What is a PLN? A PLN is a way for you to make connections and share ideas and resources. You have one with colleagues that you work with. You can also have one online where you can reach and connect with educators from around the state, country, and world. Talk about a great resource!
Quotes about PLN's:
@kylepace:Because of this PLN,not only do I grow professionally, but I have made professional connections and friendships around the world
@wmchamberlain: #edchat a PLN lets us access the best of the best, not just someone close by. "Dont I deserve the best?" Gaston
@djainslie: My PLN opened the world to me 'the world is open'
@JasonFlom: PLN's flatten the world, removing barriers to collaboration, corroboration, and general camaraderie.
@wmchamberlain: #edchat a pln gives me hundreds of intelligent people to solve my problem. Whats not to love?
@cybraryman1: A PLN is a collection of interconnected minds that share ideas and information.
Functions of a PLN: Connect - Collaborate - Contribute
Benefits of a PLN: Teachers become: Aware, Connected, Empowered, Confident, LEARNERS!
(oh, and everything listed here is FREE!)
- Sign up for an account with one of the resources. Start looking around and find people and groups with the same interests as you.
- Ning-Classroom 2.0, Discovery Educator Network, PBS Teacher Connect and Google Educators Forum are great places to start.
- With Twitter - follow someone you know, like me (@daveandcori) and see who they follow.
- Search for blogs and web sites that cover topics you are interested in and subscribe to them via email or RSS feed. See who they follow and blogs they subscribe to also.
Resources for PLN:
- Ning - http://www.ning.com/ - host collaborative communities.
- Twitter - http://twitter.com/ - interact - 140 character messages.
- Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/ - create your own page - connect with others.
- Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/ - create your own page - connect with others.
- Blogger - http://www.blogger.com/ - create and search for blogs to read.
- Edublogs - http://edublogs.org/ - create and search for blogs to read.
- Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/ - find, read, and post presentations.
- Discovery Educator Network - http://community.discoveryeducation.com/ - over 100,000 participants, STAR educators, professional development sessions, blogs and more.
- Delicious - http://delicious.com/ - share web bookmarks with others (and find some).
- Google Educators Forum - http://www.google.com/educators/community.html - discussions about using Goolge's Applications in the classroom.
- PBS Teachers Connect - http://www.pbs.org/teachers/ - discussions, resources, and more.
- Professional Organizations - ex. National Science Teachers Association - http://www.nsta.org/ - most have resources, discussion groups, and more.
- YouTube - http://www.youtube.com - lots of great videos for educational use.
- TeacherTube - http://www.teachertube.com/ - educational videos, documents, audio, and more. Also has a community discussion group.
- Google Docs - http://docs.google.com/- share documents, presentations, and more with others. Create surveys.
- Google Sites - http://sites.google.com/ - create web sites and wikis to share with others.
- Wiki's - Wiki's are interactive web pages that multiple people can edit. It's a great way to have resources and ideas and let people add and comment on them.
- WikiSpaces - http://www.wikispaces.com/ - free wiki hosting
- PBWorks - http://pbworks.com/ - free wiki hosting
- (Google Sites can also be sued to create wikis)
- iGoogle - http://www.google.com/ig - custom, personalized start page
- Google Reader - - read RSS feeds - embed in iGoogle
- Twitter - via Twitter Gadget (works in school) - embed in iGoogle
I would be completely lost without my PLN. I joined Twitter about 18 months ago and consider it to be the heart of my PLN. I do not know how I did it before I discovered so many wonderful educators. I teach in a rural area and have little contact with other teachers. I have absolutely ZERO contact with other socials studies teachers. I feel like I have a huge network of people I call friends. We are there to help each other 24/7.
ReplyDeleteI recently gave a talk (to other school librarians) about twitter. A good place to start looking for teachers & librarians is at
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/
The value of twitter is WHO you FOLLOW.
BTW nice post!
from, infodivabronx
Thanks! I completely forgot about Twitter4Teachers!!
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of how a PLN works!!!
We also just launched an educator's PLN at Edutopia: www.edutopia.org/groups.
ReplyDeleteCheck them out -- we're just starting out but seeing some pretty amazing things.
Elana - that's great! Edutopia is a great resource and now you've added another great resource on it.
ReplyDeleteDave, thank you for mentioning PBS Teachers in your list of PLN resources. We indeed have thousands of users participating in our discussion boards, saving resources to personal folders, and sharing found resources. Also, we offer free monthly webinars and we actually held one this summer on PLN’s hosted by current teachers entitled Summertime and Your Personal Learning Network (http://www.pbs.org/teachers/webinar/archive.html). We appreciate your support. - PBS Teachers Staff
ReplyDeleteTo hear other educators speak about their PLN, you can watch these videos from the What My PLN Means To Me project.
ReplyDeletehttp://whatmyplnmeans.wikispaces.com
You are invited to upload your own too!
Great post. I will be sharing it with my colleagues who need to know about PLNs. I love my PLN! It has helped me evolve as a teacher. It's not just about sharing activities, it's about becoming better at what you do as it challenges you daily!
ReplyDeleteawesome post!!!! im getting my B-Ed and i would perfer this blog to anyone!!! lots a good sources to find information. thank you!!! These sites can easily find information on a specific subject
ReplyDelete