Taking our PLNs Digital: A Proposal for Alignment with ISTEs NETS-T Submitted by Kerri Valesey Review of Personal

Learning Networks (PLNs) For educators, personal learning networks (PLNs) fall under the umbrella of professional development commonly understood as a community of practice, a type of learning habit where individuals collectively share their experiences and information. Warlick (2009) discusses PLNs succinctly: they are not new. We have long relied on our families, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to supplement our knowledge about the world. Prior to the contemporary digital era, PLNs were very small communities: professional colleagues with whom you shared information, generally face to face. However, our ability to communicate reaches beyond our immediate communities. The abundance of information and communication technologies (ICT) available at our fingertips is growing every day. The Information Age affords us innumerable opportunities to continually challenge ourselves, to grow as learners, and to inspire our students to follow suit by pursuing a variety of educational goals. Because educational standards recognize and account for the changing definitions of literacy to include digital literacies, educators can no longer deny that technology integration in the classroom is an essential tool to reach our students. Adoption of digital PLNs is, at its core, one of the most effective means of learning technology for teachers that levels the playing field for integration in the classroom. Why Using Digital PLNs is Essential for the Future of Educators Students in todays world are digital natives; they learn differently than their teachers did. Thus, there is a rapidly growing gap of understanding between the young people sitting in the classrooms and the adults who teach them (Jukes et al., 2010). In order to minimize this gap, teachers must occupy an altered position in the classroom, because technology is ever-present in our lives. With consistently increasing demands on teacher accountability, we must follow Richardsons advice and model for our students the importance of becoming master learner (Richardson, 2010). One way for teachers to relinquish their power as the classroom sage is by adopting a constructivist approach to education. By making learning student-centered, teachers become much more likely to have a stronger impact on their students. How does this idea of master learner relate to PLNs? Simply put, engaging in a PLN is one way to learning instantaneously! Because we live a hyper connected world, we are able to access information from others instantaneously. Lets use this to our advantage! Instead of ignoring the digital resources that are available, we can contribute to our own learning and exemplify the kind of learning attitudes we want to instill in our students. PLNs have immense value for educators. As a means of professional development, PLNs provide educators the ability to connect to content area specialists. Teachers can connect with experts of different fields to find out information that they can then convey to their

students! Additionally, because PLNs are communities of practice, they are resources for teachers to connect with other teachers, resources that easily allow individuals to share lesson plans, experiences with different activities, and ways of engaging students in the classroom. Teachers have freedom in their adoption of PLNs because with access to the Internet available is unrestricted by time and place. PLNs can provide a means to access solutions to problems; by posing a question to your PLN, you foster collaborative problem solving and exemplify 21st century digital literacy skills your students need! Possible Resistance to PLNs Because so many teachers are digital immigrants, they maintain an affective filter in their approach to technology that is much like the fear of the unknown, or the fear of failure. The fact that their fears are unfounded prevents confident implementation of technology. Ertmer discusses the potential problems for such kinds of technology integration into education (2005). She focuses on how teachers pedagogical beliefs influence their adoption and use of technology in the classroom. If we can provide positive examples of our own experiences for other teachers, we can then shift our pedagogical foundation to be more fundamentally more constructivist. Implementation Guidelines & Strategies ISTE outlines the essential conditions for implementation of a PLN that include the following: a shared vision, empowered leaders, implementation planning, and consistent and adequate funding to support technology infrastructure, personnel, digital resources and staff development. These conditions are all easily met: our shared vision is one in which all teachers commit to reaching students by way of their learning needs. By acknowledging this as a shared vision, we provide empowerment to our leaders. We also recognize others as key figures to follow in this journey. In terms of funding, digital PLNs can be implemented and developed for free using easily accessible resources on the Internet. The implementation planning is key. Among the free and easily accessible resources on the Internet that we can utilize in creating and building PLNs are different social media apps that allow for connective community building. By using online resources such as ning, we can utilize blogging to write about issues that we face as educators. It would only cost approximately $150 to set up, but would be extremely useful for collaborative learning. Using free Blogging, such as wordpress.com, and RSS feeds such as feedly.com is one quick way to become connected to others, in which you are able to document your own experiences, reach out to an audience, and read about the experiences of others. Warkick (2009), develops the following tips for creating a PLN that is not overwhelming to digital immigrants: 1. Start small and limit the number of blogs you subscribe to. 2. Organize your subscriptions by topic or job function. 3. Organize folders in your aggregator based on how frequently you need to read them. Call one folder Everyday and place in it blogs and RSS fields that you need to see everyday. Call another one Once a Week and another one Once a Month.

4. Give yourself permission to switch your PLN off every once in a while 5. Scan! You may need to read only one in 10 of the blogs that come through, but that one will make you a better educator. 6. Your aggregator can grow temporary limbs. If you are teaching a new unit, find sources that will help you prepare for it and subscribe to them. When youve learned what you need, sever the lines. 7. Realize that your network is much larger than it seems. You are not just reading my blog, you are reading all of the blogs that I read and all of the blogs that those bloggers are reading. 8. Invest some time, but dont fret that it will take up all of your time. According to David Jakes, it takes only 15 minutes a day to learn something new. 9. You do not need to subscribe to dozens of educators blogs to learn how they are using VoiceThread. Instead, conduct a Google Blog Search for voicethread and subscribe to that searchs RSS feed. 10. Some bloggers are very good connectors and filters. They read lots of information and then blog the gems. Excellent examples are SEGA Tech from Georgias Southeast Regional Service Agency and Stephen Downes OLDaily. If we follow these tips for implementing blogging into our weekly routine, we can reach out to other educators to continue to learn and thus improve our own education, and extend this learning to our students. Conclusion Cultivating an online experience in which free technology is utilized within the classroom begins in the professional sphere. Teachers need to take control of their own learning beyond the academics, and into the workplace in which the utilize the collaborative tools of the 21st century to become better teachers. By doing this, teachers strengthen connections between academic and workplace learning by creating a continuous, dynamic learning environment as they move from one role to the next (McElvaney & Berge, 2010). We can foster this kind of learning by taking charge of our own goals and becoming the kind of learner and educator that our students need.

Works Cited Peggy A. Ertmer. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: The final frontier in our quest for technology integration? Educational Technology, Research & Development 53(4) (2005): 1042-1629 Jukes, I., McCain, T., & Crockett, L. (2010). Understanding the digital generation. Vancouver: Corwin. McElvaney, J., & Berge, Z. (2010). Weaving a personal web: Using online technologies to create customized connected and dynamic learning environments. Canadian Journal of Technology and Learning, 35(2), 12. Richardson, W. (2010, 2 24). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://weblogged.com/2010/teachers-as-master-learners/ Warlick, D. (2009). Grow your personal learning network. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(6), 12-16.