How to Create a Robust and Meaningful Personal Learning Network [PLN] This post describes how educators can develop a personal learning network that supports meaningful and relevant learning. The MOOC, Education Technology & Media, etmooc, is used here as a working example of how to develop a PLN. “My Personal Learning Network is the key to keeping me up-to-date with all the changes that are happening in education and how technology can best support and engage today’s students.” A visual image of participants in an open, online course- etmooc, which shows the potential to find and create personal connections as part of one’s PLN. I wrote a post recently about how to develop a personal learning environment [PLE], the need and benefits of doing so, for educators in particular. What is a PLN? Twitter 6×6 (Photo credit: Steve Woolf) PLN versus PLE The personal learning network can be a rich source of learning that fosters connections that become part of our professional development as the quotation at the beginning of the post from Metcalfe describes.
Your Most Powerful Search Engine is Your Personal Learning Network (PLN) The use of search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing for research is commonplace in today’s online world. In fact, many of us go to these sites instantly when the need to find something first arises, be it something as trivial as finding out when a movie is playing, or as part of a multi-million dollar workplace project. These search engines have redefined how we find information, and quickly become the primary way in which many people perform research. But not for me. I still use these search engines for low-impact searches. In a world of ever-increasing search engine optimization, my personal learning network still delivers in ways that Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other search engine never can. Google and search engines like it are very powerful. My Personal Learning Network enables me to get to information that is more tailored to my preferences, because they have a better understanding of the lens through which I am viewing the world.
Using Twitter as a Professional Development Tool Last week during a discussion about design, Jeanette Campos asked me a fairly is simple question: What are the three artifacts that have shaped you most as a designer of creative learning solutions to complex problems? Immediately one word came to mind: Twitter. It isn't the tool itself that has been so impact full for me; it's the world to which Twitter opened up to me. I started my career as a learning and performance professional much the same way many in our field do: without any training or education on what it means to work in this field. It's a challenge for individuals and for the industry as a whole. I recall those early years well. Then I discovered Twitter. To be fair, it was social media in general that enabled me to extend beyond the walls of my organization and connect with others externally in the field. I connected with a few individuals at first. Wikipedia defines Personal Learning Networks as: Every learning and performance professional should have a PLN.
Personal Learning Networks (PLN) = An Attitude of Gratitude | Learning in the White Space Anyone who believes they got where they are by her- or himself is pretty much lying. We all have someone who helped us get here. In my case, I have a whole host of “someones”. And I would be remiss if I didn’t say so. I hope you know who you are, as they are too numerous to mention here. (note to self: send out many, many written thank you’s!) To begin, I don’t think Betty G had any idea of the gift she gave me so many years ago. As I built my career in training, learning, facilitation, design and development, I made connections. Fast forward to early 2010 when this little thing called Twitter came into my world. Friendships have formed with people in the learning field, whether we’ve ever met in person or not. As someone who works from my home, having connections is important, especially with my fellow “training managers”. PLN: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!! Like this: Like Loading... Author: dawnjmahoney What do you want to know?
What is a PLE and a PLN? | Gertrude Cotter In our Digital Humanities course we were asked to talk about our experience of Personal Learning Environments and Personal Learning Networks. Talk about being new to a field of study! I had never come across either a PLE or a PLN. I had to explore a little and here are some of the sites that have begun to throw light on this for me. I was looking for sites that could Explain in simple language what PLEs and PLNs are.Are they the same or different? I’m generally a fairly practical person and I wouldn’t see the point in looking for sites unless they showed me how to do “this”. Site 1: I liked this site because it explained simply what a PLN is and what a PLE is. How to Create a Robust and Meaningful Personal Learning Network [PLN] We find definitions…and ones that are not too long or complicated and they show how PLEs and PLNs are different yet linked.
What is a PLN? (and why would I want to know?) | Digital Learning Team If you’ve never heard of a PLN, the funny thing is that you probably have one, and are part of one, already. PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. Originally this may have consisted of a few friends you met at teaching college with whom you shared ideas and resources, then you added in a few members of staff in the schools where you taught, teachers you met at courses, and so it grew. The internet and online collaborative tools have allowed us to broaden these networks so that we can find and interact with people who share the same interests and questions, no matter where in the world they are. As you’ve made it to our blog, then we’re probably part of your PLN! 35 Ways To build Your Personal Learning Network Online This blog post by Katie Lepi at Edudemic is brilliant. Click here to see some PLN social media tools collated using Pinterest Like this: Like Loading...
