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"What is a PLN? If I had to define what a 'Personal Learning Network' is, I would keep it simple and broad: n. - the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online. Personal Learning Networks, or PLNs, have been around forever. Originally, they were your family and friends, maybe other educators you worked with, but as the internet and web 2.0 tools have become nearly ubiquitous, PLNs can include tons of different communities - social networking sites like Facebook, blogs, Twitter, wikis, social bookmarking tools, LinkedIn, and so many more. Basically, anyone that you interact with is apart of your PLN, whether they are social contacts, professional peers, or experts in their field. Most of the 'learning' takes place on-line now, because it is simple to find and connect with others with similar interests from around the world."

LearnCentral is a new social learning network for education, sponsored by Elluminate. More than a social network or a learning community, this free, open environment represents the next logical step of combining asynchronous social networking and the ability to store, organize, and find educational resources with the live, online meeting and collaboration provided by Elluminate technology. Not just for Elluminate customers, LearnCentral is for any educator who is passionate about teaching and learning and wants to find and connect with like-minded colleagues to share content, develop best practices, and collaborate on a global level. While still in its early stages, LearnCentral has the potential to make a significant historical difference in how educators work together for professional development in their own careers.

"If you're an educator, parent, or anyone thinking about education, the Thinkfinity Community can help you: ORGANIZE - Use the My Stuff page to save your favorite Thinkfinity lesson plans, interactives and resources so they're always at your fingertips. SHARE - Visit Thinkfinity Discussion Forums to talk to other parents and educators - share ideas, resources, and useful advice. CONNECT - The Thinkfinity Community can help you create a network of colleagues, friends, and industry experts."

GROU.PS is a social applications platform that gives you all the tools you need to keep your online community connected. More formally, we call our product a social groupware - some also call it DIY social network, or white label social network. But technically speaking, we prefer the term social operating system to describe what we do here. GROU.PS gives you a bunch of modules that you choose from and mash up very easily! You can enrich your site with blocks too; blocks allow you to copy/paste 3rd party widgets into your site.

Schoology provides an enterprise level learning management system and configurable social network. Instructors and students can easily create, share, and manage academic material through a social networking interface. By incorporating learning management tools into a social environment, Schoology provides a means for teachers, students, parents, and administrators to seamlessly communicate and collaborate on academic issues.

The aim of this site is to help you gain the skills to build your own personal learning network (PLN)! pln3.jpgPersonal Learning Networks (PLNs) are all about using web tools such as blogs, wiki, twitter, facebook to create connects with others which extend our learning, increases our reflection while enabling us to learn together as part of a global community. PLNs increase our opportunities to ask questions and receive help compared to our normal daily face-to-face interactions.

"The March/April issue of L&L is chock full of great information. Be sure to read David Warlick's article, "Grow Your Personal Learning Network," which discusses new information and communication technologies that can keep you connected and help you manage information overload."

"Teaching students to learn from and with each other is a wise acknowledgment that more and more, students are relying on their peers for information. Sixty-five percent of Americans aged 12-17 and 67 percent of those aged 18-32 use social networking sites, according to the Pew Research Center. Students' lives are infused with each other's viewpoints. Teachers and professors like Parry and Camplese are taking group work to the next logical step: incorporating social media into their classrooms. In lieu of fighting teens' use of networking sites, they are communicating with students in a language that they understand. "

Built for tweens, Everloop is the next step beyond social networking, to what we call social looping. Tweens really shouldn't be on open, social networks. Everloop's "social looping" platform - the first of its kind -- creates a privacy loop around kids' connections. It's totally free. And kids are free from anonymous intruders. They can participate in collaborative learning and school projects, share information about their sports teams and clubs, play games, customize their profile pages, and communicate in real time with friends they know who are part of their loop. There is so much negativity around kids and their online behavior. But we all know that good things come from collaborating with each other, sharing information, and connecting with people who have the same interests we have. So at Everloop, we're recognizing that kids want to be online, and our goal is to get kids' online time focused on connecting with a purpose. Through the partnerships we're signing, Everloop will be the platform kids groups use to actively promote, entertain, and inform. Loaded with educational resources, entertainment opportunities, and apps, we'll foster content sharing, innovation, and entrepreneurial development. All within a private loop. As kids interests grow, their loops can intersect with other loops - but never without the knowledge of their parents, who have their own console login and can monitor behavior at whatever level they decide is appropriate for their children. They are always informed before a child tries to expand his or her loop, and they are always in control.

