Welcome to the final step in our free professional learning series on building your PLN.
Now you know what a PLN is, and how people build one, we’re going to discuss ways of making time for your PLN.
In this step you will explore:
- How to find time to develop your PLN and embed simple practices into your routine
- Tips for building your PLN
Overview
Throughout this series, we’ve looked at different ways that educators enjoy building a PLN and connecting with their networks.
While we mainly focused on Twitter, blogs, and curation tools, remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are many other ways that educators connect with others and we encourage you to explore anything that looks interesting to you.
Whatever tools you use, you want it to be sustainable. The real benefits of having a PLN emerge once you get to know people and as we’ve said throughout this series, the more you put in, the more you’ll get back.
Tips For Building Your PLN
Here are some tips for building your PLN and making the time to be a ‘connected educator’ without feeling overwhelmed.
Do what works best for you
How do you like to learn and connect best? Do you prefer reading and text based materials? Are you a keen writer? Maybe you like audio and enjoy learning via podcasts. Videos are also a popular way for people to learn and share information.
Follow your natural learning style and think about ways you can become a connected educator by doing what you’re comfortable with. Not every tool or service is for everyone!
Start small
Put your blinkers on. You really don’t need to use all the tools that are out there. Trying to keep up with many people and many tools is a recipe for feeling overwhelmed.
Some educators have built up a great network just by reading a handful of blogs and following a small number of people on Twitter. Remember, it’s quality over quantity.
Set a goal and commit
Set yourself one goal of something you’re going to commit to trying.
Maybe your goal will be to join Twitter and find 10 people to follow. Then challenge yourself to check in every day for a month and see what your followers are tweeting about. If this works for you, you can build on it. If not, you can always try something new!
Set a routine
You probably already have a number of online routines in place. Maybe you’re in the routine of checking your emails in the morning, or perhaps browsing Facebook when you sit down after dinner.
Create a routine for your PLN too.
This doesn’t have to involve a big chunk of time. A few minutes here and there to read a blog post, browse through Feedly or Flipboard, or scroll through Twitter can be all you need to get on your way.
Consider becoming more productive
We all know how easy it is for time to whittle away while browsing online. Whether it’s YouTube videos or Instagram photos, maybe some of your online browsing experiences can be redirected to building your PLN.
Of course, we all need downtime but this is something for you to ponder!
Don’t be shy
Most people in the educational community are remarkably friendly. Don’t be shy about following people you don’t know, leaving a stranger a comment, or responding to someone’s tweet.
You’ll probably be glad you did and you never know where one small interaction can take you!
Don’t give up
It’s so common to try something new and feel a great sense of discomfort. You might feel confused and overwhelmed but don’t give up! Once you get over the initial learning curve, it will all pay off. We promise!
Maybe you’ll end up like Tisha Poncio who gave this inspiring shout out to her PLN on Twitter.
All I’m saying is my #PLN has done more for me as an educator than they will ever know! There are too many of you to tag! #edtech #fearlessedchat #piratePLN #leadership #flipgridfever pic.twitter.com/sT7313yZdn
— tisha poncio (@TxTechChick) July 26, 2018
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:
- What are your goals? Leave a comment on this post to tell us what aspects of your PLN you want to focus on first. Maybe you want to join Twitter and find some fellow teacher-librarians or history teachers. Or maybe you want to add all your favorite blogs to a Feedly account. Tell us about it!
- Making time. Leave a comment on this post to share your ideas on how you will make time to build your PLN. Remember to consider if there is anything you can remove from your online browsing routine to free up time for building your PLN.
- Share your top tip. Leave a comment to share your tips that have helped get you started building a PLN without feeling overwhelmed.
- Pay it forward. Remember that a barrier to developing a PLN is simply not knowing what’s out there. Why not ‘pay it forward’ and tell a friend or colleague about this series? Encourage them to take part and learn about building their own PLN!
- Write a post about PLNs. If you have a blog, now could be the perfect time to write about PLNs. Put all the pieces together from what you’ve learned in this series and share your own insights or goals. You never know, you might just help someone else get started! Please include @edublogs if you tweet your post so we can share it with our network. Leave a comment with a link to your post so we can read it!
Also feel free to leave a comment to ask any questions you still have about building a PLN. We may be able to help!
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.
PLN Course Certificate
Have you completed each of the 7 steps in this course AND left a comment on each post? Maybe you’d like a certificate to show that you’ve completed the PLN Teacher Challenge course!
Fill out the form below to receive your certificate via email. Alternatively, click here to open the form in a new tab.
If you don’t receive your certificate, please look in your junk/spam folder.
