How to cultivate a personal learning network. Growing your PLN with Twitter. Powerful Learning Practice is passionate about transforming education in the 21st century.
We believe in helping educators create a strong network (PLN) where their voice and ideas can be shared. When you set out to create a strong PLN, one of the easiest (and most productive) platforms is Twitter. With Twitter, you can quickly share an idea or ask for a suggestion in a matter of seconds. The video below (created by Common Craft) provides a good introduction: Like all social networking tools, how you decide to use Twitter is entirely up to you! Regardless of your preference, we encourage you to start using Twitter today (if you aren’t already). To help you leverage your 140 characters and make the most of your time, here are a few tips and tricks: 1.
Usernames can be changed (w/o loss of data,) but it’s better to stick with one from the beginning so you don’t confuse your followers.If you choose something short, it will make it easier for others to retweet your posts. 2. 3. 4. 5. Skills for Solving Information Overload...Life Skills for Digital Citizenship. Thoughtful Learning: Curriculum for 21st Century Skills, Inquiry, Project-based Learning, and Problem-based Learning. You may have heard colleagues talk about their PLNs—their personal learning networks—or you may have one of your own.
But just what is a personal learning network, and why is it so helpful for educators? What is a PLN? A personal learning network consists of the people, places, and things that help you learn. By definition, every lifelong learner has a PLN, whether the person realizes it or not. What is a PLN, anyway? A good friend (and a great teacher) e-mailed me after my last post.
“Great links,” she said. “But what’s a PLN?” A good reminder about why I try to avoid acronyms and jargon in my writing. PLN is an acronym for Personal Learning Network. The acronym is relatively new, but the idea is not. The structure of my PLN has changed since I first started teaching. The pre-Internet 80s Yes, there was an internet of sorts in the 80s, but I wasn’t on it. My PLN was very small—the teachers in my school, a few colleagues from graduate school, workshop presenters. The e-mail 90s I sent my first e-mail message in 1995. My PLN got a little bigger in the 90s. The social 2000s For information junkies, this decade has been amazing. The biggest change has been in the way I meet and communicate with people in my PLN. 23 Resources about Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) Part of the Cool Sites series For the past year, I have researched the what, who, when, how, and why of Personal/Professional/Passionate Learning Networks (PLNs).
We have seen the benefits of the people we choose to connect, collaborate, and problem solve with through social media. The educators, subject matter experts (SMEs), authors, and mentors we choose to derive knowledge from help us self-reflect on our methodologies and beliefs. They support us, remember our birthdays, celebrate our accomplishments, and stir within us a passion to improve the status quo.
Many might argue we are an echo chamber, but I don’t really believe this. Personal Learning Networks 101. For most of the summer I have been working on a book with Bill Ferriter and Jason Ramsden entitled Essentials for Principals: Social Media.
The book will be published by Solution Tree Press. As I was working on the professional development section the other day I delved into the topic of Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s). Now I fully realize that the majority of educators immersed in social media understand the importance of a PLN and how to establish one. Well, this post is not for you, but instead for a teacher or administrator that you work with that needs either a a little push to set one up or further explanation on it’s value. The concept of a PLN has been around for a very long time. Most educators I talk to have no idea where to begin when attempting to create a PLN that meets their teaching and learning needs. Twitter: Microblogging platform that allows educators from all corners of the globe to communicate in 140 characters or less. Cialis purchase online. Developing Presence. PLN. 6 Quick Ways Teachers Can Be Hip. If you’re a teacher and a reader of Edudemic, you’re a hip cat.
But what about those teachers and other educators who DON’T read Edudemic? Believe it or not, there are some out there. This post is for them. In an effort to keep all teachers pursuing the best possible ways to integrate education and technology, we thought it might be good to take another look at ways teachers can be hip. By ‘hip’ I simply mean that a teacher is aware of trends and actively engaging to stay on top of what his or her students need. 1. Twitter is the de facto place for education professionals and students to easily meet, interact, and exchange ideas online. For example, you may have been excited to teach your students about why the sky is blue and your fellow tweeting teachers may point out that Gizmodo recently posted about this very topic and they have a concise description of why the sky is blue.
Did you notice those hashtags at the end of that example tweet?