My Current PLN

I’ve just read David Warlick’s “Grow Your Personal Learning Network” and so I’m just going to share what my current PLN looks like and a couple of my thoughts about the article. 

Here’s the condensed version: 

Every day – Twitter (through Tweetdeck), Google Reader (through Feedly), Moodle (SUNY) 

Once a week (approx) – Diigo (CDNIS Lower School iPad PLC) 

Once a month (approx) – my own blog 

Here’s the lengthier version if you’d like to know more about how I use them: 

EVERY DAY 

Twitter – I view Twitter through Tweetdeck and rarely go to the actual Twitter site. I love the way Tweetdeck organises the feeds by columns that I choose. I have 7 #hashtag columns going at the moment. I find it is much easier to navigate and a more efficient use of my time when I am looking for something specific. I don’t need to read ALL of my columns ALL of the time. I have also become quite proficient at scanning. One of the great things about Twitter is that the good ideas always come round again, so you don’t need to worry about missing them. I gave up trying to read EVERYTHING a long time ago! There are an amazing amount of educators out there sharing ideas and resources. 

One thing that David Warlick bought to light that I had not really thought about before was how “working your PLN involves a great deal of responsibility because you are almost certainly part of someone else’s network.” 

Of course I knew that others were ‘following’ me, but on reflection I feel that so far my use of Twitter has been somewhat one-sided. I have read others’ tweets, been to their links, retweeted the ones that struck a chord with me. I’ve sent 161 tweets, yet the majority of them are either retweets or links to resources/articles that I have come across as a result of reading someone else’s tweet. I have yet to contribute something original. From me. I think it is important to ‘give back’ and hope that I can make some worthwhile contributions in the future. 

Google Reader – I prefer to read my subscriptions through Feedly as it is more visually aesthetic. Again, I find it is all about scanning to find the things I want to read about. I’m subscribed to 22 blogs that I file under ‘Teaching and Learning’, plus another 3 blogs of teachers I know personally. I probably need to prune that a bit as I’m guessing I only read half of those regularly. The blogs I seem to gravitate towards are those of practicing teachers who are working with technology in the classroom TODAY. I found interesting the part of the article where David Warlick writes: 

“It is human nature to incline toward sources that agree with our own world views, so we must try to cultivate networks that challenge our thinking and frames of reference. That is how we all learn.” 

For me I think this is true. I am definitely more likely to subscribe to someone who I agree with. It is time for me to expand and have my thinking challenged! 

Moodle – the latest addition since starting the SUNY course! I go on there to read whenever someone in the group posts something! Great sharing platform. 

ONCE A WEEK

Diigo – I’m part of the Grade 1 (+ others) iPad PLC group. We use Diigo to share websites we find about iPads in education. I also use Diigo alot (almost daily) for my own personal online bookmarking. 

ONCE A MONTH

Blog – This. My own (professional) blog – I write on here whenever I can, but not as often as I would like – although I have posted more since joining the SUNY course!

I’ve tried a few other web tools, but not yet found any that work for me as well as Twitter and Feedly. So, how to improve my PLN? I am open to suggestions… and I have just found this graphic on line that might help me work out where to go next…

#PLN