PLN

PLN Professional/Personal Learning Network

[|The Educator's PLN] The personal learning network for educators.

[|10 ways to help students develop a PLN]

[|5 Readings and 2 Videos to Help Others Get Going with Personal Learning Networks]

[|The PLN Matures. The Progression of the 21st Century Personal Learning Network]

[|Professional Learning Networks for Teachers]

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[|A Quick Start Guide] [|Personal Learning Networks 101] media type="custom" key="6787911" [|PLN and Twitter.] A PLN can take advantage of lots of different services – Facebook is perhaps the best-known, Ning is also very popular and offers The Educator’s PLN, but there are lots of others, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Of all the available services, the one I find the most fascinating (and the most useful) is Twitter. [|Lazyscope] A comprehensive Twitter network is at the heart of a great PLN. Lazyscope is a great tool that makes it very easy to follow links embedded in Tweets. Highly recommended!

There is a ton of information on the Internet, it is tough to keep up with your favorite sites. Often you find yourself wasting time to check websites that have not been updated or you miss other sites that are are updated constantly. By creating an RSS Feed, updates to your favorite website can be sent to one spot for you to read. It's easy to use and you can access it from mobile devices. Here is a cool little video that will explain the process of RSS Feeds. [|Source]. media type="youtube" key="0klgLsSxGsU?fs=1" height="405" width="500" In the old days, when you found an interesting website but did not have the time to read it, you would create a bookmark in your browser and read it later. That worked fine unless you wanted to read that page from a different computer. Social Bookmarking sites, Diigo or Del.icio.us, allow you to bookmark sites to be read at a different time and place wherever you have computer access. The title link will take you to a post I did on using Diigo with students. It has made my life a little more organized, which is a huge help as a teacher. Below you see a video explaining Social Bookmarking and using Del.icio.us. Diigo and Del.icio.us are both great bookmarking sites. Try both out and see which you prefer. [|Source]. media type="youtube" key="HeBmvDpVbWc?fs=1" height="405" width="500"
 * RSS Readers**
 * Social Bookmarking**

Are You A Radical Learner?
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Think you’re a Digital Immigrant? Get Over It!
This article highlights the importance of teachers developing their own PLN. [|Source]. //"As we enter into the next decade of the 21st century, it seems we have turned a bit of a corner. There is less tolerance for educators who do not believe it is their responsibility to move their teaching out of the past. Those stuck in the past... those who are not developing their own personal learning networks... those not taking ownership for their learning... are doing a great disservice to our students and themselves. In the words of leadership expert Jim Collins, these are the people that those who care about student success may want to advise to just get off the bus."// media type="custom" key="6888147"

Want to Be A Great Teacher - Don't Go to PD
[|Develop a PLN instead!]

5 Ways to Build Your 1.0 and 2.0 Personal Learning Network
The digital age has made the development of a [|Personal Learning Network (PLN)]easier than ever before. The PLN is a network created by an individual learner, specific to the learner’s needs extending relevant learning connections to those around the globe who share interests, passions, and talents. PLNs provide individuals with an unprecedented ability to access and connect with leaders and experts around the world bringing together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls. Personal learning networks can be comprised of people you know via face-to-face (f2f) and virtual connections. In the best of all worlds they are people you connect with in both ways. Personal Learning Networks can be described as 1.0 and 2.0. In the 1.0 stage participants are mainly consumers of information. In the 2.0 stage participants are actually producing/creating information. Most who are just beginning to build personal learning networks may start by engaging in 1.0 activities. As they begin to get a lay of the land and feel comfortable they may be ready to dip their toes into some 2.0 activities. To follow are ideas to get started.

Why Do Formal Education?
//"I started my PLN in January and my thinking has been supercharged. There is just an explosion of ideas and thoughts happening online now. 30 years ago a person would have to write a book, have it published, promote it, and then gradually a new idea would make it’s way around. Today an idea can circle the globe in a day. This in turn sparks other ideas, much much faster then they would be several decades ago. **I am learning at a rapid pace and I’m not in school.**"// [|Source]. media type="custom" key="6888343"

Short Term or Life Long Learner?
//"Personal Learning Networks have taken up a great deal of my time of late, about the last two years. I have always had a PLN although it was never called that. The digital slant, of what before this, might have been called a group of study buddies, has caused a re-examination by educators on a global scale. Instead of being limited to a small group of educators comparing notes or lessons in a building, a PLN can now draw upon literally thousands of educators, worldwide, at any given time."// [|My Island View] media type="custom" key="6892655"

Sketchy Explanation: Starting a PLN
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Project PLN
[|Project PLN is an e-magazine for educators.] //"Teaching can be a lonely profession in some schools. You teach all day in your classroom and enjoy brief encounters with colleagues in the teachers lounge or passing quickly in the hallway. There isn't a lot of time to have a meaningful conversation about education and learning. Project PLN aims to connect educators."// Issue One is now available and looks very promising as a central part of all teachers' PLN. media type="custom" key="6950221"

School of elearning
If you're a NZ educator and need a platform for sharing or learning with like minded individuals, [|then this is the network for you].