Claim Your Badge!
If you’ve completed the PLN challenge, feel free to proudly display this badge on the sidebar of your blog. Alternatively, you might like to add it to your About page to demonstrate your professional learning.
Simply right click on the image and save it to your computer. Then add it to your sidebar by following these instructions.
We’re so happy to have you as part of our Teacher Challenge community!
I have found the teacher community on Instagram to be a great start to my PLN. I would like to spend more time figuring out which accounts and blogs I follow have valuable information that I can practically implement in my own classroom. There are many teachers of other grade levels and subjects whose stuff is interesting, but not as relevant to my classroom.
I also find it very easy to get overwhelmed. I find limiting myself to only a couple difference tools, apps, or resources that I’m logged onto on a constant basis helps keeps me focused and up to date. If I spread myself too thin between too many tools I know I’ll lose my focus.
As a full-time, it is difficult to set aside space for building my PLN. Additionally, since I’m not working in the education field, it is also difficult to keep abreast and to connect with people that are. Upon graduation I believe that the evening hours would be most beneficial for me to develop or follow up with social connections via online resources. Also, during the evening hours many people have had a chance to post and comment, which may increase your chances of finding answers to your questions.
Thank you
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences with building your PLN. I’m more old fashioned in my approach to social media; I try to avoid it when I can. I’ve heard many educators state that having a presence on Twitter is beneficial, but does their participation greatly affected their actual classroom? Could anyone testify that a greater presence on Twitter correlates with a positive jump in student grades/general behavior?
This is a great reminder to not be overwhelmed by building a PLN. I appreciate the advice to ‘look for the best and use their ideas until I’m ready to share something great.’ Great educators and professionals are posting and sharing all the time, but I can join when it fits in my day’s schedule. I can set a routine to build my PLN even if it’s just a few minutes a day, or a couple of times a week. That’s something manageable that I can commit to. Thanks for all the tips and reminders!
I’m happy to hear from someone that was just as fearful and hesitant as I sometimes find myself being. I have a Twitter and have enjoyed various Twitter chats and even have TweetDeck. However, I still find myself overwhelmed at points! I also tend to use the excuse, “I don’t have enough time” a lot to explain why I’m not trying to grow my PLN through twitter. I really appreciate that you talked about setting up a routine and focusing on one specific area that works best for you. I think routine is essential. Thank you for your encouragement!
I have noticed personally that the most important things in maintaining an active PLN is commitment to a routine. Thinking about all the information out there on the internet can be extremely overwhelming, but spending just five to ten minutes on Twitter daily for professional reasons suddenly does not seem so bad! A commitment of a small amount of time each day to building a PLN can lead to a great impact in the long term.
I love how you talked about making it a routine and setting goals for yourself! That makes it so much easier to digest, as it can be pretty overwhelming at times! I find that TweetDeck helps a lot with the Twitter chats, as you see the conversation as it actively happens. Then you can reply to some things and let other things slide by. Something I initially struggled with was wanting to have an answer to every question, but it’s okay to just listen to what others have to say!
I will commit to my PLN development by working on my Personal Learning Network three times a week for 30 minutes each. I will work on developing my PLN on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, during my lunch break at work. I will start building my PLN through Twitter and then moving onto blogs.
I really enjoyed your honest in this post! I think a lot of people when they are told about PLN think to themselves, “oh know! I need to follow people on twitter NOW!” I think you brought up a good point when you said not to force it, and to focus on yourself, your learning style, and what you want to know. I agree. Focusing on those things, will help you to develop a PLN that is more conducive to your learning as an educator, rather than the learning of an educator in general. Making goals is really important and will really help to shrink the large task of building a PLN into smaller bite sized pieces. Thanks for your post!
Sarah, I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with developing your PLN on Twitter. Two years ago I attempted to start creating a PLN but quickly became bogged down by my inexperience as a pre-service teacher and my inability to keep up with everything. I thought if I tried “harder”, I could make it work. However, your article helped me to realize I needed to try “smarter”.
Like you suggested, I need to make realistic goals and take small steps to achieve them. I don’t have to be on Twitter for hours every day, and I don’t have to be ready to share my own content yet. All I have to do, is set up a goal, a routine and find something to hold me accountable. I especially liked the idea of tweeting while watching TV. This way, it is already built into my schedule (ensuring that I do not forget) and allows me to spend the amount of time/energy that I feel is appropriate with “losing” any time during the day.
After reading your article, I believe I am ready to give Twitter another shot!
