Welcome to second step in our free professional learning series on building your PLN.

In the first step, we unpacked the definition of a PLN and looked at the benefits of being a connected educator.

You may now be wondering how to begin building your own PLN.

The aim of this step is to:

  1. Offer an overview of how to build a PLN
  2. Provide a snapshot of some tools educators use to connect with their PLN
  3. Share tips for connecting with educators from around the globe
  4. Discuss barriers to building a PLN

The Networked Teacher

Around a decade ago, Alec Couros created two diagrams that have been shared thousands of times.

This first diagram demonstrates how a teacher would traditionally connect and learn.

Image by Alec Couros, CC CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

This diagram of “The Networked Teacher” demonstrates just some of the ways that educators can connect now that technology is at their fingertips. Note, the “old” ways of connecting are still there.

The Networked Teacher diagram by Alec Couros showing the different media that educators can connect with -- blogs, social bookmarking, chat etc.
Image by Alec Couros (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Alec’s brother George reminds us that the arrows go back and forth and it’s not only about what you consume but what you create. You can give as well as receive.

What Tools Are Used?

Teachers from all over the globe are online and learning together, but where exactly do you find these teachers and develop working relationships with them?

In a 2016 study called “Together we are better: Professional Learning Networks For Teachers”, K-12 teachers were asked how they use PLNs.

The most popular tool in the sample was Twitter with 53% of participants indicating that they used this tool to connect with others.

Other popular tools listed in the survey included blogs, Edmodo, Facebook, Discovery Education Network, and Pinterest.

84% of survey participants indicated that they use more than one medium or site.

How Are Teachers Connecting On Online Platforms?

Teachers use social media and other online spaces in a variety of ways to connect with their PLN.

Here are ten examples:

  1. Twitter — Educators follow people they’re interested in, ranging from “thought leaders” to everyday teachers in a similar subject area or age group. Teachers also use hashtags to follow topics of interest, and join Twitter chats to discuss ideas in real time. Be sure to follow Edublogs and CampusPress on Twitter. The next step in this series will explain how to start using Twitter.
  2. Facebook — Educators follow pages and profiles of people and businesses involved in education. They also join Facebook groups to post questions, ask for feedback, and respond to others. Visit our Edublogs Facebook page and Facebook for Education to start learning something new.
  3. Instagram — You can follow educators to get new ideas for lessons, activities, learning spaces and more. Hashtags make it easy to search for topics you’re interested in. Check out Tony Vincent’s Guide to Instagram For Teachers.
  4. Pinterest — Pinterest is ultimately a ‘discovery engine’ and is becoming a go-to for many educators looking for fresh ideas, resources, and connections. Be sure to follow Edublogs on Pinterest!
  5. Blogs — Blogs play an important role in most educators’ PLNs. This might include reading blogs from a variety of different people or writing your own blog. Visit Step Five of this series for more information.
  6. Email newsletters — There might be an educator, thought leader, or blogger who you really enjoy following. Chances are, they have an email newsletter that you can subscribe to for free to have curated news and contented delivered straight to inbox!
  7. Voxer — This walkie-talkie like tool can be used as an app on your mobile device or on your computer. Educators can engage in both synchronous and asynchronous conversations about their professional practice. Learn more in this article on Voxer by Amy Heavin.
  8. YouTube — Video is a powerful medium. Many teachers enjoy following a selection of YouTube channels to keep up to date with a variety of topics. Check out Kasey Bell’s 20 YouTube Channels for Educators to find some channels that might interest you.
  9. LinkedIn — Considered a “professional” social networking platform, educators can connect with a large community of professionals on LinkedIn. Explore this collection of 25 LinkedIn groups for networking teachers via Fractus Learning.

Feel free to share this graphic on your blog or with your colleagues.

Popular ways educators are learning with their PLN Edublogs Teacher Challenge

Tips For Developing Relationships

PLNs are all about relationships! Here are a few tips to consider as you begin to build your PLN.

