Personalized Learning Networks and the Power of Connected Educators. When I was in 4th grade, I had a pen pal who lived a vast 10 miles away. We wrote about our pets, what we liked to do, our favorite subjects, our favorite food. Perfect for a 4th grader. In high school, I exchanged letters with a student from West Germany, intending to learn about another culture (in reality, it was idle chat to get a grade). Fun, but the letters took forever to go back and forth, and it was rather hard to figure out what to talk about. As I aged and technology began to outpace me tenfold, I moved through a DOS email system to AOL, from high levels of caution and alarm, to sensible guidelines and security measures. In today’s world, it’s hardly an effort for me to chat online regularly with my brother in Singapore if the timing is right.
Accessibility, information, and knowledge have reached unfathomable capacity, such that oceans and time zones are no longer factors like 10 miles was to my 4th grade self. The most exciting part? Personalized Google. Stay positive! What Is A Personal Learning Network? What Is A Personal Learning Network? By TeachThought Staff What is a personal learning network, or rather a Personal Learning Network? How about a Professional Learning Network?
In the video below, Marc-André Lalande offers a concise, useful definition that simplifies the idea from hashtags and movements and social engagement and badges and, well, all the buzzwords you hear, into a clear explanation that works not just within education, but any field. “A Personal Learning Network is a way of describing the group of people that you connect with to learn their ideas, their questions, their reflections, and their references. Your PLN is not limited to online interactions, but it is that online, global interactive part that really makes it special. It is personal because you choose who’s part of that group; you choose if you want to lurk–just check out what people are saying–or if you share; because you choose when to do so, and how to do so.” What Is A Personal Learning Network?
What Are The Top EdTech Tools For Personalized Learning? Personalized learning is an ambitious concept that engages students of different backgrounds, interests, and ability levels to champion their educational success. Without educational technology ranging from digital content to adaptive learning software it would be difficult and extremely resource-intensive to implement. We have been conducting a survey to learn the best practices of schools around the world as they implement personalized learning programs. One of the areas that the survey probes is technology for personalized learning. Results are still coming in, but we took an early peek at the data to help those planning to get started or even in the early stages of their personal learning implementations. Please share your thoughts and experiences of personalized learning by taking our short survey. At the core of personalized learning are a range of digital content and the personal devices that display and interact with it.
Learning Management Systems. The Best Tools for Nurturing Your Personal Learning Network. If you're an educator of any level, you know the importance of maintaining a great personal learning network, a lifeline in the digital age. It doesn't matter if you're a teacher, administrator, or any other form of educator—a personal learning network sustains and nurtures you in many ways.
Developing your own personal learning network gives you flexibility to get information on your own terms. You're no longer only limited to just the professional opportunities that your school provides. Social media and other online tools have broken down the barriers to learning; this is just as true for teachers as it is students. You have much more control in your own professional development nowadays.
Let's look at some of the finest avenues for support in sharpening your career and craft. 1. Wabisabi is a global community of educators just like you. 2. LinkedIn is currently the world's biggest professional network. 3. Twitter is a great starting point for teachers. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Additional Reading. How Do I Get a PLN? What is a PLN? Will Richardson was the first person to clearly explain to me about six or seven years ago what a PLN was. Back then, PLN stood for Professional, or Personal Learning Network.
A better label today, one that might quiet the nitpickers, is Personalized Learning Network -- the shift in nuance maintains that participants are both personal and professional learners. A PLN is a tool that uses social media and technology to collect, communicate, collaborate and create with connected colleagues anywhere at any time. Participating educators, worldwide, make requests and share resources. Each individual educator becomes a potential source of information. Collecting these sources in a location to access them is the PLN. PLNs Develop Thought Leaders Many early adopters of the PLN have gone on to become thought leaders in education, not surprising given that PLNs seem to promote a great deal of reflection and collaboration. Barriers to Mass Adoption PLNs Are Collaboration PLN Resources.
10 ways to help students develop a PLN… There has been some discussion lately about the precise meaning of the term PLN. I’m not sure why it matters actually. Like any other word in the dictionary (!) , it has more than one definition and might mean different things to different people… My PLN is my ‘personal learning network’. It comprises the people I learn with and from, some face-to-face and others online, around the globe. They challenge me and make me think. They share with me, support me and collaborate with me. As teachers begin to let go of ‘the old way’, to relinquish control and allow kids to take responsibility for their own learning, students too need to develop a PLN. 10 ways to support students in developing a PLN… Start simply… 1. Provide opportunities for students to engage with their in-class PLN. 2. Don’t do all the talking. 3.
Model what good learning looks like and sounds like. 4. Let them work with students from other classes. 5. Create global connections. 6. Invite speakers from your local community. 7. Curation as a tool for teaching and learning (with images) · hbailie. “A curator is an expert learner. Instead of dispensing knowledge, he creates spaces in which knowledge can be created, explored, and connected.” (Siemens, 2007). According to Boyd (2010) curators help people to focus their attention on the most relevant and important information streams. Valenza (2011) tells us to take advantage of the work of others passionate about a topic and use their curated work as a search tool. Fiorelli (2011) describes content curators as “critical knowledge brokers”. Librarians, journalists, and teachers have always curated: they evaluate, select, collect, present, and promote material for their users, readers and students; but these days curation is becoming an important activity for a broad range of people and for a variety of reasons and purposes.
