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.