Personal Learning Networks

What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media.

A few of the chapters, particularly RSS subscriptions and Webinars, got me thinking about Personal Learning Networks. There is much conversation about PLNs but I haven't given it much thought until reading this and realizing I have essentially been building my PLN without thinking about it. Twitter has been a great resource for me. I follow educational technology leaders who share great information and I find myself journeying out onto the web following links they share. Facebook has been another great PLN tool for me. I am friends with teachers who are innovative and thoughtful technology users. They will share blogs they've read, books they've read and ideas they've tried in their classrooms. I "like" ISTE and they frequently share current articles and blog posts that again take me on a PLN web journey. I have also subscribed to some blogs and newsfeeds that I've found which often hold relevant and thought-provoking ideas for me. What the book made me realize is that I've built my PLN and I am really pleased about many aspects of it. First, it is fairly unpredictable. Instead of me thinking of something I want to know more about and then researching that topic, the things I end up investigating may be completely new to me or things I had never considered relevant until seen through the eyes of the author. My PLN is also unplanned. Prior to Web 2.0 my professional development would be attending conferences and workshops, reading journal articles and anything the administration deemed appropriate through inservice activities. My PLN is something I tap into when I find I have a few minutes that are unscheduled. I don't have to do it every day but every time I tap into it I find something relevant and of interest. This also illustrates the third aspect - it is spontaneous. This might mean that I'm looking for ideas for training with teachers so I tap into my resources to see what might be worthwhile or it might be the 'few extra minutes' idea when I'm just looking for a spark.

All of this reflection led me to ideas for training with teachers. I am going to teach a workshop this summer describing how I've built my PLN and helping teachers to do the same.

Moodle/Scoodle

While attending NECC in San Antonio in 2008, I attended a Moodle session led by Remote Learner. The district was just beginning to implement Moodle (Scoodle) so I was hungry to learn whatever I could. The presenter, Michelle Moore, was perfect for our needs. She is a former middle school math teacher with a great understanding of the needs of teachers and how Moodle can meet those needs. After this first session, Jane and I made a point to seek out Remote Learner at conferences and later they became the support vendor for our district Moodle implementation. Michelle Moore came to SCASD to do training for our instructional technologists and for some of our advanced Moodle using teachers.

Not only does Remote Learner do Moodle support and hosting, they also do training - both online and site training. Due to our relationship with Remote Learner, Jane and I were invited to pilot their online courses and later asked to facilitate them. Through taking and teaching these courses I developed a lot of skill in using Moodle and also learned a great deal about effective course design - all very useful in my role in the district.

The district is in the process of migrating from Moodle 1.9 to Moodle 2.2 for the beginning of the 2012-13 school year. Due to Computer Services staff being spread too thin we have had difficulty creating expertise in our organization in the administrating of Moodle so Jane and I took the Admin class from Remote Learner to learn more about settings that would be relevant to our new install. In early February we brought a 2.2 sandbox online and Jane and I got together for a work day to work on the settings for our new server. 

I appreciate the fact that I can have flexibility in my sabbatical work and devote time to our Moodle migration. We are going to have a good deal of work to do preparing teachers for the transition. I've decided that I'm going to devote time to developing an online course for teachers teaching them the differences in the new Moodle version and giving them assignments to practice using the new tools. I welcome the opportunity to put into practice the many skills I've learned through my work with Moodle. I look forward to our upgrade and the new features the teachers are going to really appreciate in their courses.

Professional Reading

I always have a pile of journals, books, articles, etc. on my desk so I can pick up and read during down time. Whenever I clean my desk I shuffle the pile but rarely do I have time to do uninterrupted professional reading. If I try to do it at home before bed I get through about one paragraph before falling asleep. I really welcome the time on sabbatical to do professional reading and I have  quite a list of books, articles, blog entries, etc. that I want to read.

I'm starting with a book that I was excited to hear about before it was even published - What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media, Edited by Scott McLeod and Chris Lehmann. I've heard Chris Lehmann speak at conferences more than once and really respect his vision and leadership in many areas of education. I reserved the book when it was first possible and finally received it in the fall. I started reading it today on the exercise bike (no chance of falling asleep there!) and as I read I will post blogs about what I'm thinking. Since it is composed of discrete articles, I'm going to interweave reading this with other activities on my list.

The book is a compilation of articles by various leaders in the field of instructional technology and appears to be a combination of tools and ideas for teachers as well as for administrators. The first two chapters are about Blogs and Wikis. Reading these chapters got my wheels turning regarding some possibilities for teacher training. Many of our teachers want to use Blogs with their students just to get them writing but the article in this book reminded me of the importance of purpose and audience. I think reading these articles would be a great launch to a professional development session on Blogs and Wikis where the outcome of the training would be not so much how to use the tools but instead designing a meaningful in-depth project to do with students where Blogs and Wikis may be tools which allow for relevant audience, collaboration, feedback and building meaning.

Sabbatical

Today is the first day of my sabbatical. There is something very liberating about being able to focus on areas of interest without having to answer email, answer the phone or engage in any of the other aspects of my job that keep me hopping.

Although the entire semester lies before me, I know that I need structure to maintain my focus so I've set up a schedule. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will start my day at the fitness center from 8:30-10, then head to Schlow library to work until 3. At 15 hours per week I will have completed my time commitment within 12 weeks.

I like the fact that I am doing self-guided professional development so that I can let my journey take me in any direction I find interesting and relevant. Already my plans have changed from my original goals since we seem to be backing away from requiring students to provide their own internet devices. To fill the gaps in that topic I am going to spend more time learning Moodle 2 in preparation for our potential migration next fall.

As I begin, my priorities are

• Working to learn Moodle 2
• Begin reading the first book in my list, What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media by Scott McLeod and Chris Lehman
• Begin preparing my survey questions regarding student provided internet devices.
• Regularly check my Twitter feeds and Blogs for any articles of interest