My Personal Learning Network (PLN)-Past, Present, and Future

So, if I am being honest, at the beginning of this class, I would not have known what PLN stood for. However, the concept of a Personal Learning Network made immediate sense to me, and seems like something that most teachers naturally have through their university classmates, advisors, mentoring teachers, coworkers, administration, and others that they meet, whether it be online, or in person. Taking that network, and expanding the same idea via web 2.0 tools seems like a natural progression in this age of technology. As it becomes harder and harder to function in a work or personal environment without internet access and technological know-how, it seems only logical that we should put the World Wide Web to use, and bring resources, tools, connections, ideas, colleagues, and experts that we never could have reached before into our Personal Learning Network.

Also at the very beginning of class, I was rather dreading the fact that we were going to have to sign up for many new accounts on many different web 2.0 tools. I was not looking forward to all the different places that I was going to have to check in with, so that I could find out the latest updates. However, with the ability to follow others on Blogger, subscribe via RSS feed, and get Tweets right in my browser using a client for Twitter, it is possible to condense some of these web 2.0 tools into fewer central locations to make it easier. And there are many tools that allow for email notifications, so that you only have to go check them out when you are told of a change, instead of taking the effort to login and look, when nothing has happened.

As I stated in my last post, one thing that I noticed about my PLN was that as I expanded it outward by exploring different web 2.0 tools, the more I found it folding back in on itself. Blogs can link to wikis and Twitter feeds. Twitter accounts can link to blogs and wikis and other resources. Delicious is centered on sharing links, and can help you connect with people of similar interests. Once you decide what you want to focus on, the way that the web 2.0 tools interconnect becomes an extremely beneficial portion of the development of a PLN. The bigger it gets, the more resources you find, and the easier it is to narrow it down to the ones that are truly useful, making your PLN meaningful to you, and inclusive of links, networks, resources, connections, and tools that you will really use. My own students work on a graduation portfolio, and for the last few years, I have been telling them to add as much as they can, as often as they can. In the end, it will be so much easier as a senior to narrow down what they include in the final product if they have a lot to choose from, instead of having to go hunting for good examples. I think that they same is true of a PLN. Adding new things often and as they strike my interest is the first step. Checking and following them for a while to determine if they are useful, and then making the decision to keep them or delete them is the second step.

Another thing I was unsure about as I began to form my PLN was what the focus would be. So often in college, I remember out texts, professors and TAs giving examples for all the core classes, and not really being sure how to include the foreign language group. I was a little apprehensive that we would be focusing entirely on the generic and core aspects of a PLN, and content specific areas might be left to the side. However, we really did get to work on our PERSONAL learning networks. The whole point and aim was for us to find things that interested us, and that we felt would benefit us in our professional growth. While core subject areas do seem to have more emphasis that "electives," even online, I have been finding more and more blogs, wikis, links, and twitter feeds to follow that I find helpful. I am the only foreign language teacher in my district at the high school level, and being able to find and connect with other language teachers is a great benefit to me. Having people that I can bounce ideas off of, ask for resources, share and get lesson plans from, and network with is something that I am looking forward to.

At this moment, I feel that I am still very much in the exploring, developing, and organizing stages of my PLN. I have a lot of new tools and accounts that I can utilize as I continue to develop this set of resources. The major benefit of the PLN is that it can take any direction and any focus that I want, and it can change over time. I still feel like I am early in my teaching career, and finding resources, colleagues, links, ideas, and lessons to supplement and spark ideas in my teaching may be my focus. However, as soon as I can, I would also like to be able to contribute ideas and share links and lessons, etc. A PLN using web 2.0 tools is invaluable because, just by its very nature, it will constantly be evolving, both in content and in the tools themselves. We want to teach our students how to stay current, and doing so ourselves is one of the best ways to ensure that we can help them do so.

I am on a communications committee at school, and I think that the idea of a PLN may be something that we should discuss and try to work on at school. That, or, we have a committee of teachers called the DISC committee, with representatives from each building level in the district. These teachers are part of the decision-making group for our early release professional development topics. Bringing the idea of web 2.0 and PLNs up to them might help to get some early release sessions on these ideas for teachers in the district. On a smaller level, I can see mentioning some of these tools to teachers that I talk with frequently, or referencing a particular tool that seems useful in a situation when a teacher asks for help or ideas. It may be easiest to start slowly, and once someone gains familiarity with one tool, interest in others will follow.

Web 2.0 tools that I found of particular interest and can see being included in my classroom are GoogleDocs, blogs, wikis, Delicious, and Voice Thread. I was very impressed with GoogleDocs during our first activity with it, and have since used it to post a link to a document on my school website, collaboratively edit a document with a colleague, and work on my Unit Plan project form home and school, and share it with Dr. Schroeder during our Elluminate session. I often do a review activity at the end of the semester where students work together to create review sheets and handouts, and this would be an excellent way for them to continue working after class time has run out, and to have it available to everyone, no matter where they are. The wiki and blogs are tools that I outlined a specific use for in my Unit Plan, and can also see playing roles in activities such as that end of term review--wiki pages created on each topic by each group--and journaling/written dialogue activities--blogs. Delicious is a great way to share resources, whether it be for a research project, or just to compile a list of links that students can visit for extra practice in the foreign language. And Voice Thread is something that I really want to look at for next year. I often think of having students do pronunciation practice by reading aloud or responding to visual prompts. The downside to this is that it takes class time for me to listen to them, or is difficult to schedule times for them to come in outside of class. Voice Thread would be a way around this. they could use a computer at school or at home, and record when they had time.

