Personal Learning Network via Twitter Week 2

Although I could discuss how I have used PLNs in the past, I think they are importantly irrelevant. Most of my PLNs to-date are concrete, and traditional. As I alluded to in a tweet, if we are truly embracing technology we cannot treat “communication” in the traditional sense. I do not care to discuss how I have used traditional PLNs because although they have helped me get to this point in life, and they are important, they are not what our students will use on a daily basis. Traditional PLNs: meeting people face-to-face, knowing names of individuals, building over long periods of time are skills that were important in the past. While society has not given up on these things completely, think for a minute about how young students interact. They do not generally call each other by given names. Students do not have a need to meet in person, “I’ll text you later” or rather “ txtul” is much more common when they are standing right next to each other. We are all guilty of saying this generation has the attention span of a fly, but why should they wait for information? I believe my traditional PLN is important professionally, and will continue to be important to me personally. But, I should try to practice the next generation of PLN, the PLN philosophy that is being shaped by our students.

I was excited to create a professional opportunity on Twitter. I have been using Twitter on a more personal basis, getting adjusted to the acronyms, symbols, and catching up with my fellow teachers from college. We thought we were keeping up; au contraire!

It took me about three hours to gather about 25 followers the first evening using my new professional username on Twitter. The other 75 were easier to come up with, using my first 25 people as a foundation. I found “friends” of my first twenty-five who actually had even more in common with me! I noticed that there are many teachers online, and there is an effort to embrace technology, but there are only a few who actively engage the technology. After only about three days I was “following” over 100 usernames. I am excited by this prospect of being able to “communicate” with 100 educators but over the last few days I have noticed that I need to fully understand how different forms of media “communicate”.

I have used my new PLN on Twitter to guide my reading this summer. Usually I spend extra time doing research and looking for things to read, or updating myself on the latest trends. By having a PLN online that is worldwide, I am constantly being fed things to read, or the latest trends. I think this is the most important significance of using technology. Technology is both in-depth material and a broad range of material at your leisure. This has saved me countless hours rummaging around for something current for summer reading.

My virtual PLN is a patchwork of abilities, interests, and commitments. I find myself able to chat with more than one specialist on any topic I need to hash out. I have the ability to do, see, and understand things that I probably would not have without the help of technology. Our proposal for justifying technology in the classroom is the same; we need to appreciate that this is already successfully a part of our lives! My PLN online is much weaker than I want it to be. It takes time to build up, and use efficiently, but I point to my lack of confidence with technology as the main culprit. I have found in the virtual PLN I am much more likely to take risks or request information at any instant. In a traditional PLN I waited for the “appropriate time” or would not ask because “this person is too important/busy to help me.” At two o’clock in the morning there are at least five people available to help me with my latest dilemma. In the course of only five days I have read more relevant articles, participated in more discussions, and analyzed more websites about education than I have in the previous three weeks simply due to the ease in which they were presented to me. This is all thanks to my new professional PLN on Twitter. I have learned that I have much to learn from technology. I have learned that I can use the web efficiently. I have gained a new understanding of the skills which are norm when becoming a part of the 2.0 environment. I look forward to the coming weeks as I shape my perspective on technology, and prepare to align myself with the skills of the future, the skills I need to be teaching my students. Learning is a lifestyle, not just a computation.