PROFESSIONAL
Professional Development
What is a Personal Learning Network
An important starting point for any global collaborative project is the creation of a "Personal Learning Network" (PLN) for you and each of your students. A PLN is simply a collection of resources that allow you to exchange information with an online community. This community consists of other students, teachers, friends and family, or individuals with expertise in an area relevant to your project.
Information can also come from books, online news services, podcasts, and e-zines like this one, but the great thing about a PLN is that the information you gather is dynamic—it's constantly evolving.
Why Have a PLN?
Knowledge is fluid. In this age of blogs, wikis, and RSS feeds, even the nature of how we learn is changing. The theory of connectivism, developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes, asserts that people gain knowledge through their connections to the world, and with the growth of the Internet and the social changes Web 2.0 has elicited, the number of connections a person can potentially make has skyrocketed.
PLNs help learners manage those connections. They can keep tabs on growing trends and changing issues all in one place. Best of all, the creation of PLNs engages students and sets them on the path to becoming self-directed, life-long learners. Your role as a teacher becomes that of facilitator, one who shows them the tools they need in their quest for more knowledge.
A PLN is a valuable asset for teachers, as well. Build your own network just as your students do, and you'll be amazed by the potential for professional development, peer collaboration, and the discovery of new (and free) classroom resources. You can join discussions with colleagues around the world and even attend conferences online. (For example, McGraw-Hill's 21st Century Workforce Virtual Conference lets you listen to keynote speakers, explore an exhibit hall, and connect with other educators.)
How Do I Build a PLN?
Start with a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) reader such as iGoogle, netvibes, or Bloglines. The reader gathers new RSS feeds from various sources such as blogs or news organizations and puts them in one place for students to view quickly and easily. Then, when they visit, contribute, and subscribe to the sources of these feeds, their PLNs grow. Students can return to these readers again and again on their way to becoming mini-experts on the topic.
Then, have students search for blogs, news, podcasts, wikis, videos, and other sources that match your project topic. Have them join social networks such Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and build a list of friends who share an interest in the same subject. For your own PLN, a particularly useful tool is Ning.com a social network that focuses on a particular topic. Many educators now use these networks for collaboration.
Put Your PLN to Use
Once you and your students have collected resources, start contributing. Share comments, links to relevant articles, favorite bookmarks, and any other media that can foster further discussions. As you meet others and develop stronger bonds with them, tools such as Skype, GoToMeeting, and Elluminate are great, inexpensive ways for you to communicate with people around the world.
Finally, aggregate the information you've gleaned from your PLNs and construct your own blogs. Share what you've learned and offer your opinions to your own followers. You might actually become an important part of someone else's PLN.
