PLN

PLN or Personal Learning Network (one of the many acronyms I have familiarized myself with) can be very beneficial.  A PLN can keep even the farthest of people connected.  We can contribute our own knowledge and learn from others with a PLN.  On the local scale, PLN will include teachers within your school/county, administration, specialists, etc.  On the global scale, your PLN will include a much broader audience based on how many different networks you accustom yourself with.  Twitter and Blogs are just 2 of the many networks incorporated with PLN.

Source: http://teachersusingtech.weebly.com/personal-learning-networks.html

Why would I ever want to create a PLN?  To learn.  It's hard to take advantage of all of the amazing resources out there, but a PLN would help me learn new things that would make me a better teacher.  I could also my knowledge in hopes of helping others learn, and hopefully my learners will be able to reciprocate their knowledge to me.  I think it also would be a great way to connect with my students, especially since technology is playing an even bigger role in their lives.


How/Where would I create a PLN?  I think Twitter would be a great place to start.  Obviously this would all depend on the students and their age, but Twitter would be advantageous when you need a concise answer from your students since Twitter only allows 140 characters.  Twitter's hashtags also make it very easy to search any and all posts related to a certain topic.  Also just like we're doing for class, I think a blog is a genius way to interact and communicate with students.  A blog can be used in so many ways and for so many different things, it really is endless!