Close your eyes and ask yourself, “If I need support in my professional life, what are my sources?” Our Professional Learning Network (PLN) tells a story of how we connect, share, and encourage each other through multiple platforms. According to Tour (2017), “A PLN is an informal group of likeminded people who share their knowledge and provide resources and advice to guide a learner in independent learning experiences in different digital spaces” (pg. 181). To reflect on my professional learning, I created my current PLN through Padlet.
I immediately noticed a couple patterns in my current PLN. I was genuinely surprised at the amount of support and resources (both digital and personal) that I’ve gained over the short span of my career. However, some of these connections have been more difficult to maintain than others over the years. Currently, I’m fortunate to have reliable resources within my district and community. I’m very connected within my school, and have had opportunities to deepen those connections by joining a new math team of teachers to evaluate our curriculum. There are definite steps I want to take to further my knowledge within education. Through this course I quickly understood the value of interacting with other professionals through media platforms. I would like to make more digital connections on my own to fellow educators through social media or forums. Actively seeking resources that are relevant to my interests and self-initiating my learning will be essential to my professional learning (Tour, 2017, p. 181). This course also steered me to conduct my own research on organizations, people, and topics that I want to learn more about. My goal is to find, follow, and connect with new experts that can lift my level of thinking in education and technology!
Resources
Padlet. (n.d.). Padlet is a collaborating resource [Web Page]. Retrieved from https://padlet.com/ Tour, E. (2017) Teachers’ self-initiated professional learning through personal learning networks. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 26(2), 179-192, DOI: 10.1080/1475939X.2016.1196236.
1 Comment
I like how you describe the PLN as a story of how educators connect to each other, as if it were a historical timeline or document. Maybe it would be interesting to do a mind map once a year to see how a PLN changes as we progress in our careers. And nice use of the large image/small window frame element, as well as the alliteration in the title!
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