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Professional Learning Networks for Teachers

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Networking is a prime form of 21 st 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. On another level, we hope to teach students to use networks to prepare for them for a changing job market. But what is the best way to approach PLNs?

Learning networks are based on the theory of connectivism, or learning from diverse social webs. Connectivism implies that learning relies on communicating ideas with others. PLNs facilitate learning through meaningful interactions. The advantages of PLNs today are two-fold. In one way, they can improve classroom teaching and help develop new projects. On the other hand, they act as a form of communal intelligence that changes societal perceptions.

What are some ways to grow your PLN and improve the quality of your interactions? As you will see, there are diverse ways to build your network and many new management tools. Here are some simple tips:

10 Tips For Using PLN's

1. Keep the spirit of collaboration as your driving force. PLNs are all about working together. Be reciprocal and resourceful. Don't think about what you have to gain, first think about what you have to give. Why? Because it's the right thing to do. By buying into the process and sharing useful information, your PLN grows naturally. Collaboration creates a common ground and allows others to see your interests. Genuine interest builds a solid, authentic network. Try to see the big picture of how your ideas can change the world. Social responsibility is the best kind of motivation for establishing a PLN.

2. Join an online community. Nings are online rings of people with similar interests. Sharing ideas and contacting people for direct feedback is more effective in a community setting. Communities such as, Classroom 2.0 and The Educator's PLN provide a meaningful circle of experts. They provide professional development resources, such as online events, and are a great place to start networking. Plus, using Mightybell, Edmodo, or Ning you can create your own virtual space to share pictures, documents, calendars, or projects.

3. Join a Meetup group. Meetups are common thread interest groups that meet in the real world. The groups can also extend in social networks. For instance, social studies teachers in your district or city might create a group to share teaching ideas. Meetups take online networks and bring them into the real world. And if you can't meet online try using a cyberspace, like Google+ HangOut, SecondLife, or Skype. Some university academics even have virtual labs on SecondLife.

4. Become a beacon of light. PLNs rely on open sharing of information. So if you know something, share it! It's best to start with a specific interest and then grow into other topics as time goes on. Become an expert in your niche by researching current trends. This will draw a larger following on your network, because you can provide a novel source of information. You might write a blog, start a Scoopit page to repost interesting articles, share a free tool, or create a Youtube video. Cater to your strengths and use what's comfortable for you.

5. Don't be afraid to ask questions. After all, PLNs are all about learning. But don't ask questions that you can easily research yourself. Try simple searches on TED talks, Wikis, blogs, or news articles before posting a question. Try to be specific and think of how a question might generate interest from others. For example, you may want to refer to an article or research study when asking a question. Be specific! This will generate the best answers.

6. Be an active participant. Brain power is the main asset of a PLN. Spend some time to identify a specific cause and communicate it on your profile. Let your knowledge of a specific cause help grow your PLN. Keep up to date with your niche. Stay relevant. Try to post at least once a week.

7. Remember to be polite and acknowledge contributions to the rightful owner. Show common respect for the people in your network. This may seem like common sense, but can be a pitfall. It took me some time to learn "web etiquette" over the years, but it has helped me tremendously. Send thank you notes, acknowledgements, and use your true voice. Not only does it make the other person's day, but it will help you gain more meaningful connections.

8. Designate a professional and personal account. I keep my social life on Facebook and my professional life on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. There can be some crossover, but it's best to keep it minimal so things are easy to find. Certain groups will appreciate different types of content. Your Facebook friends might find your baby's stories adorable, but your Twitter followers might not appreciate extra messages cluttering their inbox. Do this in ways that are comfortable to you. You might designate accounts for each sphere of your life.

9. Create a landing page. It may be a good idea to consolidate all of your accounts on a landing page. A webpage or personal blog will make it easier for people to find you. It will also create a space where you can showcase the different projects you are working on.

10. Engage newbies. It is best to include a mix of newbies, peers, and experts. Having this type of diversity in knowledge allows you to increase your mentoring skills. It keeps with the essence of collaboration. One blogger in Australia provided a great visual and commentary on how varying levels of expertise are vital to developing a meaningful PLN. He describes how he learned in a PLN learning MOOC that the 3'Rs have been replaced by the 3 C's Collaborate, Communicate, and Create. PLNS create new projects through the power of active collaboration.

10 Tools & Strategies for Establishing a Productive PLN

1. Use Diigo, Evernote, Pocket, or Delicious to bookmark links. You can access them anywhere and on any device. For example, Diigo is like creating your own personal library. Diigo is the preferred tool for educators.

It allows you to highlight paragraphs and clip pictures while you are reading.

You can bookmark a page in a "virtual" library or online archive, even PDFs or videos. You can add your own tags to search for information later.

Your entire school and class can add Diigo as a group, so that you can share resources. For example, a chemistry class might share a digital periodic table, online lessons, or practice assignments. Here is a great video about how to set up Diigo specifically for education. They have specific accounts for educators to create a shared school library.

