PLN Networks & Development

Close but no cigar. After reading the articles this week and viewing the videos, this was the first reaction I had when thinking of my virtual PLN presence.

For most of my career, my PLN interactions have occurred in person with those on my campus and in my district. In these niche PLNs (Crowley, 2019), I connect with various teachers weekly based on grade-level and content areas to discuss our opinions on curriculum, classroom activities, and methods of delivering lessons. Since Covid-19, however, the presence has become more virtual as we have continued this routine via Zoom. I really like this format and am interested (and hopeful) that this will continue once the Covid-19 situation has passed. Over the years, I realize that I have also formed buddy/mentor PLNs (Crowley, 2019 ) with a group of former colleagues who have moved on to other districts or cities. Because we formed such a strong bond while working together, we remain in contact and continue to share ideas that our schools and/or districts are using that may help us in our classrooms. These interactions do not necessarily occur regularly or virtually but usually via phone and as needed. However, with most people staying home now, I think it would be a good idea for us to conduct regular meetings to discuss tips, programs, activities, etc. that may be helpful for virtual learning.

The most presence I have had in PLNs virtually has definitely been via the discussion board correspondences and weekly class meetings throughout my DLL journey. I have been able to openly discuss and share my experiences with fellow classmates and professors as well as give and receive feedback on ideas. As a person who is typically very quiet and shy, I have definitely found the class discussion areas to be very safe areas because many of us are experiencing the same difficulties and questions at the same time. However, I have also been fortunate to have classmates, who are more experienced in educational technology, willingly provide suggestions and guidance to the entire group to help us along our journeys. This willingness and ability to help is very inspiring to me and I can see myself starting to move from being mostly receptive to information to giving a little more. As I move further along in my DLL journey and learn more from classmates and the content, I have noticed that I am able to provide more ideas, insight, and suggestions to new classmates. This makes me feel good because I am starting to feel more of a balance between the giving and receiving of information in these forums. I feel like I am helping more than before.

Although my virtual PLN presence is increasing some, I know that it will benefit me greatly to join more. I am making it my mission to join more PLN’s targeted towards my innovation plan (flipped classroom with project-based learning). While reading the Resources for Growing Your Professional Learning Network article (Edutopia, 2011), I was very excited to already see a PLN (diigo.com) that is focused on project-based learning. I recently joined. I also plan to become more present on social media because I understand how these platforms can help me quickly grow my PLN tribes (Bullas, 2010). Out of all social media platforms, I tend to like Twitter and Pinterest the most and will make these my starting points. For Twitter, I will use hashtags (Powerful Learning Practice, n.d.) with keywords such as #flippedclassroom, #flippedlearning, and #projectbasedlearning to search for and connect with others who have vested interest in this style of teaching. On Pinterest, I will conduct similar searches and connect with those who have posted ideas. The more I become involved in these PLNs and connect with others, the more doors will open to even more PLNs that can increase my knowledge of flipped-classrooms with project-based learning. This will enable me to share more information with those on my campus which increases my credibility as a digital leader.

REFERENCES

Bullas, J. (2010, June 6). How To Build A Global Tribe Fast With Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.jeffbullas.com/how-to-build-a-global-tribe-fast-with-social-media/

Crowley, B. (2019, February 19). 3 Steps for Building a Professional Learning Network. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/12/31/3-steps-for-building-a-professional-learning.html

Edutopia. (2011, June 3). Resources for Growing Your Professional Learning Network. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/resources-growing-professional-learning-network

Powerful Learning Practice. (n.d.). Twitter Handbook for Teachers [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://plpnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/twitter-handbook-for-teachers.pdf