  1. Invest some time in building your PLN. Set aside even 15 or 20 minutes a day and you’ll build momentum in no time.
  2. PLNs work both ways. Remember, the more you share, the more you’ll find you receive in return.
  3. Try different tools. There are so many different forms of social media, online tools, and ways to connect. Dip your toes in and see how educators are using various tools.
  4. Find tools that work best for you. While it’s definitely worth giving things a try, not every platform is for everyone. Choose to dedicate time to the tools you enjoy and find the most rewarding.
  5. Follow up with people. If someone connects with you whether it’s through a tweet, blog comment, Facebook group, or any platform, thank them, ask a question, and get to know them. These are the building blocks of forming a relationship.
  6. Ask for help. If you find someone who already has a number of connections (on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or wherever) ask them to introduce you to others. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you’re figuring out how various platforms work either.
  7. Curate wisely. If you want to share interesting resources with people in your PLN, make sure you read beyond a headline and share things you think will be truly useful.
  8. Diversify. Try to connect with people with diverse opinions and points of view. It’s easy for “birds of a feather to flock together”, however, sometimes there is more to gain from communicating with a range of people from different backgrounds.
  9. Involve your students. Once you get to know a few educators, you might start to think about ways you can connect your students. Check out our Edublogger’s Guide To Global Collaboration for lots of ideas.
  10. Spread the word. As you begin to explore PLNs and online communities, share this information with others in your school or district. Maybe they don’t realize this wonderful virtual opportunity exists!

Barriers To Creating A PLN

In our first step, we looked at many of the advantages of building a PLN. If the benefits of being a connected educator are clear, what holds so many teachers back from building their own PLN?

Perhaps the first obstacle is that many teachers simply don’t know about PLNs. They don’t know there are thousands of educators from around the world who are online connecting, collaborating, and learning together.

Furthermore, Tom Whitby has outlined three deterrents to educators using PLNs as a tool for ongoing learning.

The PLN is a mindset, not the outcome of a workshop or the PD offered annually by many school districts. It is not a one-shot fix.

Teachers have learned through the “sit and get” model for generations. This mindset shift where you need to realize that you are responsible for your own learning and you can take control can be difficult to adapt to.

Additionally, prioritizing the investment in time that building a PLN requires would certainly be an obstacle for some. Step seven in this series offers some tips on finding time to invest in your PLN.

Successful users of PLNs overwhelm the uninitiated with techno-babble.

Hopefully, the future steps in this course can break down any overwhelming “techno-babble”.

You will probably find that many teachers who are regular uses of online technologies proclaim that they are “not very tech savvy”. Even George Couros who has a Twitter following of 224,000+ has said, “I’m not that good with technology and you probably aren’t either“.

It requires, at least at first, digital literacy beyond a Google search.

It is certainly essential that educators develop their digital literacy. As Silvia Tolisano has pointed out, our notion of what it means to be literate or illustrate calls for an update. 

... merely reading and writing in text form and on analog platforms is simply not enough to call yourself literate. The skills and abilities MUST include reading and writing in various media forms and on multiple platforms INCLUDING digital spaces. We can’t continue to differentiate between our analog and digital world. We live in ONE world after all.

If you feel like you need to improve your own digital literacy skills, don’t despair! You don’t need to learn everything before you embark on building your PLN. We will provide you with the essential tips and skills throughout this course and you can learn as you go.

If you feel like your skills need updating in other areas, such as blogging and online tools, we have other free courses you can work through at your own pace too.

Conclusion

Becoming a connected educator is something that takes work but has enormous advantages for both you and your students. In fact, many educators would say that it’s an essential responsibility of teachers to connect and commit to lifelong learning.

As George Couros has said, “Isolation is now a choice educators make“.

There are so many ways to free yourself from isolation. The following steps in this series breaks down three powerful avenues to becoming a connected educator — Twitter, blogs, and content curation.

