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| From Building a Future-Ready Personal Learning Network School Library Monthly/Volume XXVII, Number 3/December 2010 p.35 |
WHAT is a PLN?
According to Wikipedia: “A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection. An important part of this concept is the theory of connectivism developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge. The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person.”
What Networking was Pre-Web.2.0
Social networking is human nature. We use our friends and colleagues as a way to keep up with what is happening at work, in our profession, and in the ever-changing world around us. Before the Web existed, professionals had to attend workshops, seminars, or conferences to connect with their peers. They had to subscribe to professional journals to keep up with developments in their field. They had Rolodex files of business cards of contacts and file cabinets filled with handouts from conferences, information from vendors, and articles from magazines. Back when the Internet was in its ASCII youth, also utilized UseNet groups and email Listservs to communicate with their peers and FTP to download files. Today, learning occurs in a numerous ways and not only in the course of work-related tasks but also through communities of practice and PLNs.
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Rodrigo Vera
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DavidKelley puts it quite well: “Every learning and performance professional should have a PLN. These networks are, in my opinion, the single greatest source of professional development and support available. They expose us to new ideas and ways of thinking, they provide us with more targeted and qualified results than a search engine query, and they enable us to connect and share with peers and experts. As the expression goes... None of us are as smart as all of us. Personal learning networks powered by social media networks like Twitter allow us to tap into this collective knowledge in ways that simply wasn't possible before….. A well-cultivated PLN can also be your most powerful search engine, surpassing Google or Yahoo…In almost all cases, the resources shared by my PLN are better than those I am able to find from a standard Google search.”
DanTobin asks: “How can your learning network help you?” and summarizes:
- By helping you to sift through all the data to identify the information that will be most useful to you.
- By helping you to identify learning resources and opportunities.
- By coaching you and answering your questions as you try to apply your learning to your work.
- By sharing their wisdom with you through dialogue.
“Building a personal learning network is requires that you not only seek to learn from others, but also that you also help others in the network learn. Even when you are a novice in a field of learning, you can still make contributions. Did you read an article that might be of interest to others? Then distribute it to others in your network with a short note that you thought they might find it interesting. Did you hear of a conference on the subject? Let others know about the program and speakers and, if you attend, circulate your notes and papers you collect to other network members. A personal learning network can be your most powerful learning tool no matter what the subject.”
Not only do I need “Know-How” and “Know-What” but I also need “Know-Where” (the ability to find knowledge when needed). So a PLN can help me with my own professional development; can keep me informed about new technologies and how to use them; and, most important, can help answer questions or provide solutions to problems (and provide me with an opportunity to share my know-how and know-what with others).
Works Cited
Kelley, David. "Using Twitter as a Professional Development Tool." The Learning Circuits Blog. ASTD, 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://learningcircuits.blogspot.com/2012/03/using-twitter-as-professional.html>.
"Personal Learning Networks." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Learning_Networks>.
Tobin, Daniel R. "Building Your Personal Learning Network ." Corporate Learning Strategies. N.p., 1998. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. <http://www.tobincls.com/learningnetwork.htm>.
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