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 that 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.
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Open in new tab The aim of this first step is to:
- Unpack the definition of a PLN and “connected educator”
- 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:
- You are in charge of your own professional development. PD is no longer something that you have to “sit and get”.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!).
- 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.
- 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:
- What tools you use!
- Who you connect with!
- How you want to learn!
- 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.
Your Task
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:
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. You can check out Michael’s original post — What The heck Is A PLN.
This resource was updated by Kathleen Morris in 2018.
What is PLN is the first prompt addressed, therefore we need to be able to identify and understand what PNL is. Why because being able to justify this definition further into your teaching career as it is a great tool for not only educators but others as well. Personal Learning Network is a great way for us teachers to be able to use the resources given in order for professionals to connect. Connection is key because it enhances learning within the professional development world. For example we can learn and connect through videos, podcasts text and much more. This is also a great tool for not only connection to your students but also across the world or within your community with other fellow educators.
A PLN is a personal learning network. This means that people can work together to share ideas through the internet. This is a good tool for educators to use in order to be able to learn and connect with each other. Educators can ask each other questions and get quick responses from people who do the same things and deal with the same problems. This is a great way to keep learning about the field you are in.
“2. You can explore your own interests, needs, and passions (or your students’).”
This benefit of PLNs resonated with me because it is a great way to get different ideas and perspectives on anything you can think of. I like the idea of being able to reach out to a network of people about a wide range of inquiries, and being able to see how different people think and feel about things as they arise in my future career as a teacher. There are no limits to the things we can explore in our PLNs, and the information you ask for and gain from others in our PLNs is customizable to our personal interests and needs.
The benefits of a PLN are all multifaceted and enriching. The benefit that most resonated with me was “there can be light and shade to your PLN”. I like that by using a personal learning network you can engage in conversation that is light and fun, serious and thought-provoking, and everything in between. Too often I find that educational environments adopt only a tone of productivity and rigidity, with minimal allowances for humor, connection, and nuance. Education can be accessed in every single tone and mood of life: we learn in deep, serious conversation as much as in novel and humorous situations. All of life is a learning opportunity, and it is important to have the ability to communicate all that is learned, no matter the tone.
I believe that it is extremely important to stay connected with other educators and to learn new tools to use in your own classroom from them. PLN allows you to connect and communicate with other educators. You are able to trade ideas and interventions that can work for you. Social media is a great platform to use in order to stay connected with other educators. Through social media, teachers are able to share their ideas and give examples of how their interventions work.
In response to the first prompt, I believe PLN is more a personalized than a professional or personal learning network. This is because anyone can learn anything from anywhere. The idea of a professional learning network connotes that whatever one is learning is from others in their field of work, and that the content is applicable only for their work. In reality, we all gather ideas, implicitly and explicitly, from anyone we meet or anything we see. A personalized learning network is where you assemble what you believe is necessary for your work, life, etc. Also, it shows what you see as important from your point-of-view. When others learn from you, they get a taste of the world from your perspective, adding on to their personalized learning network. Again, the content can be useful for everyday life not just the professional world.
A Professional Learning Network, or PLN, is the community in which one is surrounded by in order to advance their learning. It helps teachers grow their knowledge in order to better serve their classrooms. A PLN is made up of people or organizations that contribute to helping teachers learn. In my opinion, I think PLN represents a professional network of educators helping other educators.
PLNs are a great tool for teachers around the globe. By creating a network of teachers, we will always have people with very different backgrounds and experiences to bounce ideas off of. Collaboration is a very important part of furthering the education field. I think the second benefit of a PLN (“you can explore your own interests…”) is where that collaboration aspect becomes key. If I have students who are struggling or have interests that I know nothing about, reaching out to my PLN for advice helps not only me, but also my students.
The benefit that resonates with me most is the idea that I can stay current and updated on research and best practice. As a student, who is studying to become a teacher. I have learned a lot about how current practices can change so often. Even some of the material that I learned my freshman year of college has become less relevant than my current education. I also know that the teachers that I work with value the fresh insight that I have gained and share with them. A PLN is a way for all educators to share and learn about these best practices in order to serve they students in the best way possible.
