CAMPUS SESSION 3 17th MARCH 2011

This Campus session consisted of explaining and planning for the next module Part 3 The Networked Professional. We began the session by reading the course reader and the tasks involved. We were then given a section of the course reader "Concepts of The professional Network" and each had to analyse one the concepts given and make clear notes to describe to the others what was meant by it. Concepts of The Professional network involve Cooperation, Affiliation, Social Constructionism, Connectivism and Communities of Practice. I was given the topic Social Constructionism to explore. I made the following notes:

• Meanings of the world and experiences (they construct)
• It is constructed by human beings as they engage with the world.
• Tree example, human beings named that object as a tree so we don't dispute it or explore it as someone once did. If it still had the same meaning would it still be a tree?
• Social Constructionism happens through social interaction, humans "construct" meanings of the world based on their experiences of it.
• It is our own making these Social Constructions.It is relevant to us as Networks are large Social Constructions and it is our choice to which extent we are willing to selflessly contribute to the network.

Once everyone had shared their knowledge on their allocated topics we all found we had a clearer insight to the importance of these networks and began to understand the concepts on a deeper level relating it to our own lives. We questioned whether our networks changed as we develop and move on through life and how affiliations can be more important in different aspects of our lives. This spurred a discussion on benefits and values of our existing networks and how far people go to form useful networks.
We were then given the task of mapping out out existing networks in small groups, I found this very beneficial as I had no idea of just how far my web stretched regarding networks. It became clear to me that networks are vital for succeeding in any part of your social and working life.

Explaining my Web:

I started off mapping out my existing networks by branching off with questions such as What benefits me? What are the roles of technologies? Whats the hierarchy? What meanings do you get from Networks? Points of interaction that exist on the Network? Value to me? What needs do my networks meet? once we started to answer these questions it lead to further branches emerging such as social interaction, learning from experience, conventional ways of interacting, making own view, relationships formed, status, meeting people to open doors, stepping stones, affiliation, give and receive knowledge, these then develop to deeper understanding and potential job, different branches to widen network, connectivism and social constructionism before we knew it we had a whole page filled with mapping out our existing networks, this was just a small area we covered and could have delved deeper into each point. We just touched the tip of the iceberg!
   From this session I took away some valuable information about The Networked Professional which enabled me to gain a clearer understanding of the next four tasks in part 3. I am excited to blog about these in the coming weeks and bring in other concepts and perspectives to explore that will help me understand my professional practice more deeply.