What is a Personal Learning Network?
*every single person with whom you engage and exchange information, usually online*
*it's personal and looks different for every person*
All the tools you use are personal to you; some of the most popular are listed below.
Twitter: Make time for 140 characters
Steps for success with Twitter
Create an account: Choose a user name that reflects who you are, add a picture and write a short bio
Dedicate time to explore and lurk.
Find people who have similar interests/teaching areas as you. See who they follow.
It is ok to not post anything. Let Twitter act as a textbook.
Use hashtags to follow conversations that are about a similar topic. People will "tag" a tweet with a hashtag if they want people who are interested in a topic to see it (we use #cwlearns). Some chats occur at certain times and people have real time discussions that can be followed live or after the chat. You do not have to follow the person to follow the chat. A list of chats can be found here but I prefer to find the chats the people I respect post to on a regular basis.
When you are ready, post your tweets to the world!
When you are ready, check out an aggregator like TweetDeck, Hootsuite or
Create an account: Choose a user name that reflects who you are, add a picture and write a short bio
Dedicate time to explore and lurk.
Find people who have similar interests/teaching areas as you. See who they follow.
It is ok to not post anything. Let Twitter act as a textbook.
Use hashtags to follow conversations that are about a similar topic. People will "tag" a tweet with a hashtag if they want people who are interested in a topic to see it (we use #cwlearns). Some chats occur at certain times and people have real time discussions that can be followed live or after the chat. You do not have to follow the person to follow the chat. A list of chats can be found here but I prefer to find the chats the people I respect post to on a regular basis.
When you are ready, post your tweets to the world!
When you are ready, check out an aggregator like TweetDeck, Hootsuite or
|
|
RSS Reader
An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader allows you to aggregate news, blog feeds or any other website that has a feed. Tablet technology like the iPad has made this much more popular with Apps like Zite (highly recommended), Flipbook and even The Week. If you do not have an iPad, you can still get your feeds the "old fashioned way" using iGoogle or Netvibes.
You can arrange the feeds in whatever manner you choose. It is easy to tell what has been read already and what hasn't.
This is purely for consuming content - unless, of course, you have your own blog and someone has added it to their feed!
You can arrange the feeds in whatever manner you choose. It is easy to tell what has been read already and what hasn't.
This is purely for consuming content - unless, of course, you have your own blog and someone has added it to their feed!
Social Bookmarking
Delcious or Diigo
Use these sites to access your bookmarks from any device of your choice.
Both allow you to create "tags" (like folders) that allow your team of teachers to all access the same websites. It does not matter who saved the site. All people searching by that tag will find the websites. Another popular use is to have students tag sites as a class. You do not need to follow anyone to use the features.
Collingwood Art uses tags to centralize their online resources by grade as seen here. Note the word /tag/ before the tag name being searched for. Or, you can find single user bookmarks if you know the user name as seen here. Note that the user name goes right after the url - there is no /tag/ search criteria.
Diigo is more interactive and allows users to share bookmarks and take notes on websites.
Use these sites to access your bookmarks from any device of your choice.
Both allow you to create "tags" (like folders) that allow your team of teachers to all access the same websites. It does not matter who saved the site. All people searching by that tag will find the websites. Another popular use is to have students tag sites as a class. You do not need to follow anyone to use the features.
Collingwood Art uses tags to centralize their online resources by grade as seen here. Note the word /tag/ before the tag name being searched for. Or, you can find single user bookmarks if you know the user name as seen here. Note that the user name goes right after the url - there is no /tag/ search criteria.
Diigo is more interactive and allows users to share bookmarks and take notes on websites.
delicious_workshop_2012.docx | |
File Size: | 79 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Blogging
We know it, we love it; an online journal. Popular ones include: Weebly, Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr...
Students at Wentworth currently use Weebly Campus, while students at Morven use Weebly in the Middle School and the blogging platform of their choice in grades 1-12.
Students at Wentworth currently use Weebly Campus, while students at Morven use Weebly in the Middle School and the blogging platform of their choice in grades 1-12.
Learnist
Learnist is an online aggregation tool that is similar to Pinterest, but has a focus on education.
It is becoming a popular place to share links, ideas, resources, etc.
One caveat: you must login with your Facebook account. It then automatically follows people you are friends with on Facebook and notifies them. You have to go into your Facebook settings to turn off notifications so everyone doesn't see everything you explore on Learnist.
It is becoming a popular place to share links, ideas, resources, etc.
One caveat: you must login with your Facebook account. It then automatically follows people you are friends with on Facebook and notifies them. You have to go into your Facebook settings to turn off notifications so everyone doesn't see everything you explore on Learnist.