New week, new topic started well with Kay Oddone's lecture on April 13. After that, I thought that I have many communities that I work with and share goals with. Most of my activities in communities are synchronous, face to face. The seminar also pointed out the importance of asynchronous activities to give people the ability to process and think. That's an important question for me, because I need time to reflect on myself. The week, we had synchroneous, as well as asynchroneus activities in PBL11. Communication in society is intentional, people know each other, have shared goals and strong relationships and mutual responsibility (Oddone, 2019a).

I have a very small network for personal learning, PLN. Almost all my informal learning with open social networks that I create myself came with this ONL course such as blog, twitter, teacher facebook group. I am on this course to get professional development as a teacher. Oddone (2019b) describes the PLN as undefined, not planned, flexible, changeable and driven by individual learning goals. I was happy with my learning before I started, then this course changed me when I realized new alternatives for me if I actively widen my PLN.

Kay Oddones (2019) found that teachers in open network learning could experience unclear boundaries and certain disadvantages but the benefits such as self-esteem, support, solidarity and the ability to access a broader perspective were also found. I see both these pros and cons. It's exciting to explore with the others in the group but it's easy to spend a lot of time when I get involved. Capdeferro & Romero (2012) mentions that online collaboration can be frustrating related to asymmetric collaboration, different commitments, and quality of contributions. However Brindley, Walti & Blaschke, (2009) found that small collaborative groups with support and clear instructions can lead to better learning goals. They presented implications for practice that I found very interesting.

I think that our facilitators in PBL 11 really provide good guidance for developing our knowledge in collaboration and it has really been a very good experience to see their work as well as how our learning has evolved in PBL11. The work in my “community” PBL 11 is getting better and better and this time the leaders tried Miro for collaborative learning. I can really see the benefits and the work was so well organized this week. Thank you Carl and Nadia, our topic leaders. I find it easier and easier to use technical tools now also. 

Brindley, J., Blasche, L., Walti, C. (2009). Creating effective collaborative learning groups in an online environment. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10 (3)

Capdeferro, N., Romero, M. (2012). Are online learners frustrated with collaborative learning experiences? The international review of research in open and distance learning, 13 (2), 26-44.

Oddone, K. (2019a). PLN Theory and practice, part 1 (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8mJX5n3IEg

Oddone, K. (2019b). PLN Theory and practice, part 2 (Video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqSBTr9DPH8

Oddone, K. (2019). Teachers´experience of professional learning through personal learning networks. (Thesis) https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127928/