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What is a PLN?... 3 Ways to get Connected

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What is a PLN?... 3 Ways to get Connected

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What's a PLN? And 3 Ways Teachers Can Get Connected

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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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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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Problem solving is a key skill in teaching. But in the past year, especially, the problems in need of a solution seem to have grown exponentially.

How do we teach kids online and in person at the same time? How do we build a strong community of learners when, in some cases, kids haven't seen each other for more than a year? How can we continue to have students collaborate meaningfully?

More than ever, we need to connect with others who can help us find the innovative solutions and opportunities hidden within this disruption of education-as-usual. To that end, we chatted with HP Teaching Fellows Rola Tibshirani, Vicky Masson, Joseph Filipic, Jim Pedrech and Chad Sorrells about how critical professional learning networks (PLNs) have been to both their craft and their well-being. Here, they share four essential recommendations for creating a strong PLN.

Looking for a strong, supportive PLN? Applications are now open for the 2021 cohort of HP Teaching Fellows. Apply now!

1. Diversify your network.

Your PLN will often start with the teachers in your building. It's important to have thought partners who know your specific context and your students. Jim Pedrech uses Microsoft Teams to connect to different groups of colleagues within his building to solve instructional problems big and small.

But reaching beyond your immediate network can be a great way to bring in fresh ideas.

"Our students bring so many different experiences to our classrooms, so for us to be able to really address things that are best for them, we need to be able to see these different viewpoints," says Chad Sorrells. "The HP Teaching Fellows has given me not only the confidence in my own practice, but it's opened my own eyes up to beyond just what's surrounding me locally."

Twitter can be a great place to connect with educators in other districts or even other countries. Pay particular attention to whose voices you hear most often and who might be missing from your feed. When in doubt, ask other teachers who they follow.

But your PLN shouldn't stop with other educators. Students and their families can support your learning as well. Joseph Filipic explains, "I think it's important that I get my ideas from other educators, but then I use my parents and my students to adjust and accommodate for their learning needs."

2. Focus on an essential question.

Twitter can expand your network geographically, but it can sometimes feel overwhelming. Sorrells recommends really pinpointing what you're hoping to get out of your network.

It becomes much easier to evaluate whether a resource or a connection in your network can help you solve a challenge if you keep a focused question in mind, like "What are the different ways of cultivating student self-reflection?"

Let's chat about what makes a great PLN!

Join our Twitter chat using the hashtag #ReinventTheClassroom on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. ET and the third Wednesday of every month thereafter.

Connect with others who share your educational philosophies or your area of inquiry. Who else is talking about #TeachSDGs, or who is really focused on increasing student agency? By finding the people who are centering powerful learning practices, you get the most out of the time you put into creating new connections.

3. Find a network that goes beyond one and done.

For Rola Tibshirani, the key to getting the most out of your PLN is simple: follow up. "It's not just the one-time conversation," she stresses. Reaching out and making connections over time allows you to create trust with each other. That trust enables the psychological safety that allows our brains to engage in deeper learning.

The trust so critical to deeper learning can often be hard to come by. According to Vicky Masson, that starts with you: "You've got to be active! Asking questions is great, but in order for you to receive trust, you have to share your own ideas and build upon the ideas of others."

This builds a cycle that increases your return on the investment of time with every interaction. Jim Pedrech knows he has a strong network because he regularly reaches out to others to find out what they're doing in their classrooms. He reflects, "It's nice to know that there's always somebody out there that I can rely on for some advice and for some help and just to get some ideas."

4. Find spaces that support your social-emotional well-being.

Sometimes, building your PLN can feel like just another thing to add to your already full plate. But for Tibshirani, PLNs can actually be a catalyst for prioritizing well-being. She says, "It's important to pause and take time, not only to physically take a break, but also to mentally have a break and to support one another."

In these busy times, look for educators and networks that are creating space for your social-emotional needs. By doing this, Masson points out that growth and rest don't have to be mutually exclusive. "PLNs have been my support system, and at the same time, they have helped me to grow as a professional. They held my hand and lifted me up when I needed it."

At Digital Promise, we endeavor to connect educators with trusting, diverse networks that are hyperfocused on creating powerful learning opportunities for students. The HP Teaching Fellows, part of the Reinvent the Classroom initiative, is one such network.

Masson puts it this way: "The HP Teaching Fellowship has helped advance my professional learning by being a diverse community of experienced educators where everyone is a contributor and always willing to collaborate on authentic classroom experiences."

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4 Ways to Build a Strong Professional Learning Network for Innovation and Growth - EdSurge News

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Problem solving is a key skill in teaching. But in the past year, especially, the problems in need of a solution seem to have grown exponentially. How ...

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5 Personal Learning Networks for Educators

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5 Personal Learning Networks for Educators

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Professional development and networking are vital in any field, and that's especially true for educators.

Whether it's coming up with fresh ideas for lesson plans and classroom activities, seeking mentorship and support from veteran educators, or cultivating resources for technology integration or for meeting state standards, teachers need one another's expertise.

That's why working with other educators in personal learning networks (PLNs) has become as important in an educator's day as the time he or she spends teaching in class.

Below is a short list of PLNs that already exist, followed by some resources to help teachers build their own

1. The Educator's PLN is a Ning site (or online platform for creating your own social network) that facilitates connections between educators. It features a slew of resources such as downloadable podcasts with education leaders as guest speakers, discussion groups with specific purposes like exploring the iPad's use in the classroom, and links to relevant blogs, videos, resource lists, and events.

2. Powerful Learning Practice is a professional development program for progressive-minded educators. Its year-long curriculum provides cohorts of teachers with new ideas and hands-on practice in order to bolster their tech knowledge and aptitudes, rethink classroom activities to make them relevant for today's students, find other teachers with similar goals, and build their own tech-rich learning tools. It isn't free ($1,500 per person for a year of professional development in a school or district team or $1,000 as an individual), but teachers can usually earn education credits for their participation.

3. Classroom 2.0 is designed for those interested in sharing ideas and resources about using Web 2.0 and new media in education. This means connecting with colleagues, finding out about events, joining different groups, attending Webinars every Saturday, or simply discussing everything from online projects to financial literacy to smart phone apps.

4. began as a Twitter conversation for educators and has now expanded to a PBworks wiki that encourages the ideas spawned on Twitter that translate to practical advice. To get involved in EdChat on Twitter, search for the hashtag #edchat and join in the conversation. EdChat participants can also visit the success stories page, participate in two live conversations every Tuesday, and join the EdChat group at the Educator's PLN.

5. is a free online social network that lets educators connect with colleagues, collaborate on goals and projects, form their own professional learning communities, mentor one another, and practice using a slew of new technologies. Specific initiatives within the network include a game-based learning forum that will bring teachers together with game developers to explore best practices and further the discussion -- and the field.

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5 Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) for Educators | KQED

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Professional development and networking are vital in any field, and that's especially true for educators. Whether it's coming up with fresh ideas for lesson plans and classroom activities, seeking mentorship and support from veteran educators, or cultivating resources for technology integration or for meeting state standards, teachers need one another's expertise.

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Best PD and PLN for Teachers (Resources)

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Best PD and PLN for Teachers (Resources)

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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.

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Connect and collaborate year-round

Want to connect with other innovative educators? All ISTE members have exclusive access to 20+ ISTE Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) that bring together educators from around the world with shared interests and job roles.
BROWSE PLNS NOW

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Want to connect with other innovative educators? All ISTE members have exclusive access to 20+ ISTE Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) that bring together educators from around the world with shared interests and job roles. BROWSE PLNS NOW