This document discusses developing a personal learning network (PLN) using online tools like Twitter and RSS feeds. It explains that a PLN allows for fast, free professional learning. Twitter is recommended as a tool to personalize learning and engage in conversations by following relevant hashtags and people. RSS feeds are also suggested to find updated content from websites. The document provides tips for using Twitter effectively, such as filling out your profile, choosing hashtags to follow, and sharing content. It emphasizes that relationships are important in a PLN and to share information to receive information from others.
5. Why do I need a PLN? “Developing a personal learning network has never been so important. Networking is a powerful way of having the best and most relevant resources come to you.” Tania Sheko. Victorian teacher librarian and Google Certified Educator
15. Fallacies about Twitter You have to follow Britney Spears, Shane Warne and Liz Hurley People tweet what they ate for breakfast (okay, some people do, but not many) You have to read every tweet in your ‘inbox’
16. Facts about Twitter Personalise your learning No two Twitter feeds will ever be the same as no two people are exactly the same Follow and unfollow people according to your needs More powerful if you tweet interesting links Engaging in conversations is vital
46. How can I make it work for me? Don’t be a slave to your PLN. Have some downtime Change your mindset What you give = what you get Relationships are vital Try to enhance online relationships with f2f Share, share, share! Choose what works for you and go for it
A PLN is any group that helps you develop and learn. But it’s a two way street. You need to give back as well. It can be facilitated by technology, be f2f or a combination of both. It doesn’t have to be work related. You might be a quilter who wants to learn and share with others.
We’re all faced withInformation overload. A good PLN can help us filter this tsunami of information. It supports us and helps us learn new things. We can try out ideas and thoughts. We can share successes and failures.
Our PLN helps sort and catalogue all of the information on the internet and points us towards the best and most appropriate resources. As young people have often said to me “If it’s important, I’ll hear about it”.’ Howard Gardner
Courtesy of Sue Waters, this Wordle is from teachers explaining why they need a PLN. A PLN is a 2 way street, you must enter conversations and contribute to build relationships.
Who supports your professional learning on and offline? How do you communicate with other professionals?
A word about Fb. I think it’s best for personal connections, rather than professional ones, but I’m personally not a fan of it.
Blogging is an important way to reflect on your professional learning, a great place to share your successes and failures, to share resources, to have a place for your online resources, to connect with people and to contribute to our profession. Posterous is a great way to blog as you simply email your blog post to posterous and they do the rest. You can also set your posts to automatically publish to Twitter.
Here’s an example of more than one person being able to post to the blog
Make sure you select anyone can post, I will moderate if more than one person will be writing the blog.
Twitter gives you recommendations about who to follow. Have a look at them but decide for yourself.
Can be useful. Best bet is to use it on your mobile device.
Google has some handy tools including iGoogle, Google+ and Google Reader
iGoogle helps you keep everything in one place. If you have a Google account, you can do this now. If not, sign up for a Google account and we’ll get started.
Now you have a Google account, try using G+ for connections.
Many feeds are the same as Twitter, but I see G+ useful for ‘hangouts’ – like a multiple Skype phonecall and perhaps for using with older students – have one circle per class
RSS readers are fabulous for keeping you up-to-date with whatever you’re interested in. Go to Google Reader once you have a Google account and start adding RSS feeds.
Also use people’s websites listed in their Twitter profile
A very handy bookmarking service that allows you to share your favourites as well as being able to access boommarks from your PLN.
You can add a bookmarklet to your browser to easily add links to Diigo
You can opt in for weekly emails from the Diigo groups you are interested in.
Pakratius lets you add links automatically from Twitter. Just tweet orretweet a link and Pakratius will add it to your Diigo account.
Paper.li is a way to keep up with your twitter feeds in a newspaper style edition. It automatically selects tweets from the people you and # follow and publishes them once a day. It also tweets the link to your twitter account.
Scoop.it it linked to twitter and fb. You can curate (or collect) items from the web on topics of your choice and follow other people’s topics.
It’s a great way to share information with colleagues or students.
There are some great nings around. Ning is like a Facebook group. They can be private or public. Here are some examples: