Journal #6

Warlick, D (2009). Grow your personal learning network. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved 03,24,09, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/

Family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances all make up our personal learning networks (PLN's), but as times change, our networks will continue to grow and change. We used to rely on reference books, textbooks, professional and personal-interest periodicals, television and radio to gain professional knowledge, but that is changing, as well. We can now access information and people through ICT's, information and communication technologies, which have broadened our ability to reshape the way we learn. In order to teach our students about the ever changing world, we ourselves must create and grow our own PLN's.

The three main types of PLN's covered in Warlick's article are personally maintained synchronous connections, personally and socially maintained semisynchronous connections and dynamically maintained asynchronous connections.

The first, personally maintained synchronous connections are what we think of when we think of a traditional network. It would include people and places that we would refer to in order to solve problems, find answers and accomplish goals. This process has improved in that there are new and improved tools including chat, instant and text messaging, teleconferencing and virtual worlds.

The second, personally and socially maintained semisynchronous connections are referred to as "nearly now", by Stephen Heppell in a March 18, 2008, Guardian article called "Back and Forth". This refers to applications like texting, Facebook profiles, Twitter and Syndicaster. The term semisynchronous refers to the fact that collaboration doesn't all happen right now in real time and in the same place. Collaboration can happen between people in different geographical locations and at different times that are convenient for the individuals

While the first two connect us with each other, the third, dynamically maintained asynchronous connections, connects us with resources that we have determined to be of value. RSS aggregators, such as Google Reader, Netvibes and Pageflakes, are the main tools used to bring us the information needed to do our jobs. Social bookmarking is another powerful tool for educators. It allows us to search from a more manageable and higher quality list of resources as opposed to the vastness of the entire Web, plus by subscribing to the RSS you can get future pages that get bookmarked for your topic.

Our job as educators is to teach and connect students to the world they are learning about. This requires us to continue to learn as well. PLN's make it easier for us to have opportunities to learn and develop skills. Although there are several applications that aid in the creation and evolution of our PLN's, we are the center of our own PLN. We need to remember that we aren't solely the receiver of information, but that we take that information and add value to it and return it to the network so others can have access to it. Therefore, we have a great deal of responsibility because we are part of someone else's PLN.

One drawback to PLN's is that we can sometimes become limited in our perspective if we lean towards sources that share our own views of the world. Therefore, we must be a part of networks that challenge us and stretch our thinking. That way we can all continue to learn.

Question #1 - How will you choose to use PLN's in your classrooms? For students grades 3-5, I would probably design an project that would introduce the idea of PLN's and how they can be beneficial. For instance, they could use Inspiration to create charts that would illustrate their own PLN, using primarily the people and places in their lives. Then they could include the specific types of information and knowledge that they gain from these resources. Then they could take that information and add to it, to illustrate how we contribute back to others PLNs.

Question #2 - What are some of the challenges you see to setting up a quality PLN? For me personally, I think the two biggest challenges would be time and organization. I think it could take quite some time to develop and contribute to quality PLN's. I guess the key there is to have realistic expectations and start small. I also think it's important to pay attention to how you set up your PLN. There's potential for your PLN to get a little cluttered and overwhelming if you don't go in with a plan.