Hi everyone! I’m going to blame the ISTE conference in Philadelphia as the reason I am late in posting my blogical discussion. I attended only one day of the 2011 conference; however, it is not the first and will not be the last.
I credit ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) with my growth as an educator. I distinctly remember my first convention in 2006. I was amazed at the number of educators using web 2.0 tools in their classrooms and decided to “follow” several of the presenters after the conference. I “lurked” around their sites (blogs, professional learning networks) for almost a year before I contributed anything. I learned more from them than any professional development offered by my District. My all time favorite sites were Steve Hargadon and ISTE’s special interest groups.
So today at the ISTE conference I met up with several of the people I only knew online. It was like talking to a group of old friends….the conversation just picked up from where we left off online.
So I am dedicating this blog post to the idea of PLN’s (professional learning networks). PLN’s are made up of like minded people who develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge.
Do you belong to any? If so, have they increased your knowledge of the way social media is transforming teaching and learning? If not, have you met any people in this class that you might want to continue the digital dialog with even after the class ends?
In closing, here are a few top PLN’s I found out about today at ISTE.
Classroom 2.0
The Educator’s PLN
DASD K-12 Computer blog 
I am part of the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) and enjoy hearing about the current events in education in my email every day. I am part of the 8th grade team at my school and we meet every week to discuss the students. I am not participating in any online groups. I may in the future join a group but until I know what group I want to join, I will just be a visitor.
The approach you mention to easing into an online learning group by just visiting at first makes a lot of sense. But keep in mind that the whole reason PLN’s exist is to share professional knowledge, best practices etc. with each other. It is impossible for any teacher today to be an expert in the Read/Write web. The impact that it is having on teaching and learning is happening so fast that teachers need each other to filter all the information and share their experience with a particular tool. PLN’s become the “vetting process” for the development of what will become “best practices” on the Read/Write web. So……don’t be afraid to jump aboard!
I am currently not a part of a PLN. I work with other teachers in my district, both in the high school and elementary school; however, I do not have a network outside of school. I have met numerous interesting people in all of my masters classes and have bookmarked their websites for later use. I would love to create a collaboration between myself and others in this class. Everyone has so much to offer to each other and I look forward to being able to continue networking beyond my masters classes.
Great idea. We’ll have to work something out to continue the digital dialogue. Maybe Sherry plans on doing this anyway.
Here in Lancaster, our IU13 has a group of technology integrators that meet every month. I would consider them to be my most personal PLN. Our regular meeting focus on instructional strategies and the implementation of new educational technologies. However, through the use of Twitter, I have been able to establish a secondary PLN that I share ideas with and gain insight on current trends in education and technology. This PLN has become a valuable resource for me and has created a network that is world-wide. Also, by search Twitter using specific educational hastags, some great conversation and dialogues can develop. This blog post lists some of the most popular educational hastags: http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/12/top-twitter-hashtags-for-uk-teachers/
I looked at the site you mentioned for edtech hashtags and am now getting more info from teachers who attended the ISTE conference. Here’s ISTE’s hashtag- #ISTE11.
I think PLNs are a terrific way to keep yourself in the loop but I have yet to really join up. My plan is to use my Twitter account for this purpose. I set it up a while ago, but never felt the need to follow anyone. For professional purposes though, I can see why it might be useful. Anyone else on Twitter?
Yes, but like you I don’t use it much. Sounds like Tim is up and running with twitter.
PLN – I do have my own personal learning network, but it is constantly in the process of being updated and changed as info and sites evolve. I actually am interested in the PLN course that is now being offered on PLS! I did go and register for the ISTE, and checked our their global connections, but was quite disappointed to see that there are currently only 6 or so groups outside of the US. I was also disappointed to see that there is a fee to belong. That is the one thing that I believe harms many of these organizations that could be a vital part of my PLN. They suck me in with promises of all kinds of things, and then after 5 pages of registration info, they ask for $$$. I do think that I will add some of the people in this class and follow them even when class is over, but right now I am still trying to get my online life organized so that I can establish best practices for myself.
Cindy Goldbach
I am a part of Classroom 2.0 and honestly have only perused the site a couple times but will read the announcements or updates that I get via email. I am not a part of any online communities where chatting takes place. I constantly am bookmarking interesting sites and use them constantly but have never created my own nor “chatted” with or about items outside of the teachers I work with in school. I am sure that the conference was filled with many ideas and was probably pretty neat to put a face to your online collaborators.
Although I don’t have a formal PLN. I do have an informal network of teachers I have worked and consulted with in the past at different schools. We meet at a local eating establishment every month to discuss what we are doing and have found interesting to try. Our district curriculum coordinator was interested in doing something like this in district but was let go this year due to budget constraints and a crazy superintendent.
I, too, am going to blame ISTE on my late responses this week, but as you said what an AMAZING experience. I am currently part of PLNs and love them. They are the best way to get FREE ideas. That is right FREE. You can ask questions, borrow ideas, share ideas, and even get lessons. As a district, we sent about 20 people to ISTE this year. We are forming our own little network using twitter. That way we can bounce ideas off of each other!!!
I love the way ISTE archives most of their presenter handouts/presentations/lessons etc. for several months after the conference. So if you were unable to get to a given session you can still peruse the recorded session and/or download the handouts.
I belong to Classroom 2.0, but I haven’t really taken advantage of it as I should. I want to go back through their archives because I can never seem to join their live discussions. I am on Twitter, and I have been working on making it more of a PLN. I found I wasn’t using it, and I decided to change it to suit my needs professionally instead of personally. As for this class, the site will be open for a year. You all can continue to use the site as you wish, and you can also access emails, etc. through the Profile tool. I know several past students have kept in touch with one another, mainly through email, I believe. It depends on who wants to join and what you want to use as your PLN, but I would be happy to organize. Maybe we could discuss this more in the Break Room!
That’s good news about being able to use the site for a year after the class ends. There are so many good lessons and blog entries that I would like to access later. I’ll discuss the degree of class interest in going beyond this in my summary.
As with most things I’ve learned in this course, PLNs are new to me. This is the first I’ve heard of them, but I’d like to know more. Typically, we teachers do learn more from each other than we do from district constructed inservice time. Teachers in my district are always requesting more time to collaborate and learn from each other. We rarely get it. Maybe PLNs are the answer. I’m adding it to my ever-growing list of things to explore and add to my repertoire.
Any PLN or group that has common interests is a really valuable asset for anyone. I have started a couple in my district. Teachers have a true lack of planning and collaboration time. The PLN is one way to help with all of this to provide good resources.