7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
Understand the role of external professionals and community representatives in broadening teachers’ professional knowledge and practice.
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"In today’s world, being digitally connected is not enough. Without strong communication skills, we are merely plugged into a lot of information" (Know My World, 2015).
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The current shift in how people learn has created a dependency on information and communication technologies. As educators, it is imperative that we remain connected to the changing world that we are charged with introducing to our 21st century learners (Stewart, 2015). With the plethora of technologies freely and readily available online, the way we interact with information, ideas and resources has been revolutionised and can be overwhelming (Way, 2012). The solution to this information overload is creating an effective personal learning network (PLN) that refines, discards and locates the most relevant content. The true heart of any PLN is people; fellow professionals, people from whom you can learn and with whom you, in turn, can share and converse (Buchanan, 2011). The days of the ‘read-only’ web have come to an end with the creation of Web 2.0; a second-generation, web-based service that facilitates collaboration and sharing. Individuals now have the ability to write, create and produce material through collaborative opportunities that invite a vast audience to inspire and interact (Younie, Leask, & Burden, 2014). Thus, a PLN is essentially a collection of people with whom you engage and share information. I have created my PLN using Gliffy, an online diagram software. To view my PLN, click the image below:
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Creating a PLN has been an enlightening and immeasurably rewarding experience that has provided me with a solid foundation upon which I can build my future learning and development as a professional educator. With the assistance of my PLN, I can now discover valuable information, save it for future reference and make it possible for others to share and use.
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References
Buchanan, R. (2011). Developing a personal learning network (PLN). Scan, 30(4), 19-22. Retrieved from from Informit Humanities & Social Science Collection.
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Stewart, B. L. (2015). Cultivating a personal learning network that leads to professional change (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
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