Thank you for sharing, Sarah! I greatly appreciate your willingness to express your story of working through the anxieties of Twitter and developing a PLN, and to share some tips that helped you through it all. I’m a pre-service teacher and working on PLN, and pretty much anything that involves other people, causes me some anxieties, and getting organized while making time to work through an issue is a great struggle of mine. Your tips of making small achievable goals for yourself and ensuring some form of accountability are very helpful! Also, thank you for your reminder to not “force it”; I know developing a PLN takes time, and it is always helpful for me to hear this often!
Yes it takes time and if I were to revise this I would also say a lot of trial and error to find what works for you. Best wishes as you pursue it. Deep breathes and a growth mindset encourage the best babysteps.
happy summer out there-
need your help. i’ve been on twitter, participating in edchats by viewing and reading rather than engaging. i have lists based on my interest (edtech, principals, leadership, math, etc) i also subscribe to several list serves like Smartbriefs about Leadership or tech.
I feel like i am adequately engaged (with a desire to learn more and improve). so i have two questions:
1. are these things i subscribe to or follow on twitter my PLN? (i believe so but looking for some feedback)
2. any suggestions on how to organize all these different resources? i conect via email and twitter, sometimes youtube or via blog – any ideas on how to gather all these different sources of Prof Discourse into some manageable and coherent tool? i feel like 10 different faucets are on full blast streaming into my mind with no easy way to organize it.
this is my summer task and i’d appreciate any help you can provide. have a restful summer-
vince
Try padlet.com to organize your PLN. It lets you comment. Has a button to add to your browser and you can have a padlet by topic and upload documents as well.
I’m in the same place now that you used to be and I really think that you captured that mindset well. I agree with you and with Bob: “baby steps”. You can’t just become this motivated expert on things overnight. They take time and this type of learning is well worth the time and effort. Being able to use Twitter and building your PLN makes all the difference in your classroom and being a better educator and model for your students.
Hello to everyone
– In our shoolI have undertaken to edit our activities and then publish them to our school blog and to fb
-In fb i am enrolled in communities like etwinning, or related to healthy nutrition, physical education – I am a teacher of sport- or about my hοbby -i am a soap maker-
I have a Twetter account but I really do not use it,
because I do not know the its utility and how to make it work .
Νow i begun to understand how Twetter works through this very useful LE and your excellent tips.
-I worked mainly on my computer at home late at night when all is quiet.
I currently follow positive posts, christian posts, and posts about Harry Potter on Facebook. For my PLN I would like to follow posts that have to do with creative and positive ways to teach and manage behavior.
I created a twitter account four years ago, and I stopped using it after a few weeks. I got lost in the massive flow of information and when the frustration got too intense, I quit using it. I just created a new twitter for my PLN and this time plan on sticking with it. Thank you for your twitter tips.
I just started a professional twitter account. I think I want to work my way to creating my teacher blog for my students and parents to follow. I want to plan it out this summer and then start developing ideas I will want to post about
I use FB, and just got a Twitter account. I am still not sure how this PLN will work for me or how to build it. As a sub teacher I have asked many teachers if they have a PLN and most don’t. But with all I have read It seems it could be very helpful tool but time consuming if you let it.
I never thought of my PLN in such concrete terms. For me, it was about communicating directly and using simple things like Facebook. This lesson gave me lots of information about how to expand my original ideas
I really loved how this article really advocated starting where you are! I didn’t feel intimidated by the prospect of building my PLN, because the you are “one of us” – someone who started out not knowing anything about a PLN. You made the task of building a PLN seem manageable, which was really encouraging.
I really appreciated the tips you provided. I agree that Twitter and other forms of social media can be overwhelming, but I liked how you talked about breaking it down into manageable steps. I think what will help me most is setting a goal and establishing a routine. I love to do work in front of a movie or TV show, just like you talked about, but I never thought about using that time to go on Twitter and see what is happening in the world of education. Thanks for the great ideas and advice!
Hi Emily
Thank you for your kind words
Eugene Brown, Edublogs Support
I like how you break down developing a PLN into something personal that is different for everyone. I need to stop comparing my progress to others and develop my PLN the way that works best for me. I need to take baby steps, like you described, to get more comfortable as I grow in my teaching abilities. I am not yet comfortable with twitter, but I believe that by taking it slow like you did I can learn to warm up to it. Thanks for sharing!
I agree that twitter can be initially intimidating. I think I struggle with it sometimes. I am also the type of person who doesn’t like to post anything online. I am very conscious of what I am putting on the internet and don’t really like to post if I don’t have to. Using twitter as a professional development opportunity can be beneficial, and I am able to see that. I think I also need to take baby steps to adjust to using twitter in this way.
