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3.5 Connected Learner

Leaders model and promote continuous professional learning for themselves and others.

3.5.b Participate in PLNs

Participate regularly in online professional learning networks to collaboratively learn with and mentor other professionals.

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Welcome to our professional learning series on building a PLN.

This self-paced free course guides you step-by-step through the process of setting up your own PLN.

We have an optional PDF workbook t hat will help to keep you on track and focused as you work through the 7 steps of this course. Scroll down and click on the 'download' button under the document to save it to your computer.
The aim of this first step is to:

1. Unpack the definition of a PLN and "connected educator"

2. Help you understand why educators create their own PLNs and how they use them

What Is A PLN?

Back in 1998 when the internet was in its infancy, Daniel R. Tobin wrote an article about the term "Personal Learning Network" which was abbreviated to PLN. This term was used to describe a network of people and resources that support ongoing learning.

Whether or not Tobin actually coined the term PLN is up for debate. As Clint Lalonde has pointed out, others, such as Dori Digenti, also wrote about the term in the late 90s.

Digeni said,

The PLN consists of relationships between individuals where the goal is enhancement of mutual learning. The currency of the PLN is learning in the form of feedback, insights, documentation, new contacts, or new business opportunities. It is based on reciprocity and a level of trust that each party is actively seeking value-added information for the other.

The term has evolved and is now sometimes referred to as a Professional Learning Network - taking into account that fact that most "connected educators" use their PLN for professional growth and interaction.

As Tom Whitby has pointed out, there can even be a hybrid of the personal or professional learning network - the 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.

Are PLNs Exclusive To Education?

PLNs don't just exist in the education world. They are important in all aspects of the business world, various vocations, and hobbies.

We contacted Daniel R. Tobin to ask him about how he came up with the term Personal Learning Network. We wanted to find out if he coined the term in relation to a particular industry or field.

Daniel told us,

It came from my own experience.

As I was thinking about how I had learned to do the various jobs I had over the course of my career, I realized that I had built an extensive network of people who had helped me learn. These included managers and colleagues and people I had met while doing research for my books, speaking at conferences, attending workshops, etc.

As I started writing about corporate training and development, I realized that what I had learned from my PLN was greater and more important than what I had learned from my formal education.

Interestingly, many teachers who are active online have remarked that they've learned a great deal more from their PLN than from any professional development session they've attended.

Are PLNs Something New?

All teachers know successful teaching and learning does not occur in a vacuum. Teachers have always relied on others for guidance, ideas, inspiration, support, and new perspectives. Naturally, some teachers are more active in their interactions than others.

Traditionally, all this interaction might take place in one school community. Teachers might have rarely connected with educators from other locations - apart from an occasional conference or professional development opportunity.

Technology changed all this.

Like in many other industries, educators now have access to people from all corners of the globe 24/7. This may largely be through social media but other platforms as well, such as blogs, online communities, and news sites.

So many barriers have been removed - geography, culture, language, timezones, travel, costs, logistics.

Embracing new networks and building a PLN doesn't mean throwing out your old connections. Of course, it will always be valuable to talk to the teachers next door and down the hall. But imagine the possibilities of building on that network in diverse ways!

Video: What is A PLN?

Want to learn more about what is a PLN? This is Marc-André Lalande's take on the matter in less than two minutes.

Being A Connected Educator

A connected educator is someone who collaborates online and uses a range of tools to build their own PLN.

Watch the following five minute video to learn more about being a connected educator. It shows interviews with educators who explain the importance of being "connected" in order to be effective teachers and leaders.

Why Create A PLN?

There are many reasons why all teachers should develop a PLN.

Here are eight benefits of having a PLN:

1. You are in charge of your own professional development. PD is no longer something that you have to "sit and get".

2. You can explore your own interests, needs, and passions (or your students'). You might have a student who is struggling with reading, or you might have heard of makerspaces and decide you want to learn more about that, maybe you have a student who wants to research global warming, or perhaps you want to find a better system for running a sports day at your school. You can turn to your PLN for advice and support with all these sorts of things.

3. 24/7 learning offers the flexibility to learn and connect at a time that suits you. You don't have to wait for a PD or conference. And 24/7 learning certainly doesn't mean you have to be constantly online either - you decide how much time you want to invest and when.

