PLN

=PLN= =Personal Learning Network==

Why do you want one???
media type="youtube" key="Onv1DtmspEY" height="315" width="560"

Here's what blogger "Once a Teacher" has to say:
==Personal Learning Networks, or PLNs, have been around forever. Originally, they were your family and friends, maybe other educators you worked with, but as the internet and web 2.0 tools have become nearly ubiquitous, PLNs can include tons of different communities – social networking sites like [|Facebook], [|blogs], [|Twitter], wikis, [|social bookmarking tools], [|LinkedIn], and so many more. Basically, anyone that you interact with is apart of your PLN, whether they are social contacts, professional peers, or experts in their field. Most of the ‘learning’ takes place on-line now, because it is simple to find and connect with others with similar interests from around the world.==

**__PLNs have immense value!__**
==So, why bother thinking about your PLN? Whether you’re a full-time mom, a full-time teacher, or a full-time student, your PLN can be extremely interesting and helpful. The beauty of people communicating online is the ease of finding and sharing information and – if you ask for it – the group feedback that you get on ideas and projects.==

You may be thinking, I'm just an education student, why does it matter if I have a PLN?

 * ==The future of PD is onlineOnline PD via your PLN is essentially free==
 * (All Dubuque Community School District teachers are required to join Iowa AEA PD online, which is a Moodle site for Iowa teachers).
 * ==The more resources you have at your fingertips, the better!==
 * ==Collaboration is an effective method of PD - I have learned more from colleagues than from books! It's from those I teach with that I get my best ideas and get energized to try new things. I'm really lucky that I have a great teaching partner and team, but not everyone has that. Imagine being the only teacher at your grade level? Or working with a teaching partner who doesn't share. Having a PLN gives you more opportunities to learn and see what is happening in education in the world!==
 * ==Collaboration is an effective method of PD - I have learned more from colleagues than from books! It's from those I teach with that I get my best ideas and get energized to try new things. I'm really lucky that I have a great teaching partner and team, but not everyone has that. Imagine being the only teacher at your grade level? Or working with a teaching partner who doesn't share. Having a PLN gives you more opportunities to learn and see what is happening in education in the world!==

Blogging & Microblogging:
==Blogging provides information such as classroom best practices **__as well as personal opinions;__** Blogs monitor the heartbeat of new trends in education and the commenting back and forth leads to many great ideas and relationships. Wordpress, Blogger, are just some of the resources out there for blogs.== ==What I get from blogs: Ideas, real-life stories about what people are doing, reviews of certain programs/applications/books. Personally, I love blogs. I keep connected to relatives who blog (mainly about their kids & lives). I find new recipes on blogs. I even wrote my own blog to document my experience at Space Camp this past summer.==

==The easiest way to keep up on blogs is to subscribe to a RSS or reader service. RSS stands for “Real Simple Syndication” – an RSS reader is a tool that allows you to keep up with many of your favorite blogs, all in once place. RSS icons are often found on websites - which allow you to click and follow certain sites. What's great about RSS is that you don't have to continually check a website for an update - it will automatically let you know when one is there! Google reader does the same thing. It allows me to follow many blogs - and all of the posts are collected in one handy spot.==

==Microblogging is short, sweet, and to the point ways to share best practices and resources - responses have to be 140 characters or less. Twitter and Plurk are two popular ways to microblog. What I like about Twitter is that it is just a little teaser - if a topic intrigues me, I can learn more with a click!==

==Visible Tweets This is a good site to get your feet wet with Twitter. Enter an educational hashtag and you will be able to see what people are tweeting/saying without having a twitter account.==

Webinars
==Want to learn more about a topic? A webinar is a live, on-line presentation or conference, with real-time chat, hosted by experts on specific topics; Great way to learn about new things and to meet new people. What's great about these is that it's a way to get really specific professional development on anything. Classroom 2.0 hosts many webinars a week on a variety of topics.==

==Share bookmarks with others, see what others are bookmarking; you can join groups and get email updates on new bookmarks. You're going to use Diigo, a social bookmarking site to collect educational bookmarks to start your own PLN.==