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.
No comments:
Post a Comment