Power of the Tweet - Building a Virtual PLN

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is one way to stay collected with trends and issues in your field and to work, and share, collaboratively. Social media is a great way to create and maintain your PLN. PLN's are really useful because you can connect with those individuals and groups that best meet your needs. The benefits include

• access to useful resources and information;
• ability to search for new tools and innovative practices;
• thoughtful suggestions and critique of your ideas;
• helping you to think more deeply about your work;
• meeting professional contacts for job growth.

A virtual PLN can be created using social media like Twitter. A recent article by Tom Murray, Director of Technology and Cyber Education for the Quakertown School District in Bucks County, PA describes the benefits of a virtual PLN using Twitter.

Howard Johnston and I describe how to create and maintain a PLN in our book The School Leader's Guide to Social Media from Eye on Education. We'd enjoy learning about how you use PLN's to improve your work.

Power of Professional Learning Networks (PLN's)

Social media and other forms of technology provide powerful tools for people to take charge and manage their own learning. A Professional Learning Network (PLN) is the term used to describe a network of online colleagues and friends who support one another's learning. While a PLN can occur face-to-face increasingly they occur online and allow you to tap into the knowledge and expertise of people who hold a similar job but with whom you are not acquainted. They also allow you to access information and tools from professional organizations and experts in your area of interest. eSchoolNews recently included a story about the power of PLN's. It can help you consider how a PLN can support your continued learning.

Google offers a set of tools for creating a PLN (http://sites/google.com/site/buildingapln/). Another useful site is Once a Teacher (http://tinyurl.com/olousp). Some of my students create a Twitter account as a way to connect with professional friends and colleagues.

You can read more about how a PLN can support your learning and the learning of others in your school in my recent book, co-authored with Dr. J. Howard Johnston, The School Leader's Guide to Social Media available from Eye on Education.

I'd enjoy hearing from you about how you continue your own professional learning.