References

Connectivism. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2017 from Education 2020 Wiki: https://education-2020.wikispaces.com/Connectivism

Gutierrez, K. (2016) What are Personal Learning Networks?. Retrieved from http://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/personal-learning-networks

Wenger, E.  (2013). What Are Communities of Practice?. Retrieved from http://www.ncddr.org/cop/whatiscop.html

Woods, D. (Photographer). (2012, April 21). Potluck! [digital image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/76634755@N04/7167995448/in/photolist-bVpRjq-2fVwB-5aVQpY-72RzKG-jDQtQc-5iJBNa-5mnoi6-68M1vf-a4Uq7Q-7DaQrL-bVPgpU-3NeJfA-4rxpzk-4rxpBV-funeNU-bVPkzE-hndzo-5mnmPv-bVPJGU-bVP9By-72abMW-bVPu7m-775rQR-bVPLXU-5iNUXC-bVPzus-4rBrCE-5mrEMh-4rBuHW-9Gb3ry-edWm9-4rBp4j-4rDnSW-bVPdXh-8zp7jC-bVPNGW-6MbXB-6Qcmn3-4rBuG9-4rxpDK-bVP5jq-5pdHSy-68Gekt-4rDnNb-jdgsV-oPVxpK-kUJAj-3diAD-5K1iW5-5mrBEb