A PLN is a tool that can help teachers collaborate, share resources/ideas and give feedback for those ideals. To me it is an essential tool that should be used by all educators. A PLN is the building of a variety of resources and communication tools with people or topics that involve your teaching method. Your PLN can be as personal (in-depth) or as broad, as you choose. It gives educators an opportunity to have an extended family to reach out to for support. Here they are welcome to ask for advice and get help on new strategies. A PLN to me, is needed for a teacher to be successful long term.
To be a connected educator is important to not just you, as a teacher, but to the students especially. In the video, it stated that learning does not stop once you receive your teaching license-it only continues to grow from there. As true as that statement was, it really resonated with me because I see so many teachers who just do not try to build on themselves in the classroom and just remain in their comfort zones. Being connected to educators at any time of the day should be a reason to not stop you from learning more to help you become a better teacher.
A PLN is your network of people that you can rely on and collaborate with to build your own knowledge and share your knowledge. As teachers we are constantly working together to create content for our students, the bigger your PLN the better as developing content completely on your own is too much for just one person. One of the eight benefits that resonated with me was, “A PLN allows for broad brainstorming or fine tuning”. I am always tweaking my lessons to add or change activities, a lot of the time I am doing this class to class, because my PLN is pretty limited currently. If I had a larger PLN I could reach out to my fellow teachers to brainstorm and find different and interesting ways to tweak and make my lessons even better. Having a well established PLN is important because as I said earlier, teaching and creating everything on your own is too much for one person. Everybody needs help In this world and having a large PLN will help you grow as a teacher and provide your students with the best content possible.
One of the eight benefits of having a PLN is to stay globally connected because a globally connected teacher is what globally connected students need. We are in a generation where technology is regularly a part of our lives and as the world and technology adapts, teachers and education need to adapt with it. This resonates with me because I am someone who is involved with technology and whereas I may not be great with it, despite the fact that I’ve grown up with it to a certain extent, this PLN will help me learn to be good at technology through the use of technology. That is important for my students because I want to be globally connected to give them the best education they can possibly have.
Developing a PLN has many benefits but the one that resonated most with me was the ability to explore my own interests, needs, and passions (or those of my students). The post elaborates this by describing situations in which you may find yourself with a student that is having difficulty reading or desire to learn more about a particular makerspace. By having an established PLN, you can lean on it for advice and support for these sorts of things and more. I appreciate the privilege of having a safety net should I ever feel my depth of knowledge is not sufficient to support myself or my students; the internet commodifies the local reach of any particular PLN to a greater global reach.
It is important to be connected, so that you can stay updated on new learning techniques, strategies and tools that you can use in your classroom. Having a PLN is helpful because it is specified to what you need, when you need it. You have the ability to chose what you want to grow in and you are also able to help other grow and learn new things.
1st prompt
A PLN is a group or network of learners that are striving for some sort of similar goal. They share resources and strive to help each other out to be the best at their profession as they can. I think that this is overall a very positive and strong approach, but a weakness might be that there is so much information in one of these PLNs that it might be hard to narrow it down to just what you need.
Hi Todd,
Yes you’re right, if you’re not careful, you will experience information overload. Hence, the importance of building quality networks and also focusing on the platforms that you care about.
One of my favorite benefits of having a PLN is the flexibility it gives you to explore different interests, passions and needs. Whether you are doing so for you or your students, PLN gives you the opportunity to be connected to other educators and gives you a support team to do whatever you are inspired to. By being connected to all different kinds of teachers in different environments, we are exposed to different teaching styles and methods that will give us new ways of doing things. We can use it to get creative with lessons or lesson plans and find new ways to keep our students engaged and interested.
To me, a PLN reminds me of a personal experience I had at an educational conference. We were asked a question that most of us could only answer partially; however, the speaker then allowed us to collaborate with others in the room. After doing so, most of the participants were able to answer the question fully. The conversation moved from somewhat informed to well informed! It proves a phrase I’ve heard many times – “None of us is as awesome as all of us.” (author unknown, but obviously wise!)
I am currently a graduate student studying to gain licensure to teach high school chemistry. I had never heard about a PLN until beginning this course and I think the concept is a huge benefit to the profession and it helps teachers in many different ways. The reason to build a PLN to stay current on research and best practice resonates with me. The idea of staying up to date on research in both the field of teaching as well as staying up to date on chemistry research is something that I think is incredibly important. I studied chemical engineering in undergrad and we regularly had to read articles and research papers on the new methods and discoveries being made. I think that this has implications in the field of science that I will be teaching as well as in the field of teaching which I hope to continue to learn and grow in.
