DUNDALK ELEMENTARY'S PERSONALIZED LEARNING NETWORK
So... What exactly is a PLN?
In the education world, PLN stands for Personal Learning Network.
What it means is that an individual has developed their own personalized “network” of fellow educators and resources with the purpose of improving as an educator.
-TeachHub.com
To explain what PLN is, let's take a look at it broken down by each letter...
P - Personal. Having a PLN is about making connections and building personal relationships with teachers, school administrators, university professors, and experts all around the world. No matter where you are in the world, there’s always someone online available to answer questions, share their expertise, and simply chat about what’s happening in their lives and classrooms.
L - Learning. Having a PLN is about sharing ideas and resources, collaboration, and learning. We may share our learning, ideas and expertise in different ways; using different media and tools, but the essence is the same: the PLN is simply the best professional development you will ever participate in – and it’s available 24/7.
N - Network. The defining feature of the PLN is that it is a global learning network, enabling people to tap into and share diverse, global perspectives on teaching strategies, educational issues, and technologies. If takes time and effort to build these connections, but it’s well worth the effort.
Wait... So what is a PLN?
In order to create a PLN for yourself, or your school community, it is first important to really understand, what the purpose of a PLN is. In this short 2 minute video, education consultant, Marc-André Lalande, discusses his take on what a PLN is.
Ok... So why should I be connected?
We live in an opportune time, with an abundunce of resources. Both on hand, and online. With the touch of our fingers, information can be shared, given, used, and manipulated. A huge drawback is that at times this could be information overload! So what better way to connect to the information that is relevant to you, then by creating your own "network" of people to support that information!
If you're not convinced yet, this VoiceThread has some great real world commentary on why it's important to be connected!
Great, I want a PLN! Now what?
Whether your "P" stand for Personal, Professional, or even Passion, think about what purpose your learning network is geared towards. Are you looking to connect to other professionals? Educators? Families? Friends? A supporting cast? Whatever the case may be, think about how you or other people are growing and developing professionally. Collaboration is key here, not only are you sharing your own thoughts, but working with others to share theirs as well.
There's many different ways to go about this. In this day and age social media is taking the world by storm, and there are many forms of it. Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, are just a few of the most popular ones.
Pick a platform, and begin sharing and collaborating. Be sure to "follow" others with similar interest, or goals and purposes. Comment, and respond to posts made by others.
Using Blogs
The video to the right, is an example of one way to build up your own PLN, using blogs.
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Step 1: Set up your own Blog (There are many websites that you can do this through Click HERE for a list of the top blog building sites)
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Step 2: Pick 5 blogs and start reading them regularly. Add them to your blog "roll" (this can be different for each site)
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Step 3: Sign up for a Google account, and subscribe to blogs using the Google Blog Search. (This step is different from the video because Google Reader has been discontinued)
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Step 4: Comment! (This is key in building up those online relationships!)
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Step 5: Join a professional social network! (The more you read, and find people with common goals and interest, this part will be natural)
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Step 6: Join more social networks! Now you have a PLN!
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Step 7: Share your PLN with others!
Using Twitter
The following website describes in detail another example of building your own PLN using Twitter.
This series guides you step by step through the process of building your PLN.
You can work through the activities in any order and at any time.
Here is our guide to growing your PLN in as little as a couple of weeks!
How important is Twitter in your Personal Learning Network?
BY CLINT LALONDE / SEPTEMBER 2012
Twitter and the Personal Learning Network (PLN). If you are a connected educator, chances are that you have often seen these two terms used together and, perhaps like me, you have wondered what's the connection?
This question formed the basis of my 2011 Masters thesis and while my research showed that you can have a PLN without Twitter (and, indeed, those non-Twitter spaces are important for a well developed PLN), Twitter does play a unique role within a PLN, which makes it a powerful platform for networked learning and professional development.
(Click here to continue reading this article)
Using Tumblr
Another technology you could use to start your own PLN is Tumblr. Unlike a regular blog, Tumblr is a microblogging platform where users can post multimedia and other content in short-form blogs. Users have the ability to repost content from other users as well as 'follow' them in order to connect to their Tumblr network.
One of our teachers, Mr. Teng created a PLN with a few of his tech savvy friends and has helped us get connected and build up Dundalk Elementary's PLN.
His process was similar to that of using other social media platforms...
" I started my Tumblr PLN by creating my very own Tumblr page. I personalized it with my picture, motto, and background images. After that, I began to "follow" different educators who had similar views and philosophies as I do. Simply by checking my own feed, I would see that the people that I "followed" would post content, links, materials from themselves or other tumblrs. If I liked it, I would repost it myself, archiving the information for myself, and at the same time sharing it on my network for my own followers to see! " - Mr. Teng
His Tumblr PLN can be found
You can also visit the section of this site titled "Tumblr Feed" for a live feed of his page.
