What is a PLN?
Please note, like all my posts, I speak very simply for those who have not encountered a PLN yet, not for those who are already in the know.
A PLN is a Personal Learning Network. It is the entire collection of people that innovative educators engage and collaborate with, usually online.
Why do I love my PLN? I can connect with other like-minded souls from around the globe - teachers, academics, experts in technology, the list goes on. I have at my fingertips information that I may or may not be able to get from conversing with people at school. Having an online PLN means that I can get answers to important questions or problems very very quickly - at times even instantly!
Where do I start setting up my PLN?
I started with Twitter...
WHAT? Twitter? Isn't that only for popstars and politicians? No...
Twitter has been amazing.
I have 14 followers so far and I follow 28 people so far. They are all educators/teachers/experts. I am working to build my PLN however, at present, I have 14 people from which I can get assistance! A PLN takes time and effort to build but, as other people have suggested to me, build your PLN by following people's posts, contributing to discussion, following people who you feel will be helpful to your own personal learning.
So far I have posted on Twitter a couple of questions that I had no idea of the answer for. My PLN helped me through the problems by giving me solutions and it meant the world to me. They taught me about posting a PDF on blogs through Scribd and they taught me how to access and use the new DET blog BlogEd.
Yammer is also a tool I have just begun to use.
The blog 'Once a Teacher...' has good information about PLNs including a chart which shows the range of tools able to be used for building a PLN.
The video below by Shell Terrell discusses the use of Twitter in building a PLN.
I look forward to continuing to engage and collaborate with my PLN and I encourage any new teacher to get one.
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