Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Blog Assignment #5

In this blog post, I will discuss  what PLNs are, how they can help teachers, how they are formed, how I can create my own PLN, and who will be my first additions to my PLN. I used a variety of sources from the assignment to assist me in learning about PLNs which I will include at the bottom. 

What are PLNs?

PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) are online communities that allow you to get in contact with people from all over the world in order to get advice, share ideas, and learn.

How can they help you as a teacher?

PLNs can help teachers get in contact with each other and collaborate. They're a great way to get new teaching strategies, ideas for lessons and activities, and feedback. They can also help with learning in the classroom. PLNs can help students keep up with what's new in the world and help them collect and organize information that is necessary for each lesson. They get to enhance their learning through a network where they can get information and feedback from professionals. PLNs give students freedom to learn in a way that is creative and unique to their learning style.

How are they formed?

PLNs are formed by finding information, people, and conversations on the internet about subjects you are interested in. You then form a page that receives a feed from all of the sites and people that you are following and conversing with in order to learn more about what you are interested. You can follow blogs, podcasts, Twitter conversations, Youtube channels, etc. PLNs are all about researching and collaborating with others from around the world who share your interests.

How can you create your own PLN?

I can create my own PLN through identifying subjects that interest me and through finding people who share those interests. I can also find other educators who inspire me and who I may want to collaborate with or ask questions. The important thing is that I constantly do research and keep growing my PLN. The people and sites I involve in my PLN are important for the future because they can be helpful resources and contacts. Once I have figured that out, I can use a site such as Symbaloo to help organize my information in one place.

Who will be the first additions to your PLN?

The first additions to my PLN will be educators who I find inspiring and educators who are in the field I want to go into. I will also add people who are interested in the time periods of WWI and WWII, DIY projects, and creative writing. Dr. Strange provides a great list I will use to get started at Developing a Personal Learning Network in EDM310.
Diagram created by Bev Novak appears in her blog NovaNews

Sources



2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading your post. It has a lot of great information in it. I agree that it is important to constantly do research for your PLN so you can expand it. And using tools to help keep you organized is a smart idea. PLN's will be a great resource tool for educators!

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