So what is curation? Teacher as Curator: Capture and Organize Learning Materials with Web 2.0 Tools - Ted Curran.net. In the 21st Century world of abundant free educational content, teachers are challenged to shed the role of “content area expert” and adopt the role of “content curator”. Part of the shifting role of teachers from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side” means spending less time lecturing at students and more time supporting them to successfully access and think critically about content. Content curation is nothing new to teachers– whether it’s maintaining a great classroom library, hurriedly photocopying a great article you found, or organizing PDFs and YouTube videos in your online course, a big part of the job is creating an organized path through the best materials you know of. The objective here is to build up an enduring library of high quality web links, videos, articles, and online activities that “fit together” and are easy to consume as a collection.
It’s not the tool, it’s how you use it The first step of curating good content is finding it. Capture Where You Read Like this: 20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network - Getting Smart by Miriam Clifford. “20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network” by Miriam Clifford first appeared on the InfomED blog. Networking is a prime form of 21st century learning. The world is much smaller thanks to technology. Learning is transforming into a globally collaborative enterprise. Take for example scientists; professional networks allow the scientific community to share discoveries much faster. Just this month, a tech news article showcased how Harvard scientists are considering that “sharing discoveries is more efficient and honorable than patenting them.” This idea embodies the true spirit of a successful professional learning network: collaboration for its own sake. As educators, we aim to be connected to advance our craft.
Learning networks are based on the theory of connectivism, or learning from diverse social webs. What are some ways to grow your PLN and improve the quality of your interactions? 10 Tips For Using PLN’s Keep the spirit of collaboration as your driving force. 3 Steps for Building a Professional Learning Network. Published Online: December 31, 2014 —Photo by Sean Chaffey, via Flickr Creative Commons By Brianna Crowley Recently, a colleague asked me, “What is a PLN?” She was taking a graduate course on technology implementation and was required to form a “PLN” using digital communities and tools. But after signing up for various wikis, Nings, and virtual professional groups, she was overwhelmed: “Do I have to actually log in and check all of these things on a regular basis?!
Her question prompted me to articulate how I define a professional learning network (PLN) and how I have shaped my own. A professional learning network is a vibrant, ever-changing group of connections to which teachers go to both share and learn. Teachers build PLNs the same way they build any network: by investing time to find and connect with people they trust, who have shared interests and passions. Although technology is often the vehicle to build connections, a PLN is about relationships. Step One: Find the Professionals. Personal Learning Networks for Educators: 10 Tips - Getting Smart by Guest Author - EdTech.
By Dr. Mark Wagner I often begin my workshop on personal learning networks (PLN) for educators by asking these questions: Who is in your learning network? Who do you learn from on a regular basis? Who do you turn to for your own professional development? I usually ask these questions at conferences, which are frequently only annual events – and rare treats for many educators. Learning to Network and Networking to Learn 1. 2. 3. 4. Networking Tools and Anecdotes The four tips above are the core activities of building a personal learning network, and they can be applied using various tools to connect with others online. 5. 6. 7. 8. Final Thoughts These final two tips will help keep your initial frustrations in perspective, and help you avoid the temptation to focus on unimportant metrics as you grow your network. 9. 10. Note: For more on this topic, you might also want to explore Jeff Utecht’s book Reach: Building Communities and Networks for Professional Development.
Step 1: What is a PLN? – Teacher Challenges. Welcome to our professional learning series on building a PLN. This series guides you step by step through the process of setting up your own PLN. The aim of this first step is to: Explain what is a PLN.Help you understand why educators create their own PLN. The following information on PLN was co-written by Michael Graffin, a relief/substitute teacher and blogger from Western Australia. You can check out Michael’s original “What the heck is a PLN” post here. What is a PLN? The word “PLN” stands for “Personal Learning Network”, and it has its origins in connectivism theory (Siemens, G. & Downes, S., 2005). Let’s take this a little further… The Personal: Having a PLN is about making connections and building personal relationships with teachers, school administrators, university professors, and experts around the world. The Learning: Having a PLN is about sharing ideas and resources, collaboration, and learning.
What is a PLN Video Watch this video to learn more about what is a PLN. Your Task. 50 Great Ways to Grow Your Personal Learning Network. Personal learning networks have always existed, but modern technology has put a new spin on how and where we connect with others. These days, personal learning networks, or PLNs, extend far beyond friends, family, coworkers, college classmates, and teachers, and can encompass experts and learners from around the world in just about any given field. Through social networks, email, video, and online chats, learners can connect with and learn from a wider range of people than ever before, yet building a successful PLN that doesn't overwhelm you can be challenging. With so much information out there, it can be hard to know whom to follow, what to read, and how to fit it all into your daily schedule.
Here, we offer some tips that can help you not only build and grow a better PLN, but also get more out of the experience and give more back to your online community. The Basics These basics will help you get started with creating and building your PLN. Seek out experts on the web. Useful Tools. 20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network. Guide to Building a Professional Learning Network by Torrey Trust.