4. You can learn and connect in a way that you enjoy. This might be via videos, podcasts, text, social media, Skype, blogging ... the list goes on.

5. There can be light and shade to your PLN. You can engage in a general chat about education (or anything) to debrief, laugh, or unwind. Or, you can engage in deep discussion, debate, and reflection that can really challenge and transform your thinking and teaching. The choice is yours and there will probably be a time and place for both.

6. You can stay current on research and best practice, regardless of whether this information is being discussed in your own school, district (or even country!).

7. A PLN allows for broad brainstorming or fine tuning. You might know very little about a certain topic and ask your PLN for any/all entry points into exploring the concept. At the other end of the spectrum, you may have already done a lot of work on a topic and use your PLN to fine tune your ideas and resources.

8. Globally connected students need globally connected teachers. Having your own PLN is a key way to also help your students connect with others and start developing their own networks. We know this is important to enrich student learning and help students thrive in the changing labor market.

Feel free to use the following graphic on your blog or share it with your colleagues.

Four Big Ideas Around The Connected Educator

Silvia Tolisana (aka Langwitches) has written about four big ideas that surface when thinking about connected educators.

I think about the isolation of a teacher within their classroom walls and how connectedness to a global network of experts and peers could expose and add multiple perspectives to their world view and professional practice.

I am amazed every time by the transformative nature of teaching and learning, when harnessing the power of a network to crowdsource authentic data, resources, connections and collaborators.

Last, but not least, the idea of being able to model for our students what connected learning in an interconnected world means is a moral imperative for educators who are charged to prepare our kids for their future.

You can unpack these concepts further by reading Silvia's post.

Building Your Own PLN

The great thing about a PLN is that it's personal!

You make all the choices:

1. What tools you use!

2. Who you connect with!

3. How you want to learn!

4. When you want to learn!

The idea of this series is to guide you through the process of building your own PLN and give you a taste of the opportunities that are out there.

Remember, we each have our own preference of what online tools work best for us.

Throughout the seven part series, we've included popular tools for building a PLN to help get you started.

Conclusion

A PLN is a network of people and resources that support ongoing learning.

We believe all teachers could benefit from having a PLN.

You might be in a fantastic school but in some ways, schools can become echo chambers for the same beliefs and viewpoints. It can be easy to go with the status quo and fail to really question things or bring in new ideas. A simple conversation with someone from a very different community can be so eye opening.

PLNs are all about sharing, collaborating, and learning from each other. So here's your chance to ask a question, comment, and get involved!

We'd like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation about PLNs by undertaking one or more of these challenges:

1. PLN Definition: Watch the video What Is A PLN? Leave a comment on this post to explain what a PLN means to you. You might like to share your thoughts on "lurking". What are the pros and cons of this approach? Or, you might like to explain what you think PLN stands for - personal, professional, personalized ... or something else?

2. PLN Benefits: Choose one or more of the eight benefits of having a PLN that's listed above to explore in a comment. Tell us why this is a benefit that resonates with you.

3. Connected Educators: Watch the Connected Educators video. Leave a comment on this post to explain why it's important to be a connected educator and how a PLN can help you. You might like to give an example of one person in the education community that you'd like to follow and learn from or with. This could be a thought leader, or just someone you find interesting.

4. Go Deeper: Write a blog post to explain what you have learned about PLNs. Perhaps your post could be a way to educate or persuade others on the benefits of PLNs. Or you might like to summarize some of the information from this study on PLNs for teachers. Leave a comment with a link to the post so we can have a look at how you went.

Also feel free to leave a comment to ask any questions or share your tips.

How to leave a comment: Scroll down to find the comment box. Write your comment, then enter your name and email address (email addresses are not published). Enter the anti-spam word. Press submit and we will moderate your comment ASAP.
The following information on PLNs was adapted from an original Teacher Challenge post by Australian teacher, Michael Graffin. This resource was updated by Kathleen Morris in 2018. You can check out Michael's original post - What The heck Is A PLN.

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Welcome to our professional learning series on building a PLN. This self-paced free course guides you step-by-step through the process of setting up your own PLN. We have an optional PDF workbook t hat will help to keep you on track and focused as you work through the 7 steps of this course.