Your Task

We’d like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation on building your own PLN by undertaking one or more of the following challenges:

  1. Preferences: We all enjoy connecting in different ways. Write a post or comment on this post about how you plan to connect with other educators. What sites or tools do you think you’d prefer to use to make connections. Why?
  2. Relationship tips: Revise our list of tips for developing working relationships with other educators. What resonates most with you? Do you have any ideas to add? Tell us in a comment.
  3. Barriers: We have identified some common barriers to building a PLN. Leave a comment and tell us what the biggest barrier has been for you (or others you know). Share your thoughts on how this obstacle can be overcome.

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.

768 thoughts on “Step 2: Making Connections

  1. There are several ways that educators can connect with one another. One of the most popular methods is through social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. These platforms offer educators a chance to interact with each other, share ideas and resources, and build networks. Apart from social media, educators can attend conferences, workshops, and seminars to network with others in their field. Attending these events allows educators to meet other professionals in person, learn about new ideas and strategies, and form valuable connections. Personally, social media will be my best friend once I begin teaching because there are so many veteran educators that spread their knowledge and wisdom through these platforms.

  2. I think the best way to make connections virtually is by using the groups on Facebook. They have broad and specific groups you can choose from but they all create a network for people. You can get lesson idea, classroom décor ideas and other things like that from these groups.

  3. I have plenty of different social media sources but I do not find them necessary in the classroom. I think that Youtube is a real and very connected source when it comes to sharing information.

  4. I think that instagram has actually been a pretty helpful tool for me to connect with educators. I follow a series of teachers who post helpful classroom management tips that have been fun to try out while I’ve been student teaching. I am also part of a few science teacher facebook groups where people share lesson plans and resources, and those have been really helpful! It’s easy to search for a topic within the group and find all past ideas. I have also used a few resources from pinterest for that same reason.

  5. The biggest barrier to me has to be my lack of social media. I haven’t been on facebook in a decade, I’ve never made a twitter, and I don’t have a ticktock. I am not the type of person who really likes putting themselves on social media of any type, so even if I do create one, I will always be a lurker.

  6. For myself, I think I would prefer to connect with other educators through videos. I have a pretty on-the-go lifestyle, so the ability to learn from other educators while doing other things in my life is the most convenient and effective way of gaining new information. I also am open to the idea of joining online communities, but I prefer keeping my work and social lives separate as to not overwork myself.

  7. Personally, I feel like given the times we live in, the easiest and most beneficial way to connect with other educators is by using social media. Instagram has teacher social pages and Facebook has private group pages for teachers to utilize and network. I also feel as if I will use Pinterest as a resource to connect with my fellow educators and share ideas that we use in the classroom. Locally, I would also try to go to dinner with my teacher friends/team to connect with them personally.

  8. I would follow campuspress and follow other educators that are interested in things I am into. Instagram and twitter are ways I would connect with other educators. These apps I use often and I am comfortable with communicating on them. It would make it easy for me to find other educators as well because I am already familiar with the tools.

  9. I think social media is the easiest way to connect with other educators, especially with how many sites’ algorithms are written to show you more content that you engage with. I like one TikTok about teaching and suddenly half my feed is education. However, a barrier to me building my own PLN is definitely the fact that it requires persistent work and interaction with strangers, which is not exactly my strong suit.

  10. I have been thinking about creating my own PLN for some time now I just did not know the word for it. The article mentions that many teaches first obstacle in creating a PLN is they do not know what they are. It can also be difficult to build a network of resources when you don’t know about any resources.

  11. I think one thing I intend on using is Pinterest since I use it so much now and also Instagram I feel would help a lot since most people are on it.

  12. What resonated with me the most about working relationships with other educators was asking for help. If I can name one strong suit of mine when it comes to communicating with others, it’s going to be that I constantly ask for help with everything. Some people find asking for too much help is a sign of weakness or you can’t seem to figure out anything on your own. It takes fortitude, self-assurance, and resourcefulness to ask for assistance. Being surrounded by people who can assist you in various circumstances is extremely essential in a society where people want problems to be resolved quickly, especially in education.