After reading this page, I realized I do not have to become perfect at PLN overnight. I can work at my own pace and figure it out along the way, by talking to people and learning about what they have done to develop their PLN. I really like the idea of setting goals and routines for each day. I am really excited to begin this process!
I agree that seeing all of the information continuously adding to a Twitter feed can be very overwhelming, but there are some very valuable tools and ideas within the flood of posts. Some things that I have been introduced to on Twitter are project based learning, Wonderopolis, and lesson ideas that other teachers have created or implemented. I have also definitely noticed that people tweeting within the professional education domain of Twittter, tend to be very respectful and helpful in networking! I have not seen any disrespectful conversations as you might in other uses for Twitter
I currently rely on facebook as my means of professional development and networking. I hope to expand my horizons by using twitter and the twitter chats in areas that I feel necessary for my development. What are some twitter groups that would be a great starter pack for a preservice teacher?
I have commented: I think this method of making time sounds great. For me, the best time is during lunch. I don’t know how doing your development during your television time works. I would be very distracted watching television, but if it works for, that is fantastic. I haven’t used Twitter much in the past for really anything, but I believe I would enjoy it.
Thank you for the tips Mrs. Waters. As a pre-service teacher the thought of Twitter was overwhelming at first. The continual flow of tweets made me feel like I was losing potential knowledge as I would watch tweet after tweet flash past. Your tip to set a goal, set a routine, and don’t force it stuck out to me. I feel like the coming New Year is a perfect time to set a new Twitter tech goal. Setting a routine is a must for me, I’ll start small. Maybe one tweet, one favorite, one retweet a week and each month add an additional element. Most importantly though I appreciate your advice that says, don’t force it. How true! Growing as an educator should be a desire of mine. As I set a routine and see the benefits of using Twitter affecting my teaching I am sure I will start to love using it to grow as an educator! Thank you again for your advice 🙂
Who ever put these 9 steps together was very wise- for non twitter users- this section was needed after the information in the last two sections.
I found the fire hose of info in the digital world so overwhelming. So I had to mentally shift my mindset to engage meaningfully. Glad it helps! Sue organized the order of the pln steps.
I love the concept of being able to take ‘baby steps’ into developing a PLN or even into the world of Twitter. Having personally never used Twitter before it can be quite overwhelming coming up against a tidal wave of information but by remaining determined and focused on your individual goals and interests, as stated in this article, it can be done and I am looking forward to taking that first step!
I think the best time for my PLN is probably going to be right before bedtime. I’m constantly on the move during the day and I find that I can focus most clearly on one task right before I go to bed.
Currently my PLN is face book and emails. I hope I can find music education sites to use from Twitter
I hope to connect with a Language Arts group and add the check in to my time when I check my Facebook and other sites. Once I get comfortable with that, I would like to look for a good group to discuss technology in the classroom. Baby steps!
Hi Rebecca, let us know if you managed to connect with a Language Arts group, so others can benefit from that group too.
Eugene Brown, Edublogs Support
Hi Everyone
Thanks for sharing your insights into how you make time for building your PLN and what works for you! I find having a routine helps but I’m also okay if some times I favor one social network over another. That is the best part of Personal learning networks. It is all about what you want to learn, when you want to learn and what network you want to use.
Sue Waters
Support Manager
Edublogs | CampusPress
I often find myself clicking on links to educational articles that I see posted by my friends on Facebook. Now that I have a Twitter account, I realize that I have been missing out for quite some time. Although this does seem a bit overwhelming, I believe that with some practice I will have plenty of brain stimulating articles at my fingertips in no time.
I am learning to incorporate different technologies into my classroom all the time. For me the best time to start and grow my PLN would be in the late evenings and early morning hours. I have spoken with colleagues who believe that it is important to start small and grow as I get more comfortable with it. I do think that growing a PLN is essential to my growth as well. I want very much to incorporate twitter into my classes so that my students and I can interact with information and assignments. I would also like to continue to grow with this and find and use different blogs and maybe one day start one myself.
A1: I joined Twitter a few years ago and just didn’t get it and found it overwhelming. With some instruction I have found it to be surprisingly enlightening and useful to my professional development. For me it worked to start following a few educators in my district as well as people I enjoy on FB (Rachel Simmons). Surprisingly within a week a tweet with a link to an article directly related to a committee I was on (women in engineering) came up and I shared it with them. I also recently favorited (sp?) a tweet to a New York Times article “Cyberbullying is You”
A2: For me reading tweets in the morning (not going to lie, while drying my massive amount of hair) is a good routine, as well as checking in after school.