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As our world becomes increasingly interconnected through web-based technologies, it is important for EFL teachers to think about how virtual resources and online connections can support their lifelong learning efforts. This week we will examine virtual components you can include in your PLN, as well as how to overcome some of the challenges teachers face when trying to navigate today's ever-growing number of virtual learning opportunities and resources.

The Benefits of a Virtual PLN

As a busy teacher, you might ask, "Why should I develop a virtual PLN? Isn't face-to-face networking good enough?" While face-to-face networking is invaluable to your PLN, virtual engagement offers many benefits:

Connecting anytime, anywhere, with anyone: using the web can help you overcome networking barriers related to time, place, and social distance.

Opportunities to reflect: online discussion forums, blogs, and courses can encourage you to reflect on and comment on your teaching practice.

Finding information or support: as a consumer of information in your network, your virtual PLN can help you solve classroom challenges, learn about new methodologies and teaching techniques, locate resources, and find mentors who might not be available locally.

Sharing your expertise and ideas: as a producer of information in your virtual network, you can help others by talking about your experiences, classroom lessons learned, and research findings. You can also mentor others.

Modeling how to be a master learner: building an online presence and learning how to work with e-tools shows your colleagues and students that you are intellectually curious and willing to invest time in your own professional learning.

Developing your professional reputation and identity: establishing an online presence and participating in virtual discussions and e-courses helps others in our field get to know you. Depending on the media you use (blogs, social media tools, collecting e-certificates from online courses, etc.), you create a visible record of your commitment to professional development and lifelong learning, information that may be of interest to colleagues and prospective employers.

Your Virtual PLN - The Building Blocks

Now that we know why developing a virtual PLN is beneficial, let's examine some potential components you may choose to include. The tools and platforms listed below allow you to build new connections with other educators, develop your professional knowledge base, and share your expertise.
As you review this list, note that the tools and platforms offer a range of options for depth and duration of contact with others in your network. For example, you might get to know other participants and engage deeply with content during a webinar series, whereas you might have shallow but wide contact with people using a social media platform like Twitter (e.g., you share a little bit of information with many people).
Possible Virtual PLN Components

Blogs - short for "web logs," web-hosted sites that teachers use to share reflections, ideas, and resources

Webinars (short for "web seminars"), Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), other online courses

Established online PLNs for educators, such as Edmodo

Social media platforms

Social networking sites, such as Ning communities, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Microblogging platforms, such as Twitter

Social bookmarking sites, such as Diigo and Delicious

Content sharing sites, such as YouTube, Instagram, and Pintrest

Collaborative content development platforms, such as Google Drive tools

E-mail - direct messages and listservs (e-mail lists that teachers can subscribe to)

Instant messaging, chat rooms....and more!

(1) Names of networking platforms may vary by region or country; some resources may not be available in all areas.
(2) Links to resources related to American English programs are provided above when available.

Building Your Virtual PLN - Addressing Common Concerns

Here are two common concerns shared by teachers who are starting to build a virtual PLN.

Concern 1: "There are so many options. Where do I begin?"
As we saw in the previous section, your virtual PLN can contain many elements. The amount of choice can seem overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Define a purpose: Think about what your short-term and long-term learning goals are, who the related experts are, and where you might find the information. For example, do you want to locate data to solve a classroom problem tomorrow, try out a new tech tool, or learn about a general topic over time?

Connect - start small: If you want to start following blogs, start with 3 or 4, not 20. If you want to experiment with social media, pick one platform for the academic term, get to know it well, and start connecting with/"following" a few people or organizations to start with.

Observe: Sit back, watch, and learn. Observe how people share information on your chosen platform, and enjoy and apply the ideas and resources you discover.

Spiral: Once you connect with people or organizations related to your interests and goals, try to find out whom they are connected to and add those second-level contacts or resources to your network if appropriate. This process is called "spiraling out" because you start from one point and then expand you network's reach in bigger and bigger circles. For example, if you follow a helpful TEFL blog, check out its "blog roll" (a list of other blogs that the blogger follows, usually located on the right or left side of blog's home page). Visit those blogs and determine if any of them are good fits for your PLN. You can repeat this process with the blog rolls on the newly located resources.

Share and participate: As you become more comfortable with a media type or tool, start contributing your expertise and experiences. All EFL teachers know something worth sharing! This action could take many forms such as writing your first Tweet, writing reflective comments in the chat box during a webinar, commenting on someone's blog, or posting on a professional Facebook account.