  13. The relationships tip seem very helpful for educators. One tip that resonated with me the most was investing time. It is super important to make sure you have the time for building PLN. Another tip that resonated with me was following up with people. This is a great tip because not only are you showing people you care but you could be getting feedback that could be beneficial.

  14. I personally like using Facebook groups with people that like the same things as I do. It’s fun to share the things I like with others and to swap ideas about them. For the classroom, I think private youtube videos would be necessary for students to connect.

  15. I plan to utilize Instagram, Facebook, and youtube as I feel these are the tools I’m most comfortable with and would give me the best results for my PLN. I think Instagram and Facebook are both great ways to learn and connect with others around the world. Youtube has really become one of the tools that I tend to utilize the most because its versatility is one of my favorites. I like that I’m able to find an array of information that comes from a variety of people and places. I feel this gives me a better opportunity to ensure that the students receive diverse learning.

  16. Due to the simplicity of liking or following Facebook pages that are relevant to teaching, Facebook is probably the social media platform that I would use to interact with other teachers. Following that, you can engage with other commenters and shared material on the page. teachers can connect with other teachers, in my opinion, is through Facebook groups. Finding the organization that most closely aligns with your individual interests will be easy because there are groups for just about every topic. Many public and private organizations that are focused on teaching can be found.

  17. My ideal way to connect with other educators would be through twitter and Pinterest. I am very comfortable and familiar with those apps, and already love the resources I have found on there. Once I create my own, I would love to connect with other educators and share my lessons and tips with them to help anyone else searching for similar ideas.

  18. As a graduate student, the biggest difficulty I have had is connecting with educators already in the field. This is especially difficult to do with educators in the part of the field I intend to go into. My difficulty will definitely alleviate quite a lot once I enter the field. I also believe it is a symptom of a lack of stated presence in educational social media circles.

  19. As a future educator, based on this article I would be considered a “networked teacher”. I use a lot of them. the websites mentioned very frequently. I am an avid user of Pinterest, Facebook, Youtube, and TikTok. I get so many ideas that I like to tweak from other educators. It’s really cool to be able to get ideas from other people in the same field as you and make it work for you.

  20. I think one reason that teachers are hesitant to create a PLN is due to the negative sections that come with social media sites, especially ones like Twitter. Teachers wouldn’t want to invite that sort of atmosphere into their learning circle as their students could end up suffering due to it.

  21. I personally feel that I will be using Pinterest a lot. It has amazing DIYs and other ways of making a classroom fun. I feel that every teacher would have a great way of connecting and giving other teachers great ideas in the classroom.

  22. I have a concern about using social media. I worry about content in any feed becoming an echo chamber of unproductive comments and complaining. It is interesting to see Twitter a source with such positive responses in the comments. I’ve used twitter very limitedly in the past.

  23. Although I don’t have a Tik Tok at the moment, I’m planning to make one in the future. I’ve recently started to see reels through my Instagram account that teachers make regarding school policies. From this, I learned it’s a fun, interactive platform that can also be used for education purposes. The videos that I have seen bring awareness to the multiple flaws within the education system, which is something that most people don’t recognize. This is also a great platform to see classroom ideas and different student activities. The more educators can learn from others, the more it’ll benefit the students! Educators can also team up with each other, or do a duo video, to spread more awareness among different groups of individuals (each of their followers).

  24. I’m curious to see how different group platforms like Edugroups can provide assistance for upcoming teachers to connect with experienced educators who focuses on unconventional teaching style in their classroom.

  25. I feel like this goes for everything. When you put time and effort into something, you will see more results. Just like with PLNs, the more you share with others, which requires time and effort, the more you’ll be able to find. I think all the tools provided are crucial for making connections.

