It was only recently that I realised that I had started to develop my own professional or personal learning network. It was less than a month ago that I found out what the term PLN was that many in my PLN were throwing around (of course I was too embarrassed to ask what it meant at the time). All I knew was that it sounded important. So today I was surprised to read the title of Patrick Woessner’s recent post entitled Do I Really Need a Personal Learning Network? For me the answer was a resounding YES! Over the last two months I have connect with some of themst amazing educators and learning professionals who inspire me to become better teacher, and through the use of technology and other tools prepare students for life in the 21st century.
This article struck a chord for me as this year I am hoping to increase the number of teachers in my school to connect with others through Web 2.0, nings, wikis, blogs, etc. The figures that he highlights though are a little discouraging. I wish I knew the answer to geting teachers inspired and connected into the same network that have found. However, I am not sure how I will go when I go back to school in a week and a half and get stuck into the swing of school and the time that needs to go into that. I do know that at my school the main agument against PLNs and Web2.0 will be the time factor. That there is not enough time to get through what is “known” rather than the time and effort to tackle the “unknown”. Hopefully I will be able to clearly communicate how the “unknown” may in fact make what is known easier to handle through support and collaboration.
I do believe that time spent developing an effective PLN is worth the time and effort and will bring rewards one hundred fold.
