PLN (Personal Learning Network)

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are a collection of people one engages and exchanges with online.  Personal Learning Networks can include multiple types of formats and communities, especially with the Web 2.0 tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Diigo and RSS Feeds.   PLNs help people stay up to date and organized with their friends, colleagues and family by sharing information with one another.  As a future elementary teacher, I plan on being very active in using my Personal Learning Network to share with colleagues and to collaborate with other educators on new topics that are interesting to incorporate into my classroom.  I know that it is important as teachers, to continue learning and expanding our knowledge in order to be successful with our students and as educators and having a PLN is an effective way to do so.

RSS Feeds:  I am using RSS feeds on my blog and I subscribe to KPBS News in Education, CNN Top Stories and People Magazine.  I subscribe to KPBS New in Education because it gives me up-to-date local news in San Diego on Education and because I plan on being a teacher in San Diego, I believe it is important for me to know what is going on in our local school systems.  I subscribe to CNN Top Stories because it feeds me current world news that helps me become a well-rounded citizen on our current events all over the world.  Although the CNN Top Stories RSS Feed isn't always educational related, I feel as though it is important for me, as a future teacher, to inform my students on certain world news topics.  Lastly, I subscribe to the People Magazine RSS Feed just for my personal interest in news on celebrities.  I also believe that People Magazine is the most legitimate entertainment magazine out there today.

Twitter:  I am a recent member of Twitter (just joined for this class) and I see the value in Twitter because I am able to follow people and organizations from all over who influence education and entertainment.  Twitter allows followers to get the inside scoop first hand on what is currently happening.  I am currently following Education Week, Voice of San Diego, Today Show, KPBS News, CNN Breaking News, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and a few other celebrities that I am interested in.  I follow all of these Twitter members to learn and be up to date on current issues happening which helps me grow as a future teacher.

Diigo:  I am also a recent member of Diigo, which is a social bookmarking network website.  I am following classmates which helps us collaborate and discuss relevant topics we learn in class or we need to learn about for our future as educators.  I am also able to follow other professors or educators links which opens me up to new bookmarks and information that is relevant to me.  Others can also connect to me and see my bookmarks that I find useful and they may as well.

Ning Discussion Forum:  The discussion forum I recently joined is called Classroom 2.0 which is an interactive website for educators where we can share useful information such as articles, videos or websites on topics related to education.  I really like the "Members: Videos, Pictures and Blogs" section because it really helped me see that the people on this site are real educators wanting to help other teachers grow.  I found a lot of great advice on this site regarding classroom management, curriculum and lesson planning.  This website is really beneficial for new teachers because everything is all on one website and we don't have to sift through many different informative articles on Google or videos on how to teach things on YouTube.  Instead, all of those resources are all gathered onto one interactive website.

My overall Personal Learning Network experience has been very informative, exciting and overwhelming at times.  Learning about all of these new and different websites has really expanded my knowledge on how I can become an effective future elementary school teacher.  This experience has been a little bit overwhelming because it seems like there are so many different websites that could help me as a future educator, but I don't know about all of the great websites and tools I should be looking into.  However, the websites and tools that I have already included in my PLN, listed above, will really help me in the near future.  A pro regarding the PLN is that I am able to collaborate with other educators and organizations on topics that are relevant to education and teaching.  A con regarding the PLN is that at times it can get very overwhelming and may cause too much information that will distract teachers from helping the students.