Defining and Exploring Personal Learning Networks

*I really struggled at first with not making this sound like an academic paper, so I decided to just let all my natural sarcasm run free because one of the things I learned this week is that we should be human in our blogs! That being said, I hope it doesn’t read as being negative or snide*

     This week, I started my quest to discover the sheer magic that is a personal learning network.  Okay, so far they are only slightly magical, but I’ve only learned a little, and I am excited to explore the possibilities of using these in my classroom and as a lifelong learner. If you’re reading this, you are probably my classmate or teacher, so I am not going to bore you with reiterating exactly everything I read (because you did too!). There were a lot of things about what I read that stood out and helped alleviate some fears I have about personal learning networks.

     First, the authors, Richardson and Mancabelli, really had to sell us on the idea of personal learning networks. The introduction was basically all about why we should be so excited to use them. They made some very good points. First, we all know that information has become more and more digital. We are no longer relying on a physical textbook to prepare for our classes. This alone has started to change the way we teach, but the authors argue that this is also affecting the way we learn. As educators, much like the producers of newspapers mentioned by the authors in the book, we tend to try to adapt the internet to us, but using a personal learning network should not just reform education for us, but transform it (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011). We can’t just rely on the same old tricks because society no longer limits themselves to just what’s in a textbook whether it’s physical or digital. I’ll admit that when I first started hearing about using technology in the classroom, I just pictured transferring all of the physical worksheets, activities, etc. that I have onto an online LMS (such as Schoology), and that would somehow placate the technology gods. What the authors are arguing for is not just learning online, but learning through connections we can make with other educators, students, experts, etc. It’s not so much about moving our resources, as it is about discovering all the knowledge that is available elsewhere.

     I think so far, I’ve focused only on the consumer side of PLNs. One of the anxieties I have about PLNs is the feeling that I am probably lightyears behind my students in knowing how to use them. I know this is definitely true concerning the use of Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. The authors also did a good job in the introduction of addressing that concern. Students are very well adept at using social networks, but they are probably not so strong at using them for academic purposes. They are “technological consumers but not necessarily creators” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p.7). This helped me realize that even though they know generally how to use social networks, we are starting at the same place as far as how to use them for learning. We all have probably so far only been consumers, and now we get to explore the other side to PLNs: creation.

     The last thing in the introduction that really stood out to me was the authors admitting that using a PLN for the first time is both an emotional and cognitive process (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011). We have to be willing to create and add value within our personal learning networks for them to be really effective. This is another of my anxieties with using them. You have to put yourself out there (like in this blog) and that is a little intimidating. While dealing with the emotions of having your ideas on the web, you also get to experience the cognitive side of PLNs, which is organizing all the information that you will be receiving on a daily basis. The authors do a good job of addressing these concerns in Chapter 2, and I’ll come back to that.  Did the introduction sell me on PLNs? Yes and no. Yes, they definitely made a good case for why we should be using. But no, I wasn’t super excited about putting myself out there.

     The first chapter was more specific about the benefits of using PLNs. There was one section that I really liked and it was titled “Network Effects”. It could’ve been titled “PLNs will help you look awesome while being observed” because that is what I got out of this section (this is what happens when you’re an anxiety ridden teacher just starting out). The authors outlined seven traits of schools that used global learning networks. The first one that stood out was “Students are better prepared for life and work in the 21^st century” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p.27). One of my focuses as a teacher is making what I do relevant to my students. Making connections through PLNs is relevant to their future careers. The ability to network is a huge asset in college and future careers. I also really liked #4, “Instruction is more individualized” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p.27). I don’t know how the rest of you feel about this, but as a high school teacher, I struggle with individualized instruction. Yes, I do my best to meet the needs of my students, but can I really make it authentically individualized? I don’t really think so. With a PLN, however, students are gaining the knowledge to pull the resources that are going to best help them. I have to teach them how, but ultimately they are getting exactly what they need!

     I feel like this is getting really long, so I’ll wrap it up. Like I mentioned earlier, Chapter 2 did a really good job of alleviating my fears about starting to use a PLN. First of all, they walk you through how to get started using several different tools or social networks. But furthermore, they let you know how to manage those networks. For instance, TweetDeck manages groups of twitter users and then it also has a link shortening capability for when you want to tweet out a link and not use up all your characters. I really liked that the authors are trying to make this process as painless as possible. I also liked how the authors ended the chapter with a discussion overall of how to make your PLN experience worth it. The phrase “add value” really stuck with me as a reminder that I have to contribute resources and ideas if I want to start making meaningful connections.

     With that being said, one of my coworkers shared with me a really cool idea for using Instagram in the classroom. She called it an Instagram Challenge (which is apparently a real thing that teenagers already do). She said every day they had to take a photo of a certain chemical principle and add a caption stating how that photo demonstrated the principle. She said she used it at the end of the year to review (which honestly is probably how I would use it). A couple of things to consider though was that she said grading it was really hard (lots of photos from lots of students every day), and that each student had to create a school Instagram account (to avoid seeing anything we don’t want to see).  I, unfortunately, don’t have a link, just the general idea. But I thought I’d get started on “adding value”!
Here are some other ways to use Instagram in the classroom.
I also did a little research on using Twitter (because that is coming soon to my life)... here is a helpful handout I found on how to get started.

                                                                                                                                                               

References

Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal learning networks: Using the power of connections to transform education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.