Blog Post #5

I have never heard of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) until this week when my teacher asked us to blog on the subject. According to Developing a Personal Learning Network in EDM310 by John Strange, a PLN is those people, places, organizations, and activities which enable you to learn. A good example of a basic PLN is twitter. I joined Twitter about 3 years ago and found it very fascinating. Twitter uses hashtags where you can see the people all over the world talking about the particular subject you are interested in. I have never thought to use Twitter as a place where I could learn and expand my knowledge. I use Twitter as a constant status update of my life and I keep up with celebrities and athletes around the country. It wasn't until today where I learned to start using Twitter as a way to learn new things and contribute my ideas as well.

Michael Fawcett from New Zealand told a great story as to how he started his own PLN. In his video PLN, he explains that he went to a conference and started connecting with teachers who had the same interests and ideas as he did. At the conference they had a live Twitter feed where he joined in and contributed a few ideas. After the conference he explains that he continued on Twitter where he followed more and more people each week (mainly teachers) and started following their blogs and reading their posts. He then ventured out to other social networking devices and therefore created his own Personal Learning Network. As future teachers this video can really give you an idea on how to expand and branch on on social media sites such as Twitter and find new ideas to improve our classroom. We can follow other teachers from around the world and see, watch, read their ideas on particular topics that may be interesting and useful. We can also put forth our ideas and get feedback from a new set of eyes looking at it from a different point of view. Doing these things can be really helpful and fun by contributing and receiving ideas to and from people worldwide.

According to the slideshow Personal Learning Networks, which was posted on Dr. Strange's delicious page, you can start to develope PLN by just having a conversation with a colleague about a lesson that was taught that day. You can discuss ideas and get outside feedback to get a better view on the subject. After discussing ideas with people in person you can then venture out and discuss them online. Whether it be twitter, blogs, or delicious, you can post ideas and give advice on any and every subject you want.

My real PLN started last week when I made another Twitter account specifically for this class. I followed the staff of EDM and classmates that I saw had Twitter accounts. I have searched the hashtag EDM310 and read the posts that are related to that particular subject. I still follow celebrities and athletes, but I also follow pages like Fox 10 News so I can see any current events that would spark my interest. I know there are several other sites that you can join to expand your PLN, but personally Twitter is where you should start. I am only a baby step into my PLN journey and after watching all of the educational videos and reading blogs on the subject I am looking forward to exploring my PLN more in depth.