Week 5: Mind mapping

This is a link to my mind map, it doesn't look as good in a jpeg.
http://www.webspirationpro.com/view/1045067a221b8

My network has created opportunities for learning and allowed a great amount of flexibility at work and in school . Working on my Master’s through distance education was made possible because of the Internet. Having the availability to further my education after my kids are asleep made the thought of going back to school less daunting. They are 5 and 3 so I need to be available. In my work connections the Internet provides me the opportunity to work from home at certain times during the semester. The availability to log in remotely to my desktop allows an amount of flexibility. As does ICON the University of Iowa distance education portal. https://icon.uiowa.edu/ The courses I teach online are managed through ICON. This gives me 24/7 availability to monitoring, adding information and corresponding my courses.
Google Reader has been extremely helpful when organizing thoughts and ideas. Going to one site to check in on all of my favorite blogs and newsfeeds does save time. The blogs I have found during this class have been insightful. I also appreciate the discussion boards more and more. Honestly, I was intimidated by discussions at the beginning of my courses through Walden because I felt under qualified. I appreciate video links or video lectures as a break from reading everything. Video demonstrations are also extremely helpful to me as I am learning how to create technology based tools.
To gain knowledge I “Google” it. When I needed to know more about connectivism, a recipe or the times that movie is playing I typically Google the question or key words to create a starting point. From there I can browse to find the information that seems of value or interest. I email people to ask for help or clarification.
My personal learning network is supportive of the central beliefs of connectivism. Siemens said “connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired and the ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant is vital” (Seimens, 2005 para.24). The world we live in is rapidly changing. An endless amount of information is at our fingertips. We cannot read everything available to us but we can decide what is important and what is not worth our time. Understanding different tools to help organize thoughts and piecing together the information you learn and how it relates to your life is how I recognize connectivism.

Reference:
Davis, C., Edmunds, E., & Kelly-Bateman, V. (2008). Connectivism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Connectivism