To keep my head above this sea of change, I am the proud owner of a personal flotation device called a PLN. Sounds fancy, but a Personal Learning Network is nothing more than a collection of peers who share a common area of interest. My PLN peers have their own unique PLN's made up of their peers, who in turn.... You can see how the interconnectedness of this becomes one big synapse-filled brain that hones in on your learning needs.
The peers I am connected to walk different walks in education, are spread all over the world, and have different levels of formal and informal authority. You may think my definition of "peer" is a little loose, but in the horizontal and accessible world of Web2.0, a peer is simply someone who shares similar passions and lives by the create-share-modify mantra. Namely, in my case, those who practice and advocate for the connective and engaging integration of 21st Century literacy in education.
So, what tools can we use to connect with these ever-growing, learning collectives? Although I wasn't using the term PLN in 2006 (was anyone?), the use of the social bookmarking site, Del.ico.us and the avid following of education blogs and wikis was really the beginning of my online, connected-learning experience. Since then, Ning, Diigo, podcasts, Second Life, and Twitter have been used to varying degrees. I'm increasingly of the mind that the "Personal" in PLN is more about how you choose to access and share this knowledge than what you choose to access and share.
The tool I have been benefiting from the most recently is Twitter. In a previous post, I said the biggest challenge with Twitter at first was not technical, but just trying to get my head around how it could be useful. The Twitter learning curve is pretty low. A tweet (think blog post/Google Chat) is limited to 140 characters. Info has to be short and succinct; no room for fluff. I finally did get my head around it by following educators I had come across in my previous, online, connected-learning experiences, as well as some I had met in conferences and workshops.
Another more convenient method for finding like-minded soles is by scanning through purpose-built lists of Twitter users. Read the user profiles and once you find someone you think might be up-your-alley, or up the alley you would like to be, go to their Twitter page and check out some of the more recent entries. Jane Hart's Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter is one such example of a purpose-built list.
So, who do you follow? It depends, are you after links to resources, mind bending ideas to ponder, conversation, advice...? See what they have to offer before you click the follow button, or follow anyway, you can always stop if you feel their entries are too mundane. I really don't want to know what people are having for breakfast, but if they reveal the odd gem, I keep them.
If you truly believe the 21st Century truism, "you are what you share", Twitter is for you. If you don't yet understand this truism, Twitter is for you :)
If you would like to test the PLN and Twitter waters before you take the dive, or for that matter if you would like to dive deeper after you have started, try the links below. If you think you are ready for immediate entry into the Twitterverse and would like to start tinkering, click here. Warning: Twitter can be very addictive and if you any leanings toward web apps, there seem to be as many applications for Twitter as there are users.
The Art and Technique of Personal Learning Networks by David Warlick
Twitter in Education by Clif Mims
Cheers @paulbmckenzie
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