To me, PLN means Personalized Learning Network. I really like the idea of a personalized learning network because I like being able to learn about what is interesting and beneficial to me on my own time, at my own pace. I also like that a PLN allows for you to have access to educators all over the world, allowing you to get different perspectives and answers at any time of the day. I think that if I was a part of a PLN, I would begin as more of a “lurker” than a participant. Even online, I am pretty cautious about what information I share about my knowledge, making sure I only share when I am 100% sure of myself and make sure that everything is accurate to not share misinformation. Once I became comfortable within the PLN, I might begin to participate more. I definitely would like to interact with educators all over the world and really think being a part of a PLN would be a good way to do so!
As Elana Leoni explained in the video, using a PLN provides connected educators with a source of mutual support, collaboration, and accountability. Teachers may feel isolated within their classroom because they lack a means of knowing if they are teaching well and using the best, most up-to-date pedagogical practices. Far more impactful than attending the occasional professional-development conference, actively engaging with other educators via social media, such as Twitter, allows a connected educator to instantly get feedback and suggestions from other teachers. Being a connected educator is important because it allows one to constantly improve one’s teaching practices. As a pre-service teacher, I look forward to expanding my own PLN over time, but my first step could be to connect on social media with VCU professors in the History and Education departments who have already had an impact on my identity as an educator. These professors and mentors could continue to be a source of support for me throughout my teaching career.
Your Personal Learning Network are the people and resources utilized to learn. Using your personal learning network may look different for each person – it is a personal thing. This can include people in one’s immediate area/school or people countries away online. The user has the power to chose who is in your PLN and when you wish to “lurk” or share. “Lurking” has a very negative connotation, but it is a useful tool. When you are “lurking” you are absorbing and listening to information – not giving it. One benefit is that PLNs can be utilized in a wide variety of professional environments. Another is that teachers using the PLN will feel more connected to other teachers and feel like they are doing something meaningful. One downside is that one has to really take action to develop their PLN.
For me, a PLN is a way to connect virtually with educators in order to support collaboration and communication that extends outside the boundaries of a school building. This can be cross-disciplinary, meaning it may not be limited to just teachers. As a student, lurking can help me find ideas to bring to my future work and see how the field is changing before I even enter it, and then I can reach out to my network with more specific questions or ideas that I may have when they arise.
One of the PLN that resonates with me is the connection; it’s excellent to use PLN on our own time. There are no mandatory subscriptions that need to be followed. People thinking teaching is about coloring and learning letters. But in reality, we do much more; planning, building relationship with students and parents. Allowing us to use our PLN on our own time helps us grow and gives teachers less stress. The second benefit of having a PLN is the ability to choose our method of connection. It’s excellent to explore different connections rather than feeling forced to use one specific one.
One of the benefits of PLN, that I agreed with is the benefit of staying current. I always love being able to research and staying up to date with new things not only occurring in my city but also other places around the globe. I also like the enormous amount of different platforms you can use. I spend a lot of my time on reddit, YouTube and just reading different articles.
I believe it is important to be a connected educator to gain different perspectives, connect, learn, and share with other people you usually wouldn’t be able to, and teach in a way that maybe you wouldn’t have thought but works effectively. Creating a Personal Learning Network and becoming a connected educator can help you be innovative! One person in the education community that I’d like to learn more from is a fourth-grade teacher called Ms. Ferre. I started following her on YouTube because she posts tutorials about classrooms management, tips, and a lot of technological help.
I am currently a student teacher in the special education field and really appreciate the concept of a PLN. It is really important to me to stay updated on the best methods to help my students become the best learners they can be. Technology has made things like this so accessible. You can now connect with people from all over and share new ideas and findings. I think that is how education will continue to grow and develop over time. I would want to do more than to just lurk with my PLN, I would want to make sure I am being active and present. I think it is important to sometimes sit back and just listen for some things but overall lurking seems to be the bare minimum of what you can do with your PLN. Having difficult conversations or changing your mindset on certain subjects can be difficult but I think it is the best way to get the fullest use out of your PLN.
