Group items tagged

I really connect to theory through hearing about practice. In this article by Tom Whitby for Edutopia, he shares 6 different stories from 6 different educators who have begun to engage with online professional learning networks. I connected to this article because I had the same path as many of these educators. Whether it was the teacher who heard someone at a conference or the 29 year veteran who found herself in a 1:1 MacBook class, they all began peripherally and then developed into active participants in their online PLNs. This article is a pretty good setup for our upcoming adventures.

It was interesting to see most of their stories had to do with Twitter. I have resisted Twitter for so long because I do not understand it at all! Guess it's time to learn.

Reading personal stories from teachers really helps me see how educators are using Twitter, and other technologies, in the classroom. I appreciated reading the variety of ways these teachers use Twitter to communicate with students and connect with other educators professionally. I'm beginning to see the value of Twitter as a professional network builder!

This was an interesting article I found on the ISTE site where two educators provide two different points of view about whether teachers should have a professional social media presence. One writer say that teachers should absolutely have a social media presence so they can be models for their students while also broadening their own professional learning network. The other writer recognizes the amazing benefits of having a professional social media presence but also says that teacher's should not be required but rather educated in the benefits of social media for themselves and their students. This is a great article for looking at both sides of the social media presence coin and will lead to some good thinking on this topic of connectivism and professional learning networks online.

Jake, great resource! I often find that items that are mandated see more pushback from teachers even if the mandate is helpful. I think offering opportunities for teachers to learn and engage in social media will help build the grassroots movement and it will inevitably catch on.

Here is a link to my plan for improving my digital footprint and reputation.

Professional Learning Network (PLN) e-Course for Teachers

Discusses the origin of the concep to PLN's and how they morphed from PLE's to PLN's. Enforces the importance of learning a variety of web based applictions to create PLN's.

I found the diagram useful as well. I found the comparison of PLNs to ecosystem most interesting piece in this article. It provided with a valuable visual. #EdTechSN

The analogy to the gardener's ecosystem was very useful to help understand the concept.

Seamon states in this article that there is evidence that social communication (PLN) can strengthen human relationships, particularly for introverts. It may help foster family and business as well. It encompasses learning from feedback, insights, new contacts, and is based in reciprocity and trust. It is needed to increase the chance of higher levels of learning maturity.

The author addresses concerns about the feelings of isolation that can stem from the use of technology (in the sense that it is utilized to the exclusion of in-person connections) but makes sure to point out the benefits of technology as evidenced by Personal Learning Networks.

This interesting article about PLNs talks about the teaching strategy that says we are in a write/read culture and PLNs are a way of allowing students to be published on the web. He says that by allowing students to publish to the web even when their work is lacking, exposes them to other posts that are better and clearer than theirs. This will encourage them and give them more incentive to improve their own work. It is a good theory.

These are my 10 Be's for creating a positive online presence and growing my Personal Learning Network

This article focuses on what the authors call a 'personal learning space', which includes weblogs, portfolios and social networking. It exams groups dynamics and trust, privacy, and the information life cycle.

In this article, the author does some 'digging' in order to unearth the origins of PLNs

I like the use of the word "digging". It reminds me of onion metaphors where you peal back the layers to "reveal" the story. That is what I liked on this site, the different uses and definitions reveal what PLN's have been.

Suggestions on ways to maximize efficiency, reminders that telling/sharing may not be the same as facilitating, and examples of ways to turn routine activities into collaborative or connective activities.

I actually found myself getting excited about the thought of communicating with staff in a more effective and efficient way. So many times we attend staff meetings and have to take that time to read articles instead of using it to benefit our students' learning. I would love to see this changed SOON! #EdTechSN

Excellent realistic advice on how to make connections that will help your career without being overtly obnoxious.

I found this visual to be an interesting model of what happens below the surface in a collaborative setting. Networking and building up a PLN certainly seem to be core activities, but as Berg mentions, it's often not recognized or valued.

I like how this source provided a unique way to look at collaboration. Collaboration is a skill that I am always trying to instill in my students. I also enjoyed that they included the graphic to help the reader understand the concept as well.

Renee, I appreciate you including this blog post with our Diigo collection of resources. This idea of the iceberg makes so much sense. It remembers me a lot of research surrounding language learning as well. There is so much below the surface that is hard to articulate or appreciate. This visual will be very helpful as I work with my teachers and admin next year. It is important that professionals understand that within PLNs there is a lot that happens that cannot be seen, yet it is these powerful connections and interactions that will most effective a teacher's practice

A description of personal knowledge management and how it looks

The author discusses the paradigm shift of collaborative learning networks from school organized meeting to less formal communities of practices gathering through social media networks. Additionally, he discusses the need to remain connected for the benefit of the students.

This is an interesting article about how teachers used to work with one another such as going to conferences and having meeting with others in their field. Then it moves on to how they can get the same information from there PLN. This is a way to save time and money for a school district since it is all done virtual. But it also talks about how since we as teacher learned in a time without PLN we are more likely to shy away from them.

This article delivered clear and concise benefits of PLN's. These benefits included customized learning, improved online collaboration and lack of geographic barriers.

In this article, Warlick explains how to grow your personal learning network in order to avoid information overload. He gives great tips on how to aggregate information that comes to you, instead of spending all of your time trying to find information. He also gives tips on how to cultivate your network.