OOPS

**Open, Online Professional Support (OOPS)**
OOPS is supported by the following connectivist theoretical framework:

A connectivist perspective provides a useful lens to interpret how working professionals (like teachers) access and interact with academic and scholarly expertise in universities and simultaneously with peers in different locations as well as with colleagues in their own workplace. The increasing use of Web 2.0 tools alongside institutional learning management systems enables extended connections with the wider educational community and other interested participants. For example, a course lecturer links to a well-respected national ICT leader’s blog, or the course participants themselves contribute to online discussion forums, share work for peer review, or create publicly available artifacts online using Prezi, VoiceThread, etc. Learners are central to the process as they make the cognitive, social, and practical connections across networks enabled by technology. Educators (everyone) should take control of their own online learning experiences. A sense of autonomy stems from the decision-making process and social interactions that connect theoretical and practical ideas from coursework to individual work contexts, connectively focusing on learning needs of the adult learner. Thus, learning emerges as a result of diversifying personal learning networks (PLN) that subsequently open up new possibilities that are distinct from sustained interactions that occur in a communities of practice. Educators connect, blend, and design personal learning experiences in ways that dismiss issues of transfer and instead demonstrated permeability and connectivity between individuals.

OOPS seeks to encourage participants to develop their own networks of practice within and beyond work parameters, accepting that weak online ties offer valuable learning opportunities and facilitating the strong links teachers often have within their school communities. The value of learning where PLNs and professional practice meet, placing less emphasis on historical educative divides: teacher/learner, researcher/practitioner, theory/practice, etc. OOPs seeks to enable educators to align a PLN to professional contexts, providing flexibility and choice in how sharing occurs across topics related to curriculum, assessment, and instruction.

**Attribution**
Mackey, J., & Evans, T. (2011). Interconnecting networks of practice for professional learning. The International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 12 (3), 1-18. Retrieved from @http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/873

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 * //This Open, Online Professional Support (OOPs) wiki is for any educator interested in getting the most out of a [|personal learning network] through sharing techie stuff.// **

Aggregators
[|What are aggregators?] Some examples of aggregators that help filter information that is most relevant for you include the following: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bloglines | [|Google Reader] | Netvibes | NewsGator | Paper.li | Scoop.it

Blogging
Blogger, WordPress, and Edublog are your best options if you wish to create your own blog. If you are new to blogging, you might want to start by reading //How to Start a Blog//.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Microblogging
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Get a [|Twitter] account going, learn about [|hashtags], and check out [|TweetChat]!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Also, check out these popular Twitter hashtags for teachers: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #555555; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;"> ** [|#edchat], **** [|#edtech] , **** [|#education] , **** [|#lrnchat] , **** [|#edapp] , **** [|#classroom] , **** [|#teaching] , **** [|#playoutdoors] , **** [|#edreform] , **** [|#globaled] , **** [|#cpchat] , **** [|#ntchat] , **** [|#mlearning] , **** [|#elearning] , **** [|#engchat] , **** [|#sschat] , **** [|#mathchat] , **** [|#scichat] , **** [|#artsed] , **** [|#stem] ,// add more here! // **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Social bookmarking
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Learn about sites like //[|Diigo]// which is a powerful research tool and knowledge-sharing community. Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos, and other objects to a pinboard.

Facebook
I'll include it since basically everyone has an account with them at this point.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Google+
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you don't know about [|Google+], you should. [|Create circles], [|hang out] ([|Here's my first experience with hangin' out]) and [|share Internet resources] with others.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">EduQuiki Connection
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">For those who have an interest in teaching and professional development, you might want to visit //@EduQuiki Connection// and //@Teacher Talk Time//.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Other
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">mLearning in the Workplace | <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Selecting meaningful tools for a PLN | Web Tools| Flat Classroom® Project 2012-1 | Personal Learning Action Network (PLAN) sheet.

Videos
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