I wanted to address the first prompt, as I think it’s important to have a proper understanding of what a PLN is. Establishing a network comprised of educators is a way to constantly be gaining more knowledge, an objective that most teachers are working towards. In addition to acquiring new knowledge, teachers will also learn new forms of pedagogy from their personal network. Teaching is difficult. Learning new ways to teach students content is a productive way to make teaching a bit easier. As it pertains to one’s activity within a network, I think there are benefits to lurking. In my case, I haven’t had much experience teaching yet. Any input that I could give would be far lesser than the knowledge that I could learn from other people in the network. Lurking allows someone to listen instead of speak, and pick up knowledge from everyone else within the network.
It is important to stay connected so that you know that you are using the best tools possible as an educator. By having a PLN, you can communicate with other educators and people who may have more innovative ideas to offer or can suggest that you do something differently. I also think that by having a PLN everyone benefits because you can work together to develop the best methods possible using everyone’s different ideas and opinions. I think social media is a great way to connect with people for a PLN. For example, there are many Twitter accounts that offer ideas on how to educate and give creative lessons and suggestions for other educators. By keeping up to date with an account like this, I think I, as well as other educators, can develop better ways to teach and be more effective overall. Technology has made creating a PLN easier than ever before, so it is crucial to take advantage of this opportunity to better yourself as an educator.
I am currently a student teacher getting my certification in the area of chemistry. I have never heard of a PLN before but I really think that it is neat! I think one of the best things about it is the freedom to make professional growth truly personal. I have attended a professional development conference for secondary science teachers before but it wasn’t really what I was looking for because it did not have a large focus on chemistry. My content area is very specialized and there is always the potential that whatever school I am teaching at I could be the only chemistry teacher. This can make it really hard to collaborate with others. Other sciences classes in high school are turned to a different wavelength than what I need to be focusing on as a chemistry teacher so it would be hard to brainstorm effectively with them. I will certainly need to connect with other chemistry teachers and find virtual resources that I can reach out to when I am stumped by something. I especially relate to the idea of feeling classroom isolation which can be extremely discouraging as a teacher. I think that building a PLN to surround yourself with can certainly help to fight this feeling of loneliness.
Also, I think that the concept of ‘lurking’ is somewhat humorous. I know that during my first few years of teaching I will probably only be lurking for most of the time as I soak up all of the wisdom from outside sources that I can. I will be doing a lot of learning during this time. But, rather than just being present without actively engaging, I will have to make sure that I also ask questions, provide feedback to demonstrate how helpful another person’s ideas are, and eventually plan to give bake by sharing my own ideas once I have a few years of teaching under my belt.
PLN benefits: Being able to stay current on research and best teaching practices is a benefit that resonates with me because I would take pride in knowing that I know the most up to date practices in the world. This means my way of teaching wouldn’t stay the same because I’ll constantly be growing as I learn new skills and research.
You-tube video response!
As a part of a PLN community, educators are able share their ideas and collaborate with others. Teachers from across the country band together and create special relationships that will benefit them throughout their career and beyond.
Being able to explore my student’s interests and passions and allowing them to be able to explore their interests is so important to expanding learning and their curious growth. This is especially critical for students who have a hard time engaging with the ‘normal’ class materials and have a challenging time relating to the material content. By first having an idea of what your student’s interests are, as the teacher, you can better relate the class materials to what interests the students. Then, allowing the students to be creative with content and relate it to what their interests are will help them to gain a deeper understanding of the content.
A Personal Learning Network is a group that an individual can use when he or she would like addition knowledge on a specific topic. PLN is dynamic, collaborative, informative, communicative forum where people can dive deeper on certain subject matter. When participating or organizing a PLN, it is essential that participants are able to provide feedback, along with constructive criticism. Also, participants should be a contributor on a topic so that there can be some type of discussion/discourse that can facilitate meaningful learning and engagement. Furthermore, this network enables individuals to connect with people in a global capacity, which adds multiple perspectives from people in different regions in the world.
For me, a PLN is a great way for teachers to connect to other teachers and resources for the purpose of learning how to become better. A PLN is a support network of people, blogs, websites, videos, and other resources that help support teachers in their learning. There is so much knowledge that goes into teaching and a PLN can be a way to organize the information so that teachers know where or who to go to for help.
For me, a PLN is a great way for teachers to connect to other teachers and resources for the purpose of learning how to become better. A PLN is a support network of people, blogs, websites, videos, and other resources that help support teachers in their learning. There is so much knowledge that goes into teaching and a PLN can be a way to organize the information so that teachers know where or who to go to for help.
