 Personal Learning Networks  Module #2 TIE585AC Integrating Web 2.0 Applications in the Classroom Module #2 Image source:

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What is a Personal Learning Network?  Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are also known as “professional learning networks”, “personal learning environments”, or “personal learning plans” just to name a few  What they have in common is educators tailoring their own learning to topics of interest that benefit their own classroom (although PLNs are not for educators only)  PLNs aren’t limited to Internet resources. They can also include  Books  Coursework  Conversations  Conferences

Web 2.0 for your PLN  For the purpose of this workshop we’ll focus on Web 2.0 for your PLN Image source: ge/ /

Diigo  Diigo is a social bookmarking tool. Social bookmarks allow you to store your bookmarks in one location. You can tag them for easy access and annotate each entry  Diigo (as well as other social bookmarking sites) allow you to create or join groups of like minded people on topics of interest. For example, if you were interested in Web 2.0 in the math classroom you could join this group:  You can contribute websites to this community and receive notifications when others post links

Other Social Bookmarking Sites

Twitter  Twitter is a social networking site where users “tweet” (post) a discussion of their choice but are limited to 140 characters per tweet  Hashtags (#) are used in front of words to form discussions around topics. The hashtag pulls the tweet into the thread that contains the same hashtag. For example, if I post a tweet with the hashtag #web20iscool then my tweet gets posted to the same location as every other tweet with that same hashtag  When you join Twitter you find people or subjects to “follow”. Once following them all of their tweets come to your Twitter page. In the sense of a PLN once you follow a person or a topic the learning comes directly to you!  Users can set up their accounts to receive text messages when someone they follow tweets.

Twitter  Here is an example of how I use Twitter for my school. I’ve set up an account to notify parents of basic school information. They can opt to receive a text message every time I post

Twitter  Some people I follow as part of my PLN on Twitter:

Facebook  Although Facebook is a social networking site used by many to catch up socially with friends there are many that are now using it to push out educational resources as well. Here’s an example:

Edmodo  Edmodo is a social network designed especially for education  It has a similar layout to Facebook making it appealing for many students  Teachers can create “groups” of specific students (or classes if they are departmentalized). Within these groups teachers or students can send messages to the entire group (and not individually except to the teacher)  If you are not a member of the group you cannot see the posts or people within the group  Students or teachers can share links, docs, images and more

Edmodo  Edmodo is a closed environment; students do not need to submit an address to join. They join classes by invitation only from their teacher  Teachers can store unlimited content, post assignments, create quizzes, reminders, instant polls, or discussion questions  Teachers can create and award badges to students that stay on the student’s homepage  A list of parent codes are automatically generated that you can pass out to parents to view their child’s page  Teachers can follow subject area communities where they can become exposed to lessons and educators interested in the same topic

Edmodo  Ways to Use Edmodo with Students (in addition to your PLN)  In class journaling  Book discussions and clubs  Create a digital library  Learning groups  Exit polls

Nings  A ning is an online platform that allows people to create their own social network  Ning.com was one of the most popular sites when it was free but has dropped in popularity since they now charge  is “The Educator’s PLN”  is a PLN designed around technology in education

Module #2 Assignment  Using Diigo, Twitter, or Edmodo sign up for one of these social networks if you have not already done so. Find a minimum of 3 (or more) groups or people to follow. Follow these groups or people for a minimum of 3 (or more) days.  Write a blog post about one of the resources you found through your PLN. Tell the tool used (Diigo, Twitter, Edmodo), give the URL to the resource you learned about and blog about how you can use this resource within your classroom. Is this something you can easily adapt and utilize? What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy or NETS does this resource fall under? What is your opinion of personal learning networks?  Be sure to place your name in the post and place a link to your post on your wiki page