Having a personal learning network is not a new idea.

We all have had some sort of support network that we have relied upon to supply us with answers, feedback, motivation, or just moral support. Further, we all have had some sort of network of people who are there to guide us along in our educational experience, be it a teacher, a parent, a mentor, or just a group of friends who always seem to have access to the right answers or resources for a particular project or question. As I refer to it going forward, a PLN is an online community of learners and teachers who act as resources for one another to assist in learning and doing. This is a way of aggregating the tools that we need to teach and learn in a society that is becoming increasingly dependent on digital technology to furnish necessary materials. Thomas Whitbys, The Educators PLN, has an excellent video that provides an overview of PLNs and their benefits for educators. As a cost saving measure, a PLN could be invaluable. We all have different skills that set us apart from one another, but why be separate? With a PLN, all teachers and faculty in our department could provide support to one another in terms of web resources that we have found regarding particular topics or even give our own personal expertise. This would certainly cut down on time spent searching for answers or resources. Im sure you can remember times when you wanted to present something in a web based format and couldnt find the technical information that you needed, or you had questions regarding content that was related to a lesson but not quite your field and had trouble locating a colleague who could had time to spare to give you some reliable information. Now, can you imagine if there was one centralized network where those colleagues regularly contributed with technical or content related material? A network like that could surely cut down on the headache of having to locate all of this information on your own, and it would definitely save the hassle of having to interrupt fellow teachers and staff as well as making yourself look less knowledgeable.

Bill Stamatis, writing on UFT.org, said the following regarding PLNs and their ability to provide a much needed support structure to educators: The networks harness the power of collective intelligence and diverse educational viewpoints. Teachers in far flung locations can come together to discuss issues. Professional learning networks recognize that learning is socially constructed and takes place through interaction with others. Now what does that mean? For many teachers, particularly those who have little or no experience with web 2.0 technologies, there can be significant resistance to incorporating usage of social media and other internet technologies integral to PLNs into traditional curriculum, indeed many adults who have not grown up immersed in this digital world find the idea of using social media of any kind as nothing more than a distraction to learning. There can be many reasons for this, first and foremost is likely the presentation of social media in the mainstream media on nearly a daily basis. Unfortunately, this presentation is largely focused on the negative. When social media is not portrayed as a mere distraction or personal communication tools with little value other than conversing with family and friends, it is pegged as being a doorway for unscrupulous individuals to take advantage and harm children and others. There is little doubt that social media can be detrimental when it is not used in a monitored environment or when it is allowed to be used by children in a vacuum, but the one thing that is hardly ever, until recently, acknowledged, is the educational benefits that use of different social media brings with it or the positive impacts that such technologies can have. Eric Sheninger, principal at New Milford high school in New Jersey, for example, offers up a good overview of the many tool in the social media tool kit that can be employed to create a successful PLN in the following blog post. All of these tools, when used properly under the instruction of a teacher proficient in their use, can open doors to student

communication and collaboration, not to mention access to information,that would otherwise not be possible. Social networking is more than just Facebook and Twitter. Tools such as NING (which is similar to Facebook, but exists on a smaller, closed network), wikis, blogs, and discussion forums, can all be employed to extend our reach beyond the classroom, encourage an environment of participation that actually engages students in a medium that they understand and enjoy, and allow us to provide feedback to writing and reading assignments and projects much more quickly and efficiently than could otherwise be possible. Social media such as Twitter and Diigo can also be employed as either ancillary or prominent tools that which allow students and teachers to easily share information and material relevant to instruction. Ultimately, the solution to easing our colleagues minds who still remain resistant to using this type of technology in instruction is to demystify the technology. Web 2.0 tools are not as complicated as they may appear at first blush, there is hardly anything that can be done which cannot be undone. I would encourage educators to play with these tools and realize how easy they are to get used to and work with. Beyond that, the students themselves would certainly be able to offer insights to the use of these technologies. I think it would be a misstep on our parts not to begin employing these tools in our curriculum. Not only are students increasingly immersed in these technologies in virtually every aspect of their lives (as they will be as productive adults, as well), but use of such digital technology has altered the way that students think and learn. Recent studies into the concept of neuroplasticity reveal that immersion in digital technology is altering the way that todays students process information. This article from edutopia.org provides some great insights on the concept.

In short, I believe that creating a PLN would greatly assist in communication between faculty as well as students. A network such as this would enable us to create an environment of collaboration that would not only be engaging to our students, but would also provide access to a wealth of information that may not otherwise be available. This in turn would be a cost saving measure for our department as we would have to spend less time and money purchasing physical textbooks and materials, creating worksheets, photocopying handouts, and scrambling to find relevant news articles; we could have all of this stored online and share it with one another virtually instantly.

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