To me, a PLN is a great way for teachers to connect with other teachers for the purpose of support and learning. A PLN is a support network that you create with educators, websites, blogs, and other resources that help to become a better teacher. There is so much knowledge and purpose that goes into teaching it can be overwhelming. I think a PLN also helps you organize all that information to be able to know who or where to go when you need a certain thing.
I love the tips that include taking charge of your own professional development. This is a conversation that I have recently had with several of my peers that have felt stuck in their current career. Often times we all have to be reminded that we have to be willing to take the steps to effect the change that we want in our own lives. If we are not willing to step out in this manner, we surely cannot expect others to do so for us.
A Personal Learning Network a resource for educators to expand their learning to become a better educator. It also gives educators a chance to connect with educators besides educators that they work with.
Professional Learning Network is an extended group that shares ideas, information and resources when an individual’s knowledge requires deeper diving into a specific topic. This network allows for more meaningful conversations or discussions regarding certain subject matter. I have used infographics as a visual within my personal learning network. Also, I have shared credible sources and data with family and friends to inform them of a particular issue or topic. The number one thing is communication within the PLN, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Clubhouse, there needs to be an established platform to communicate. Overall, it is essential to make sure that each individual is contributing to the PLN to ensure that it will be beneficial to all parties in the collaborative.
To me, a Personal Learning Network is a way in which teachers can continue to grow professionally outside of their classrooms. PLN’s allow teachers to explore and select professional topics that they are interested in and want to learn more about. PLN’s allow teachers to do this by learning from others through making connections with professionals around the world.
A personal learning network consist of colleagues, and peers who guide each other in enhancing professional skills and growth to create a better learning environment.
1. To me, a PLN is a network of human resources to tap into when my own knowledge is insufficient. Talking to people within my PLN directly about my questions can give specific feedback, while lurking can be useful for general research of how to approach something.
2. The biggest benefit of a PLN is that you control what is in your network and what isn’t. Many forms of professional resources are full of valuable information, but you have to search through databases and videos to find the content relevant to your field and position, whereas your PLN is customized to be relevant to you.
3. Staying connected as teachers is vital to prevent us from growing complacent about what we’re teaching. The world is changing rapidly, and for one individual to keep up with everything on top of teaching would be exhausting – by creating networks of mutual support, we can help ease the collective load to keep us all current as technologies, demographics, and pedagogical approaches change over time.
4. PLN’s are fantastic because, as mentioned above, they’re customizable. When I speak to people within my PLN, or do research from sites I count as among my PLN, I’m engaged because I designed these choices myself, and I’m getting relevant information right away. Moreover, as my learning situation changes with different students, budgets, etc, I can edit my PLN as I go to keep being useful throughout my career.
A personal learning network is a way for educators to connect with other educators and gain insights & ideas that will support their ongoing learning. The foundation of this network is reciprocity, trust, and mutual understanding.
The given definition for a PLN is a Personal Learning Network. I’ve come to learn that this means a lot of things. A PLN is like your own classroom where you can come and go as you please. In this classroom you are the teacher and the student. You can post your own content and gather information from other sources as well to enhance your learning.
1. A PLN helps you to research different topics that you may want to know more about.
2. Some of the benefits are that you can stay connected with different teachers online.
3. It is important for teachers to stay connected so that they can communicate with one another.
4. I learned that PLNs can help you to be successful for your personal gain.
One of the benefits of having a PLN that resonates with me the most is the ability to access other professionals in education 24/7. I’ve always been someone to have a million things going on at once, and while I would like to address all of my tasks during classroom hours, this is not always realistic for me. I love the idea of being able to ask for advice or assistance whenever works best for my schedule.
The biggest benefit that I see is the ability to take charge in the learning environment. Being able to teach more in areas where students are struggling is important. This benefit resonates most with me because feeling lost in a classroom can be overwhelming to students. A platform allowing students to explore areas that they feel lost in can be a lifesaver to them.
1. to me a pln is lurking because I like to research topics online before doing them myself. that makes me feel more comfortable.
2. the 24/7 seems appealing to me because I like being able to learn whenever I want
3. its important for teachers to stay connected because they will be using technology a lot more in the future.
4. one thing that I learned is that using PLNs to be more creative for your own personal gain
It is important to be a connected educator because other teachers might be able to help you out if you are having trouble with something. If you are not connected you won’t have anyone to help you but if you are a connected educator you will be able to find someone to help you.