Curate: Add new contacts and resources as you spiral out from helpful members in your PLN. Occasionally review your network's content and remove sites, resources, and contacts that don't contribute to your current learning goals.

Concern 2: "I don't know the tools, and I don't know the rules."
Try these three suggestions to overcome this concern:

Find a tutorial: The internet offers countless self-directed tutorials for people who want to learn how to use e-platforms and social media tools; many of them are designed with teachers in mind. Put your internet search skills to use to find online courses, videos, or text tutorials to help you get started with a new branch in your virtual PLN. You'll be surprised how many results a simple search like "Twitter for educators" will return!

Find a mentor: Use you PLN to expand your PLN! Make use of your face-to-face and virtual connections to find a mentor that can help guide you as you learn to use a new platform. Mentors can point out helpful resources, review your contributions, offer support and advice as you experiment, and increase your exposure on a platform by "liking," "favoriting," "sharing," or "retweeting" your work to their PLN, which can help you develop new connections.

Learn the social norms (rules): Each networking platform has its own culture and rules. As you join a new e-community, be sure to spend time observing interactions before you contribute. This tactic is called "lurking" or "lurk and learn." Make note of:

Levels of formality - How do people address each other? Do people use slang, informal language, abbreviations, and emoticons when they write? Is the language more formal or academic?

Amount of content shared - How long are effective posts or contributions?

Interaction patterns - Do people respond to all members or a group or to specific individuals (e.g., When do people respond/comment publically and when to do they private messages)? If you "like" or "follow" someone or their work, are they expected to reciprocate? If someone comments on your contribution, are you expected to reply? Do these behaviors depend on the type of content being shared?

Content sharing - Are people expected to provide references, hyperlinks, or attachments when they contribute something?

In sum, learning to how to use the connections and tools in your virtual PLN can take time and patience, but investing this time will help you maximize the benefits your network can offer. Be sure to try the tips listed here, work with others, and set realistic goals to get your virtual PLN off to a great start.

Disclaimer: Names of non-U.S. Department of State websites and social media platforms mentioned in this Teacher's Corner resource are provided for illustrative purposes only; their inclusion here should not be seen as an endorsement of their content, views, or privacy policies.

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Teacher's Corner: Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)

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As our world becomes increasingly interconnected through web-based technologies, it is important for EFL teachers to think about how virtual resources and online connections can support their lifelong learning efforts. This week we will examine virtual components you can include in your PLN, as well as how to overcome some of the challenges teachers face when trying to navigate today's ever-growing number of virtual learning opportunities and resources.

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Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) for educators

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How do you participate in professional learning networks?

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Learn what professional learning networks (PLNs) are, why they are beneficial for teachers, and how to join or create one. Find tips and strategies to balance your PLN.

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Journal or Book Title

Computers & Education

Abstract

In recent years, many educators have turned to professional learning networks (PLNs) to grow in their craft with peers who are more accessible online because of reduced temporal and spatial constraints. While educators have cultivated PLNs, there is a dearth of research about the effects of PLNs. This manuscript reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigated PLN experiences through the analysis of survey data from 732 P-12 teachers. Data analysis suggests that the anytime, anywhere availability of expansive PLNs, and their capacity to respond to educators' diverse interests and needs, appear to offer possibilities for supporting the professional growth of whole teachers. These findings have implications for defining the present and future of teacher learning in a digital age.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.06.007

Recommended Citation

Trust, Torrey; Krutka, Daniel G.; and Carpenter, Jeffrey Paul, ""Together We Are Better": Professional Learning Networks for Teachers" (2016). Computers & Education. 326.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.06.007

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"Together We Are Better": Professional Learning Networks for Teachers

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In recent years, many educators have turned to professional learning networks (PLNs) to grow in their craft with peers who are more accessible online because of reduced temporal and spatial constraints. While educators have cultivated PLNs, there is a dearth of research about the effects of PLNs.

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The Networked Teacher: The Power of the Professional Learning Network

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Best Professional Development Websites and PLNs for Teachers | Common Sense Education

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Best Professional Development Websites and PLNs for Teachers is a list of 21 apps, games, and websites curated by Common Sense Education editors.