This morning I fired up the laptop with a cup of coffee, opened the Twitter stream, and began perusing the Web. Within seconds, I am reading about things ranging from a collaborative documentary on the history of the Internet (which ironically, considering what I was doing at the time, included viewing this newscast from 1981 on the future of information gathering) to research about the psychology of learning to a source-book for teacher professional development to tweets about the latest and coolest Web 2.0 tools, not to mention the daily news and sports headlines. All of this is streaming to me in ever greater amounts from my “personal learning network.”
PLN’s are comprised of people with whom you connect to and share information; people you can turn to in an instant for ideas and answers to questions related to teaching and learning. Their value is in the constant development of information and ideas (whether your online or not) and your access to that information for a variety of reasons including the need for an instant solution to a problem or expertise related to longer term needs.
The ease with which I can access incredible amounts of information is both fascinating and intimidating at the same time, and I consider myself a technologically progressive person who has long since bought into the concept of life-long learning (especially for those responsible for the education of others) and has more recently become convinced that the power of today’s communication and collaboration tools is essential for that purpose.
A recent example of real-time use of a PLN in our district relates to the managing of Web 2.0 tools in an educational setting as we seek to open access within our campuses. We were looking for what other educators were doing, simply went to our PLN’s, and asked for help. The response was immediate and useful in developing guidelines for use of social networking tools within an educational setting.
The idea of networking as a way of learning, though, is new and while debating its merits as a learning theory (Connectivism) is certainly legitimate, not working progressively to enhance instructional methods and develop skills for living in today’s world is not. I was reading a blog post about PLN’s recently, and the author discussed the notion that knowledge is now perpetuated within networks, that it exists in the network and in collaboration with others and that we ARE our networks.
Participating and, in the case of educators, helping students develop these skills is important. As an educational technologist, I have embarked on a deliberate attempt to build a personal learning network from which I have learned a great deal both from the building process and from the access to people and resources, and it is my contention that all educators should be building these kinds of networks and teaching their students how to do the same.
It’s easy to network, and it gets easier all the time. The following is just a bit of my own experience in developing a network and managing what to many is an overwhelming task (but need not be).
1. Dive in – You really have to just start. Go online, set up an account or two and experiment, teach yourself to use the tools. I started with a Delicious account (a great resource networking tool), then a blog, added Twitter and Facebook. But pick one…its dynamic and changing all the time…dive in.
2. Establish a direction - Decide what kind of network is worth your time. What kinds of things do you want to learn? What will help facilitate growth in your professional area? What will help your students? As a technology coordinator, my network consists mostly of educational technology professionals and resources. I seek connections with people that can provide assistance in my professional efforts. I was amazed at the number of people out there seeking the same connections.
3. Spend some time - Anything worth doing is worth spending some time developing. It is amazing the amount of information that passes through these networks but it takes some time to build an online presence so be patient, and work at it in pieces.
So, if we ARE our networks…what does your network look like? Is it working for you right now?
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Great observations! In a recent technology conference,one of the keynote speakers mentioned developing a PLN. One main point made was that you don’t have to be the one posting, to get started you just need to find others to follow. The suggestion was to find out who your friends/coworkers are following. Build your PLN from there!