For my own personal use, blogs provide a great way to network and follow specific people that I find of interest, and share my own thoughts. Wikis are a great way to collaborate, find, and share information with others in a community with similar interests. While I am interested in finding more wikis, I have thus far not been very successful finding wikis that are CURRENTLY active....so that is my goal over the summer. I also hope to continue looking for links, and refining my tags and included bundles, networking, and links on Delicious. I know how to use it now, I just have to get better at using it efficiently.

Twitter is a tool that the jury is still out on for me. In my personal life, I like it, yet, with both my personal and professional accounts, I find that if you don't check in often, it can sometimes be hard to scroll back through countless tweets to find the ones that really interest you. Also, so often what is shared is a link, and then you have to go to that site to find out if you really want that information. I have subscribed to a lot of news sites, and there is good information coming through, and I don't have to go look for it separately. But, 140 words can be restrictive. Also, I am unsure how supportive my school would be of this technology. But, again, I am on a communications committee, and Twitter is an excellent for of fast, concise communicating. I may just have to bring it up, and see if my fellow committee members think it might be worth suggesting a school twitter feed to the district.

Finally, in terms of tools that I do not really expect myself to use, I think that Elluminate, YouTube, Flickr, and social networking sites like FaceBook are pretty much out. Elluminate was very interesting and easy to use, and seemed like it had a lot of great features. I just do not feel like our school is currently equipped with the space, time, hardware, and bandwith to deal with it. Streaming video is not currently allowed, which puts Elluminate and YouTube out of the running as options for frequent inclusion in class. Flickr seems like it would be best utilized if students could use it from school, and if I had a regular and easily accessible way of projecting images and accessing them in group settings at school. However, having to check out the InFocus projector to use a larger screen than my computer monitor, and the school frowning upon uploading large files, much of the use of Flickr would have to be out of class. I have no problem encouraging or allowing students to use Flickr, but I want to try and focus on things we can do at school and get everyone access to, even if they happen to not have internet or a computer at home. Similarly, there would be security issues with what students might access on Flickr, and that would cause a problem for school access. And finally, social networking sites like Facebook.....well, to be honest, they make me extremely nervous when talking about dealing with students on them. I have a FaceBook account, which I very much enjoy. But, to be honest, I use a fake name, just to avoid students finding me. And no matter how professional the use is, the public never seems to be fond of teachers have FaceBook accounts at all, let alone being friends with students...even if it is just a "asking questions and posting homework notices" kind of page. I think that that is one I will just stay away from. That being said, while I still have my limited time, free account with Elluminate, I am going to see about "attending" a webinar to get the full experience, and I would like to continue looking for pictures and video that I can share in class. Just because I do not build units around these tools, or use them multiple times a week, does not mean I can't look for other users to connect with, and information to share with and suggest to my class.

My PLN is still young and small...I look forward to helping it grow and take shape. Hopefully, I can work on that this summer,and go into next year with some new ideas and resources.R

The Tree Becomes a Bush

You know what I have noticed as we go through this class, and work on expanding our PLNs? The more we expand out, by learning new tools, and gaining new accounts, and following new people to branch out and form the tree of our PLN.....the more it curves back in on itself and folds back into a bush. We created blogs, and fed them into an RSS aggregator. But, lots of blogs have links to Twitter accounts and Wikis on them. We went looking for Wikis to join, and some linked to Twitter accounts, and Blogs, and Delicious bookmark lists. I joined Delicious, and found users that I had already found on Wikis and Blogs. And then we joined Twitter, and there are links to Wikis, Blogs, and other sites. This is all a good thing, as all these links and references help us find more sources, and build our PLN. But it does make me laugh a bit that the more you branch out and the more you join, the more you are led back to resources in areas that you've already been.

The bigger the internet gets, the smaller the world gets, don't you think?

Wikis--Links, Uses, and Differences, Oh My!

In searching for a Wiki to follow/join/participate in, I found myself wanting to find a Wiki that was centered on Foreign Language/Spanish teaching. After doing a few searches and trying different key words, I found the Wiki Language Links. It was started as a resource for student teachers, and now has areas for student teachers, beginning teachers, and experienced teachers.

I like the fact that it has links to resources, language-specific resources, and a discussion area for teachers to share ideas. This sharing makes it useful for professional development and professional use. These interactive features, and information sharing aspects, are what make wikis so useful to educators. Also, the ability to edit helps create a community where people can share information and answer questions, instead of just looking for help. It makes me want to look for a particularly active Wiki that interests me, and be part of it. The more dialogue and sharing there is, the more useful the Wiki will be. Teachers can share anything from moral support, to organizational suggestions, to specific lesson/unit plans and ideas. There are so many ways to use a Wiki professionally. Finding the right one is probably the trick.

As I think about it, I think that that may be the biggest difference between blogs/RSS feeds and wikis. You read what comes to your RSS feed. You can make comments on a blog. But, with a wiki, you can be part of a group that shares and works together. I think a really successful wiki would be one where the end result is creation, and not just comments replying back and forth.

RSS Feeds/Google Reader

As we begin to form our PLNs in class, and start to subscribe to blogs and other pages with RSS feeds, I found the Google Reader Aggregator to be really easy to use. I have subscribed to RSS feeds before, but never really had a reader that I liked, and I never ended up following any feeds for very long. What I like about the Google Reader is that, as we are using Blogger blogs in class, and many of the blogs I found to follow are also on Blogger, these automatically showed up in my Google Reader. In addition, Google Reader recognized some of the other sites I had been to recently that had an RSS feed, and listed them as suggestions.

As the instructional video on RSS feeds told us, an aggregator brings the news and updates to us in one step, without us having to go visit all of our classmates' blogs and our PLN blogs individually. Can't beat that!