The concept of a PLN, or personal learning network, is to build a collaborative community that pinpoints or specifies ideas or information in which you are interested. With my PLN, I am essentially building a collaborative network that goes beyond the grounds of a school. I can branch out and access websites or blogs discussing relevant topics or lesson plans, talk to teachers from across the world and create a digital community related to teaching concepts or strategies. These networks become a way to consistently learn and develop your resources as a teacher.
Twitter, is a website which provides a forum for people to chat in real-time, and to “tweet” information. With my twitter, I was able to follow people, who “tweeted” about things that I was interested in. I found these people through educational chats and through other people within my network. Through both #mathchat and #edchat, I was able to follow people interested in both mathematics and teaching. I targeted people through their short profiles, conversations and participations in chats, and through their tweets and retweets. I participated in the #mathchat, and I must say it was incredibly cool. The conversation was about how to connect geometry through real applications in the classroom. I learned so much and felt so connected with the people involved in the chat. These chats are a great concept for teachers because they provide a way to branch out, share ideas, and further their own education. My diigo turned out to be an incredible learning tool. Through the people I followed (mostly mathematics educators) I was able to find so many different resources for education. Getting started was tough, but after exploring a bit, I couldn’t stop adding sites and following people! Also, I joined a few groups. These were incredibly informative and led me to even more resources and people to follow! The pages that I tagged PLN, were mainly pages or blogs about how to utilize twitter and how to build and get the most out of your PLN. I found these pages through both my group and my network. In the future, these pages will help me to keep building my PLN.
Last, but certainly not least, I became a member of classroom2.0, a digital discussion forum. This forum is a space for teachers around the world to gather and post relevant information and tools having to do with teaching and technology. It provides a way for teachers to connect, explore new ideas, and build their PLN. As a member, I was able to access a variety of teacher’s blogs, create my own profile, watch videos and read relevant articles. While exploring the site, I watch a video about a website called TenMarks. The video was very informative. I had actually heard about TenMarks from a website that was bookmarked in my Diigo network. It really showed how a PLN can be an excellent way to pinpoint all things you are interested in.
I had a great time building my PLN. I especially enjoyed exploring Diigo, I think it provides a perfect way for teachers to share resources and information all the time. Also, the twitter chat was fun and really made me realize benefits of creating a community and connecting with others.
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