I am astonished to say that I think I am addicted to Twitter…lately I’m reading it more often than FB.
The best time for my PLN commitment is directly after school. I am very new to this and struggle with technology already so I think being patient with the process is so important. It takes me twice as long right now to figure out what I am doing but I am hoping that with practice – I am thinking 15 minutes a day also sounds good to me- I will improve .
The best time for my PLN commitment is directly after school. I am very new to this and struggle with technology already so I think being patient with the process is so important. It takes me twice as long right now to figure out what I am doing but I am hoping that with practice – I am thinking 15 minutes a day also sounds good to me .
My biggest tip is not to force it. Using my PLN is a routine but on days that I am truly fed up with teaching, I might just need a minute to unwind and not look at anything professional. Searching for fixes to my professional problems can be soothing but sometimes it is stressful. I like to make sure I am relaxed and ready to learn when I dig into my PLN.
I usually arrive home after teaching school between 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm. Right away, I always check my email. This would be a great time to also grow my PLN and utilize my new Twitter account since I am online at this time already.
I think where I can make time is at the end of the day. I often reflect on my lessons and make notes as to what worked/didn’t work/can be improved. This 25 minutes at the end of the day can be used to share with a larger community and to gain insight on what other educators are doing within their classroom.
I currently use my Twitter account a lot for communicating with players on the basketball teams as well as getting general knowledge updates. I would like to start using more of the #edchat (s) and professional development opportunities.
I find YouTube to be a tremendous resource in my PLN. At the end of the day, practically every single night, I need time to wind down before going to sleep. I go on YouTube and find videos that relate to my interests. Being an art educator, the majority of my videos watched are on techniques, construction and ideas for projects. I have learned many new techniques and gained many ideas from this resource. There are a number of channels I subscribe to based on pottery, sculpture, woodworking and do it yourself projects. I have even found several videos that I use in my classroom to build background knowledge on materials being used in class. As a member of YouTube, I have posted very few videos but have goals, now that I have advanced my own abilities, of sharing my knowledge, tips and techniques with others as I would in my own classroom.
This was required reading for an Educational Technology course. As a assignment for the course, we will develop a PLN. Currently, my best time is at night. Becoming a secondary educator is a career change for me. I have taught college courses and am a former communicator. I have worked in broadcasting and public relations. The information you share was encouragement for this digital immigrant.
Sarah,
Thank you so much for posting this about your struggles. I am overwhelmed in using technology to expand my network. I appreciate hearing about other people’s struggles and learning from them. I loved your tips on how to build a PLN. I am in college so setting time aside is a a bit of a struggle, but I know it’s important for my future as an educator. I also like that building my network on my own terms. I like that it is not something that has to be done one set way.
Thank you!
I’d have to agree with the reply that’s already here… that 15 minutes may not seem like much, but I already this year had to very reluctantly give up a “Line a day” journal I began last March… and I was determined to get through a year so I could start seeing the overlaps of certain days.
The good news is that unlike a journal, it needn’t wait until the very end of a day. I should, when I notice I have 15 minutes (more likely it would be 10), make a deliberate an undistracted visit to my PLN, consolidating everything I find; be it through retweets, pinning, or bookmarking.
I could also try another strategy where I itemize the process rather than set aside a stretch. Maybe I have four 5 minute periods where I could look into one thing in each, even if I wouldn’t have a full chunk of the combined times. That’s the perk of a Personal Learning Network I suppose – it’s bite-sized, and as flexible as my access to it is!
This is the spirit, it has to be a lifestyle and fit, five minutes is fine, it will grow your pln tons in even one month!
Thank you so much for such a valuable tool to learn more about building my PLN. I love how manageable you have made it to develop. I am a college student and it is hard to find time to add anything to my hectic schedule but a few minutes here and there is very easy! I would love to know of any additional resources that you have. Is there other ways to develop my PLN other than twitter and blogs? I would be very interested in any additional information you have!
This is the spirit, it has to be a lifestyle and fit, five minutes is fine, it will grow your pln tons in even one month!
Ashley use Pinterest to save, find, and grow your pln, and Facebook. I only tweet when it’s a really special search, it overwhelms me!
Your comments make a lot of sense to me. Sadly, my college life is already overwhelming at times in terms of schedule so I am desperately trying to avoid adding anything to my life. I know that 15 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but somehow it seems like a huge commitment at this stage in my life. The other problem is that college is, by nature, a place overflowing with sources of information. While I am in this environment, finding more ways to learn seems a bit unnecessary. However, one day I will graduate from college and developing my PLN will be a worthy and feasible goal.