  26. I love to get teaching/instructional ideas from TikTok and then doing a bit more research on the topic to best adjust it to k-5 edu. I found that YouTube is pretty reliable, but sometimes a bit dated on how to implement in the classroom.

  27. While I do not have an extreme amount of technology experience, I have found that most programs/platforms I have used have been pretty simple. Knowing what I feel comfortable with and what I don’t when it comes to technology has proved to be the biggest benefit in my opinion. I highly recommend learning what the kinds of layouts, tools, accessibility, etc. that you prefer and beginning with that.

  28. For my PLN, I plan on expanding my network with social media sites I’m already familiar with or have started growing a network on. Facebook has a lot of groups and is a place where I have connections with teachers I’ve had or worked with before. Pinterest is great for posting and receiving ideas and activities. I’ve also seen a rise in educator communities in Instagram and TikTok as well, where I follow a lot of teachers and see them posting what is or what’s not working in their classrooms and schools.

  29. As much as technology is a part of our lives now, I plan to use that to my advantage to communicate with other educators. I do not use twitter, however I do like online blogs and instagram as well. I think using technology to connect with others allows real time communication and feedback. I also really like newsletters and I think I would use that as well.

  30. In my personal PLN journey, I plan to use a multitude of platforms, as they all provide different benefits. For example, Pinterest is a great tool is terms of creativity and fresh ideas, which would be helpful for lesson planning diversity and differentiation. Additionally, Twitter is a great tool for real-time communication, as well as the exposure to educational leaders and events. While both tools provide different benefits, they would both be more than effective to be exposed to as a teacher. I look forward to exploring a multitude of tools, so that I can find specific ones that work best for me and my students.

  31. I think social media would be the go-to way to connect with educators. Social media is just so easily accessible that it would probably be the easiest way for educators to connect with each other. Educators can share their lessons and classroom ideas through platforms like Pinterest. Platforms like Twitter and Youtube can help educators share tips, lessons, and other ideas with each other.

  32. I think I will connect with other educators through social media like Twitter and Instagram. I have seen teachers on TikTok that also share tips that I hope to bring into my classroom. I want to connect with other educators through social media because the world is becoming so digital that it is easily accessible. I also feel like I could look at posts while I am trying to relax from the day by just looking at them. I can learn while taking time to debrief from my day.

  33. Having a place where making connections is encouraged but not required is important in these times. We are still trying to grapple with social media as a tool (and the Age of Information in general) for good, since it so often can lead to detrimental health outcomes, especially amongst children, teens, and young adults. However, demonstrating this notion of making connections to students in a low-stakes manner where the focus is not on gaining any sort of social currency, but as a platform that offers free educational resources offered at their disposal is an important thing to model to students.

  34. This step details the different social media platforms we can use to develop our PLN. Something that stuck out to me was the arrows going both ways in “The Networked Teacher” diagram. I like the idea that we are not only consuming content, but we are creating things ourselves and interacting in an overall conversation. We can learn more this way through interacting with the content we are exposed to in our networks!

  35. Right now, my biggest barrier to building a PLN is that I avoid social media at all costs. There are so many negative aspects to it that I eventually made the decision to delete almost all of my social media accounts. I think if I create a professional account on something like twitter I would be able to avoid the negativity and misinformation that made me delete my personal accounts in the first place.

  36. In the current technological era that we live in, I would say that I would connect with other educational professionals on a platform like TikTok where they show case what works within their classroom for other educators and they don’t “sugar coat” the negative outcomes of becoming a teacher. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter where you teach today in the United States, we all face the same challenges as other teachers and after a pandemic we faced the worse teacher shortage that has ever been seen within our county. While TikTok is a platform that could be dissolved in the United States many of the educators on this platform has moved to YouTube and have created podcast that are enlightening in how teachers should be treated and how inequality does take place throughout our educational system.

  37. Pinterest and YouTube are resources I utilize to connect with others online. I have learned from others and identified solutions to problems and grown in the process.

