As an assignment for my grad school class, I was to design my own Professional Learning Network (PLN) or Professional Learning Environment (PLE). We looked at a website with multiple PLNs and PLEs and then we created our own and classified them.
The purpose of creating a PLN or PLE is to become a better teacher though learning from others and collaborating that you wouldn’t normally have access to. “PLNs provide individuals with learning and access to leaders and experts around the world bringing together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls.” (Nielsen)
It is actually quite simple to form a PLN or PLE. To start mine, I set up a Google Reader account so that I could subscribe to blogs. I also set up a Delicious account to share bookmarks. I have a Twitter account and I use Paper.li and Tweeted Times to organize. I also started curating information using Curated.by. Below is a video that describes the purpose of a PLN or PLE and how they are set up. (OurSocialVoice)
To start making mine, I went to the website that my professor had us view. I already had the tools in place but didn’t have a good visual representation. I looked at them and decided to work from there. Of the PLEs and PLNs on the website, I most related to Gabi Witthaus because of her organizational scheme and the fact that I use many of the same tools that she does. I like how she separated by categories but didn’t make the design too difficult to follow or minimalist in nature.
I had a difficult time deciding whether to name my “Web” as a Personal Learning Network (PLN) or a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). I reviewed the suggested page and analyzed the PLEs/PLNs that others had shared, however I was still lacking a solid definition. I found a great blog by Dave Cormier that distinguished the two for me:
“The distinction, as i understand it, is that the folks who talk about PLN are focusing on the people that make up the learning that they are doing and believe that the PLE people are mostly concerned about the technology that makes up the learning space. (blogs, wikis, webpages, forums, broadcasts etc…)”
While I do believe that the modes of communication are important, the true value of the interactions and merit of information is a direct result of the authors rather than the web tool that made it available. Because I believe people make my learning web, I decided to call mine a PLN. I believe that my PLN would fit in the “Use/Action Oriented “category because mine focuses on specific tasks and the resources that I use to accomplish those tasks. The other categories didn’t seem to split the tools by task as frequently.
When I designed mine, I went with a spider web background to show the interconnectedness of all of the categories. I also specifically used two-headed arrows to show that I contribute information as well as consume information. I think that the greatest meaning in my PLN arises from the professional organizations that I am in as well as grad school/coworkers. I become a better teacher through learning from others and those two categories have really made an impact on my teaching. I am happy with my PLN because of this master’s program! Before this, my PLN was a barren wasteland. Now I actually have a network and it continues to thrive by the day. I would like to see it continue to grow, especially with more Web 2.0 tools.
Cormier, D. (n.d.). 5 Points About PLEs PLNs for PLENK10. Retrieved November 1, 2011, from Dave's Educational Blog: http://davecormier.com/edblog/2010/09/12/5-points-about-ples-plns-for-plenk10/
Nielsen, L. (n.d.). 5 Things You Can Do to Begin Developing Your Personal Learning Network. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from BlogSpot: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html
OurSocialVoice. (n.d.). Sketchy Explanation: Starting a PLN. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqSH5TMYlz4
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