When I first thought about what a personal or professional learning network is, I was only thinking that it was something that people did to help others. For some reason I didn't think about how it could help me. I also didn't realize that Facebook and Twitter were considered PLN's. The podcast was very informative and helped me to realize exactly why PLN's are great for teachers. A PLN is something that can continuously improve pedagogy because teachers are learning new ways to teach students. They also offer a great way to collaborate with other teachers not only from the United States, but from all over the world. I think that this is an extremely important detail about PLN's because of how connected the world is today and how much we are encouraged to learn about different cultures and ways of thinking. This could be great in order to find new ways of reaching students that may be working well in other countries who are seeing promising results.
Another thing I learned about PLN's, that was quite obvious looking back, was the fact that learning can happen from anywhere at any time. Plus, by customizing your PLN, you don't really have to search for the things you're looking for. Facebook always has a way of keeping me interested by bringing the information to me so that I don't have to look for things that I'm interested in or needing. In a way it's kind of creepy because of how they cater to your likes and tastes in things, but it's also kind of neat how it's just right there at your fingertips. It makes it much quicker to find the tools and resources we need as teachers while also allowing us to reflect upon our own teaching constantly. This is something I need to do more of and think that by creating a Twitter account and trying to connect to more educators looking to help, I will be able to expand my knowledge of what will help my students to succeed and how I can become a better educator overall.
It is awesome when info that you're interested in comes to you, as it does with Twitter and Facebook. RSS Readers can do this with updates from news sites and blogs and such. Unfortunately, Google Reader was discontinued last summer. However, there are other alternatives, for example Feedly.
ReplyDeleteI still collaborate with my undergraduate classmates. We have a group on Facebook that we use to ask questions and to give each other ideas. It has definitely been a great resource to me. It is good to have a pipeline to reach out to when you may have a question about something or want to learn something new.
ReplyDeleteJulie - upon initially considering social media, I also was taken back that these could be considered PLN. When I typically think of these resources, I use them to keep in touch with friends or family. However, after evaluating the true meaning of a PLN I realized these resources can serve the same purpose for PLN. Using social media to make connections also can allow me to share resources, or information with teachers I may not traditional have the opportunity to integrate with. As the only computer teacher within my district, this also can allow me to gain additional resources from other computer teachers. A teacher within my district was even able to create epals project with her elementary class using connections and ideas that she gained through her social media PLN.
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