The Power of the PLN
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We all have a Professional Learning Network (PLN). These are our ‘go to’ people when we have a question, need to brainstorm solutions, or simply want to share. In the past our networks probably involved administrators within our district, or geographical region. Now with the advent of social media we can benefit from ideas shared around the globe.
Don’t get me wrong, it is still important to network with local educators, but why not expand your network to include more diverse sharing? Having a digital global PLN will give you access to the greatest minds from around the world, all at a click away.
When I share with others about the importance and benefits of building their PLN they always respond ‘that sounds great but I just don’t have the time’. I would agree that it is about time, not about wasting time, but saving time.
Having a PLN saves me time. Here are just two examples:
•When trying to figure out the best digital publishing tool for this newsletter I simply put out a question to my peeps on twitter. My PLN shared four different tools with me: Issuu, Yudu, iBooks and Joomag. I was familiar with 3 out of the 4 tools but had never heard of Joomag. Needless to say I would never had found such a great online editing and publishing tool if it wasn’t for my global PLN.
•Last year, while completing an assistive evaluation on one of our students, I wanted to learn more about digital pens. I could have spent hours searching about digital pens, but instead, after only about 30 minutes, I learned tons from my PLN through twitter and diigo.
A little over two years ago I started building my PLN, and although it did take time to build I was reaping the benefits within weeks. In 2010 I conducted a survey about why we have, and what we get from our PLNs. This video was created from that survey.