  38. I prefer to connect with a PLN through Facebook and Instagram. However, I am a lot more active in Facebook. I am more of a lurker on Instagram. One thing I need to work on is sharing my own thoughts and ideas on the pages I follow. I tend to just scroll and use for my own consumption.

  39. Twitter and Facebook are the main way to establish my PLN. There are lots of resources that I would be able to learn about and how others use them in their classrooms. My favorites are on Twitter @ISTEofficial, @WeAreTeachers, and Tech Tips for Teachers-Facebook Group. I have a keen interest to explore new tools, new and fun groups, and ideas to implement in my classes.

  40. Twitter is my go to for my PLN. Setting up my PLN there has been easy and accessible as there are lots of resources that I can learn about and from. One of my favorites is @WeAreTeachers. They offer hands on resources and ideas that I can easily implement into my classroom. I am excited to find new and fun groups and ideas for my upcoming technology course.

  41. I use Facebook and Instagram. I have more connections with Facebook, but I am building more connections as I use Instagram. I would like to begin using Twitter in tandem with YouTube solely for educational purposes. My goal is to add to my educational toolbox and share what I already know with others who also need other outside perspectives and suggestions.

  42. Instagram is definitely my go to choice for my PLN. Since I already regularly use it for my personal life, I already would feel comfortable using it to build my PLN. I also follow a lot of other educators on Instagram. Since so many educators already have their own platform on Instagram, it would also make it an easy transition to use when building a PLN.

  43. The ways that I have preferred to connect with other educators are through Facebook and Instagram. This is how I am linked to webinars, free blogs and resources from educators. I also join groups like 5th grade on Facebook where I can share ideas and post questions and vice versa with other 5th grade teachers globally. I have never been interested in Twitter, but Instagram allows for hashtags as well for me to follow educators and curriculum. I used to use the next two ways more often before Instagram and Facebook: Pinterest and YouTube. I like YouTube to follow blogs, especially when becoming a new teacher on tips and resources. Pinterest helped with the resources and creativity of classroom instruction and the design of the classroom environment. I like that it mentions, “84% of survey participants indicated that they use more than one medium or site” because I do not have a preference (The teacher challenge, 2019, para.). Each tool and program offers something different and in the way that it is shared. Just as we have students use a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning through Google slides, Prezi, Book Creator and more.
    References
    The Teacher Challenge. (2019). Building your PLN [Self-paced course]. https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/creating-a-pln/

  44. For me, the biggest barrier would be time to put into creating a PLN and the social media platform I would want to use. For the amount of time, placing even 15 minutes into finding options would be better than none. I just need to create a dedicated time at least once a week to find resources, tools, etc. to assist in the creation of my network. When it comes to social media platforms, I have never been a big fan of Twitter and hardly use Instagram but I will use Facebook or Pinterest. With those platforms I more look at information rather than posting information myself which can also cause an issue. One way to get over this obstacle would be to also set aside one day where I am participating or see where else I could engage others while not being on social media.

  45. In the educator world, Twitter has been my “go-to” when it comes to Networking. Educator often post information pertaining to information they are studying or what they are implementing in the classroom. However, there are certain barriers that effects how successful creating these networks. For example, twitter is a free service so for every post or “tweet,” the page is filled with several advertisements. This annoys me and makes me not want to use it as a primary source of creating a PLN. To overcome this obstacle, I believe it is important to have a primary and 2 secondary places to help establish a PLN.

  46. I just joined Twitter and I am already seeing a benefit to this social media site. There are so many resources here. I have been used to googling or facebook and even IG from time to time, but I believe that Twitter will be a great tool for me to have for my newly formed PLN.

  47. Youtube and Instagram have been great resources for me so far. Also, it could be even more so as I gear more towards building my PLN. Teachers that share their days on Youtube helped me realize that I wanted to be in the profession. Now when I’m surfing social media, I can find inspiration for a lesson or classroom routine.

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