Journal of Public Affairs Education

Using Personal Learning Networks to Leverage Communities of Practice
anonymous. Almost all the comments were focused on the use of the blog in the
course. Most comments were positive: “This is by far the most interesting class I
have taken in college.” “I found the blogs strong. We were able to give our opinion
on all sorts of different situations and thoughts and it was fun to read each of
them.” “I have started using [online tools] beyond this class.” “[This is] a great tool
for people who don’t talk in class to communicate.” The most common negative
comments regarded the amount of online reading involved to keep up each week
and the perception that some fellow classmates did not participate fully.
Conclusion
Public affairs professionals are on the edge of a revolution in education and
knowledge management. The combination of mass syndication of user-created
online content coupled with the advent of powerful search engines is a revolution
as fundamental as the one created by the invention of the printing press in the
15th century. Professional educators can create learning networks using Web
2.0 technologies that are freely available. On many campuses, resource persons
experienced with these tools are available to help professors and students begin
their Personal Learning Networks. We can be masters of the way forward and
not be tossed about by the technology headline of the day. By supplementing
our means of delivery of educational services, we can help our students become
agents of an array of transformed services during their careers. Additional work
is needed regarding the design of digital learning ecologies and the measurement
of their effectiveness in the context of the transaction costs associated with their
implementation in public affairs courses.
Based on our experiences, we recommend that professors first create Google
alerts (or use a similar service) to become aware of quality blogs of relevance to
courses being taught. If a professor first creates a blog-based PLN, he or she will
be prepared to help students do so also. The professor should begin blogging
before asking students to blog. We recommend that the professor give students
the option of blogging using a fictitious name. Learning environments should be
safe environments in which students can explore and freely express ideas without
risk of possibly having to explain themselves to prospective employers or others
years later. In our experiences, professors should not expect students to master
this way of learning immediately. It will “catch fire,” but often not immediately.
Do not assume that because students are active on social networking sites, they
understand the mechanics of blogging. Many students have not been encouraged
to write in a reflective way. The best way to teach this skill is for the professor to
model the behavior by writing reflectively on his or her own blog. For purposes
described in this article, we recommend the use of dedicated class blogs rather
than all-purpose blogs. Google tools can be used to create what might be termed
“intrablogs” and to link multiple classrooms at different institutions into various
design patterns. Professors interested in doing so are welcome to contact us.
22 Journal of Public Affairs Education