EDDL 5101 Week 4 Activity 5: My PLN

My PLN

Couros, G. (2016, September 15). The networked teacher [Diagram]. Retrieved from https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/tag/the-networked-teacher

Purpose:

• Connect to fellow educators and generate more ideas for using technology in the classroom.
• Collate tools, resources and materials to support my teaching
• Keep abreast of trends and pedagogy in anticipation of future appointments (I am still new to Canada, and therefore not taught my specialism of English over here yet)

How I plan to use my PLN

1. Share ideas
2. Ask for tips
3. Collaboration
4. Further reading and Investigation
5. Apply and adapt ideas shared
6. Help me locate classroom resources and develop lesson ideas
7. Find solutions to challenges you face in the classroom
8. Establish collaborations to conduct research or set up professional development opportunities

(6-8 taken from Teacher’s Corner)

Platforms   

• I shall be using Twitter , Pinterest  and Linkedin

My PLN so far…

After a bit of a cull, I have 85 contacts in my network and 205 connections. This indicates that there are lots more people that I am acquainted with that I can add to on linkedin. 43 of these connections are teachers from my current or previous school. The rest are friends or colleagues of my husband.

I adore pinterest to help inspire me with some creative ideas for classroom displays or pedagogy. I have lots of boards and pins but only follow 25 people and am followed by 27 people. Some of my boards are public but a fair few are ‘secret’. I love how easy it is to browse a pin and likewise see someone else use, pin or ‘try’ one of your pins. Whilst I follow a few people in education, it is mainly ‘topics’ or ‘themes’ that I follow. I prefer this as it allows me to seek out diverse connections and multiple perspectives and thus avoid the ‘echo chamber’ situation (US Department of State, The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, American English. (n.d.). Maintaining your virtual personal learning network (PLN).)

I am still a newbie to Twitter so only have a 15 followers at the moment and am following 112. These include authors and actors as well as educational establishments (such as TES) and staff from SD23. The most influential person that I am following at the moment is my Principal as he is the Principal; of Learning Technology so I like to keep up to date with new ideas, research and have access to the newest ‘newsletter’ that he tweets the link to each month.

Strategies

• Little and often- even if you don’t actively engage and are a ‘lurker’ (Lalande, 2012) get into the habit of scanning for new ideas and updates
• Be strategic with who or what you follow- a cull is not only therapeutic but important to maintain and manage a network
• on Twitter search for interests, places or ideas using hashtags. You’ll be amazed at how much comes up.
• Try a Twitter Chat. Look through some tweets, If there is a tweet that interests you, challenges you or inspires you, start following them!

References

Couros, G. (2016, September 15). The networked teacher [Diagram]. Retrieved from https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/tag/the-networked-teacher

, M.-A. [DevPro PD Flipped]. (2012, October 18). What is a PLN – Marc-André Lalande’s take [Video file]. Retrieved from from https://youtu.be/hLLpWqp-owo

Teacher’s Corner: Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/teachers-corner-personal-learning-networks-plns.

US Department of State, The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, American English. (n.d.). Maintaining your virtual personal learning network (PLN). Retrieved from https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/teachers-corner-personal-learning-networks-plns