PLN?? Hmm… What is PLN? Well… as I did a lot of research, come to find out it is not as complicated as I was making it seem to be. My definition of Personal Learning Network is just doing research in finding the information that you are trying to inquire about. There are so many teachers/colleagues/students etc.. that have the answers or that might have questions that you would possibly have the answers to.
If you think about it, we probably all belong to some sort of PLN, if you belong to Facebook, Twitter, any type of social media, then you are part of a PLN. As stated by Kate Klingensmith on her blog page, here are six learning aspects by being part of PLN:
- Professional development- Learn from content-area specialists.
- Locate resources for your classroom, such as free websites and software.
- Get lesson plan ideas from master teachers.
- Learn about new technology and how to integrate it into your teaching.
- Find collaborative solutions.
- Find interesting links to education news.
The only thing that you really need to do is do some research on whatever it is that you need information about. I have already linked to all kinds of information about Special Education (since that’s what field I am going into) through this blog post, twitter and facebook so far. The good thing about all of this new and expanding technology (web 2.0 tools) is that you are only 1 click away from expanding your knowledge on ‘said’ information.
melodymc0540 
I thought about social medias with the same mindset as you. We all already are a part of so many PLNs, they just teach us less professional elements than the ones we’ve mad e this week. But hey, learning suppose to be fun, so let’s keep up on all of our personal accounts, too!
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I like how you discussed the fact that we have already been building our PLNs. When I first heard the term I was very overwhelmed. Once I learned more about it though I realized that it’s really all about making connections with others and sharing information! We are lucky because we have access to so many people and resources thanks to the internet! I love that you are going into Special Education. It’s something that has always interested me. I also followed quite a few accounts focused on Special Education just because I love learning about it and will have kids with special needs in my classroom!
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I like that you brought up the fact that maybe we are looking for answers and maybe we are providing them. It is almost like face-to-face college courses that we have where we talk aloud on certain issues and all of our minds work together. We all really are part of PLN’s now that we are enrolled in this course. We are beginning to develop ourselves as professionals as we research topics that are important to us. Great PLN summary!
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Thank you! I’m really glad to have taken this course, I have already learned so much more than I already knew about social media and how beneficial it is going to be for our teaching careers.
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