2. Use a reader to subscribe to blogs. Google reader allows you to manage multiple subscriptions to blogs. This allows easier access to new research. You can also use an application like Scribd or Yahoo News Social to publically share what you read with others.

3. Establish your own platform. Consider establishing a blog site on WordPress or blogger.com. A blog provides a worldwide stage to share your views of education. You can spread your passion and find kindred spirits. From there, you can develop lasting connections and plan new projects. Fellow bloggers will appreciate the time you put into creating meaningful materials. Your ideas can be then be re-shared as a link. Many teachers keep class webpage or use applications such as PB works to share ideas.

4. Share on Twitter first. Twitter reigns king, for now.Anything can change with technology, but Twitter is the most commonly used tool among academics for expanding PLNs. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ also provide access to different types of networks.Later, you can use other tools to further expand and manage your network, such as Skype and Google tools. Many new platforms are emerging so stay current by reading tech or social media news on a site such as, Mashable.

5. Consider your role. The article "Individual Learning" sheds some light on learning roles. Consider your learning style when designing a specific approach to your PLN:

Activist-Learning by doing, such as writing a blog.

Reflector- Learn by reviewing situations, such as posting opinions to articles.

Theorist-Prefer to learn by researching information and data, such as by creating a model.

Pragmatist-Apply learning to real situations, such as by creating a project that uses PLNs in the classroom.

According to Wikipedia, PLN roles can include, " searcher, assemblator, designer of data, innovator of subject matter, and researcher".

6. Aggregate resources together. Applications like FlipToast and HootSuite allow you to merge all of your social media accounts into one interface. You may want to play around with different types of portals until you find the one that is right for you. Map out an organized plan for using your PLN. There is a great chart of resources for mapping out your PLN plan on this blog.

7. Take a free course to learn about PLNs. MOOCs are Massive Online Open Courses that are free to the public. For instance, this course complete with handouts shows you how to establish a PLN. You learn actively by taking small steps to create your PLN, such as creating a blog, twitter account, and content.

8. Stay current with new tools. For example, try Pearltrees.This is one of my favorite new tools for PLNs. Pearltrees is basically a visual organizer for your links. Pearls are collaborative and public. You can add pearls as you browse and share them with others on Twitter and Facebook. Customize your experience. There are many specific tools on different applications that allow you to customize and organize your PLN to fit your own needs. Chrome and Windows 8 have several free applications that are worth trying.

9. Simplify logins. You can speed up the log in process by installing a Password management application. To further simply your PLN, use Google to keep a shared document drive, email, chat, and Google+ networking in one place.

10. Establish a classroom learning network. Share your own expertise with other educators on a website or blog. Create a class website orteach students how to create their own PLN. You might want to design a classroom project that relies on using one aspect of PLNs. Doing so allows you to learn new ways to use PLNs. A YouTube video, The Networked Student, does an excellent job of explaining how a student might engage in a PLN. Teach students how to establish a PLN in small steps. For instance, they might use Google scholar to research a paper or share ideas on Google Hangouts.

PLNs are a powerful change agent. And in today's world an online professional learning network is indispensable. Technology allows easy access to an unparalleled network of professional resources. Growing your network can lead to opportunities for professional growth and help change the future of education.

Feel free to add the InformED team on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Miriam Clifford holds a Masters in Teaching from City University and a Bachelor in Science from Cornell. She loves research and is passionate about education. She is a foodie and on her time off enjoys cooking and gardening. You can find her @miriamoclifford or Google+.

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20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network | InformED

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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...

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Building Your Professional Learning Network in Three Steps * TechNotes Blog

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We have all heard someone somewhere say, "The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other." With all the information that one educator receives from students, parents, co-workers - and yeah, don't forget about that .9463 pounds of iPad goodness that you have in your hand all day, you need a way to keep up.

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Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) for educators

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Learning Networks Could Reconfigure Schools | Steve Regur | TEDxElCajonSalon

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Two is a meeting three is a network. Rebuild schools with Personal Learning Networks to lift up every student. Steve Regur is a founder and the current CEO of the Educators Cooperative, a partner in innovative K-12 education solutions.

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PLN

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Welcome to Classroom20.com, the social network for those interested in Web 2.0, Social Media, and Participative Technologies in the classroom. We encourage you to sign up to participate in the great discussions here, to receive event notifications, and to find and connect with colleagues. We have over 85,000 members from 200 countries!

Classroom 2.0 is a free, community-supported network. We especially hope that those who are "beginners" will find this a supportive comfortable place to start being part of the digital dialog. Because of spammers, we have to approve all memberships here. While your membership is pending you are still welcome to peruse the site or attend any events!

Once your membership is approved, the best way to find or become part of a conversation is to us the search box at the upper right or the topic list to the lower left. You can also introduce yourself to the whole network by going to the introductory forum message. Please also feel free to explore! Here are some starting tips and a "Tour of Classroom 2.0" Elluminate recording, or you can ask help of a "host." Thanks so much for being here!

