PLN - A New Age of Learning

Have you ever heard of a PLN - Personal Learning Network? Neither had I until this course...

We have all been students at various times in our life. I would even venture to say we are ALWAYS students! We are learning every day...

I come from a background in education. My dad was a professor at LeMoyne College until he retired a few years ago at the age of 80. I have been home schooling my 4 kids for over 12 years. (I'm down to one presently...) And now - I'm in college again!

From Airpack.com

Learning - specifically the BEST ways to learn - has always been near and dear to my heart. As I taught my children, I hoped to spark their imaginations and facilitate their acquisition of knowledge with various teaching methods. Would they learn best by reading, listening to information set to music, or would hands on activities best transfer the information? Instructional Design focuses on these concepts and I am excited to delve into its treasure trove. 

Today's technology is its own wealth of information - perhaps even a bit overwhelming at times. So a Personal Learning Network is a fascinating concept to me. My simple take on it is that it is a way to organize and gather information as well as to connect and collaborate with others in the process. 

As I need to learn more about the field of Instructional Design, I will be surfing/searching the web on this topic. When I find a site that is helpful I will create a tile for it in Symbaloo. I'm hoping to find some communities to share and learn from. It would be awesome to actually invite some people to ESC to share on the topic as well. I think I will try to utilize my Pinterest account to invite more collaboration too.

This is a wonderful description of a PLN from http://suewaters.wikispaces.com/ :

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are all about using web tools such as blogs, wiki, twitter, facebook to create connects with others which extend our learning, increases our reflection while enabling us to learn together as part of a global community. PLNs increase our opportunities to ask questions and receive help compared to our normal daily face-to-face interactions.

Sue also sets out the a suggested plan for developing a PLN - I think I shall follow her lead...

So, I have already begun a Tweetdeck. I have also made a Symbaloo account - a Social Bookmarking tool. That one really makes my head spin! I've had a Facebook Account for a few years...And obviously I'm already blogging... Now I  have to pick 5 blogs to follow.

As I make progress - you will be sure to know! What have YOU been up to?

Some Awesome Links:

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2008/04/5-things-you-can-do-to-begin-developing.html

http://sites.google.com/site/buildingapln/

 http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/ 

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