A growing glossary of terms
Many terms are used in different contexts with subtle differences in meaning. In addition to providing definitions of unique terms, this page serves to clarify how they are used in the context of Learning Ecos posts and courses. Where appropriate, some are linked out to Wiki pages.
Learning Community – A learning community is a group of people who share common academic goals and attitudes and meet semi-regularly to collaborate on classwork. Such communities have become the template for a cohort-based, interdisciplinary approach to higher education. This may be based on an advanced kind of educational or ‘pedagogical’ design.[1]
Professional Learning Community – A professional learning community (PLC) is a method to foster collaborative learning among colleagues within a particular work environment or field. It is often used in schools as a way to organize teachers into working groups of practice-based professional learning.
Personal Learning Network – A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.
Personal learning networks share a close association with the concept of personal learning environments. Martindale & Dowdy [1] describe a PLE as a “manifestation of a learner’s informal learning processes via the Web”.
Professional Learning Network – A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.
Personal learning networks share a close association with the concept of personal learning environments. Martindale & Dowdy [1] describe a PLE as a “manifestation of a learner’s informal learning processes via the Web”.