PLN 101: Introduction to Digital Learning Networks Personal (or Professional) Learning Network (PLN):

• The use of web tools such as blogs, wiki, microblogs, social networks, and news feeds to extend ourlearning, increase reflection, enable collaboration and expand our global connections;

• Nothing new about establishing a PLN – what’s new is the technology and the reach of individual PLN’s; • Interesting article: http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm • Connectivism

o Information flow within an organization is an important element in organizational effectiveness; o Knowledge that resides in a database needs to be connected with the right people in the righ

context in order to be classified as learning; t

o Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual;

o This cycle of knowledge development (personal to network to organization) allows learners toremain current in their field through the connections they have formed.

A Simple Map of a Personal Learning Network

Three types of PLN’s: • Personally Maintained Synchronous Connections

o Traditional network that includes people and places; o Answer questions, solve problems and accomplish goals; o Face-to-face meetings; o Professional Learning Communities would fall under this

category; o Technology enhancements (help break the geography

barrier) could include: chat, teleconferencing, etc. • Personally and Socially Maintained Semi-synchronous Connections

o Presenting questions to a larger group o “Nearly now” responses o Conversations that aren’t really conversations, but

community dialogue o Collaboration doesn’t have to happen in real time o Tools for this would include: Twitter/Yammer, Google Docs,

discussion boards, social networks, blog commenting, etc. • Dynamically Maintained Asynchronous Connections

o Collaborative learning regardless of time and space o Key Tool: RSS aggregator (reader) o Inputs: Any source of information with an RSS feed

Contribute

Collaborate

Connect

RSS Reader 

Journal Articles

Blog Articles

Social Media

PodcastsNews

YOUOther PLN's

Wikis

Social Bookmarks

What is RSS? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary). It is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated

works – blogs, news, audio, video, etc. in a standard format. This makes it easy to push and pull information from one website to another. This is a very powerful capability. Why is RSS powerful? It gives websites the ability to post information to a lot of different places at one time, pushing content without structure. In other words, I can pull the text of an RSS enabled page and leave the structure of the page (the HTML) behind. How do I take advantage of this power? Get an RSS Reader/Aggregator. It will make your life so much easier and save you valuable time. So where does an RSS Reader fit into my PLN? An RSS reader can be the primary tool that you use for your PLN because you are able to stay up-to-date on the information that matters most to you. Is this the only way to build my PLN? No, definitely not, but it is so easy to do. Some people use social networking tools such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Others use Twitter. There are a lot of tools out there, but RSS just seems to be the quickest and easiest to use. Just sign up, set it as an additional tab on your browser and start building your PLN.

Where do I start?

Helpful Tips for Growing a New PLN

1. Start small. 2. Organize your subscriptions/tabs/folders in your reader. 3. Switch off your PLN regularly. 4. Scan! You don’t have to read everything.

5. Realize the scale of your PLN. 6. Use Google Blog Search to find a topic and subscribe to the search. 7. Invest some time (not a lot) – maybe 10-15 minutes a day.

References: Fisch, K. My Personal Learning Network in Action. Retrieved July 22, 2009 from www.thefischbowl.com Siemens, G. (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Retrieved July 22, 2009 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm Warlick, D. (March 2009). Grow Your Personal Learning Network. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39, Retrieved July 22, 2009 from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/ Warlick, D. Personal Learning Networks – The Beginning. Retrieved July 22, 2009 from http://davidwarlick.com/2cents

Get a Reader

• Choose a reader (Some of my favorites are below):• iGoogle (www.igoogle.com)• Netvibes (www.netvibes.com)• Outlook (built into 2007)

Find Feeds of Interest

• News• Blogs• District (http://27Jbloggers.pbworks.com) • Elsewhere (search for educational blogs, within blogs you like (blogrolls), organizations, etc.)

Check Often

• If using Outlook, check  your RSS feeds with your email.• Add a Netvibes or iGoogle tab to your browser as you start it up:• Open a tab for each page you wish to use as your home pages. • Internet Explorer (Settings   ‐‐> Internet Options ‐‐> Use Current)• Firefox (Tools ‐‐> Options ‐‐> Main Tab ‐‐> Use Current Pages)