The Inclusive Schools Network (ISN) is a web-based resource for families, schools and communities that promotes inclusive educational practices. This resource has grown out of Inclusive Schools Week™, an internationally-recognized annual event sponsored by Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). ISN's mission is "to encourage, embolden and empower people to design and implement effective inclusive schools, by sharing insights and best practices and by providing opportunities for connection." ISN provides year-round opportunities for families and educators around the world to network and build their knowledge of inclusive education.

At the core of FreshBrain is an open and free web site freshbrain.org that provides teens with the opportunity to explore, engage, and create through activities and projects. FreshBrain takes advantage of the latest technologies, such as web conferencing and social networking, to provide a very progressive environment where teens can complete activities and work together on projects. This experience is enhanced with Advisors, available to support and mentor teens who are working on projects, with the intention of increasing the likelihood of success. In addition, FreshBrain provides teens with tools and training in the latest technologies to complete these projects. Providing the latest tools in technology, and a social interactive networking environment, has enabled teens to explore, create, and share with others. A result of pulling these two key online arenas together into one solution has enabled FreshBrain to attract teens comfortable with technology and communicating online. Creations from FreshBrain users range from music videos to logo designs.

"About Our Motivation: Challenges and opportunities, created by our global society, invite teachers, administrators, and students to rethink the way they teach, lead, and learn. The rise of social networking, the ease with which information is shared, and the growth of our global economy are just a few factors that have made it obvious that the 21st century is a much different world than the 20th century. And yet, when we take a good, hard look at the culture within our schools, do we see that much has changed from yesterday to today? We may see more technology used in the classroom and maybe more discussions on the "content vs. skills" debate in the faculty rooms. But underneath it all, have things really changed? Have we successfully forged a culture where life-long learning, personal growth, and collaboration are valued and practiced among all members of the school community? In Richard DuFour's article "Why Look Elsewhere?: Improving Schools from Within," he states that "it is context-the beliefs, expectations, behaviors and norms that constitute the culture of a given school-that plays the largest role in deciding whether a professional development program will make a difference in that school." If a school's goal is to improve student achievement, and a school considers learning to be the crux of its community, then effective professional development-where teachers and administrators themselves become learners-is the bridge to achieving that goal."

The "Top 25" Web sites foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. * Organizing and Managing * Content Collaboration * Curriculum Sharing * Media Sharing * Virtual Environments * Social Networking and Communication

Welcome to the Future of Education discussion community. Thanks for being here! This community is devoted to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas with others. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic.

The WikiEducator is an evolving community intended for the collaborative: * planning of education projects linked with the development of free content; * development of free content on Wikieducator for e-learning; * work on building open education resources (OERs) on how to create OERs. * networking on funding proposals developed as free content.

Eyejot is the first, comprehensive, client-free online video messaging platform ideal for both personal and business communications. It offers everyone the ability to create and receive video messages in a self-contained, spam-free environment. With no client to install, you can start using Eyejot immediately with any browser, on any platform. It even features built-in support for iTunes™ (and iPods™), mobile devices and social networks like MySpace™.

"This is an online community for elementary teachers to exchange ideas, activities and resources. "

Collaborate and expand your network Share projects, knowledge and feedback Learn from your peers and our experts

A listing of social networks used in educational environments or for educational purposes. Please add to this list (alphabetical by category and within categories).

"The aim of the social network is to build a community of learners for the purpose of connecting and engaging people of all cultures in collaborative lifelong learning. We suggest you edit your profile, add your picture, invite friends and/or start (in your preferred language) your own public or private groups, events, discussions, photos. videos, blog posts, and have fun! "