edtech VISION - edtech VISION Martha Thornburgh and I are presenting “What is a PLN and why do I need one” at the upcoming NCCE 2010 conference in Seattle. We are fleshing out some of our ideas for our session so I thought I would blog some of our ideas. A PLN is a Personal Learning Network. A PLN is a reciprocal network that you create to learn from, connect with, gather information or resources, create with and finally share what you have learned. A PLN can occur in your school, face-to-face, online, at conferences or through reading, reflecting and sharing. The benefits of having a PLN? Teaching can be a very isolating profession. It can take time to build up an active PLN – so don’t get discouraged. Our session plan is explain how to develop a PLN and then share various tools that can make that happen. “Twitter is the water cooler of the Internet” ~Neil Chambers
Establishing Your Professional Learning Network (PLN) One reason I became a librarian is that I’ve always loved learning anything and everything and I realized I really wanted to learn new things every day for the rest of my life. I figured the best way to maximize my time would be to make sure I worked in a field committed to continued learning. I’ve never been happier with my choice and I’ve never had so much to learn! Every time I talk to a new grad from any field, my number one piece of advice is to establish that Professional Learning Network (PLN). But how does one establish their PLN? Below I’ve listed 5 online tools that help me build my PLN and inspire me on a daily basis. Twitter Even if you’re not sure how to use it yet or you don’t know how often you would post something, set up a Twitter account. Pinterest Ah Pinterest. Webinars/Slideshare/Prezi/etc. I don’t know about you but I love professional development. YouTube You can learn a lot of things on YouTube. Blogs
My #LearningStyles Awakening Let’s get this out of the way quickly. I don’t believe there’s value in designing learning experiences to cater to individual learning styles. Please keep reading anyway, especially if you disagree with that statement. This post is less about my conclusion and more about the journey I took to reach it. I’ve heard about learning styles a number of times since I entered the field. And in that was my first mistake. Let’s start with the concept of ‘everything I read’. I don’t think I’m a unique learning and performance professional in making that mistake, and it’s a mistake we make in plenty of areas outside of Learning Styles. As time went on, I read more things about learning styles, seeing different models and assessment tools that I could leverage. I never went so far as to intentionally design a course to accommodate a learning style, but the acceptance of learning styles as having impact no doubt shaped many of the design decisions I did make. Learning Styles Don’t Exist.
Sometimes You Just Need to Meet Your PLN Face-to-Face I’m back! Did you miss me? After a 5 week holiday with my husband @TigerTex1 we are now back home, over the jet lag and begrudgingly settled into our routine of work and home. We did a Trafalgar guided tour of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. We saw beautiful countryside and rugged coastlines. We were in awe of the cathedrals and castles. However one of the most memorable highlights of our time in the UK was not actually on tour, it was meeting my Personal Learning Network (PLN) in London. Lesley Price (@LesleyPrice) from the Learning Performance Institute was kind enough to organise a tweetup (#LPITweetUp) when she found out I was going to the UK. So my long “Would Like to Meet” list for Lesley became a handful of those who lived and worked in or near London. But all was not lost. The Twittersphere was abuzz. On the day of the tweetup, I was excited but slightly anxious. I was having a ‘Digital Dualism Conundrum‘ Slowly people arrived and introductions made. “OMG.
Why You Need a PLN, and How to Develop One: Resources Shared at #PSUWeb At the 2014 Web Conference at Penn State, I led a discussion titled Why You Need a PLN, and How to Develop One. Here’s a description of the session: People are not learning exclusively from conventional sources like courses and classrooms anymore. In truth, we never did, but there’s a growing awareness of the small percentage of learning that comes from formal means as compared to informal means. This network of resources is commonly referred to as a Personal Learning Network (or PLN), and it is one of the most powerful learning tools in a networked world. Discussion topics include: Discover the value of personal learning networksExplore the many ways individuals can build and strengthen a personal learning networkHow to use social media to strategically target, connect, and engage with individuals and resources that can enhance professional developmentHow personal learning networks can be leveraged and scaled across an organization Session Slides What is a PLN (Personal Learning Network)?
PLE - einfach (Beschreibung siehe Kommentar) Bridge to Learning - Educational Research Ten days ago I had an email from Alexander Mikroyannidis from the UK Open University. “Together with some colleagues from the EU project ROLE ( he said, “I’m preparing a book to be published by Springer. It will be entitled “Personal Learning Environments in Practice” and it will present the results of applying PLEs in different test-beds in the project. For each chapter, we have invited an external expert to provide a 2-page commentary that will also be published in the book. How could I refuse? Research and development in learning technologies is a fast moving field. Even when Learning Management Systems were in their prime, there was evidence of serious issues in their use. As mobile technologies have become increasingly powerful and, at least in some countries, internet access has become increasingly ubiquitous, learners use their own devices for learning and are not confined to institutional facilities. Reference Vygotsky, L.