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The community for educators using Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies!

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edWeb: A professional online community for educators

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edWeb is a free online community for professional educators, offering networking, resource sharing, collaboration, and professional development webinars.

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This is a pricey option, but may be worth it depending on the staff in your building!

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Quickly transition your team online to ensure they get the PD they need with our private, online professional learning platform.

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Tom Whitby PLN

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Social media is ever-evolving, although, as of late, some see it as de-evolving. As an educator, I was an early adopter and advocate for social media as a tool for professional collaboration, and development. I began using America Online ( AOL) and MySpace back in the day and that was basically my introduction and exploration of social media. I moved along to Facebook for friends and family connections. After getting comfortable with the idea of social media, I started using LinkedIn, a professional social media application, to link up with many other educators who were somewhat tech-savvy. I connected with educators directly, as well as created several LinkedIn groups specifically for educators. I created a NING site called The Educator's Professional Learning Network that: housed specific education groups, announced events, archived hundreds of education-based videos, and podcasts and it allowed individual connections for over twenty-two thousand educators to collaborate.

Along with all this, I began to explore Twitter as an additional source of educator collaboration. In addition to direct exchanges of information, I used it to move traffic to my other collaborative sites. All of these social media applications added to what would become known as my Professional Learning Network (PLN) a compilation of collegial sources from around the world used for the purpose of education collaborations in addition to social interactions. This took education beyond the impact of the invention of the old Guttenberg Press, enabling digital publishing. Collaboration was possible from anywhere at any time. Twitter took me from tweeting to blogging, to podcasting, and finally to authoring two books.

My collaboration was extended around the world. Between all of the social media applications, of which I was a part, I found myself in contact with well over 100 thousand people, mostly educators, giving my thoughts and ideas with a reach in the millions. It was a scary responsibility, which required me to be more thoughtful in everything that I would say, or do in regard to my connections. Through this PLN, I was able to speak with and get to know authors, thought leaders, and iconic educators that I could never have imagined even meeting let alone collaborating with before social media made it all possible.

Throughout this social media adventure in my winter years as an educator, many of the platforms could not keep up with change and finally fell away. Some. like Twitter, adapted and survived. Twitter doubled its tweet size from 140 characters to 280. Twitter chats went on to be used by people in many specific areas in education. The original #Edchat Twitter chat has actively continued for over 13 years!

Twitter has been a mainstay for interaction and collaboration for educators and as we enter into a new year, it may or may not continue to do so. The recent change in ownership has many educators questioning their use of the platform. There are concerns about trust, as well as moral and ethical responsibility. Additionally, there is a great concern about Twitter's longevity. Will it be around to support educators in their collaboration?

Currently, I have a Twitter network of over 82,000 educators who I cannot just leave hanging. As such though, I may only continue on Twitter for a while longer. I need to simultaneously enlist another platform to protect my collegial sources if Twitter should instantly close down. My trust has been shaken, and my community of educators which was built up over more than a dozen years has been threatened. I need to migrate to another, more stable platform with as many members of my PLN as I may convince to join me in the adventure.

Thus, I have set out to find a platform capable of providing the ability to collaborate using text, pictures, audio, video, and much more. It also needs to be a safe environment capable of handling a massive amount of people from around the world. Hate speech needs to be monitored and dealt with to preserve moral integrity. Hopefully, the platform will continuously evolve to address the need for improving and expanding collaboration.

I believe I have found that platform. A former APPLE engineer has developed a unique user-focused social media application that goes to the next level of creating virtual communities. It is called uSync, and it has been available for less than a month, so it is still adding to its already extensive capabilities. I have been talking with the founders of the platform, and I am confident that it is what I have been looking for in order to build a bigger and better education community where we can safely collaborate with confidence. Click here to see a complete explanation of the purpose and mission of uSync from its founder and CEO Darrell Lynn.

I have found the uSync staff to be open to suggestions for change and improvement to meet the needs of the broader community. At its core, uSync is a platform that is like a combination of several existing social media platforms, all in one place. Like any social media platform, one has to experience it to begin to understand its potential.

Right now, my plan is to guide people as they explore uSync, to work together to build our new EDU PLN. Like any other technology, as we use it, we will "get it" and find ways to build a rich ecosystem full of resources. One difference with uSync is that it has a one-time purchase price of $3.99. This is a small price to pay for an environment where there are NO ADVERTISEMENTS and NO SELLING OF USER LISTS. It will be money well spent, considering the access you will have to the many tools of collaboration.

If you have an interest in joining me in this new collaborative community of educators on a highly ethical and safe platform, I have included my personal invitation in the QR code below in this post for your convenience. My mission at this point is to get all of the educators I am connected with to migrate to this site and join the #Edchat Connected Educators Group.

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Social media is ever-evolving, although, as of late, some see it as de-evolving. As an educator, I was an early adopter and advocate for social media as a tool for professional collaboration, and development. I began using America Online ( AOL) and MySpace back in the day and that was basically my introduction and exploration of social media.