A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is, a learner that interacts with and derives knowledge from a personal learning environment through online collaboration/ web- based tools. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge. The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person, it can be done globally. Examples are Twitter, Diigo (social bookmarking sites), Blogs, Skype, and more.
As a future educator my PLN, I believe will benefit me tremendously. The connections I will form with people around the globe who have an education background will provide me with an endless supply of resources and materials. I will be able to expand my network and mind to its fullest potential. My network will most importantly make my life a little simpler, as said by my professor Jeff Heil, "work smarter, not harder!"
Twitter:
My use of Twitter is still a work in progress, but Twitter allows me to connect with other educators who share their ideas, favorite links, lessons, and resources/tools. I have begun to build my network with fellow students, teachers, and people interested/connected in education. Some of the people I follow include: Shannon Miller, who wrote a great article in Leading and Learning. Suzie Nestico, a current teacher who is aspiring to be a principal like myself. Cooperative Catalyst, who is re-visioning education in the 21st century and wrote an article about why it is important to accept late homework that I really enjoyed, just to name a few.
Digital Discussion Forum:
The Educator's PLN is a valuable and beneficial website for teachers because it offers a a way to connect with other educators from around the globe. The website offers current videos discussing many issues on education, groups related to education, forums, blogs and an events page. The Educator's PLN is also linked to Twitter (tweets related to edchat) and Facebook . This website is advantageous for anyone interested in education because it is full of great resources. I watched a video with George Siemens, an educational technologies expert. This video was titled Future of Education: Is It Possible to De-School Society? He asked the questions: what are schools doing?, what are schools there for? what is it that schools do well? The functionality of schools? I really thought his discussion was quite interesting and made perfect sense. What he means by de-school society is de-institutionalizing it. The institution of schooling has taken out the "good stuff," "fun stuff." He gives an example of his own daughter which is something I have experienced myself. He says after about fifth grade his daughter stopped enjoying school, becoming de-motivated. This is because the creativity is usually lost at this level and school becomes less fun. His daughter got a teacher who taught, by that I mean wasn't engaging. Children like to explore and have fun, they want to have personal learning experiences in school that reflect their interests. Children are not good at sitting (everyone knows this) because their brains aren't wired for that. This idea of institutionalized society can be seen in school, work, health care. He says school should not be focused on curriculum but focused on learning and I mostly agree with this statement. However, we won't see formal education de-school but we will see the development of a more parallel system based on student's passion through emerging technology and the internet. He says and I like "we still have a lot more work to do but cracks of light are coming in."
Visit The Educator's PLN
No comments:
Post a Comment