Journal #7 My Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is an informal relationship between learners using software tools like Twitter, a social networking and micro blogging application that allows users to send and share text messages, Tweet Deck, a website used to manage and view Twitter content, Diigo, a social bookmarking website that allows users to tag and bookmark desired sites, and Storify, a social networking site that allows users to create stories and timelines using social media websites.  PLNs are useful for educators because it allows educators and learners to meet digitally and exchange information on current trends in education, new knowledge, classroom activities, and other new ideas in the realm of education.

I have used Twitter to participate in to chat discussions on the New Teachers Chat on Wednesday afternoon.  The first chat was about incorporating the celebration of earth day into the classroom, and the second chat was about helping a new teacher grow their PLN.  I have a number of different educators in my network that have informed me that they are more than willing to assist me in any way in growing my PLN or any other issue I might have as a future educator, if that is what I decide to do, even though as of now it is not what I want to do.  My experiences on the New Teacher chat were pleasant and everyone was open and extremely nice and out going.  



Diigo, the social bookmarking website that allows users to tag and bookmark desired sites, is a great tool for developing your PLN.  On Diigo I have a number of sites tagged as containing valuable information.  One of the blogs that I follow on Diigo is "The Fischbowl", a blog ran by a veteran educator in Colorado, which has a lot of valuable information about education and tactics to use as an educator to motivate students and create a positive learning environment. I am also following Mr. Jeffery Hiel on Diigo because he is well connected in the digital educational community and his site has a lot of useful information and links to other educators and their information.  Another member of my PLN on Diigo is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog, which is the blog of Vicki Davis, an educator and a great place to find new ideas and resources to help improve a teachers curriculum. 

I also joined the educators PLN, which is a forum for educators to connect and share ideas, post, blogs, and videos that help enhance a teachers ability.  It is a ning site dedicated to the support of a personal learning network for educators. I looked at a blog post by Shelly Terrell about her experience learning how to use twitter and building her PLN.  Her blog post is very interesting and the story is funny how she started out small and slowly but surly built her PLN by choosing who she though were the best people to follow because of their deep knowledge and zeal to learn and teach.  She talks about how she enjoyed sharing the information she was learning, also the difficulties in winning over people and peer about the idea of using different social media outlets to create a useful PLN.  She ends her post by describing how happy she is with her PLN and how useful it is and how it has brought her in touch with quality educators all over the glob.   

Eduational Chat Storify

Journal #10

Lisa, P. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-march-april-2013

Summary:  In Lisa Perez's article "Re-Imagine your Library with I-Pads"  she talks about how the library's in the Chicago Public School District received a bunch of i-pads as part of a new initiative to improve school libraries.  The librarians in the district all attended classes and workshops to learn how to use and to integrate the technology into the library.  The group also went through a process of evaluating and selecting educational apps to install on the i pads.  The author also described how a program of color coating the i-pads, cleaning the screens, and controlling the inventory.  The improvement that the i pads made in the library is almost tangible.  One common praise that librarians had about the new i-pads is how much faster that the i-pads turned on, booted up, and were ready to use compared to the older laptops and PCs in the libraries.  The article then went on to state how the i-pads have been helping students who are struggling readers improve their skills.  The i-pads were also said to help the less vocal children speak up in class since the activities and projects that are done on the i-pads are inspiring the students to be excited about what they have accomplished on the i-pads.  A principle is quoted as saying that "The i-pads provide the opportunity for students to create projects that allow further dialog, whether it be with students in their classrooms, other schools, or even other countries."  In conclusion, the author sums up the article by saying that "We've found that i-pods have allowed us to put our digital resourses directly in the hands of our students in 1:1 environments to support learning, research, and recreational learning."

Question 1:  The article is very supportive of the idea of i-pads, what could be the drawbacks to i-pads?  

     Children are inherently irresponsible, forgetful, and often rough with things that are not their own.  I-pads can easily be lost, damaged, and forgotten, causing stress in parents, educators, and students.  As a student who had a textbooks stolen, but was blamed for losing it, it caused enough distress that I still remember it 20 years later.  Plus, these things are expensive and no one will want to front the bill for a lost or damaged i-pad.  Plus, all electronic devices fail at some point or another, as a parent I know how children can react when an device that provides overloads of stimulation suddenly fails.  Often it results in violent reactions and temper tantrums, just like with a teenager and a crashed x-box. 

Question 2:  What are the other advantages of the i-pads that were not mentioned in the article?

     The i-pads could be a great way for groups of children to work collaboratively on assignments and use software like face time and skype to communicate and share ideas with other schools and classes.  They could also be useful for students who can't afford home computer and it could allow them to learn the technology necessary to stay up to date with educational technology.