PLN+(Personal+Learning+Network)

//“Repeat after me, this is not an information revolution, it is a relationship revolution” // // ~John Hagel~ //

A Personal Learning Network (or PLN) is one of the best resources you can use to get ideas to make you a good teacher GREAT. Think of it as your own personal library of unlimited information. A PLN is a collection of great minds and great experience! When you need a quick resource for an online tool to use with a student collaboration activity, go to your PLN and ask others what they use for similar situations. When you need advice on how to best create a project, go to your PLN and ask what others have done. When you need help figuring out a technology issue, throw your question out on your PLN and see what happens. There is no better place to find incredible minds!

Creating a PLN takes time at first, but once you see the results, you will discover that it was time well spent. Most educators who use a PLN will agree that they have learned more from their own personal learning network than they ever could have from a textbook or classroom setting. Give it a try! I promise you won't regret it!

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Places to Begin
Twitter - Build up a network of other professionals with similar interests. When building your network of Twitter friends, find those who are experts in their field and follow those who they follow or who follow them. Once you've set up your account and have started following Tweets, Twitter will begin to offer suggestions for those you should follow who have the same interests.

TweetDeck - With a TweetDeck account you can schedule messages, participate in the TweetDeck Support Forums, and sync data such as social networking accounts and saved searches. You'll also be able to add columns and Twitter Lists from the Directory. It is a great tool to organize your PLN.

The Educator's PLN - This is a ning site dedicated to the support of a Personal Learning Network for educators. Here you can find blogs, videos, events, ed chats, education news, and forums created by educators with a passion for what they do. It is also a great place to hook up with other members of like interest.

Facebook - Facebook is not new to the social networking scene, but more and more educators are using it to create a network of resources for themselves or their schools/classrooms. Many school districts have Facebook pages that allow them to communicate quickly with parents and community members. Facebook isn't just for "socializing" anymore.

RSS Feeds - RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format. A frequently used RSS feed reader is Google Reader. When you discover a blog or other such update work, simply subscribe to the RSS feed and it will be added to your feed reader.

Ning Sites - Ning is a social network designed around creating social networks. Ning invites users to create their own social network by going through a series of steps that name the social network, select a color scheme, and allow for unique profile questions. Anyone who has a passion and interest can create a Ning site – but it takes a community to build it and maintain it. Choose one or several Nings to join, but be an active community member. Create a profile so other educators can learn something about you. Get involved in the discussion forums. Ask questions, answer other people’s questions, share links, share real classroom projects, and use the Ning to find out about resources. Below are a few, really good Ning sites to check out.
 * **Classroom 2.0** - One of the largest educational Nings. Classroom 2.0 is great for beginners because there is a lot of activity on the Ning and you feel part of the community right away.
 * **The Educator’s PLN** - This Ning is for active learners who want to connect and learn. The educators here sponsor #edchat on Twitter every Tuesday. They also host webinars and interviews.
 * Specialized Nings - The Global Education Collaborative, ArtEducation 2.0, English Companion Ning, and those created for conference participants like K12 Online Conference, CUE and ISTE.

LearnCentral- A free social network started by Elluminate, specializing in educators connecting, sharing content, and being able to engage in live online meetings.

Linked In - Connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. Linked In is more professional than social.

**Other Resources**
Educational Networking – A listing of social networks used in educational environments or for educational purposes []

[|Education Ning Networks] list by Angela Cunningham

Building a PLN
Building a PLN takes time. Lots of time at first. But the benefits are tremendous. Like anything, the more you put into building and maintaining your PLN, the more you're going to get out of it. When I first started using Twitter, it totally frustrated me because I would put a question out there for help, but no one would respond. Then it dawned on me...no one responded because I only had 25 people in my network of followers.

A great way to build your Twitter PLN is to find experts in your field, follow them, and then follow those they follow or those who follow them. Once you start increasing your network of those you are following, Twitter will begin to make recommendations. Take advantage of these recommendations (I recommend reading the profile bios first to make sure you want to follow them). Then begin Tweeting. The more you tweet (or Re-Tweet), the more your name gets out there.

Twitter4Teachers is a great source to find people to follow or to market yourself to build your list of followers. Here are a few tips for building your PLN:

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 * Be active.
 * Find other **educators** in your subject area to follow by following the followers of edtech leaders or use Educator listings such as Twitter4Teachers.
 * Respond to tweets using @//username// or use a #hashtag for specific topics
 * Check out #hashtag subjects (also a great place to find new people to follow)
 * Use ReTweet (RT) to repost your favorite tweets.
 * Use third party tools to manage Twitter
 * Tweetdeck – A desktop application that organizes your tweets into groups, lists, or by #hastag.
 * Twubs- Twitter groups built around #hashtags

//Portions of this page were borrowed from http://edtechvision.org.//