Chapter 2 Connected Educator

In the second chapter of the Connected Educator, the author describes a “three-pronged” model, known as the Connected Learning Community Model. Within this approach, there are three parts: Local Community, Global Network, and Bounded Community. The purpose of this model is to ensure the sustainability of a specific profession, allowing people to connect and collaborate and reach the desired, shared goal in their career field. The book offers a perspective from that of a teacher or an educator, however, this model can be utilized in just about any field of study and applied to almost all professions. This would include my future profession as a nurse, as I saw many parallels between this model and the continuing education and need for knowledge within the field of nursing.

Within the first few pages of this book, it is mentioned that through the use of these workshops and learning activities, “teachers” are expected to take back the knowledge they have gained and utilize it in their classrooms. This concept relates to my future profession as a nurse, but can also be related to almost all other career paths too. In order to maintain a Registered Nurse license and to stay up to date with the ever-changing medical knowledge, nurses are compelled to complete certain “continuing education” every so often. This relates to the concept mentioned on page 26 of The Connected Educator, because nurses must continue their education with workshops and classes. Once the knowledge is gained at these workshops, the nurse/s will take this information and bring it to their job as a nurse, whether that be to a hospital, a doctor’s office, or a school. Not only nurses, but all professions can attend workshops and/or classes and thus bring this newly learned knowledge to their job or career.

The Connected Learning Community Model offers three different “prongs” that altogether make up the basis of the model. The first prong, Local Community (also known as the professional learning community) describes a meaningful and personal connection through individuals of the same field. The next prong, Global Network (also known as personal learning network), refers to the online resources and diverse population from around the world that can be accessed by individuals. The final prong, called Bounded Community (also known as community of practice or inquiry), explains the presence of the overlapping interests of global groups and the need for deeper connections than the two listed previously. These three come together to allow the teacher learned with adequate experience to work effectively in our modern, dynamic world.

As stated above, there are 3 parts to the Connected Learning Community Model. This model can be related to just about any career path, including my chosen future career path, which is to become a nurse. Professional Learning Communities relates to the need for continuous education/ improvement and leadership. For nursing, continued education is vital for effective care of patients and actually is required for Registered Nurses to maintain their licenses and keep them up-to-date. Moreover, the aspect of Professional Learning Communities or PLC, relates to the idea of shared leadership. In nursing, there is typically a nurse leader among all the other nurses. Although there is one designated leader, it is the responsibility of all nurses to be leaders and advocates to their patients, thus having a shared leadership among their clients.

The next concept of the Connected Learning Community Model is Personal Learning Networks (PLN). The Personal Learning Network relates to sharing and learning from others that reciprocate that same sharing and learning. It refers to the connections created by educators to continue learning (often virtually and globally), typically using web-based technology to promote connections. This occurs more than frequently in the continuing education of nurses. Especially in the hospital setting, nurses from certain departments visit different departments to further the education of other nurses. An example that I have seen first hand was experienced last semester in our clinical at a hospital. One nurse, our instructor, used the web to display her knowledge to the other nurses in the hospital. In this way, the virtual world was utilized to create a personal connection and further education in a similar way to the previous prong.

The final concept of the Connected Learning Community Model that was explored in the book the Connected Educator, was Communities of Practice. This aspect takes the idea of “none of us is as good as all of us” perspective, as seen on page 33. This part maintains three pieces of criteria including, a shared domain of interest, an overall competence throughout committed and educated individuals, and a shared purpose or reason for practice. The book offered several examples, including one about a collective group of nurses who work together to reduce errors that are made in hospitals. Not only would all nurses be part of this, but technicians, physicians, physician’s assistants, and all other healthcare would be too. This example allows us to see a shared domain of interest, which would be nursing and/or healthcare. There is also the skilled group of individuals, which would be the licenses nurses. And lastly, the common goal, which would be to reduce the number of errors made in hospitals.

One of the most important concepts mentioned in this chapter is diversity. Connected education and learning that maintains diversity has a far stronger basis for individuals to gain a full understanding and have the complete experience when it comes to continued education. Diversity can be met with different races, genders, professions, religions etc. By having this diversity, learners are given the opportunity for exposure to different ideas. Furthermore the learners will become more understanding and more open to others, thus allowing their profession and job to be completed more effectively and fairly. As a nursing student, diversity and ethics are concepts that rise up every class we take. We are taught to be not only culturally competent, but to be non-judgmental in all situations. We have been instructed to be a patient advocate no matter the situation and to put our own beliefs aside for the benefit of the client. Overall, this chapter of the book was very relevant to my education as a nurse and to my future as a nurse.

References

Nussbaum-Beach, S., & Hall, L. R. (2012). The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.